50-652: Brajavali ( Assamese : ব্ৰজাৱলী Brôzawôli ) was a literary language used by Sankardev (1449–1568) for some of his compositions ( Borgeets and Ankia Naats ) in the context of his Vaishnavite religion, Ekasarana Dharma , in Assam . Though similar languages were used in the Vaishnavite contexts in Odisa and Bengal , the one used in Assam was different, as it was based on Maithili (and not Brajbhasa ), to which Assamese
100-576: A stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Assamese language Assamese ( / ˌ æ s ə ˈ m iː z / ) or Asamiya ( অসমীয়া [ɔxɔmija] ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam , where it is an official language. It serves as a lingua franca in parts of the Northeast India from a long time, in Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland of India
150-708: A Sanskritised approach to the language in his Asamiya Bhaxar Byakaran ("Grammar of the Assamese Language") (1859, 1873). Barua's approach was adopted by the Asamiya Bhasa Unnati Sadhini Sabha (1888, "Assamese Language Development Society") that emerged in Kolkata among Assamese students led by Lakshminath Bezbaroa . The Society published a periodical Jonaki and the period of its publication, Jonaki era , saw spirited negotiations on language standardisation. What emerged at
200-406: A language more than 1500 years old i.e. most senior (very rich) language. Meitei , or Manipuri , is a classical language of Sino-Tibetan linguistic family, having a literary tradition of not less than 2000 years. Maithili is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language with a literary tradition that traces its roots back to the 7th and 8th centuries. The earliest known example of Maithili can be found in
250-404: A period of 1500-2000 years. II. A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers. III. The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community. IV. The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between
300-609: A period when the Prakrit was at the cusp of differentiating into regional languages. The spirit and expressiveness of the Charyadas are today found in the folk songs called Deh-Bicarar Git . In the 12th-14th century works of Ramai Pundit ( Sunya Puran ), Boru Chandidas ( Krishna Kirtan ), Sukur Mamud ( Gopichandrar Gan ), Durllava Mullik ( Gobindachandrar Git ) and Bhavani Das ( Mainamatir Gan ) Assamese grammatical peculiarities coexist with features from Bengali language . Though
350-472: A slightly different set of "schwa deletion" rules for its modern standard and early varieties. In the modern standard / ɔ / is generally deleted in the final position unless it is (1) /w/ ( ৱ ); or (2) /j/ ( য় ) after higher vowels like /i/ ( ই ) or /u/ ( উ ); though there are a few additional exceptions. The rule for deleting the final / ɔ / was not followed in Early Assamese . The initial / ɔ /
400-426: A thousand years. B. A body of ancient literature/ texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generation of speakers. C. The literary tradition must be original and not borrowed from another speech community. The following criteria were set during the time Sanskrit was given the classical language status by the government of India : I. High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over
450-420: A vowel length distinction, but have a wide set of back rounded vowels . In the case of Assamese, there are four back rounded vowels that contrast phonemically, as demonstrated by the minimal set: কলা kola [kɔla] ('deaf'), ক'লা kóla [kola] ('black'), কোলা kwla [kʊla] ('lap'), and কুলা kula [kula] ('winnowing fan'). The near-close near-back rounded vowel /ʊ/ is unique in this branch of
500-537: Is a neutral blend of the eastern variety without its distinctive features. This core is further embellished with Goalpariya and Kamrupi idioms and forms. Assamese is native to Assam . It is also spoken in states of Arunachal Pradesh , Meghalaya and Nagaland . The Assamese script can be found in of present-day Burma . The Pashupatinath Temple in Nepal also has inscriptions in Assamese showing its influence in
550-451: Is added and the native pronunciation overrides the original pronunciation of Maithili. In general, the vocables and idiomatic expressions of Brajavali were local (Assamese), while the inflectional forms were Maithili, easily understood by the people of Assam but carrying the flavor of Brajbhasa , the language of choice of the Bhakti poets. This article about Indo-Aryan languages is
