This proposed project aims to document and describe regional varieties of the Assamese language, with a focus on the regional and social variations in its vowel system. Assamese, an Indo-Aryan language, is primarily spoken in the Brahmaputra valley of Assam, situated in the highly linguistically and culturally diverse northeastern India. While there are existing descriptions of the Assamese vowel system, these studies often do not consider the range of variation among speakers and ethnolinguistic groups who have adopted Assamese as either their sole or one of their primary languages. This project seeks to address this gap through extensive sampling across a diverse range of speakers, taking into consideration the complex patterns of multilingualism and multiculturalism in Assam.
In this talk, CHL PhD Candidate Saurabh Nath will present a comprehensive overview of the project highlighting the importance of the space itself where the language has evolved. He will also discuss the importance of the project within the current frameworks of dialectometry and phonology, exploring their broader implications for understanding language diversity.
This is a hybrid presentation. For those who cannot attend face to face, you can join the session virtually via Zoom (Meeting ID: 202 779 6978 & Password: 728508)
Event Speakers
Saurabh Nath
Saurabh is a first-year PhD student at the ANU School of Culture, History & Language at the College of Asia and the Pacific. He is studying the fascinating topic of language variation and change in multilingual-multicultural spaces. His current research focuses on the vowel system of Assamese, a language spoken in the state of Assam in India.