(x)

00. INTRODUCTION

00.1 Assamese, the easterrm ost branch o f Aryan Language,

i s now, p r a c t ic a lly , occupying the place o f lin qua-fran ks

i n e astern India* D iffe re n t d ia le c t ic a l groups o f people

are liv in g within the wide t e r r it o r y of g rea te r .43sam, ^iich

has been divided afterwards in to a few sta te s* Assamese

sprang out o f the Magadhan branch of Aryan speech.

00*2 I t i s obvious that once a large area o f the North

Bengal in clu d in g Rangpur d i s t r i c t , presently in Bangladesh,

viere the p a rt of ancient Assam, and this e n tire area was

within the t e r r it o r y of p ragjyotish p u r and Kamrup in mytho­

lo g ic a l p eriod. But a ft e r the p o l i t i c a l reorganisation of

the Indian state s i n 1954 North Bengal was merged with

west Bengal and the d is t r ic t of Rangpur had gone to the

then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. Whatsoever, i t might

be p o l i t i c a l l y , but from the lin g u is t ic point of view, th is

whole area was includedin Assam, as because the common

language was considered as a p art of the old Kamrupi d ia le c t .

00.3 At the time of Kamata and Koch R aj, the c u ltu ra l

centre of the grea te r .\ssam was Kamatanager and gooch 3 ehar,

re s p e c tiv e ly , a standard language of the s ta te developed

on the d ia le c t s , p revalent, mainly, in the c u lt u r a l centre

 (xL)

area, Hence the S .A 3 .S t.col. o f the N . I . a. period, developed,

mainly, on the d ia le c t prevalent in the lower Assam, and

North Bengal. But la te r on during the B ritish rule, the

c u ltu ra l centre was s h ifte d to upper Assam from Kimatanagar

and cooch 3ehar and so the MS. as .St . c o l . develops an the
d ia le c ts prevalent in the upper Assam.

00.4 Assamese is the s ta te language o f Assam, fhe area

taken fo r the d ia le c t ic a l discussion i . e . , undivided d is tr ic ts
o f hamrup and Goalpara is within the cu ltu ra l and p o lit ic a l
boundary o f ms am. Moreover, the d ia le c ts are the branches
o f old Kamrupi from Which the Md* as. sprang out. Therefore,
the d ia le c ts o f these two d is t r ic t s are in no way separable
from £. and mq. as. But they have, in course of time, unfor­
tu n ately, lo s t th e ir p restige as St, c o l. so they acp, here,

trea ted as d ia le c ts o f old Kamrupi or E. AS.or m2.As. The

morphological s im ila r itie s o f the d ia lects with s t . c o l. ac.

have been shown in the body o f the te x t, in d iffe r e n t chapter.
Hie phonemic s im ila r itie s and d is s im ila r itie s o f the d ia le c ts
with s t.C o l. As. is shown in a m ts h e l. e .g ./

3 t. AS.1 i# e , t , a# a# 9 , O, u,
Kim. i , « , * , a# a, O# u
Gcal. i . «# £ # a# a# t ^ o . u

1 Makati, T’. ; A.F .D ., p. 28

 (K il)

St.A S,2* P b t d k g
Ph bh th dh Mi
s z X h
m n It
1 r ch
a

w y
Kara/5' P b t d k g
ph bh th dh Mi gh
s z X h
m n n
r 1
P a l.— ash, p a l. 4Bar. -w .y •
GoSl. P b t d t• d« k g
ph bh th dh th
• dh kh
e

c ch i Jb s h
9
m n n
1 r
w y.
Hie vowel phonemes o f the d ia le c t s o f Kam. and
G oal, ace alm ost id e n t ic a l with s t*A s « , except 6 of s t *A s .
Which i s absent fran Kam. , but allo p h cn ic u se o f which i s
th e re in Goal*

2 .Kakaii .P. 29.

GCfrwami, U .K .i K.D.A.# p.42
 (x lii)

The com onant phonemes o f Kara, are same with those

o f s t . as* The only d iffe r e n c e ,n o t ic e d , i s th at s t . c o l . as .
rh i s absent from i<Sin. , w hile Pal* zh i s absent from
3t.COl.AS.

The com onant phonemes o f the d ia le c t s o f go« 1.

show a remarkable d iffe r e n c e from j t . as . and *5m. e . q . f

St.AS.flPd Kam. Goal.

absent dental t , th . d , dh
absent Alveo-Retro t , th , d , dh,
• * • r

t,t h ,d ,d h a lv e o la r absent
absent P a lo-A lv eola r c , ch , J# jh

s ,z ,p a l .z h a lv e o la r absent
absent p ost*A lveolar s.
X v e la r absent

00*5 The phonemic study o f the language of the e . a*.

l i t , , h?s not, y e t , been done, and th e scope f o r such

study i s a ls o very lim ited . The e. as. shows s u f f ic ie n t
s im ila r it ie s with the d ia le c t s o f G o il. ^n d North Bengal
i n phonology and morphology.4

4 smrtigranth t Kabi sanmilan, 1981, p. 27$ ftokrajhar.