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#1732791652110600-412: Is considered a heritage by generations of speakers. iii. Knowledge texts, especially prose texts in addition to poetry, epigraphical and inscriptional evidence. iv. The Classical Languages and literature could be distinct from its current form or could be discontinuous with later forms of its offshoots. The concept of “the literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community”
650-641: Is generally assumed—which suggests that when the Indo-Aryan centers formed in the 4th–5th centuries CE, there were substantial Austroasiatic speakers that later accepted the Indo-Aryan vernacular . Based on the 7th-century Chinese traveller Xuanzang 's observations, Chatterji (1926) suggests that the Indo-Aryan vernacular differentiated itself in Kamarupa before it did in Bengal, and that these differences could be attributed to non-Indo-Aryan speakers adopting
700-786: Is never deleted. Modern Assamese uses the Assamese script . In medieval times, the script came in three varieties: Bamuniya , Garhgaya , and Kaitheli/Lakhari , which developed from the Kamarupi script . It very closely resembles the Mithilakshar script of the Maithili language , as well as the Bengali script . There is a strong literary tradition from early times. Examples can be seen in edicts, land grants and copper plates of medieval kings. Assam had its own manuscript writing system on
750-536: Is the closely related group of eastern dialects of Bengali (although a contrast with dental stops remains in those dialects). / r / is normally realised as [ ɹ ] or [ ɻ ] . Assamese is unusual among Eastern Indo-Aryan languages for the presence of /x/ (realised as [ x ] or [ χ ] , depending on the speaker and speech register), due historically to the MIA sibilants' lenition to /x/ (initially) and /h/ (non-initially). The use of
800-459: Is unique in the group of Indo-Aryan languages as it lacks a dental-retroflex distinction among the coronal stops as well as the lack of postalveolar affricates and fricatives. Historically, the dental and retroflex series merged into alveolar stops . This makes Assamese resemble non-Indic languages of Northeast India (such as Austroasiatic and Sino-Tibetan languages ). The only other language to have fronted retroflex stops into alveolars
850-558: Is written in the Assamese alphabet , an abugida system, from left to right, with many typographic ligatures . Assamese was designated as a classical Indian language by the Government of India on 3 October 2024 on account of its antiquity and literary traditions. Assamese originated in Old Indo-Aryan dialects, though the exact nature of its origin and growth is not clear yet. It is generally believed that Assamese and
900-1110: The Arabic script by Assamese Muslims . One example is Tariqul Haq Fi Bayane Nurul Haq by Zulqad Ali (1796–1891) of Sivasagar , which is one of the oldest works in modern Assamese prose. In the early 1970s, it was agreed upon that the Roman script was to be the standard writing system for Nagamese Creole . The following is a sample text in Assamese of Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights : Assamese in Assamese alphabet Assamese in WRA Romanisation Assamese in SRA Romanisation Assamese in Common Romanisation Assamese in IAST Romanisation Assamese in
950-737: The Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri districts of India is linguistically closer to Assamese, though the speakers identify with the Bengali culture and the literary language. In the past, it was the court language of the Ahom kingdom from the 17th century. Along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages , Assamese evolved at least before the 7th century CE from the middle Indo-Aryan Magadhi Prakrit . Its sister languages include Angika , Bengali , Bishnupriya Manipuri , Chakma , Chittagonian , Hajong , Rajbangsi , Maithili , Rohingya and Sylheti . It
1000-532: The International Phonetic Alphabet Gloss Translation The Assamese language has the following characteristic morphological features: Verbs in Assamese are negated by adding /n/ before the verb, with /n/ picking up the initial vowel of the verb. For example: Assamese has a large collection of classifiers , which are used extensively for different kinds of objects, acquired from
