| Goalpariya | |
|---|---|
| Goālpāriya | |
| গোৱালপাৰীয়া | |
| Native to | India |
| Region | Western Assam |
| Dialects | Western Golapariya, Eastern Goalpariya |
| Bengali–Assamese script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
 Distribution of Goalparia dialects inpink. | |
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Goalpariya is a group ofIndo-Aryan dialects spoken in theGoalpara region ofAssam, India. Along withKamrupi, they form the western group ofAssamese dialects. The North Bengali dialect is situated to its west, amidst a number ofTibeto-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.[1][2]Deshi people speak this language and there are around 20 lakhs people.[3]
TheEastern Magadhi Prakrit gave rise to four historical dialects—Radhi, Varendri, Kamarupi and Vanga. The Kamarupi dialect gave rise to Indo-Aryan speeches of Brahmaputra valley, including Goalpariya, and theKRNB lects spoken outside Assam.[citation needed]
There are three identified dialects in this group: (1) Eastern, (2) Western and (3) Intermediate.[4] Scholars from Assam associate these dialects with theAssamese language, Chatterji (1926) classifies Western Goalpariya with the North Bengali dialects and included them, East Goalpariya and Assamese in theKamarupi branch,[5] (Toulmin 2006) classes all Goalpariya dialects, including Eastern Goalpariya (Bongaigaon), inKamatapuri lects and he also included them and Assamese in the Kamarupi branch.
Birendranath Dutta identifies three main dialects. One he classifies as Eastern Goalpariya, with a number of local variations: the variety around Abhayapuri and Goalpara towns forming one; and the speech around Krishnai, Dudhnai and Dhupdhara, with a large number of Rabha and Boro speakers, forming another. Locally, the varieties of Eastern Goalpariya are given names such asHabraghatiya,Bausiya,Namdaniya andBarahajari.[6] Under Western Goalpariya, Dutta discusses two separate dialects: the variety around Gauripur (locally calledGhulliya); and the variety around Salkocha (locally calledJharua). Dutta considers the Salkocha dialect as the intermediate dialect.[7]
The Goalpara region is the westernmost part ofBrahmaputra Valley. It is bounded in north byBhutan, on the east byKamrup region, on the south byGaro Hills ofMeghalaya and on the west byCooch Behar district,Jalpaiguri district ofWest Bengal andRangpur District ofBangladesh.
In ancient times it was included inKamarupa. Subsequently, region formed a part ofKamata kingdom.
Later region became a part of theKamata kingdom and later a part ofKoch Hajo, the domain of Raghudeva and Parikshit Narayana, from 1581 to about 1615, when the Mughals took control over the region and constituted aSarkar. The British received this region as the Diwani of Bengal in the 18th century, and it became a part ofColonial Assam in 1826.
The Goalpariya dialects have been subject of much controversy, primarily because they fall on a dialect continuum. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a debate on whether they were dialects ofBengali orAssamese languages.[8] TheIrish linguistGeorge Abraham Grierson claimed in hisLinguistic Survey of India that the western and southern dialects wereRajbonshi, and thus a northern Bengali dialect; and that the eastern dialect was Assamese.[9] Bengali linguistSuniti Kumar Chatterji also followed this classification in his thesis, adding western Goalpariya to the northern Bengali dialects.[10] The debate never died down and authors continue to critically examine the nation building aspects of this debate.[11]
Assamese scholars consider Goalpariya is a part of the Assamese dialects, specifically, a western Assamese dialect.[12] The two erstwhile western districts of Assam, Kamrup and Goalpara, possess several local dialects. The Goalpariya dialect is similar to the Rajbonshi dialect which evolved under theKoch dynasty, and also similar to Bengali dialects spoken in northern Bengal. The differences between the eastern and western Assamese dialects are wide and range over the whole field of phonology, morphology and, not infrequently, vocabulary.
