Editing Assamese language (section)

==History==
[[File:East-magadhan-proto-languages.png|thumb|The proto-languages of the eastern Magadhan languages. [[Kamarupi Prakrit]] corresponds to ?proto-Kamarupa here, a hitherto un-reconstructed proto-language. [[KRNB lects#proto-Kamata|proto-Kamata]] began to innovate unique features in the period 1250–1550 CE.<ref>Proto-Kamta took its inheritance from ?proto-Kamarupa (and before that from ?proto-Gauda-Kamarupa), innovated the unique features ... in 1250-1550 AD" {{harvcol|Toulmin|2006|p=306}}</ref>]]
[[File:Silver rupee of Rudra Simha.jpg|thumb|{{center|Silver coin issued during the reign of [[Rudra Singha]] in Sanskrit with Assamese letters}}]]
Assamese originated in [[Old-Indo-Aryan|Old Indo-Aryan]] dialects, though the exact nature of its origin and growth is not clear yet.<ref>"Asamiya has historically originated in Old Indo-Aryan dialects, but the exact nature of its origin and growth is not very clear as yet." {{harvcol|Goswami|2003|pp=394}}</ref> It is generally believed that Assamese and the [[Kamatapuri lects]] derive from the [[Kamarupi Prakrit|Kamarupi dialect]] of Eastern [[Magadhi Prakrit]]<ref name="kakati41p9">"Dr. S. K. Chatterji basing his conclusions on the materials accumulated in LSI, Part I, and other monographs on the Bengali dialects, divides Eastern Mag. Pkt. and Ap. into four dialect groups. (1) Raddha dialects which comprehend Western Bengali which gives standard Bengali colloquial and Oriya in the South West. (2) Varendra dialects of North Central Bengal. (3) Kumarupa dialects which comprehend Assamese and the dialects of North Bengal. (4) Vanga dialects which comprehend the dialects of East Bengal (ODBL VolI p140)." {{harv|Kakati|1941|p=6}}</ref> though some authors contest a close connection of Assamese with Magadhi Prakrit.<ref>There is evidence that the Prakrit of the [[Kamarupa kingdom]] differed enough from the [[Magadhi Prakrit]] to be identified as either a parallel [[Kamrupi Prakrit]] or at least an eastern variety of the Magadha Prakrit {{Harvcol|Sharma|1990|pp=0.24–0.28}}</ref><ref>'One of the interesting theories propounded by Sri Medhi is the classification of Assamese "as a mixture of Eastern and Western groups" or a "mixture of Sauraseni and Magadhi". But whether it is word resemblance or grammatical resemblance, the author admits that in some cases they may be accidental. But he says, "In any case, they may be of some help to scholars for more searching enquiry in future".' {{harvcol|Pattanayak|2016|pp=43–44}}</ref> The Indo-Aryan, which appeared in the 4th–5th century in Assam,<ref name="4th5th"/> was probably spoken in the new settlements of [[Kamarupa]]—in urban centers and along the [[Brahmaputra River|Brahmaputra]] river—surrounded by Tibeto-Burman and Austroasiatic communities.<ref>"(W)e should imagine a linguistic patchwork with an eastern Indo-Aryan vernacular (not yet really "Assamese") in the urban centers and along the river and Tibeto-Burman and Austroasiatic communities everywhere." {{harvcol|DeLancey|2012|pp=15–16}}</ref> Kakati's (1941) assertion that Assamese has an [[Austroasiatic]] substrate 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]].<ref name="4th5th">"While Kakati's assertion of an Austroasiatic substrate needs to be re-established on the basis of more systematic evidence, it is consistent with the general assumption that the lower Brahmaputra drainage was originally Austroasiatic speaking. It also implies the existence of a substantial Austroasiatic speaking population till the time of spread of Aryan culture into Assam, i.e. it implies that up until the 4th-5th centuries CE and probably much later Tibeto-Burman languages had not completely supplanted Austroasiatic languages." {{harvcol|DeLancey|2012|p=13}}</ref> Based on the 7th-century Chinese traveller [[Xuanzang]]'s observations, {{harvtxt|Chatterji|1926}} suggests that the Indo-Aryan vernacular differentiated itself in Kamarupa before it did in Bengal,<ref>"It is curious to find that according to ([[Xuanzang|Hiuen Tsang]]) the language of Kamarupa 'differed a little' from that of mid-India. Hiuen Tsang is silent about the language of Pundra-vardhana or Karna-Suvarna; it can be presumed that the language of these tracts was identical with that of Magadha." {{harv|Chatterji|1926|p=78}}</ref> and that these differences could be attributed to non-Indo-Aryan speakers adopting the language.<ref>"Perhaps this 'differing a little' of the Kamarupa speech refers to those modifications of Aryan sounds which now characterise Assamese as well as North- and East-Bengali dialects." {{harv|Chatterji|1926|pp=78–89}}</ref><ref>"When [the Tibeto-Burman speakers] adopted that language they also enriched it with their vocabularies, expressions, affixes etc." {{harvcol|Saikia|1997}}</ref>{{Sfn|Moral|1997|pp=43-53}} The newly differentiated vernacular, from which Assamese eventually emerged, is evident in the [[Kamarupi Prakrit#Characteristics|Prakritism]]s present in the Sanskrit of the [[Kamarupa inscriptions]].<ref>"... (it shows) that in Ancient Assam there were three languages viz. (1) Sanskrit as the official language and the language of the learned few, (2) Non-Aryan tribal languages of the Austric and Tibeto-Burman families, and (3) a local variety of Prakrit (ie a MIA) wherefrom, in course of time, the modern Assamese language as a MIL, emerged." {{cite book |last=Sharma |first=Mukunda Madhava |year=1978 |title=Inscriptions of Ancient Assam |publisher=[[Gauhati University]] |location=Guwahati, Assam |pages=xxiv-xxviii |oclc=559914946}}</ref>{{Sfn|Medhi|1988|pp=67–63}}

