Kamrupi dialects explained

Kamrupi dialects
Pronunciation:pronounced as //ˈkæmruːpi//
Ethnicity:Kamrupi people
States:India
Region:Kamrup region
Familycolor:Indo-European
Fam2:Indo-Iranian
Fam3:Indo-Aryan
Fam4:Eastern
Fam5:Bengali-Assamese
Fam6:Assamese
Dialects:Barpetia dialect
Nalbariya dialect
Palasbaria dialect
Script:
Isoexception:dialect
Glotto:none

Kamrupi dialects are a group of regional dialects of Assamese,[1] spoken in the Kamrup region. It formerly enjoyed prestige status. It is one of two western dialect groups of the Assamese language, the other being Goalpariya. Kamrupi is heterogeneous with three subdialects - Barpetia dialect, Nalbariya dialect and Palasbaria dialect.

In medieval times, Kamrupi was used in the Brahmaputra Valley and its adjoining areas for literary purposes in parallel with Sanskrit, both for prose and poetry. This went against the practices of literary figures of mid India like Vidyapati who used Sanskrit for prose and Maithili for poetry.[2] In more recent times, the South Kamrupi dialect has been used in the works of author Indira Goswami. Poet and nationalist Ambikagiri Raichoudhury also used Kamrupi in his works to great extent.[3] In 2018, the Kamrupi film Village Rockstars became the first from the region to be selected for India's official entry to the 91st Academy Awards.[4] In 1996, another Kamrupi dialect film named Adajya directed by Santwana Bardoloi based on a novel by Indira Goswami titled Dontal Haatir Uiye Khuwa Haoda won the Indian National award as the Best Regional Film (Assamese) and Jury's special award.

Features

Phonology

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IPAROMScriptIPAROMScriptIPAROMScript
Closepronounced as /i/iAssamese: ই/ঈpronounced as /u/uAssamese: উ/ঊ
Near-closepronounced as /ʊ/úAssamese: ও
Close-midpronounced as /e/éAssamese: এ’
Open-midpronounced as /ɛ/eAssamese: এpronounced as /ɔ/oAssamese: অ
Openpronounced as /a/aAssamese: আ

The Kamrupi dialects have seven phonemes in contrast to the eight in standard Assamese dialect. The phoneme that is missing in the Kamrupi dialects is the close-mid back rounded vowel /pronounced as /o// (Assamese: অ’). In the Kamrupi dialects, this vowel is replaced by another vowel, a diphthong or a different form.

Replaced by!colspan=2
Early AssameseStandard AssameseKamrupi
Assamese: অ pronounced as /ɔ/Assamese: ভৈল bhoiloAssamese: হ’ল /pronounced as /hol//Assamese: হল /pronounced as /hɔl//
Assamese: হুইবে huibeAssamese: হ’ব /pronounced as /ɦobɔ//Assamese: হবো /pronounced as /ɦɔbʊ//
Assamese: আpronounced as /a/Assamese: কলা kolaAssamese: ক’লা /pronounced as /kola//Assamese: কালা /pronounced as /kala//
Assamese: উpronounced as /u/Assamese: ব’ল /pronounced as /bol//Assamese: বুল /pronounced as /bul//
Assamese: এpronounced as /ɛ/Assamese: গৈল goiloAssamese: গ’ল /pronounced as /ɡol//Assamese: গেল /pronounced as /ɡɛl//
Assamese: ওpronounced as /ʊ/Assamese: কৈত, কহিত koito, kohitoAssamese: ক’ত /pronounced as /kot//Assamese: কোত /pronounced as /kʊt//
Assamese: ওইpronounced as /ʊi/Assamese: ৰহিল, ৰহিলেক, ৰহিলা, ৰহিলন্ত rohilo, rohileko, rohila, rohilontoAssamese: ৰ’ল, ৰ’লে /pronounced as /ɹol//, /pronounced as /ɹolɛ//Assamese: ৰোইল, ৰোইলাক /pronounced as /ɾʊil//, /pronounced as /ɾʊilak//

Morphology

Similarities with Eastern Assamese

According to Upendranath Goswami, differences between Kamrupi and east Assamese is not insignificant, they ranged over whole field of phonology, morphology and vocabulary.

