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आभ्यंतर (Aabhyantar)
SCONLI-12
विशेषांक ISSN : 2348-7771
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5. Sociolinguistic profile of the Hajong
language
Albina Narzary :
PhD, University of Hyderabad
Abstract
This
paper is an attempt to study the Sociolinguistic Profile of the Hajong
language, one of the endangered languages of Assam. This profile is about the
sketch of language name, genetic affiliation, population, resources,
multilingualism, language use, endangerment, code mixing, attitude and
appreciates inquiry. The main aim is to study the present sociolinguistic
profile of Hajong language and to investigate linguistic background, language
proficiency of the users, sociolinguistic situation and language endangerment.
The data were collected from a field visit to Goalpara district of Assam by
means of questionnaire, interviews and personal observations. The participant
sample includes 50 Hajong individuals living in the villages of Goalpara. The
results of the study have shown that Hajong language is highly endangered with
various internal and external forces.
1.
Background
According
to Grierson (1903) Hajong is a Tibeto-Burman clan settled in the districts of
Mymensing and Sylhet, principally in the
country at the foot of the Garo Hills….but the tribe has long abandoned its
original form of speech. At present Hajong is classified in the Ethnologue as
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern zone, Bengali-Assamese (Gordon
2005). Hajong is an undocumented language which is mainly spoken in the
Mymensingh district of Bangladesh and in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, and
Meghalaya in India. In Assam, Hajong is spoken in the Karbi Anglong, and North
Cachar Hills. And in the plain districts of Assam, Hajong is scattered in
Lakhimpur, Udalguri,Dhubri,Bongaigaon, Chirang and Goalpara. The total number
of Hajong speakers according to chronological population list of Tribes in
Assam as per as 2011 census is 34,253 in plains and in hills 436.
The present paper is about the sociolinguistic
profile of Hajong mainly spoken from Dhaigaon Solmari, Tilapara , Khardang,
West Matia and West Kadamtala villages of
Goalpara district of Assam. This profile is a short sketch of Language
name, genetic affiliation, population, resources, multilingualism, language
use, endangerment, code mixing, and attitude and appreciates inquiry.
2.
Methodology
2.1
Survey location
Data have been mainly collected from Dhaigaon Solmari,
Tilapara , Khardang, West Matia , West Kadamtala villages of Goalpara.
2.2
Selection of the
respondents
Total 50
Sex
M 22
F 28
Ranges of
Age 16-80
Education Preliterate 24
Literate 18
Educated 8
2.3
Methods of gathering
information
The
data used in this analysis was collected through questionnaires, informal
conversation and personal observations. This data was collected in a field trip
from January to June 2017 in Hajong villages of Goalpara district of Assam. The
questionnaire was fashioned after those employed by Linguistic Survey of Nepal.
This entire questionnaire helps to investigate the data on language
endangerment, language use, attitude and proficiency etc,
a. Questionnaire
The questionnaire was followed from sociolinguistic
Questionnaire developed by Linguistic Survey of Nepal.
It contains a set of 115 questions divided into
different subsections. Its main focus is to investigate:
i.
The
linguistic background of Hajong
ii Proficiency of the language speakers.
iii. The present sociolinguistic situation of the
Hajong language
iv. The causes of
language endangerment in Hajong
b. Informal conversation
During the field trips, I had informal conversation with
the people regarding their cultural views, and collected more information about
the sociolinguistic situation of the Hajong language.
c. Observation
In the field, I also observed the different
sociolinguistic situation of the language like their use of the language,
attitude of the people towards the language, their marriages, eating habits,
houses, dress etc.
3.
Findings
3.1
Language name
The
language is recognized as Hajong by its native speakers and also by others.
Hajong is a term used both for language and community. Grierson called them
‘Haijong (often incorrectly called Hajong)’ There is no agreed opinion
regarding the origin of the name Hajong. Some Scholars are of the opinion that
the word Hajong is derived from the Bodo word ‘ haju’ which means inhabitants
of high land. ‘Hajong are the off-shoot of the Bodo people, the word Hajong
might have derived from Bodo word Haju ‘high hill’or from Rabha word Hachu
‘high hill’plus ong ‘resident’ or from Kachari word Hajai.’(Hajong 2002). Some
scholars believed that ‘Hajong was migrated and descendent of king Hajo of 15th
century Kamrup and eventually they
came to be known as Hajongs’. It is mostly agreed among scholars that Garos people named them ‘Ajong’ meaning
‘outsider’ or ‘Non- Garo’ when they
settled in Garo Hills with a significant meaning from their language which
means in Garo ‘haa’ or ‘a’ is soil and ‘jong’
means ‘insect’.
3.2
Genetic affiliation
According to Dalton,
Endle and Allen, Hajongs is an offshoot of the great Bodo race. Grierson
described Haijong tribe as a Tibeto-Burman language but has shifted its
original form of speech more similar to Indo-Aryan. Hajong is classified in the
Ethnologue as Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern zone,
Bengali-Assamese (Gordon 2005).
3.3
Population
The
total number of Hajong speakers according to chronological population list of
Tribes in Assam as per as 2011 census is 34,253 in plains and in hills is 436.
3.4
Setting of Hajong
Villages in Goalpara district
The Hajong villages
are located in the plain areas surrounded by different tribes in the same
village. Beside Hajong most of these villages are inhabited by Assamese,
Bengali, Nepali, Garo, Boro, Rabha, Koch etc.Garo, Boro, Rabha and some Hajong
speak their language as their mother tongue while sonowal , Koch has accepted
Assamese as their first language. It is noticed that the younger generation of
Hajongs is more fluent in Assamese than their mother tongue. Among these tribes
Assamese is the contact language for daily conversation.