===Magadhan and Gauda-Kamarupa stages===
The earliest forms of Assamese in literature are found in the 9th-century Buddhist verses called [[Charyapada]]<ref>"The earliest specimen of Assamese language and literature is available in the dohās, known also as Caryās, written by the Buddhist Siddhacharyas hailing from different parts of eastern India. Some of them are identified as belonging to ancient Kāmarūpa by the Sino-Tibetologists." {{harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=433}}</ref> the language of which bear [[Charyapada#Affinities with Assamese|affinities with Assamese]] (as well as Bengali, Maithili and Odia) and which belongs to a period when the Prakrit was at the cusp of differentiating into regional languages.<ref>"The language of [''charyapadas''] was also claimed to be early Assamese and early Bihari (Eastern Hindi) by various scholars. Although no systematic scientific study has been undertaken on the basis of comparative reconstruction, a cursory look is enough to suggest that the language of these texts represents a stage when the North-Eastern Prakrit was either not differentiated or at an early stage of differentiation into the regional languages of North-Eastern India." {{harvcol|Pattanayak|2016|p=127}}</ref> The spirit and expressiveness of the ''Charyadas'' are today found in the folk songs called ''Deh-Bicarar Git''.<ref>"The folk-song like ''Deh Bicarar Git'' and some aphorisms are found to contain sometimes the spirit and way of expression of the ''charyapadas''." {{harvcol|Saikia|1997|p=5}}</ref>

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'')<ref>""There are some works of the period between 12th and 14th centuries, which kept the literary tradition flowing after the period of the ''charyapadas''. They are ''Sunya Puran'' of Ramai Pandit, ''Krishna Kirtan'' of Boru Chandi Das, ''Gopichandrar Gan'' of Sukur Mamud. Along with these three works ''Gobindachandrar Git'' of Durllava Mullik and ''Mainamatirgan'' of Bhavani Das also deserve mention here." {{harvcol|Saikia|1997|p=5}}</ref> Assamese grammatical peculiarities coexist with features from [[Bengali language]].<ref>"No doubt some expression close to the Bengali language can be found in these works. But grammatical peculiarities prove these works to be in the Assamese language of the western part of Assam." {{harvcol|Saikia|1997|p=5}}</ref><ref>"In ''Krishna Kirtana'' for instance, the first personal affixes of the present indicative are ''-i'' and ''-o''; the former is found in Bengali at present and the later in Assamese. Similarly the negative particle ''na-'' assimilated to the initial vowel of the conjugated root which is characteristic of Assamese is also found in ''Krishna Kirtana''. Modern Bengali places the negative particle after the conjugated root." {{harvcol|Kakati|1953|p=5}}</ref> Though the Gauda-Kamarupa stage is generally accepted and partially supported by recent linguistic research, it has not been fully reconstructed.<ref>"In summary, none of Pattanayak's changes are diagnostic of a unique proto Bangla-Asamiya subgroup that also includes proto Kamta.... Grierson's contention may well be true that 'Gauḍa Apabhraṁśa' was the parent speech both of Kamrupa and today's Bengal (see quote under §7.3.2), but it has not yet been proven as such by careful historical linguistic reconstruction." and "Though it has not been the purpose of this study to reconstruct higher level proto-languages beyond proto-Kamta, the reconstruction here has turned up three morphological innovations—[MI 73.] (diagnostic), [MI 2] (supportive), [MI 70] (supportive)—which provide some evidence for a proto-language which may be termed proto Gauḍa-Kamrupa." {{harvcol|Toulmin|2009|p=213}}</ref>

