Assamese language

Assamese, also called Asamiya or Oxomiya, is an Indo-Aryan language mainly spoken in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language. It has been used to talk to people in parts of Northeast India and has many speakers.

The language has a rich history. It was the court language of the Ahom kingdom from the 17th century. It evolved from an old form of Indo-Aryan language before the 7th century CE and is related to other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages such as Bengali, Maithili, and Sylheti.

Assamese is written in its own unique Assamese alphabet, a special way of writing that reads from left to right. It was officially recognized as a special classical Indian language by the Government of India because of its old origins and strong literary traditions.

History

Assamese comes from old Indo-Aryan dialects. It started from the Kamarupi dialect of Eastern Magadhi Prakrit. In the 4th–5th century, people who spoke Indo-Aryan moved to Assam and mixed with local groups.

Early Assamese writing began in the 13th century. Important works include poems and stories, like Madhava Kandali’s version of the Ramayana. In the 15th century, Sankardev made new kinds of writings and brought new ideas to the language. The language kept growing, especially in the courts of the Ahom kingdom. Printing started in the 19th century, which helped make the language more uniform.

Geographical distribution

Assamese is mainly spoken in the state of Assam. It is also used in nearby states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Nagaland.

Today, Assamese is an official language of Assam and one of the 22 official languages of the Republic of India. It is used in important government work in Assam.

Phonology

Assamese has eight vowels, ten diphthongs, and twenty-three consonants, including two semivowels. It does not have some sounds found in other Indo-Aryan languages, like postalveolar affricates and fricatives. Instead, it uses alveolar stops, making it similar to some non-Indic languages of Northeast India.

Assamese includes a voiceless velar fricative sound, which is unusual for Eastern Indo-Aryan languages. It uses the velar nasal sound a lot, unlike many other Indo-Aryan languages. The language has vowel harmony, where certain vowels change the sounds of preceding vowels. Sometimes, Assamese drops the inherent vowel sound in some word positions.

Main article: Assamese consonant clusters

Writing system

Main article: Assamese alphabet

Modern Assamese uses its own special alphabet. Long ago, it had three types of scripts, all coming from an old style called Kamarupi. Today, it looks very similar to the scripts used for the Mithilakshar and Bengali languages. Assamese has a rich history of writing, with examples found in old documents and medals from kings. In the past, Assam used to write on tree bark instead of palm leaves, which was common in other parts of India. Today, the spellings in Assamese don’t always match how words sound exactly. A famous old dictionary called Hemkosh introduced spellings based on Sanskrit, and these are used as the standard today.

Assamese was also sometimes written using the Arabic script by Muslim people of Assam. In 2020, the government of Assam decided that knowing Assamese would be required for some government jobs.

Sample text

Further information: Romanisation of Assamese

Here is a small piece from a story called "Silonir ziekor xadhu (The tale of the kite's daughter)" by Lakshminath Bezbaruah, from his book Burhi Aair Xadhu:

The story is about a girl who is found floating in a pot on the river. A kind man finds her and tries to bring her to shore, but a kite takes her away to its nest in a tree. The kite decides to raise the girl because she thinks the baby is very beautiful.

Morphology and grammar

Main article: Assamese grammar

The Assamese language has some special features. It does not use special words to show if things are male or female, or if there is one or more of something. However, it does have different words for "he" and "she."

Verbs can change to show if something is done to a person or an object.

Assamese uses special words called classifiers to describe different kinds of objects. For example, "zɔn" is used for people, and "tʊ" can be used to talk about specific things or people. These classifiers help make the language more exact and expressive.

Dialects

The Assamese language has many regional variations. Researchers have identified four main dialect groups and one dialect isolate. The Eastern group is based around areas such as Golaghat, Jorhat, Majuli, Charaideo and Sivasagar, and this is the basis for standard Assamese. The Central group is spoken in Nagaon, Sonitpur, Morigaon and nearby areas. The Kamrupi group is found in the Kamrup region, including places like Barpetia and Nalbariya. The Goalpariya group is spoken in the Goalpara region, such as in Ghulliya and Jharuwa. There is also the Cachar dialect (Dehan) in Cachar district of the Barak valley.

In addition to these regional dialects, there are also community-based dialects. There is a special polite dialect used in formal settings, and some communities such as fishermen or astrologers have their own unique ways of speaking. Urban young people also create their own slang words and phrases.

Literature

Main article: Assamese literature

Assamese has many books and stories. Old poems called the Charyapadas were written long ago, between the eighth and twelfth centuries. In the fourteenth century, poets wrote lovely tales. One famous book is Madhav Kandali's Saptakanda Ramayana. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Vaishnavite tradition helped Assamese literature grow. This led to the books we enjoy today.