Its unique features distinguishes it from Eastern Assamese, there may some commonalities - case endings, conjugational affixes, pronominal roots, derivatives and vocabulary - that underscore a fundamental unity, nonetheless, Kamrupi dialect, with a long history of its own differs greatly from the eastern variety of Assamese.[11]

Dr. Nirmalendu Bhowmik, while discussing similarity of Kamrupi with Eastern Assamese, observes that despite some similarity in morphology, there is absolutely no similarity in terms of phonology, though both languages shares few common words.[12]

Comparison with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages

Eastern Indo-Aryan languages share a common phonological structure.

Glossarial

There is differences in vocables of Kamrupi and Eastern Assamese, such that even common objects are denoted by different words. In eastern variety there are no generic terms to such English words like brothers and sisters, Kamrupi do have, such as bhak and bainak. Kamrupi also uses /soli/ for both boys and girls collectively for children, East Assamese lacks such forms.

Kamrupi SylhetiStandard Assamese Translation
Khüam Xauaimu Khüam I will Feed (Someone) - Kumra Kumṛa Kümüra Gourd - Mekur/Meukri Mekur/Bilai Mekuri Cat - Hosa Hasa Xosa/Hosa Truth - Dhól Ḍul Dhül Drum - Nun Nun Lün Salt - Sana Aulad/Sao/Hurutayn Püali/Sona Offspring - Dima Ḍim/Enḍa/Boida Koni/Dim Egg - -gila/-gilak -guin -bilak Plural suffix - Pani Fani Pani Water - Taka, Toka Texá Toka Money - Bazar Bazár Bozar Market
Souk, Tiniali/Sairali Souk Tiniali/Sariali Town square
Manhu Manu/Manuš/Mainš Manuh People

Old Indo-Aryan words

Kamrupi retained many Old Indo-Aryan words.

Definition of the region

See main article: Kamrup region. The Kamrup between Manas and Barnadi rivers,[13] where Kamrupi is spoken, formed the capital area of two of three dynasties of the ancient Kamarupa kingdom (4th–12th century), with Pragjyotishpura (Guwahati)[14] and Durjaya (North Guwahati).[15] Kingdom existed as parallel to Davaka of central Assam.[16] Absorption of Davaka by Kamrup marks eastward expansion of latter,[17] which ultimately covered area from the Karatoya in the west to the temple of Dikkaravasini at Sadiya in the east, Bhutan in north and Northern Bangladesh in south.[18] [19]

Medieval

Mughals established four sarkars (administrative units): Bangalbhum, Dhekeri, Dakkhinkul and Kamrup; placing Kamrup in "Sarkar Kamrup".[20] The Kamrupi is currently prevalent in Mughal Sarkar of Kamrup.[21] In late medieval times, Kamrupi literary style passed to eastern Assam.The examples of medieval Assamese or middle Kamrupi are obtained from the 14th century from North Bengal, Western Assam and fewer in central Assam, and this was followed by a deluge of literary activity in the 16th century that accompanied the growth of Srimanta Sankardeva's Vaishnavite movement. The literary activities occurred throughout Assam and North Bengal, and influence of Kamrupi remain strong throughout.

Some features of Early and Middle Assamese which are still present in some dialects of Kamrupi Assamese and Central Assamese but absent in current Eastern Assamese (in italics):

Colonial

Kamrup passed to the British in 1824, and the colonial district, largely congruous to the Kamapitha and Mughal Sarkar became the Undivided Kamrup district in the post-colonial period.Form spoken in Eastern Assam, come to notice due to translation of Bible in 1838 by American Baptist Missions, as part of conversion process. British adopted Eastern Assamese as the standard official language in 1873, due to recommendations of Christian missionaries.[24] [25] Whereas the Kamrupi was non-uniform, the eastern dialect was uniform over a large territory in eastern Assam. Nevertheless, Kamrupi pandits like Shyamal Choudhury, Amrit Bhushan Adhikary and Kaliram Medhi objected the imposition of eastern Assamese as official language of entire valley, especially in Kamrup due to distinctness and antiquity of Kamrupi language.