===Early Assamese===
{{See also|Early Assamese|Assamese literature#Shankari literature (1490 1700 AD)}}
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''.<ref>"However, the earliest literary work available which may be claimed as distinctly Asamiya is the Prahrāda Carita written by a court poet named Hema Sarasvatī in the latter half of the thirteenth century AD.{{harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=433}}</ref> In the 14th-century, [[Madhava Kandali]] translated the [[Ramayana]] into Assamese ([[Saptakanda Ramayana]]) in the court of [[Mahamanikya]], a [[Bodo-Kachari peoples|Kachari]] king from central Assam. Though the Assamese idiom in these works is fully individualised, some archaic forms and conjunctive particles too are found.<ref name="harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=434">{{harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=434}}</ref><ref>{{harvcol|Kakati|1953|p=5}}</ref> This period corresponds to the common stage of [[KRNB lects#Proto Kamta|proto-Kamta]] and early Assamese.<ref>"The phonological and morphological reconstruction of the present study has found three morphological innovations that give some answers to these questions: [MI 67.] (diagnostic), [MI 22.] (supportive), and [MI 23.] (supportive). These changes provide evidence for a proto Kamrupa stage of linguistic history—ancestral to proto-Kamta and proto eastern-Kamrupa (Asamiya). However, a thorough KRDS-andAsamiya-wide reconstruction of linguistic history is required before this protostage can be robustly established." {{harvcol|Toulmin|2009|p=214}}</ref>

The emergence of [[Sankardev]]'s [[Ekasarana Dharma]] in the 15th century triggered a [[Assamese literature#Shankari literature (1490-1700 AD)|revival in language and literature]].<ref>"Sankaradeva (1449–1567) brought about a Vaishnavite revival accompanied by a revival of the language and literature." {{harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=434}}</ref> Sankardev produced many translated works and created new literary forms—''[[Borgeet]]s'' (songs), ''[[Ankia Naat]]'' (one-act plays)—infusing them with [[Brajavali]] idioms; and these were sustained by his followers [[Madhavdev]] and others in 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.<ref name="harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=434"/> In this writing the first person future tense ending ''-m'' (''korim'': "will do"; ''kham'': "will eat") is seen for the first time.<ref>"[Bhattadev's] prose was an artificial one and yet it preserves certain grammatical peculiarities. The first personal ending ''-m'' in the future tense appears for the first time in writing side by side with the conventional ''-bo''." {{harvcol|Kakati|1953|p=6}}</ref>

===Middle Assamese===
The language moved to the court of the [[Ahom kingdom]] in the seventeenth century,<ref name="ahom-court-language">"Incidentally, literate Ahoms retained the Tai language and script well until the end of the 17th century. In that century of Ahom-Mughal conflicts, this language first coexisted with and then was progressively replaced by Assamese (Asamiya) at and outside the Court." {{harvtxt|Guha|1983|p=9}}</ref> 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 the emergence of different styles of secular prose in medicine, astrology, arithmetic, dance, music, besides religious biographies and the archaic prose of magical charms.<ref name="harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=434"/>

Most importantly this was also when Assamese developed a standardised prose in the [[Buranji]]s—documents related to the Ahom state dealing with diplomatic writings, administrative records and general history.<ref name="harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=434"/> The language of 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.<ref name="harvcol|Kakati|1953|p=6">{{harvcol|Kakati|1953|p=6}}</ref> The Buranjis, dealing with statecraft, was also the vehicle by which Arabic and Persian elements crept into the language in abundance.<ref name="harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=434"/> Due to the influence of the Ahom state the speech in eastern Assam took a homogeneous and standard form.<ref>{{harvcol|Kakati|1953|p=7}}</ref> The general [[Schwa deletion in Indo-Aryan languages#Assamese|schwa deletion]] that occurs in the final position of words came into use in this period.

