KRNB lects

Last updated

KRNB lects
KRDS lects, Kamatapuri, Kamta
Native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal
RegionNorthern West Bengal, Western Assam, North Eastern Bihar, Northern Bangladesh, Southeast Nepal
Dialects Rajbansi, Kamtapuri, Rangpuri, Deshi, Surjapuri, Dhekri
Language codes
ISO 639-3
Glottolog kamt1242
The speakers are distributed unevenly, as shown in the map. Kamatapuri-lects-regions.svg
The speakers are distributed unevenly, as shown in the map.
The proto-languages of the eastern Magadhan languages. Kamarupa Prakrit corresponds to ?proto-Kamarupa here, a hitherto un-reconstructed proto-language. The period corresponds to earlier than 1250 CE, when proto-Kamta began to innovate unique features. East-magadhan-proto-languages.png
The proto-languages of the eastern Magadhan languages. Kamarupa Prakrit corresponds to ?proto-Kamarupa here, a hitherto un-reconstructed proto-language. The period corresponds to earlier than 1250 CE, when proto-Kamta began to innovate unique features.

KRNB lects (or Kamtapuri, Rajbanshi and Northern Bangla lects) are a cluster of modern lects that are phylogenetic descendants of the proto-Kamta language. [4] The proto-Kamta language began differentiating after 1250 around Kamatapur, the capital city of Kamata kingdom, as the western branch of the proto-Kamarupa, [5] whereas the eastern branch developed into proto-Assamese. Since the 16th century the proto-Kamta community has fragmented giving rise to the differentiated modern lects. [6] The modern lects are: [7] [8] Kamta (Assam and West Bengal), Rangpuri (Bangladesh), Rajbanshi (Nepal) and Surjapuri (Bihar). [9]

Contents

These modern lects could be categorised into three groups: western, central and eastern. [10] Unlike the Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and Nepali languages which were standardised and propagated in the 19th and 20th centuries, [11] the KRNB lects were not standardised. As a result, the KRNB lects became diglossic vernaculars to these standard varieties and acquired phonological and morphological features from them. [12]

Nevertheless, two standards are emerging within the KRNB lects: a central Jhapa variety targeting speakers in Nepal, and an eastern Cooch Behar variety targeting speakers in northern West Bengal and western Assam. [13]

Proto-Kamta

The development of proto-Kamta (also called proto-Kamata) was the result of Sandhya, a ruler of Kamarupa Nagara (North Guwahati), Kamrup moving his capital [5] to Kamatapur and establishing the Kamata kingdom, thus carrying the native language along with.

Socio-linguistic communities

The modern KRNB lects are spoken primarily in western Assam, northern West Bengal, northern Bangladesh, north-eastern Bihar and south-eastern Nepal. [9]

Notes

  1. 1 2 (Toulmin 2006, p. 305)
  2. ( Toulmin 2006 , p. 5)
  3. "Proto Kamta took its inheritance from ?pKamrupa (and before that from ?pGaudaKamrupa), innovated the unique features outlined above during AD 1250–1550, and then split into three main sections (western, central, eastern)..." ( Toulmin 2009 :221)
  4. "The linguistic history reconstructed here shows that all KRDS lects—whether the ‘Rajbanshi’ of Morang district in Nepal, the ‘sthaniyo bhasha’ (local language) of Rangpur in Bangladesh, or the ‘Kamta’ of Cooch Behar in India—share a common ancestor, which for historical reasons may be termed proto-Kamta." ( Toulmin 2009 :246)
  5. 1 2 "On sociohistorical grounds, this stage is termed ‘proto Kamta’ ... and assigned the chronology of approximately AD 1250–1550: sandwiched between the establishment of the Kamrupa capital at Kamtapur in 1250, and the political (and plausibly linguistic) expansion under Koch King Nara Narayana in 1550." ( Toulmin 2009 :13)
  6. "Furthermore, since the 16th century, the KRDS lects have undergone differentiation from one another. This diversification is not merely the result of ‘contamination’ with other languages; it is natural in human society that lects spoken by differentiated speech communities tend to become linguistically differentiated." ( Toulmin 2009 :247)
  7. ( Toulmin 2006 , p. iv)
  8. ( Toulmin 2006 , p. 283)
  9. 1 2 Hernández-Campoy, Juan Manuel; Conde-Silvestre, Juan Camilo (15 February 2012). The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   9781118257265.
  10. "The categorisation of KRDS lects as western, central and eastern (which is verified in the present study) was first put forward by Barma (1991)." ( Toulmin 2009 :11)
  11. "The standardisation of Bangla, Asamiya, Nepali and Hindi, and the propagation of these standardised varieties during the 19th and 20th centuries has had significant effects upon the KRDS lects." ( Toulmin 2009 :247)
  12. "During the modern KRDS period various phonological and morphological features have entered KRDS lects due to increased diglossia with standardised State languages." ( Toulmin 2009 :13)
  13. "[T]here are today two distinct standards emerging in the literature of KRDS speakers. The variety of central Jhapa features in an increasing number of publications aimed at speakers in Nepal. The variety of eastern Cooch Behar is likewise increasingly used for publications aimed at the Rajbanshis and deshi Muslims of northern West Bengal and western Assam. ( Toulmin 2009 :247)