Modern

Since the center of literary activity has moved back to Guwahati in Kamrup, the standard based on eastern dialects has started acquiring Kamrupi dialectal elements in recent decades. For example, the instrumental case is -di in Kamrupi (hatedi, "with hand") and -re in eastern Assamese (hatere), and the Kamrupi form is increasingly common in the Standard. These dialects are now spoken in the present districts of Kamrup Rural, western part of Kamrup Metropolitan, Nalbari, Barpeta, Darrang, and parts of Goalpara, Udalguri and Chirang. The name is derived from the colonial Kamrup district, from Kamarupa kingdom.[26] [27]

Scholarly views

Magadhi Prakrit, keeping north of the Ganga river, gave rise to the Kamarupa Apabhramsa dialects of Assam and North Bengal. Suniti Kumar Chatterji divides Magadhan dialects regionwise as Radha, Varendra, Kamarupa[28] and Vanga[29] [30]

Sukumar Sen referring to ancientness of Kamrupi, wrote, "Assamese, or more appropriately the old Kamarupi dialect entered into Kamrup or western Assam, where this speech was first characterized as Assamese."[31]

Upendranath Goswami wrote, "The Assamese language, coming from the west was first characterized in Kamrup or Western Assam whose boundary comprised in early times the whole of North-Bengal, including Cooch-Behar, Rangpur and Jalpaiguri districts of Bengal".

Literature

The early examples of Kamrupi writings and literature are copper plate seals of Kamrupi kings, issued in different parts of eastern and Northern India and the Charyapada, which is a collection of 8th-12th century Vajrayana Buddhist caryagiti, or mystical poems. Being caryagiti (songs of realization), the Charyapada were intended to be sung. These songs of realization were spontaneously composed verses, that expressed a practitioner's experience of the enlightened state. A manuscript of this anthology was discovered in the early 20th century, by Hariprasad Shastri in Nepal. It provides the examples of the Kamrupi and other eastern Indo-Aryan languages.

The writers of the Charyapada, the Mahasiddhas or Siddhacharyas, belonged to the various regions of Kamrup (Assam), Gauda (Bengal), Kalinga (Orissa) and Mithila (Bihar). A Tibetan translation of the Charyapada was also preserved in the Tibetan Buddhist canon.[32]

The notable medieval Kamrupi literary figures are Rama Saraswati, Ananta Kandali, Sridhara Kandali, Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, Kalapachandra Dvija and Bhattadeva, the father of Assamese prose.[33]