===Modern Assamese===
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) [[Treaty of Yandaboo|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.<ref>"The British administration introduced Bangla in all offices, in the courts and schools of Assam." {{harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=435}}</ref> The EIC had earlier promoted the development of Bengali to replace Persian, the language of administration in Mughal India,<ref>"By 1772, the Company had skillfully employed the sword, diplomacy, and intrigue to take over the rule of Bengal from her people, factious nobles, and weak Nawab. Subsequently, to consolidate its hold on the province, the Company promoted the Bengali language. This did not represent an intrinsic love for Bengali speech and literature. Instead it was aimed at destroying traditional patterns of authority through supplanting the Persian language which had been the official tongue since the days of the great Moguls." {{harvcol|Khan|1962|p=53}}</ref> and maintained that Assamese was a dialect of Bengali.<ref>"''[W]e should not assent to uphold a corrupt dialect, but endeavour to introduce pure Bengallee, and to render this Province as far as possible an integral part of the great country to which that language belongs, and to render available to Assam the literature of Bengal.'' - This brief aside of Francis Jenkins in a Revenue Consultation remains one of the
clearest policy statements of the early British Indian administration regarding the
vernacular question in Assam." {{harvcol|Kar|2008|p=28}}</ref>

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 (missionary)|Nathan Brown]] (1846), and the first Assamese-English dictionary by [[Miles Bronson]] (1863).<ref name="harvcol|Kakati|1953|p=6"/> The ABM argued strongly with the EIC officials in an intense debate in the 1850s to reinstate Assamese.<ref>{{harvcol|Kar|2008|pp=40–45}}</ref> 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.<ref>"He wrote under a pen name, A Native, a book in English, ''A Few Remarks on the Assamese Language and on Vernacular Education in Assam'', 1855, and had 100 copies of it printed by A H Danforth at the Sibsagar Baptist Mission Press. One copy of the publication was sent to the Government of Bengal and other copies were distributed free among leading men of Assam. An abstract of this was published later in ''[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.206684/page/n65/mode/2up The Indian Antiquary (1897, p57)]''". {{harvcol|Neog|1980|p=15}}</ref> Though this effort was not immediately successful the administration eventually declared Assamese the official vernacular in 1873 on the eve of Assam becoming a [[Colonial Assam#Chief Commissioner's Province (1874–1905)|Chief Commissioner's Province]] in 1874.<ref>"In less than twenty years' time, the government actually revised its classification and declared Assamese as the official vernacular of the Assam Division (19 April 1873), as a prelude to the constitution of a separate Chief Commissionership of Assam (6 February 1874)." {{harvcol|Kar|2008|p=45}}</ref>

====Standardisation====
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.<ref>{{harvcol|Kar|2008|p=38}}</ref> Working independently [[Hemchandra Barua]] provided an etymological orthography and his etymological dictionary, ''[[Hemkosh]]'', was published posthumously. He also provided a Sanskritised approach to the language in his ''Asamiya Bhaxar Byakaran'' ("Grammar of the Assamese Language") (1859, 1873).<ref>{{harvcol|Kar|2008|pp=46–47}}</ref> 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 (magazine)|Jonaki]]'' and the period of its publication, ''Jonaki era'', saw spirited negotiations on language standardisation.<ref>{{harvcol|Kar|2008|pp=51–55}}</ref> What emerged at the end of those negotiations was a standard close to the language of the Buranjis with the Sanskritised orthography of Hemchandra Barua.<ref>"They looked back to the fully mature prose of the historical writings of earlier periods, which possessed all the strength and vitality to stand the new challenge. Hemchandra Barua and his followers immediately reverted to the syntax and style of that prose, and Sanskritized the orthography and spelling system entirely. He was followed by one and all including the missionaries themselves, in their later writings. And thus, the solid plinth of the modern standard language was founded and accepted as the norm all over the state." {{harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=435}}</ref>

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 is a neutral blend of the eastern variety without its distinctive features.<ref>"In contemporary Assam, for the purposes of mass media and communication, a certain neutral blend of eastern Assamese, without too many distinctive eastern features, like /ɹ/ deletion, which is a robust phenomenon in the eastern varieties, is
still considered to be the norm." {{harvcol|Mahanta|2012|p=217}}</ref> This core is further embellished with [[Goalpariya dialects|Goalpariya]] and [[Kamrupi dialects|Kamrupi]] idioms and forms.<ref>"Now, Dispur, the Capital city being around Guwahati, as also with the spread of literacy and education in the western Assam districts, forms of the Central and Western dialects have been creeping into the literary idiom and reshaping the standard language during the last few decades." {{harvcol|Goswami|2003|p=436}}</ref>