Draft:Rural Assamese script

The Rural Assamese language (Assamese: গ্ৰাম্য অসমীয়া ভাষা, romanized: Gramyô Ôxômiya Bhaɣa IPA: /ɡrɑmjɔ ɔxɔmijɑ bʱɑɣɑ/) is a writing system of the Assamese language and is a part of the Bengali-Assamese script. This script was also used in Assam and nearby regions for Sanskrit as well as other languages such as Bodo (now Devanagari), Khasi (now Roman), Mising (now Roman), Jaintia (now Roman) etc. The current form of the script has seen continuous development from the 5th-century Umachal/Nagajari-Khanikargaon rock inscriptions written in an eastern variety of the Gupta script, adopting significant traits from the Siddhaṃ script in the 7th century. By the 17th century three styles of Assamese alphabets could be identified (baminiya, kaitheli and garhgaya)[4] that converged to the standard script following typesetting required for printing. The present standard is identical to the Bengali alphabet except for two letters, ৰ (ro) and ৱ (vo); and the letter ক্ষ (khya) has evolved into an individual consonant by itself with its own phonetic quality whereas in the Bengali alphabet it is an original conjunct of two letters (ক + ষ), which has the pronunciation of /k͡x/

The Buranjis were written during the Ahom dynasty in the Assamese language using the Assamese alphabet. In the 14th century Madhava Kandali used Assamese alphabets to compose the famous Saptakanda Ramayana, which is the Assamese translation of Valmiki's Sanskrit Ramayana. Later, Sankardev used it in the 15th and 16th centuries to compose his oeuvre in Assamese and Brajavali dialect, the literary language of the bhakti poems (borgeets) and dramas.

The Ahom king Supangmung (1663–1670) was the first ruler who started issuing Assamese coins for his kingdom. Some similar scripts with minor differences are used to write Maithili, Bengali, Meithei and Sylheti. The Rural Assamese alphabet is used for transcribing rural pronounciation of Assamese.

Phonology

The Rural Assamese phonemic inventory consists of eight vowels, ten diphthongs, and thirty-one consonants (including two semivowels and six extended consonants: /ç/, /ʈ/, /ɖ/, /ɳ/, /ɲ/, /ɣ/, /ɭ/, /ɽ/).

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i ⟨i, ই/ঈ⟩		u ⟨u, উ/ঊ⟩
Near-close			ʊ ⟨ü, ও⟩
Close-mid	e ⟨é, এʼ⟩		o ⟨ó, অʼ⟩
Open-mid	ɛ ⟨e, এ⟩		ɔ ⟨o, অ⟩
Back			ɑ ⟨a, আ⟩

Diphthongs

	a	i̯	u̯
ɑ		ɑi̯	ɑu̯
ɔ		ɔi̯
e		ei̯	ɛu̯
o		øi̯	ou̯
i		ɨ (অি/িয়)	iu
u	ua	ui̯	y (অূ/ূৱ)

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Dorsal	Retroflex	Glottal	Palatal
Nasal		m ⟨m, ম⟩	n ⟨n, ন⟩	ŋ ⟨ng, ঙ/ং⟩	ɳ ⟨ɳ, ণ⟩		ɲ ⟨ɲ, ঞ⟩
Stop	voiceless	p ⟨p, প⟩	t ⟨t, ত⟩	k ⟨k, ক⟩	ʈ ⟨ʈ, ট⟩
	aspirated	pʰ ⟨ph, ফ⟩	tʰ ⟨th, থ/ঠ⟩	kʰ ⟨kh, খ⟩
	voiced	b ⟨b, ব⟩	d ⟨d, দ⟩	ɡ ⟨g, গ⟩	ɖ ⟨ɖ, ড/ঢ⟩
	murmured	bʱ ⟨bh, ভ⟩	dʱ ⟨dh, ধ/ঢ⟩	ɡʱ ⟨gh, ঘ⟩
Fricative	voiceless		s ⟨s, চ/ছ⟩	x ⟨x, শ/ষ/স⟩		h ⟨h, হ⟩	ç ⟨jñ, জ্ঞ⟩
	voiced		z ⟨j, জ/য⟩	ɣ ⟨ɣ, ষ⟩
Approximant	central	w ⟨w, ৱ⟩	r ⟨r, ৰ⟩	k͡x ⟨kx, ক্ষ⟩	ɽ ⟨ř, ড়⟩		j ⟨y, য়/ ‍্য (য)⟩
	lateral		l ⟨l, ল⟩		ɭ ⟨ɭ, ল়⟩