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. Kamrupi is defined as a dialect of Assamese in the title of the seminal work -, A Study on Kamrupi: A dialect of Assamese
  2. Book: Medhi, Kaliram . 1988 . Assamese grammar and origin of the Assamese language . Prose had also been used by the Maithili poets, Vidyapati, Harsanatha and others,--in their dramas. But whereas the Maithili poets prose was in Sanskrit and their songs alone in Maithili Sankara Deva's prose and songs were both in Kamrupi..
  3. Sahitya Akademi, Indian literature: Volume 30, 1987 Ambikagiri set a new trend in Assamese by his abundant use of Kamrupi language in his writings.
  4. Web site: 'Village Rockstars, Film On Guitar-Playing Girl, Is India's Oscar Entry'. 11 October 2018.
  5. Book: The Assam Academy Review - Issue 1. Assam Academy for Cultural Relations. 47 .
  6. "The word stress in the Kamrupi dialect is uniformly and dominantly initial as opposed to the penultimate stress of the standard colloquial."
  7. "Assamese follows the pan Indian system of penultimate stress and bengali has an initial stress. Even in that respect Bengali differs from Kamrupi dialect which also has an initial stress."
  8. "...the initial stress had the victory ultimately and by the end of the Middle Bengali period [c1500 CE, p132] it is very likely that it was active in west central Bengali and most Bengali dialects thus giving to modern Bengali their typical form (ODBL 282)
  9. "In Western Assam perhaps in contact with some people speaking a language with a strong initial stress the penultimate stress of the primitive language got shifted to the initial syllable. In Eastern Assam the original penultimate stress persisted."
  10. "In all these writers, the Assamese idiom seem to have been fully individualized...So is an anterior ā shortened before a following ā."
  11. Book: Sukumar Sen . Ramesh Nigam . 1975 . Grammatical Sketches of Indian Languages with Comparative Vocabulary and Texts . Controller of Publications . 36 . This Kamrupi dialect, with a long history of its own differs greatly from the eastern variety of Assamese..
  12. Book: Barmā, Sukhabilāsa . 2004 . Bhāwāiyā: Ethnomusicological Study . Global Vision Publishing House . 104 . 8182200709 .
  13. Deba Brat Sharma (1995), Changing Cultural Mosaic of a Village in Assam, Page 10, an end the kingdom of Kamarupa and since then the area between the rivers the Manas on the west and the Barnadi on the east came to be known as Kamrup
  14. T. Raatan (2006), History, Religion and Culture of North East India - Page 70 Known in the ancient lore as the kingdom of Pragjyotisha and Kamrupa, the capital having been Pragjyotishpura situated in or near Guwahati
  15. Chandra Dhar Tripathi, Indian Institute of Advanced Study (2002), Aspects of the medieval history of Assam, Page 17 Ratnapala founded a new city called Sri Durjaya and shifted his capital there. It has been identified with the ruins at modern North Gauhati
  16. Suresh Kant Sharma, Usha Sharma (2005), Discovery of North-East India: Geography, History, Culture, ..., Davaka (Nowgong) and Kamarupa as separate and submissive friendly kingdoms
  17. Kanak Lal Barua (1966), Early history of Kāmarupa, Page 31 in the sixth or the seventh century this kingdom of Davaka was absorbed by Kamarupa
  18. S. P. Sinha (2007), Lost Opportunities: 50 Years of Insurgency in the North-east Kamrup included the whole of Brahmaputra Valley, Bhutan, Rangpur district (Bangladesh), Cooch Behar, part of Mymensingh district of Bangladesh and Garo
  19. ...the temple of the goddess Tameshwari (Dikkaravasini) is now located at modern Sadiya about 100 miles to the northeast of Sibsagar" .
  20. The Sarkar of Kamrup was between the Manas and the Barnadi rivers on the north bank, and was bounded in the east by the Asurar Ali
  21. "Uttorkol or Dhenkiri north of the Brohmoputro, Dokhyinkul south of the same, Bangalbhumi west of the Brohmoputro, and Kamrup proper, called so as containing Gohati, the most ancient capital of the country."
  22. Book: Goswami, Upendranath . 1978 . An introduction to Assamese . Mani-Manik Prakash . 14 . āke śuni lakśminārāyane ghilāk khedi āhil. baṅɡāle khāibāk napāi gaṛar bhitarate śukhāi mare...tāhnār mukhat; āhnār sange.
  23. Book: Goswami, Upendranath . 1978 . An introduction to Assamese . Mani-Manik Prakash . 14 . barphukane maharajat janova rup kari sihatar manuhak maharajar thaik anai...sidikir parā.
  24. Book: Garg, Gaṅgā Rām . 1992 . Encyclopaedia of the Hindu world: Volume 3 . With the publication of the translation of the Bible (1838) done by Nathan Brown of the American Baptist Mission Group, modern period of Assamese language began. .
  25. Book: George, K. M. . Modern Indian literature, an anthology: Volume 3 . In the restoration of the language (Eastern Assamese), American Baptist missionaries played a very significant role..
  26. Robert Montgomery Martin, Puraniya, Ronggopoor and Assam, 1838 The ancient Hindu territory of Kamrup, which extends east from the Korotoya, where it joined the kingdom of Motsyo, to Dikkorbasini.
  27. Great Britain. India Office, The India list and India Office list, 1819 The earliest authentic traditions attest the existence of a Hindu kingdom of Kamrup, with its capital at Gauhati.
  28. Suniti Kumar Chatterji (1926), The origin and development of the Bengali language, Volume 1 One would expect one and identical language to have been current in North Central Bengal (Pundra-vardhana) and North Bengal and West Assam (Kamarupa) in the 7th century, since these tracts, and other parts of Bengal, had almost the same speech
  29. Book: Monsur Musa . Sharif Uddin Ahmed . History of the Study of the Dialect of Sylhet: Some Problems . Sylhet: History and Heritage . 1999 . Bangladesh Itihas Samiti . 984-31-0478-1 . 591 . Suniti Kumar Chatterjee in his Origin and Development of Bangla Language (ODBL) divided the Bangla dialect into four groups in accordance with the name of the regions such as Rada, Pundra or Barindra, Banga and Kamrupi.
  30. Suniti Kumar Chatterji, The origin and development of the Bengali language, Volume 1 Eastern Magadhi Prakrita and Apabhramsa has four dialect groups (1) Radha-the language of West Bengal and Orissa (2) Varendra-dialect of North Central Bengal (3)Kamarupa-dialect of Northern Bengal and Assam and (4) Vanga-dialect of East Bengal.
  31. Sukumar Sen, Grammatical sketches of Indian languages with comparative vocabulary and texts, Volume 1, 1975, P 31, Assamese, or more appropriately the old Kamarupi dialect entered into Kamrup or western Assam, where this speech was first characterized as Assamese.
  32. "They cannot furnish the grammatical structure of Kamrupl or Assamese for which we are to turn our attention to the songs of the Buddhist Siddhacaryas, known as Caryas, composed in between 8th to 12th centuries A.D.
  33. [Hema Saraswati]

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