 (xlv)

However, in the long process o f the journey of

hundres of years# the old i^rnrupi s p l i t into some varieties#
making seme d ia le c tic a l groups with some points of difference
in d ia le c tic a l features#

00.6 Kamrup t This whole area i s divided into three

major dialects# such as# Barpeta# Nalbari and Falasbari#
an which Dr. U.N.Qoswami has don# a dependrblc research#

0 0 .6 .1 Barpeta t The homeland of the Barpeta d ia le c t is#

the present Barpeta d is t r ic t . But i t crosses over the t e r r i­
t o r ia l lin e of the d i s t r i c t and spread towards the eastern
part of the present Goal para and Kokrajhar d is t r ic t s . The
northern part of the d is t r ic t of Barpeta i s inhabitated by
the tr ib a l people# who speak Bodo end Barpeta d ia le c t. Local
Hindu and ms Urn speak the d ia le c t as th eir mother tongue.
But the emigrants speak i t only when necessary.

0 0 .6 .2 Nalbari > Nalbari d ia le c t is# prominently .spreading

over the en tire Nalbari d is t r ic t . Moreover I t covers the
attached area of the western and eastern parts of the present
Kamrup d is t r ic t in the North bank of the Brahmaputra, i t i s
unknown why th is d ia le c t does not cross over the south bank
or the Brahmaputra. The pattern of the population of the
d ia le c t group Is almost id en tical with that of Barpeta.
 (xv)

00,6.3 P a la s b a ri t The P a la s b a ri d ia le c t , comparatively ,

spreads over in a sm all area on the south bank of the

Brahmaputra. The heme l and o f th is d ia le c t is bounded by

Boko and c h a r a li, re sp e c tiv e ly on the Western and eastern

boarder. The d ia le c t with i t s d is t in c t iv e features shov>-

019; •_ s im ila r it ie s with Jharua d ia le c t , is and w i l l go cn

u rv iv in g .

Mixed d ia le c t areas t

Guwahati, the only c it y and the present p o l i t i c a l ,

c u lt u r a l and lit e r a r y Head charter of Assam, appears as a

mixed d ia le c t area , from path sala to West of Barama is a ls o

a mixed d ia le c t area. The separate d ia le c t ic a l and mixed

d ia le c t ic a l areas have been shown in the map.

00.7 Goalpara j This d i s t r i c t i s a ls o divided into thrao

major d ia le c t s , such as, G h u llia , Cania and Jharua as shown

below s

00.7.1 G h u llia t Hie d ia le c t spoken by the people of

G h u llia , (= ghuzn, round, a rounded area ) a paragana f t

the time of Jamindary ru le in G oalpara, is c a lle d G h u llia .

The Ghul. d ia le c t crosses over the Western boundary of the

present d i s t r i c t of Dhubri and extends upto the d i s t r i c t

of Rangpur in Bangladesh and cooch Behar in North Bengal.

On the eastern sid e i t is bounded by Dhubri and Gauripur
t
 (xvi)

l o c a l i t ie s . On the northern sid e i t goes upto the south of

Gosaigacn. Ghul. is spoken mainly in Dhubri d is t r ic t , except
the people o f Dhumarghat area, the rest o f the population
o f the south bank of the Brahmaputra under Dhubri d is t r ic t ,
do not speak th is d ia le c t and they do not f a l l within this
d ia le c t ic a l group. There are Bengalies, Biharies and Marowaries,
who
in the towns o f the d is t r ic t speak th e ir own mother tongues.
A

00,7.2 Carua t Hie d ia le c t spoken by the iiiia b iten ts of

the south bank o f the Brahmaputra, covering the extended

areas f ran Jales war to Manikachar, is named Carua (= car. the
sandy r iv e r bank). But due to the natural calam ities lik e
devastating flo o d , erosion, earthquake, economical tortu re
and lack of ways and means o f liv e lih o o d e tc . the inhabitent
o f that areas began to cross over the Brahmaputra and then
began to liv e an the surrounding areas of Sapatgram, Capar,
B ilasipara and Gauripur. But a large number of people is ,
s t i l l , liv in g in more than twelve d iffe r e n t v illa g e s on
Jamadarhat area and towards the western areas of the Goalpar^
town, so the d ia le c t presently spoken by the people o f those
areas o f the north and south bank o f the Brahmaputra, is
c a lle d Carui. This d ia le c t i s , s t i l l , liv in g and is spoken
by the Das, Rajbansis and Muslims.
 (xvii)

00.7.3 Jharua t Jharua i s , mainly, the d ia le c t of the

people liv e d in the Jhar. (■ the jan g le a r e a ). The d ia le c t

covers a very wide area from the east-w est J a lp a ig u ri d is t r ic t

in North Bengal to B iz n i, in the present Goalpara d i s t r i c t .

