Table Of ContentSTRUCTURES O B ’ ASSAMESE AN I.) < ./>!•' -
A CONTRASTIVE S'X'UOY
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GAUHATI UNIVERSITY FOR AWARD OF
Ph.D. DEGREE IN LINGUISTICS
MISS ANJANA CHOUDHURY
Research Scholar,
NEREC, GUWAHAT1
1995
OR, PA MESH PATHAK MA. PH. D
r.ifjptt. of Assamese
Co'.ton Coliege
Go^ehati-781001
This is to certify that Ms. Anjana Choudhury, Research Scholar, NEREC, Guwahati-
6 worked under my guidance for her Ph. D. degree. Her dissertation on 'STRUCTURES
OF ASSAMESE AND GARO - A CONTRASTIVE STUDY' is an original work, and so far
as I understand, she has not submitted this work for any other degree anywhere else.
I have all the best wishes for her.
P4Wy?athak)
4,
De$t: of Assamese
Cotton College
Guwahati .
^*1 'rwiim
This is virtually the outcome of my research conducted during
the period of my scholarship granted to me by the Central Institute of Indian
Languages, Mysore to work under the supervision of Dr. F.N. Dutta Baruah
from the 1st of January 1993 to 31st of December 1994. The rough sketch was
done then. This was subsequently modified and was given the form of a thesis
to fulfil the Ph.D. requirement of Gauhati University under the tonnal
guidance of Dr. Ramesh Pathak, a recognised Guide of Gauhati I :nivei vit\ !
am highly indebted to both of them.
It also received suggestions from Dr. E. Annamalai. Director.
C.I.I.L., Mysore. I am thankful to him.
Oct. Si , 1995 Miss Anjana Chaucitnuy,
Research Scholar
Six Mile, Joya Naqar,
Khanapara , Guwaha t i - .
INFORMANTS
ASSAMESE
Self, Guwahati
Sri. Debendra Pati Goswami, Goalpara
Mr. Sambhu Nath Chakravarty, Nalbari
Mr. Indreswar Sharma, Nogaon
Dr. Sadhinata Mahanta, Tezpur
Miss Mery Puzari, Jorhat
Miss Jyoti Rekha Duarah, Sibsagar
GARO
Sri. Monoronjan Marak, Bongaigaon
Miss Nandini A.Sangma, North Salmara
Mr. Sudhir J.Sangma, Boko
Mrs. Ila Ch. Sangma, Amerigog Ghy-23
Mr. Milton Sangma, NEHU, Shillong
Mr. Lindreek Sheera Tura Govt. College
Miss Philomina Sangma Tura Govt. College
ABBREVIATIONS
A Aspect
Abl Ablative
ACC Accusative
Adjective
Adverb
adjective
Agentive
Allative
Ass Assamese
Aux Auxiliary
* c consonant
r-
Cau Causative
'
causative
class classifier
Col Column
Determiner
Determiner
Dative
Definitive
definitive
def-cum-clas definitive-cum-classifier
Dem Demonstrative
dem demonstrative
Eng English
G Garo
Gen Genitive
hon honorific
Inter Interrogative
Inter Pron Interrogative Pronoun
Intr V Intransitive verb
intr intransitive
Ins Instrumental
ins instrumental
Loc Locative
loc locative
more-hon more-honorific
NP Noun Phrase
N Noun
Nom Nominative
nom nominative
Num Numeral
Neg Negative
Non-cau Non-causative
non-hon non-honorific
0 Object
Obj Object
P Person
Pron Pronoun
Proc Process
Qua Quantifier
Redup Reduplicated
rep. repeating
S Subject
Sub Subject
sec. section
T Tense
tr transitive
V vowel
V Verb
VI Voiceless
Vd Voiced
vs verb stem
VP Verb Phrase
w West
Li 7 ^^ ^ 1 '7'
J - • Jr ‘
LINGUISTIC SYMBOLS
/
// Indicates phonemic brackets and contains a phoneme or
phonemic material
/[] indicates phonetic brackets and contains an allophone or
/ phonetic material.
(\ indicates morDhemic brackets and contains a morpheme or
> leads to
< comes from
before a morpheme suffix
after a morpheme prefix
before and after a morpheme Infix.
(hyphen) before or after a form implies its combining
nature
+ plus, with, indicates combination
/ alternately, or
$ q> zero
above phoneme nasalisation, varies
J * indicates ill form
^/ASPIRATED PHONEME : It is typed in general alphabetical model
to avoid topsyturvy in typing.
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 Introduction 1
1.1 Assamese-Its Identity and Homeland 1
1.2 Historical Development of Assamese i
1.3 Dialects of Assamese 3
1.4 Assamese script 4
1.5 Phoneme-Grapheme correspondence ■_>
1.6 Garo-Its Identity and Homeland 5
1.7 Historical Development of Garo 6
1.8 Dialects of Garo 7
1.9 Script used to write Garo 8
1.10 Possible Convergence 9
1.11 Typological Sketch 10
1.12 Concluding Remarks 10
Chapter 2 Phonemic Inventories of Assamese 11
and Garo
2.1 Vowel phonemes in Assamese LI
2.2 Monophthongs 13
2.3 Description of Assamese Monophthongs 12
and Illustrations of their occurrence
2.4 Assamese Diphthongs 16
2.5 Assamese Glides 18
2.6 Consonant phonemes in Assamese 19
2.7 The stops 19
2.8 Description of Assamese stops and
Illustrations of their occurrence
2.9 The Nasals '/
2.10 Description of Assamese Nasal 27
Sounds and Illustration of their
occurrence
2.11 The Fricatives 28
2.12 Illustrations of the occurrence 29
of fricatives
2.13 The Lateral 31
2.14 The Trill 32
2.15 Vowel phonemes in Garo 33
2.16 Monophthongs 33
2.17 Description of Garo vowels and 34
illustration of their occurrence
2.18 Diphthongs 37
2.19 Triphthongs M
2.20 Consonant phonemes 38
2.21 The stops 38
2.22 Description of Garo stops and their '9
illustration of occurrence
2.23 Glottal stop 42
2.24 The Nasals 42
2.25 The Fricatives 44
2.26 The Affricates 45
2.27 The Lateral 46