The dialects of Goalpara straddle theAssamese-Bengali language divides and display features from both languages. Though the phonemes in the eastern dialects approach those of Assamese, the western dialect approach those of Bengali. The distinctive velar fricative /x/ present in Assamese is present in the eastern dialect, but absent in the western dialect. The dental and alveolar distinction in Bengali are found in the western dialect, but merged into alveolars in the eastern dialect in consonance with Assamese. Further the aspirated /ch/ is present in Bengali as well as the western dialect, but absent in eastern Goalparia dialect and Assamese.[13]
The nouns in Goalpariya language takes [i] or [ni] as suffix to indicate feminine gender. If the noun ends in a vowel, it replaces the vowel with [i], if in consonant it suffixes [ni] as feminine marker. For example,
| Masculine | Meaning | Feminine | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| chengr-a | boy | chengr-i | girl |
| bet-a | son | bet-i | daughter |
| daktar | doctor(m) | daktar-ni | doctor(fem) |
Verb:Kha (to eat)
| singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| word | meaning | word | meaning | |
| 1st person | mui kha-ng | i eat | amra kha-i | we eat |
| 2nd person | tui kha-is | you eat | tumra kha-n | you eat |
| 3rd person | oui kha-y | he/she eats | umra kha-y | they eat |
The people who speak this dialect, call themselvesdeshi, a dominant section, leaving out theBodos,Rabhas,Mechs, Chawtals and other communities of the region.[14] They call their dialect asdeshi bhasa. A section of these people are known asRajbongshi, which means men of royal descent who areKoch in origin. To trace the intermingling nature of this dialect, one can look its words. For example, the wordkechha, meaning story, could have been derived from theUrdu wordkissa and transformed itself into the Goalpariyadialect. TheUrdu influence may be traced to the Mughal general,Mir Jumla, who, during his invasion ofAssam, had pitched his military camp at Panbari inDhubri district, probably due to thePanbari Mosque which was used by Muslim soldiers. Indeed, a section of theMughals had settled in the district and the process of acculturation followed. There are many otherArabic,Persian andUrdu words in use in the Goalpariya dialect such asroshan,haram,nasta,chacha,chachi,bhabi,nana andnani. These are particularly used by theMuslim community who makes the major portion of population in the region.
Goalpariya Lokogeet is a folk music of Goalpara, sung to traditional lyrics. It was primarily Pratima Barua Pandey, who raised the profile of this hitherto unknown genre of music nationally in India. Currently, albums of Goalpariya songs are released commercially; and Goalpariya musical motifs and instruments are increasingly used in popular music in India.
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There are some variations in the dialect as one move from one place to another which is not surprising as when there is a physical separation in terms of distance. According to Birendra Nath Dutta, the former president of theAsom Sahitya Sabha, the old district can roughly be divided into two zones, the eastern and the western, on the basis of variation in their dialects. The eastern zone is contiguous to the district ofKamrup and the western zone is closer to northBengal. Thus,moi ahilo inAssamese becomesmoiahilung in the eastern zone andmoiasilong in the western zone.Moiahilung resembles the dialect ofKamrup district and differs a little from that of the west zone. As the eastern zone is close to Kamrup district, it could not keep itself aloof from the latter’s influence.
In this context, the following examples will serve to show that the dialect of these zones have many points in common with that of Kamrup.
Eastern Kamrup: 1.Api gila gharor para olaw 2.Bhal amta kaikhal
Western Kamrup: 1.Api gila gharar para ola 2.Bhal atmu kai khalak.
The western zone on the other hand, being contiguous to North Bengal, could not remain unaffected from the Bengali influence. For example,Bengali words such asmatha (head),pakhi (birds) and Assamese words such asduar (door),chuli (hair),bihan (morning), which were used in early Assamese, are used by the people of Goalpara. There are some peculiarities in the dialect of Goalpara. For example,uyak aisa khaibe (he has to come),mok ei kamta orkajta kara khai (I have to do this work). Again, sometimes "L" becomes "N" in western dialect, such aslage becomesnage andlal becomesnal (red), infusing another difference in the dialect. In the Goalpariya dialect, expressions such aspet peta (rotten),tiktika (deep) are very common. The Maithili wordangcha (garment), and Hindi words such askawari (door) anddamad (bridegroom) have directly entered into the Goalpariya dialect and are still found in the same form and carrying the same meaning.