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assamese language</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in Assam, India

Assamese or Asamiya is an Indo-Aryan language spoken mainly in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, where it is an official language. It serves as a lingua franca of the wider region and has over 15 million native speakers according to Ethnologue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamarupi Prakrit</span> Middle Indo-Aryan language used in ancient Kamarupa, Indian subcontinent

Kamarupi Prakrit is the postulated Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) Prakrit language used in ancient Kamarupa. This language has been derived from Gauda-Kamarupi Prakrit and the historical ancestor of the Kamatapuri lects and the modern Assamese language; and can be dated prior to 1250 CE, when the proto-Kamta language, the parent of the Kamatapuri lects, began to develop. Though not substantially proven, the existence of the language that predated the Kamatapuri lects and modern Assamese is widely believed to be descended from it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cooch Behar district</span> District in West Bengal, India

Cooch Behar district is a district of the Indian state of West Bengal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khen dynasty</span> Medieval Hindu dynasty of Assam (India)

The Khen dynasty of Assam was a late medieval dynasty of the erstwhile Kamata kingdom. After the fall of the Pala dynasty of Kamrupa, the western region was reorganized into the Kamata kingdom when Sandhya moved his capital from Kamarupanagara to Kamatapur in about 1257 due to the frequent clashes with the Kacharis from the east. Sandhya styled himself Kamateswara and the kingdom came to be known as "Kamata". The Khen dynasty at a later period took control of the kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamata Kingdom</span> Medieval Kingdom in Assam and nearby areas

The Kamata Kingdom emerged in western Kamarupa probably when Sandhya, a ruler of Kamarupanagara, moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE. Since it originated in the old seat of the Kamarupa kingdom, and since it covered most of the western parts of it, the kingdom is also sometimes called as Kamarupa-Kamata.

Kamtapur is an autonomous area in the Assam state of India administered by the Kamatapur Autonomous Council.

Goalpariya is a group of Indo-Aryan dialects spoken in the Goalpara region of Assam, India. Along with Kamrupi, they form the western group of Assamese dialects. The North Bengali dialect is situated to its west, amidst a number of Tibeto-Burman speech communities. The basic characteristic of the Goalpariya is that it is a composite one into which words of different concerns and regions have been amalgamated. Deshi people speak this language and there are around 20 lakhs people.

Magadhi Prakrit (Māgadhī) is of one of the three Dramatic Prakrits, the written languages of Ancient India following the decline of Pali. It was a vernacular Middle Indo-Aryan language, replacing earlier Vedic Sanskrit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rangpuri language</span> Indo-Aryan language spoken in India, Bangladesh, and Nepal

Rangpuri is an eastern Indo-Aryan language of the Bengali-Assamese branch, spoken in Rangpur Division in Bangladesh, northern West Bengal and western Goalpara of Assam in India. Many are bilingual in Bengali and Assamese in their respective regions. According to Glottolog, it forms the Central-Eastern Kamta group with the Kamta language. Together with Rajbanshi and Surjapuri they form the Kamta group of languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eastern Indo-Aryan languages</span> Language family of South Asia

The Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, also known as Māgadhan languages, are spoken throughout the eastern region of the subcontinent, which includes Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bengal region, Tripura, Assam, and Odisha; alongside other regions surrounding the northeastern Himalayan corridor. Bengali is official language of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal, Tripura and the Barak valley of Assam while Assamese and Odia are the official languages of Assam and Odisha, respectively. The Eastern Indo-Aryan languages descend from Abahattha, which descends from Magadhan Apabhraṃśa and ultimately from Magadhi Prakrit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nashya Shaikh</span> Ethnic group

The Nashya Shaikh or Nashya Sekh is a Muslim community found in northern parts of the state of West Bengal in India. They are culturally and linguistically similar to both people of northern Bangladesh and Goalpara of Assam. A small number of the community are also found in the neighboring state of Bihar, where they are known as the Bengali Shaikh. The group is descended from a set of tribals which were collectively referred to as Koches, who converted to Islam as they were unable to find a favourable position in Hindu society and came to be known as the Rajbanshi Muslims. They are homogeneous with the Koch people and are bilingual, speaking both Bengali and Surjapuri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rajbanshi people</span> South Asian ethnic group

The Rajbanshi, also Rajbongshi and Koch-Rajbongshi, are peoples from Lower Assam, North Bengal, eastern Bihar, Terai region of eastern Nepal, Rangpur division of North Bangladesh and Bhutan who have in the past sought an association with the Koch dynasty. Koch-Rajbanshi people speak Kamatapuri, belong to Indo-Aryan languages likely due to language shift, and in the past they might have spoken Tibeto-Burman languages. The community is categorised as OBC in Assam and Bihar, and SC in West Bengal. In Nepal they are considered part of the Plains Janjati. In Bangladesh the community is classified as Plains ethnic group under 'Barman'. They are the largest Scheduled Caste community of West Bengal.

Surjapuri is an Indo-Aryan language of the Bengali-Assamese branch, spoken in Eastern India including North Bengal, West Bengal, and some eastern parts of Purnia division of Bihar, as well as Jhapa District in Nepal, Goalpara Division of Assam in India and Rangpur Division in Bangladesh. Among speakers in some regions, it is known as 'Deshi Bhasa'. It possesses similarities with Kamatapuri, Assamese, Bengali, and Maithili.

Gosanimari is both a village and an archaeological site in Dinhata I CD block, in the Dinhata subdivision of the Cooch Behar district of West Bengal, north-eastern India. The name of this site was taken from the modern grampanchyat name of the Dinhata subdivision.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bengali–Assamese languages</span> Sub group of the Indo-Aryan languages in the Indian subcontinent

The Assamese-Bengali languages is a grouping of several languages in the eastern Indian subcontinent. This group belongs to the Eastern zone of Indo-Aryan languages. The languages in this group according to Glottolog includes Assamese, Bengali, Bishnupriya, Chakma, Chittagonian, Hajong, Kharia Thar, Kurmukar, Lodhi, Mal Paharia, Noakhailla, Rajbangshi, Rohingya, Sylheti, Tangchangya and Surjapuri.

Goalpara region, largely congruous to the historical undivided Goalpara district, is a region that is associated with the people and culture of Goalpara. It is bounded on the north by Bhutan, on the east by the Kamrup region, in the south by Meghalaya and in the west by Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Rangpur in Bangladesh. The natural landmarks are: Sankosh and Brahmaputra rivers on the west, the Manas River on the east in the north bank, and a corresponding region in the south bank; the Garo Hills in the south and Bhutan Hills in the north.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nilambar</span> Last ruler of the Kamata Kingdom In Assam

Nilambar or Nīlambara was the last Khen ruler or Kamadeswar of the Kamata kingdom in Western Assam and North Bengal. He ruled from the city of Kamatapur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early Assamese</span> Form of Assamese spoken from 1300 to 1600

Early Assamese or Proto-Eastern Kamarupa is an ancestor of the modern Assamese language. It is found in the literature from the 14th century to the end of 16th century in Kamata kingdom and rest the Brahmaputra valley of Assam.

Rajbanshi is a Bengali-Assamese language spoken in Nepal. It is related to, but distinct from Rangpuri/Kamta in Bangladesh and India, which is also known by the alternative name "Rajbanshi", with which it forms the KRNB cluster.

Sandhya was a king of Kamarupa in north-eastern India in the present-day state of Assam, India. He founded the Kamata Kingdom when he moved his capital west to Kamatapur sometime after 1257 CE.

References