1050-593: The Kamatapuri lects derive from the Kamarupi dialect of Eastern Magadhi Prakrit though some authors contest a close connection of Assamese with Magadhi Prakrit. The Indo-Aryan, which appeared in the 4th–5th century in Assam, was probably spoken in the new settlements of Kamarupa —in urban centers and along the Brahmaputra river—surrounded by Tibeto-Burman and Austroasiatic communities. Kakati's (1941) assertion that Assamese has an Austroasiatic substrate
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#17327916521101100-655: The Mandar Hill Sen inscription from the 7th century, which provides evidence of its ancient lineage. Additionally, the Charyapada , a collection of Buddhist mystical songs from the 8th century, also reflects the early development of Maithili. The language is predominantly spoken in the Mithila region, encompassing parts of present-day Bihar, Jharkhand and Nepal. Maithili's rich literary heritage includes epic poetry, philosophical texts, and devotional songs, such as
1150-725: The Sino-Tibetan languages . A few examples of the most extensive and elaborate use of classifiers are given below: In Assamese, classifiers are generally used in the numeral + classifier + noun (e.g. /ezɔn manuh/ ejon manuh 'one man') or the noun + numeral + classifier (e.g. /manuh ezɔn/ manuh ejon 'one man') forms. Most verbs can be converted into nouns by the addition of the suffix /ɔn/ . For example, /kʰa/ ('to eat') can be converted to /kʰaɔn/ khaon ('good eating'). Assamese has 8 grammatical cases : বাৰীত barit garden- LOC গৰু góru- Classical languages of India The Indian Classical languages , or
1200-478: The velar nasal (the English ng in sing ) extensively. While in many languages, the velar nasal is commonly restricted to preceding velar sounds, in Assamese it can occur intervocalically. This is another feature it shares with other languages of Northeast India , though in Assamese the velar nasal never occurs word-initially. Eastern Indic languages like Assamese, Bengali, Sylheti , and Odia do not have
1250-586: The Śāstrīya Bhāṣā ( Odia ) or the Dhrupadī Bhāṣā ( Assamese, Bengali ) or the Abhijāta Bhāṣā ( Marathi ) or the Cemmoḻi ( Tamil ), is an umbrella term for the languages of India having high antiquity, and valuable, original and distinct literary heritage . The Government of India declared in 2004 that languages that met certain strict criteria could be accorded the status of a classical language of India . It
1300-645: The 15th and subsequent centuries. In these writings the 13th/14th-century archaic forms are no longer found. Sankardev pioneered a prose-style of writing in the Ankia Naat . This was further developed by Bhattadeva who translated the Bhagavata Purana and Bhagavad Gita into Assamese prose. Bhattadev's prose was classical and restrained, with a high usage of Sanskrit forms and expressions in an Assamese syntax; and though subsequent authors tried to follow this style, it soon fell into disuse. In this writing
1350-627: The Assamese language developed as a creole and pidgin language known as Nefamese and Nagamese creole which has become a lingua franca in Nagaland. It has over 15 million native speakers according to Ethnologue . Nefamese , an Assamese-based pidgin in Arunachal Pradesh , was used as the lingua franca till it was replaced by Hindi ; and Nagamese , an Assamese-based Creole language , continues to be widely used in Nagaland . The Kamtapuri language of Rangpur division of Bangladesh and
1400-460: The Buranjis is nearly modern with some minor differences in grammar and with a pre-modern orthography. The Assamese plural suffixes ( -bor , -hat ) and the conjunctive participles ( -gai : dharile-gai ; -hi : pale-hi , baril-hi ) become well established. The Buranjis, dealing with statecraft, was also the vehicle by which Arabic and Persian elements crept into the language in abundance. Due to
1450-473: The EIC officials in an intense debate in the 1850s to reinstate Assamese. Among the local personalities Anandaram Dhekial Phukan drew up an extensive catalogue of medieval Assamese literature (among other works) and pioneered the effort among the natives to reinstate Assamese in Assam. Though this effort was not immediately successful the administration eventually declared Assamese the official vernacular in 1873 on
1500-585: The Gauda-Kamarupa stage is generally accepted and partially supported by recent linguistic research, it has not been fully reconstructed. A distinctly Assamese literary form appeared first in the 13th-century in the courts of the Kamata kingdom when Hema Sarasvati composed the poem Prahlāda Carita . In the 14th-century, Madhava Kandali translated the Ramayana into Assamese ( Saptakanda Ramayana ) in
