Santanu, It was unforntuate you decided for whom I call Assamese! I repeat that everyone who lives in Assam is Assamese in my view, but they need a language for them to communicate and build a lasting relationship among themselves. Maybe, a couple of languages that co-exist well.
By the way, if you have any other idea regarding how a nation should share ideas about the past, present and the future; what medium or modality should be used for communication without a language that is understood by most; can you give me what this modality of communication is? If it's not through the spoken or written word, is it through pictures with no linguistic labels on them? Is it through dances without the songs because songs need a language to be written and expressed and sung in? Is it through movies and theaters with no dialogue because dialogue must use language, one or more? Is it through someone else's language borrowed and patronized by the government and institutions through the expense of their resources? Or is it through 20 different languages, each language being understood by say 1-5% or fewer of the population, and one or two by a substantial majority? Please tell me and if it's reasonable, I am willing to accept, not if not illogical. My view is that we need a language, at most two to share and communicate. It is most desirable that the language(s) is (are) home grown and or has (have) come to become home grown. But, the speakers or users of these major languages must show genuine empathy toward the growth and development and usage of the other smaller languages and be not chauvinists. In my view, if one measures the complexity of most any language in the world in terms of any measurements, they are more or less similar. None is better or worse. All can rise to the occasion if necessary and needed. So, I don't think Assamese is inherently better than the other languages in Assam, just that it is a language that allows sharing and communication. Jugal -----Original Message----- From: Roy, Santanu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] Sent: Sun, 29 Jan 2006 09:13:07 -0600 Subject: RE: [Assam] Threat to the assamese Jugal: "the inhabitants of Assam will not call themselves Assamese as we call ourselves today, they will call themselves Assamites or something else, based on the name of the land they occupy then, and not on based on the language they speak." I would welcome that day. Your characterization of the Assamese nationality as a linguistic identity is very shallow and not useful in the current political context. You probably don't regard anyone who does not speak the oxomiya langauage, as it is known today, as Assamese. I do. There are millions like me who have as much right to be Assamese as you do - based on the land they call their own. And mercifully they do not need the acquiescence of the linguistic Assamese to call themselves that way. Santanu. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sun 1/29/2006 5:28 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Roy, Santanu; [email protected] Subject: Re: [Assam] Threat to the assamese I would like to counter Santanu's position. Jodihe Oxomiya bhaxa naikia hoy, tente Oxomiya jati aru nai. Gotike, if someone defends the society in Assam a few hundred years from now in an environment where Assamese as a language doesn't exist, then they are defending a new jati, a new populace. It's like if you look at North Dakota or South Dakota in the USA of today; the white Americans (majority in these states is Caucasian), they call themselves as being North Dakotan or South Dakotan, or in a generalized manner a Dakota! However, they are not the Dakota or the Lakota any more, the Dakota or the Lakota has almost ceased to exist. If the Assamese language is lost (and languages are disappearing from this world faster than you can imagine, especially if they have lost "royal" or governmentally supported "national" language status), the inhabitants of Assam will not call themselves Assamese as we call ourselves today, they will call themselves Assamites or something else, based on the name of the land they occupy then, and not on based on the language they speak. Jugal -----Original Message----- From: xourov pathok <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Roy, Santanu <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; [email protected] Sent: Sat, 28 Jan 2006 21:44:30 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: [Assam] Threat to the assamese "Roy, Santanu" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: Saurav: I understand. But quite apart from the context in which this discussion arose - let us for a moment suppose that Bihu simply degenerates into a holiday - an excuse for urban young people to get drunk, play hindi music etc. In the extreme, lets suppose it simply disappears - no memory whatsover. For that matter lets suppose, all of the traditional festivals of all the people disappear. Would it imply that the people have lost themselves? Or that society has simply evolved that new festivals and new traditions grounded in the current social reality of the people have emerged. And in that changed reality, there will be a new perception of the people about their past that will allow them to alter the essence of what it means to be an Assamese. Hundred years from now, a new Xourav will be identifying threats to Assamese culture thar you - saurav - would consider to be sacrilege - will be fighting to defend a new language - that you might consider entirely alien today. Santanu-da. santanu-da, you know the answer to this as well as i do. it would by no means imply that the people have lost themselves. they would have have simply moved on. and indeed a new xourov would be listing the new threats to assamese society!! but you should be able to differentiate between two aspects of the issue. the objective reality---which is what i tried to portray, and the value of the of the cultural artifacts to me, personally. they are two different things. you know it, as well as i do. in one you attach a personal value, in the other you don't. somehow, the personal value provides a momentum, to sustain it in one form or the other. and as you mentioned in reply to utpal-da's mail, this is a natural tendency. saurav -------- Bring words and photos together (easily) with PhotoMail - it's free and works with Yahoo! 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