Editing Assamese language (section)

====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>