1550-415: The bark of the saanchi tree in which religious texts and chronicles were written, as opposed to the pan-Indian system of Palm leaf manuscript writing. The present-day spellings in Assamese are not necessarily phonetic. Hemkosh ( হেমকোষ [ɦɛmkʊx] ), the second Assamese dictionary, introduced spellings based on Sanskrit , which are now the standard. Assamese has also historically been written using
Brajavali dialect - Misplaced Pages Continue
1600-515: The classical language and its later forms or its offshoots. The antiquity was increased from 1000 years to 1500-2000 years in this criteria. This criteria were kept unchanged for further selections of Telugu , Kannada , Malayalam and Odia . The following criteria were set by the Sahitya Akademi : i. High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years. ii. A body of ancient literature/texts, which
1650-629: The court of Mahamanikya , a Kachari king from central Assam. Though the Assamese idiom in these works is fully individualised, some archaic forms and conjunctive particles too are found. This period corresponds to the common stage of proto-Kamta and early Assamese. The emergence of Sankardev 's Ekasarana Dharma in the 15th century triggered a revival in language and literature . Sankardev produced many translated works and created new literary forms— Borgeets (songs), Ankia Naat (one-act plays)—infusing them with Brajavali idioms; and these were sustained by his followers Madhavdev and others in
1700-669: The development of Bengali to replace Persian, the language of administration in Mughal India, and maintained that Assamese was a dialect of Bengali. Amidst this loss of status the American Baptist Mission (ABM) established a press in Sibsagar in 1846 leading to publications of an Assamese periodical ( Orunodoi ), the first Assamese grammar by Nathan Brown (1846), and the first Assamese-English dictionary by Miles Bronson (1863). The ABM argued strongly with
1750-456: The emergence of different styles of secular prose in medicine, astrology, arithmetic, dance, music, besides religious biographies and the archaic prose of magical charms. Most importantly this was also when Assamese developed a standardised prose in the Buranjis —documents related to the Ahom state dealing with diplomatic writings, administrative records and general history. The language of
1800-492: The end of those negotiations was a standard close to the language of the Buranjis with the Sanskritised orthography of Hemchandra Barua. As the political and commercial center moved to Guwahati in the mid-twentieth century, of which Dispur the capital of Assam is a suburb and which is situated at the border between the western and central dialect speaking regions, standard Assamese used in media and communications today
1850-404: The eve of Assam becoming a Chief Commissioner's Province in 1874. In the extant medieval Assamese manuscripts the orthography was not uniform. The ABM had evolved a phonemic orthography based on a contracted set of characters. Working independently Hemchandra Barua provided an etymological orthography and his etymological dictionary, Hemkosh , was published posthumously. He also provided
1900-425: The first person future tense ending -m ( korim : "will do"; kham : "will eat") is seen for the first time. The language moved to the court of the Ahom kingdom in the seventeenth century, where it became the state language. In parallel, the proselytising Ekasarana dharma converted many Bodo-Kachari peoples and there emerged many new Assamese speakers who were speakers of Tibeto-Burman languages. This period saw
1950-958: The influence of the Ahom state the speech in eastern Assam took a homogeneous and standard form. The general schwa deletion that occurs in the final position of words came into use in this period. The modern period of Assamese begins with printing—the publication of the Assamese Bible in 1813 from the Serampore Mission Press . But after the British East India Company (EIC) removed the Burmese in 1826 and took complete administrative control of Assam in 1836, it filled administrative positions with people from Bengal, and introduced Bengali language in its offices, schools and courts. The EIC had earlier promoted
2000-601: The language family. But in lower Assam, ও is pronounced the same as অ' (ó): compare কোলা kwla [kóla] and মোৰ mwr [mór] . Assamese has vowel harmony . The vowels [i] and [u] cause the preceding mid vowels and the high back vowels to change to [e] and [o] and [u] respectively. Assamese is one of the few languages spoken in India which exhibit a systematic process of vowel harmony. The inherent vowel in standard Assamese, / ɔ /, follows deletion rules analogous to " schwa deletion " in other Indian languages. Assamese follows