But the Jharua d ia le c t completely f a i l s to keep it s homogineity

due to i t s extensiveness. In course of time the Goalparian

Jharua deviates from that of J a lp a ig u ri d i s t r i c t in many

respects, nut the proposed study is lim ited within the un divi­

ded d i s t r i c t of Goalpara, and so , there is no scope to go

beyond the Goalparian Jharua d ia le c t s . The homeland of the

d ia le c t is bounded by west o f Bangaigaon and B iz n i. I t

extends upto Lakhipur cn the South bank of the Brahmaputra.

Bangaigaon, KOkrajhar and B iz n i, North salmara, Bahalpur,

Batiam ari, salkocha e tc . are the prominent towns in th is

area where Jharua d ia le c t i s predominantly, spoken by i t s

population.

00.8 Mixed d ia le c t s area t

There are a ls o some mixed d ia le c t areas in the

undivided d i s t r i c t of Goalpara. The former Carua d ia le c t

areas are, now, mainly irh a b ita te d by the Bhatiya muslims.

Ihe Dhumerghat area, on the south bank of Brahmaputra is

in the Carua d ia le c t areas. But d ia le c t ic a lly the area

comes under the G h u llia group. The Jharua d ia le c t areas

have, now, geographically become a h igh ly mixed d ia le c t

areas as because a huge number o f Carua and G h u llia d ia le c ­

t i c a l groups of people are in h a b ita tin g in those areas.

 (x viii )

T hese a r e shown i n th e map*

Ih e stu d y o f each o f th e s e d i a l e c t s i s v e ry e s s e n t i a l
t o com plete th e stu d y o f th e S t . C o l . Assam ese, ' n o i n v e s t i ­

g a t io n o f a lan g u ag e can b e c o n sid e re d c o n p le te w ithout th e

S
m ost e x h a u stiv e stu d y p o s s i b l e o f a l l i t s d i a l e c t " , once
•the Aryan language spoken f i r s t in Assam was the Kamarupi

la n g u a g e spoken i n R angpur, Gooch B e h ar, G o a lp a ra , '=*nrup

c
and sa n e p a r t s o f Nowgaon and D arran g d i s t r i c t s ' . The
sta te m e n t d i s c l o s s e s th e f a c t t h a t th e d i a l e c t s ta k e n up
f o r a n a l y s is a r e th e b a s e d v d ia le c t s o f both e a r l y and modern
S t . C o l. a s . s o w ith cu t p ro p e r a n a l y s i s o f t h e s e d i a l e c t s ,
t h e stu d y o f A ssam ese lan gu age w i l l not be com p leted .

0 0 .9 The co m p arativ e stu d y o f the d i a l e c t s o f t h i s v a s t

a r e a , y e t n e g le c te d and u n e x p lo re d , i s v e ry im p o rtan t f o r
th e stu d y o f d i f f e r e n t b ran ch es o f th e A ryan sp e e c h e s o f
th e e a s t e r n zon e, m e x te n s iv e to u r th ro u gh o u t th e v a s t
a r e a bounded b y p a l a s b a r l t o B a J o ir h a t and G osaigaon t o

M anlkachar, on th e both banks o f th e B rahm aputra, h as been

made t o c o l l e c t th e d a t a s f o r t h i s s t u d y , d i r e c t l y frcm
th e mouth o f th e d i f f e r e n t s s p e a k e r s o f t h e s e d i a l e c t s .
B e s id e s t h a t some l o c a l l y p u b lish e d m a t e r ia ls and f o l k -
l i t e r a t u r e have been aJU o ta k e n a s prim ary s o u r c e m a t e r ia l.

5, G ray, L .H .; p o rm id atio n of la n g u a g e . R e f. K.D.A. #

Goswami, U .N .
€ . Goswami, U .N .» K .D .A ., p .5
 (xix)

The work c o n t a in s th e m o r p h o -p h o n o lo g ic a l d is c u s s io n

o f th e s i x d i a l e c t s o f u n d iv id e d d i s t r i c t s o f Kamrup and

G oal para, and c o n ip a r is io n o f th e t h r e e d i a l e c t s o f kamrup

and s o a l s o o f C o a lp a ra ; th e co n ip a risio n b etw een th e d i a l e c t s

o f kamrup and c o a lp a r a appears a t th e l a s t s t a g e . M oreover,

i t c o n t a in s th e specim ens o f f o l k - l i t . and s t o r y from each

d i a l e c t - g r o u p . The com p a ra tiv e a n a ly s is o f th e d i a l e c t s

tak en up f o r th e d i s c u s s io n , w ith th e language o f Cary a s ,

K. K* , and . . .. . has been a l s o added in a nuts he 1.

The e n t ir e work i s com p leted in nine d i f f e r e n t ch a p ters as

n o te d down i n uhe c o n te n ts p a ge. The stu dy i s m ainly based

on p e r s o n a l i n v e s t i g a t i o n and la b o r a t e f i e I d - s t u d i e s «