Classification of ক্ষ/kx

The classification of ক্ষ is an affricate. But in the chart, ক্ষ is considered to be a dorsal approximate. So in Rural Assamese alphabet name is called: “পৃষ্ঠীয় খ” which is pronounced as: /pritʰij kʰɔ/. The letters: ঋ, ৠ, ঌ, ৡ are written shorthand versions of ৰি, ৰী, লি, লী. The letters are called: “চুটি ৰি”, “দীঘল ৰী”, “চুটি লি”, “দীঘল লী”. The letters are still counted as letters, unlike the modern Standard Assamese and Bengali alphabets which only contains ঋ only.

Consonant clusters

Main article: Assamese consonant clusters

Alveolar stops

The Assamese phoneme inventory is unique in the group of Indo-Aryan languages as it lacks a dental-retroflex distinction among the coronal stops as well as the lack of postalveolar affricates and fricatives. Historically, the dental and retroflex series merged into alveolar stops. This makes Assamese resemble non-Indic languages of Northeast India (such as Austroasiatic and Sino-Tibetan languages). The only other language to have fronted retroflex stops into alveolars is the closely related group of eastern dialects of Bengali (although a contrast with dental stops remains in those dialects). /r/ is normally realised as [r] or [ɻ].

Voiceless velar fricative

Assamese is unusual among Eastern Indo-Aryan languages for the presence of /x/ (realised as [x] or [χ], depending on the speaker and speech register), due historically to the MIA sibilants' lenition to /x/ (initially) and /h/ (non-initially). The use of the voiceless velar fricative is heavy in the eastern Assamese dialects and decreases progressively to the west—from Kamrupi to eastern Goalparia, and disappears completely in western Goalpariya. The change of /s/ to /h/ and then to /x/ has been attributed to Tibeto-Burman influence by Suniti Kumar Chatterjee.

In some cases, /kʰ/ can even merge with /χ/ or /x/ (akhɔr → axɔr "a letter (of an alphabet)").

Velar nasal

Assamese, Odia, and Bengali, in contrast to other Indo-Aryan languages, use the velar nasal (the English ng in sing) extensively. While in many languages, the velar nasal is commonly restricted to preceding velar sounds, in Assamese it can occur intervocalically. This is another feature it shares with other languages of Northeast India, though in Assamese the velar nasal never occurs word-initially.

Vowel inventory

Eastern Indic languages like Assamese, Bengali, Sylheti, and Odia do not have a vowel length distinction, but have a wide set of back rounded vowels. In the case of Assamese, there are four back rounded vowels that contrast phonemically, as demonstrated by the minimal set: কলা kola [kɔla] ('deaf'), ক'লা kóla [kola] ('black'), কোলা kwla [kʊla] ('lap'), and কুলা kula [kula] ('winnowing fan'). The near-close near-back rounded vowel /ʊ/ is unique in this branch of the language family. But in lower Assam, ও is pronounced the same as অ' (ó): compare কোলা kwla [kóla] and মোৰ mwr [mór].

Vowel harmony

Assamese has vowel harmony. The vowels [i] and [u] cause the preceding mid vowels and the high back vowels to change to [e] and [o] and [u] respectively. Assamese is one of the few languages spoken in India which exhibit a systematic process of vowel harmony.

Schwa deletion

The inherent vowel in standard Assamese, /ɔ/, follows deletion rules analogous to "schwa deletion" in other Indian languages. Assamese follows a slightly different set of "schwa deletion" rules for its modern standard and early varieties. In the modern standard /ɔ/ is generally deleted in the final position unless it is (1) /w/ (ৱ); or (2) /j/ (য়) after higher vowels like /i/ (ই) or /u/ (উ); though there are a few additional exceptions. The rule for deleting the final /ɔ/ was not followed in Early Assamese.

গ্ৰাম্য অসমীয়া ভাষা/Gramyô ôxômiya bhaɣa

The initial /ɔ/ is never deleted, the same as Standard Assamese.