2050-536: The language. The newly differentiated vernacular, from which Assamese eventually emerged, is evident in the Prakritisms present in the Sanskrit of the Kamarupa inscriptions . The earliest forms of Assamese in literature are found in the 9th-century Buddhist verses called Charyapada the language of which bear affinities with Assamese (as well as Bengali, Bhojpuri, Maithili and Odia) and which belongs to
Brajavali dialect - Misplaced Pages Continue
2100-479: The past. There is a significant Assamese-speaking diaspora worldwide. Assamese is the official language of Assam, and one of the 22 official languages recognised by the Republic of India . The Assam Secretariat functions in Assamese. The Assamese phonemic inventory consists of eight vowels , ten diphthongs , and twenty-three consonants (including two semivowels ). The Assamese phoneme inventory
2150-482: The political parties of the states or union territories of the respective languages where these are spoken or are based in, or the national parties, advocating for the certain languages to be accorded the demanded status. A lawyer from the Madras High Court legally challenged against the official classical status of Malayalam and Odia, in 2015. There was a long legal proceeding for almost one year. Later,
2200-426: The preservation, documentation, and digitization of ancient texts of these languages will provide employment opportunities to people in archiving, translation, publishing, and digital media. The declared Classical languages ( Sashtriya Bhasa ) of the Republic of India : Assamese , Bengali , Kannada , Malayalam , Marathi , Odia , Pali , Prakrit , Sanskrit , Tamil , and Telugu . Classical language means
2250-434: The texts in their own way. On the contrary, archaeological, historical and numismatic evidence are tangible things” As per Government of India's Resolution No. 2-16/2004-US (Akademies) dated 1 November 2004, the benefits that will accrue to a language declared as a "Classical Language" are: The recognition of these classical languages will give job employment opportunities, especially in academic and research areas. Moreover,
2300-411: The voiceless velar fricative is heavy in the eastern Assamese dialects and decreases progressively to the west—from Kamrupi to eastern Goalparia , and disappears completely in western Goalpariya. The change of /s/ to /h/ and then to /x/ has been attributed to Tibeto-Burman influence by Suniti Kumar Chatterjee . Assamese, Odia , and Bengali , in contrast to other Indo-Aryan languages , use
2350-490: The works of the 14th-century poet Vidyapati . Though it has a distinct script, Tirhuta , Devanagari is commonly used today. Despite its profound historical and cultural significance, Maithili has yet to be recognized as a "classical language" by the Government of India, leading to ongoing demands for such recognition. Besides the literary achievements, the status of classical language is granted, sometimes influenced by
2400-404: The year 2004, the tentative criteria for the age of antiquity of "classical language" was assumed to be at least 1000 years of existence. The criteria were kept revising from time to time by the authorities. The following criteria were set during the time Tamil was given the classical language status by the government of India : A. High Antiquity of its early texts/ recorded history over
2450-534: Was instituted by the Ministry of Culture along with the Linguistic Experts' Committee. The committee was constituted by the Government of India to consider demands for the categorisation of languages as Classical languages . In 2004, Tamil became the first language to be recognised as a classical language of India . As of 2024, 11 languages have been recognised as classical languages of India . In
2500-538: Was replaced in the new criteria. Under these criteria, Assamese, Bengali, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit were given the classical language status. Upon dropping the criteria for "original literary tradition", the Linguistic Expert Committee justified their decision by stating the following: “We discussed it in detail and understood that it was a very difficult thing to prove or disprove as all ancient languages borrowed from each other, but recreated
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