LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 14:5 May 2014
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Language and Identity with Special Reference to North-East India

Al Kafil Choudhury GM, M.A., Ph.D. Scholar
Juri Saikia, M.A., Ph.D. Scholar

Abstract

Language is ‘the method of human communication, either spoken or written, consisting of the use of words in a structured and conventional way’ (Oxford Concise Dictionary). Identity means ‘the fact of being who or what a person or thing is’ (Oxford Concise Dictionary). In this paper an attempt is made to explain how identity of different social groups in general and of North-East India in particular is associated with their linguistic aspects. Here, the spoken form is under consideration as it differs in case of even speakers of the same language.

Key Words: Language, Identity, North East India

Identities

Language is seen to be associated with identity in a number of ways such as (i) national identity, (ii) regional identity, (iii) social identity, (iv) cultural identity, (v) professional identity and (vi) identity concerning age, sex, religion, caste and ethnic tribe, etc.

Use of the same language may differ concerning its accent and vocabulary from which identity may be observed, for example, American and British English. Such an instance of Hindi is found as spoken by the people of Dima Hasao District of Assam. Various groups of people in the North-Eastern states speak differently the same language in respect of accent, style and even vocabulary also.

North-East India

North-East India contains a large number of linguistic speech communities belonging to different class, caste and ethnic tribes. In the day to day communication through language, their identities from different viewpoints are revealed. For instance, while addressing a person by name, title, etc., such address may indicate his/her identity of caste, community, religion or social position. Accent, style and pronunciation of words of a particular language may reveal the speaker’s identity concerning the above factors as well as age, sex, etc. The dialectal variation of the speakers of the same language is another indicator of the geographical location to which the speakers belong. Use of particular words of other language (loan words) is a feature of the languages of north-eastern states of India which is observed to have an indication of particular identity.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Al Kafil Choudhury GM, Ph.D. Scholar
Department of Linguistics
Assam University
Silchar-788011
Assam
India
calkafil@yahoo.com

Juri Saikia, Ph.D. Scholar
Department of Linguistics
Assam University
Silchar-788011
Assam
India
juri.saikia@yahoo.co.in
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