[Assam] Assam /Asom

Sun Oct 22 21:54:47 PDT 2006

Re: [Assam] Fwd: Fashion Show in Asom politics !Chandan:
The article by Prabhakar (thanks to BB Kaokaidew for bringing it out to public) actually supports many of my views in Assamese phonetics. I would like the netters to focus on the following excerpt from the article:

"The modification proposed in respect of the name, Assam, seeks only to remove the `Anglicisation' that has crept into the way the word is transcribed in English, by removing the extra `s'; and substituting the medio vowel `a' with `o'. Thus, Assam (which continues to be transcribed in Assamese dictionaries as Asam) is henceforth to be transcribed in English as Asom. The proposal has, however, provoked a variety of views where inasmuch as the transcription into English of the medial consonant and vowel, `s' and `a', the transcription of the initial vowel sound too has become a matter of contention. The highly respected freedom fighter of Assam of the last century wrote his name in English as Omeo Kumar Das (the same form adopted by a social science research institute in Guwahati) while in other parts of the country, the first name would be transcribed as Amiya. 
Hence the argument that the sound of the first letter of the Assamese alphabet is best transcribed as `o' wherever it appears, initially or in a medial position. If the government has agreed that the word Asam is to be transcribed as Asom, where is the need to make an exception with the initial vowel? Should not the name be transcribed as Osom, not Asom? "

In fact this is one of the points I was trying to emphasize. In Assamese the letter 'Hosro-O' represents the sound O while the 'Hosro-O' in Hindi, SAanskrit etc represent the sound U as in 'But' etc. (Incidentally this letter is called Hosro-A in Hindi as opposed to Dirgho-A). One prime example is the Hindi word DOLDA pronounced DALDA. Thus in Assamese, in my opinion,  we should write Omeo, Onil. Ojoy, Omor, Ojonta etc. When we write Anil, Ameo, Ajoy, Amor, Ajanta etc, the non Assamese pronounce these with the first A sounding as U as in 'But.' Thus Omeo Kumar Das was very correct to use the spelling Omeo instead of Amiyo in his name. Alas he did not have any followers. However it is never too late. We should start that practice so that outsiders would pronounce our names correctly.  The reason Assamese were not using O instead of A in the first letter is because people are confused unlike Omeo Kumar Das who had a clear idea about Assamese phonetics.

The word ASOM is the result of the same Assamese confusion about their own language.  Basic logic suggest that it should be OSOM at least even if we ignore the S sound.

Rajen Barua

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Chan Mahanta 
  To: BBaruah at aol.com ; assamrs at gmail.com 
  Cc: Assam at assamnet.org 
  Sent: Sunday, October 22, 2006 9:47 AM
  Subject: Re: [Assam] Fwd: Fashion Show in Asom politics !

  Seems to me like classic case of the cart before the horse.

  Rudimentary understanding and adherence to democratic principles would have dictated a public discussion of the proposal and the people's advice and consent, BEFORE any adoption by GoA of even the INTENT to change Assam's name, much less file (with all the formalities) for PERMISSION from the gods in Dilli to approve the petition.

  >the reluctance by the intellectual establishment (which also feeds separatist ideologies) to accept any modification of an >unwieldy and unnecessarily complicated alphabet where some of the letters are identified by numbers, not sounds, >because these sounds are exactly alike.

  *** This is another point that Rajen has been attempting to drive home, without any success, even among the intellectuals who could be expected to heed ordinary logic, like Assam Netters. Forget about that Kharkhowa brain-trust in Assam who are  eternally  beholden to Sanskritic servitude, and thus are unable to purge the dontyo-murdhonyo-talobyo differences, among other such irrelevant nuances, that long disappeared among the SPEAKERS of the Assamese language.

  At 7:57 AM -0400 10/22/06, BBaruah at aol.com wrote:
    Ram

    After recceiving your e-mail I sent a short reply, then myself searched the website for the latest official notification in this behalf. It appears what M S Prabhakara has summed up in an  article in the Hindu following Government's proposal (on Feb 27, 2006)to change Assam into Asom reflects the actual state of affairs.May be you've already read his long article(http:www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2311/stories/20060616001408200.htm):

    "So, the tension continues between, on the one hand, nationalistic assertions seeking to distance the land and its people from India, perhaps even strive and attain sovereignty; and on the other hand, the reluctance by the intellectual establishment (which also feeds separatist ideologies) to accept any modification of an unwieldy and unnecessarily complicated alphabet where some of the letters are identified by numbers, not sounds, because these sounds are exactly alike."

    bhuban

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