3.5
The dialects
There
is no prestigious or standard dialect among Hajong. In Ethnologue Banai and
Dalu has been mentioned as two dialects of Hajong but after doing fieldwork it
is found that these two are separate tribes not dialects of Hajong. Based on
some geographical variation there are varieties in their speech. The varieties
that is spoken in the Goalpara villages is slightly different from the speakers
of Garo Hills Meghalaya in their vocabulary and pronunciation even though not
syntactically.
3.6
Language resources
Unlike many other
documented languages Hajong does not have healthy written literature, grammar,
texts, dictionaries, and everyday media but with only phonological description
and few papers here and there .However, they have a rich oral literature in the
form of folk songs, folk- dances, folk tales, craft etc. which is not yet
documented.
3.7
Multilingualism
3.7.1 The language spoken in Goalpara district
There
are many languages (namely Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Garo, Rabha, Hajong etc,)
that are spoken in the villages of Goalpara district. For most of the tribes
Assamese and Bengali are the contact language. For some respondentHajong is the
first language and Assamese is the second language.
30%
of the elderly respondent have answered that they can understand and engage in
a conversation in Hajong very well but it is seen mostly among younger
generation their lack of mother tongue proficiency. Most of the Hajong speakers
can’t read and write in Hajong but can understand, speak, read and write well
in Assamese due to influence from the dominant culture after a long contact
situation. The worst situation among many is that Assamese language took place
even in home domain. Hajong people learn the Assamese at home, in village and
in school.
3.7.2 Familiar scripts
The
most familiar script for most of the speaker of Hajong communities are Assamese
and Bengali but educated people are also familiar with Devanagiri and Roman
scripts as well. There are some people who do not know any script.
3.7.3 Languages they can translate
Assamese
is the language from which Hajong speakers can translate into or from other
language.
3.8 Domains of Language use
Assamese
is the first and second language for some (10%) of the Hajong speakers.
However, 40% of the speakers consider Hajong as their first language.
Generally, Hajong speakers used their mother tongue with their fellow members
and Assamese with their neighbors in a daily conversation. Children speak
Hajong at home and with friends of the same community but with neighbors and at
schools in Assamese. Hajong people used Assamese most frequently while
counting, bargaining/shopping/marketing; talking to household helpers, teaching
nursery rhymes, public meetings and in
marriage invitation, on the other side they used Hajong while singing,
storytelling, praying, joking, and abusing. Around 40% of people used both Assamese
and Hajong even while singing, praying, joking and abusing.
3.9 Language endangerment
40%
of the Hajong individuals claimed that their language is highly endangered.
Among them, 5 % of Hajong individuals disagreed and 5% of them were silent. The
UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group (2003) includes nine factors to evaluate a language
vitality and state of endangerment, Language attitude and Urgency for degree of
language endangerment. While asking the causes of language endangerment 40% of
people have answered the main causes of language endangerment in Hajong which
includes the following:
a. Lack of
intergenerational language transmission as because the degree of Hajong
endangerment may be classified as belonging to the second level i.e., unsafeMost children speak their
parental language, but it is restricted only to the limited domain i.e., in the
home domain where children interact with their parents and grandparents,
b. Absolute number
of speaker is less only around 34,689
c. Proportion of the
speakers within the total population of the country is very low and unsafe
d. Loss of existing
language domains
e. Lack of response
to the new domains and media
f. Lack of massssterials
for language education and literacy
g. Differentiated
support with regard to government and institutional language attitudes and policies
including official status and use
h. Community
members’ pessimistic attitude towards their own languages
i. No material
exists with regard to amount and quality for language documentation
j. Low economic and
socio-economic status of the speakers
k. Lack of access in
opportunities and
l.
Lack of motivation. The language situation of Hajong is in a verge of language
shift due to long term contact with the mainstream cultural group and lack of
support system from the government and indigenous institution in order to
preserve and promote their language.
3.10 Code mixing
Most
of the speakers ( 45%), generally switch to other language while speaking their
language. While 5% answered that they do not switch to other languages. This is
because the appropriate words and phrases are easily available for objects and
ideas in other languages and also find easy to talk on certain topics in other
language. Only 20 % the people think
that mixing words from other language will spoil the beauty and purity of their
language but for others it will make their language more intelligible.45%
of people answered that their children
mix other language more than they do.
3.11 Language attitude
40%
Hajong people believed that their mother tongue is rich, precise, sweet,
musical, pure and powerful against other tongues. However they consider their
mother tongue is not useful against other tongue in terms of jobs, business,
social mobility, literature and science and technology. Most of the time 45% of
people answered that they feel embarrassed to speak their language in the
presence of the speaker of dominant language. Most of the Hajong parents are
strongly protective of inter-caste marriages and wish that their children will
maintain their culture and language in near future.
3.12 Appreciative enquiry
45
% of the people feel proud of their language and has a dream for their
language. The following list presents the dreams of Hajong people:
1.
Devising
the script
2.
Writing
and publishing textbooks
3.
Dictionary
and grammar writing.
4.
Using
language in the medium of instruction at the primary level.
4. Conclusion
In order to revitalize Hajong language
government, community and linguists should be involved. To preserve and promote
Hajong language the community can help the linguists to document the language,
can make school for language teaching, can help government and by speaking
Hajong language. To preserve and promote the language the government and non-
government should help by publishing textbooks in Hajong language and can
provide financial support to materialize dreams of Hajong people.
5.
References
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