Fwd: Ahom Language Not Dead

[John Peterson]

VYAKARAN: South Asian Languages and Linguistics Net
Editors:  Tej K. Bhatia, Syracuse University, New York
          John Peterson, University of Osnabrueck, Germany
Details:  Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say: INFO VYAKARAN
Subscribe:Send email to listserv at listserv.syr.edu and say:
          SUBSCRIBE VYAKARAN FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME
          (Substitute your real name for first_name last_name)
Archives: http://listserv.syr.edu

Sorry for any cross-postings, but I thought perhaps someone on this list
might be interested in this message from the LinguistList about the Ahom.

Best,
John

-------------------------Message 1 ----------------------------------
Date: Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:28:05
From: Dr Wati Pangrakri [drwatiao at yahoo.com]
Subject: Ahom Language Not Dead
E-mail this message to a friend:
http://linguistlist.org/issues/emailmessage/verification.cfm?iss=19-1839.html&submissionid=181141&topicid=5&msgnumber=1



LL Readers,

Ahom language being declared dead by many linguists and writers during the
last 19th century has its roots still left on a small hill in the Naga
territory even today.

Assam being a state of India which speaks of the mighty Ahom rulers
12th-19th century where many scholars, writers, linguist and so on, tried
to decipher the lost language (Ahom), but the fact is that the present
population speaks a mixture of Bengali-Hindi-Other(s) which is now known as
the 'Assamese', unlike the original Ahom script written in the barks, skin
etc.

Fortunately, we've been preserving our history and geneaology through oral
tradition passed down from our fore-fathers. We have never been conquered
by other advancing tribes nor followed their traditions as well our
language altered, unlike Assam state which is infiltrated by many advanced
cultures like Hinduism, Buddism, Muslims etc.

Assam is now trying its best to revive its lost language for the last 100
years but yielded no satisfactory translations of the script. I happened to
read B.J.Terwiel book on Ahom language where he studied the Ahom language
from various angles that he had to say that the language was dead which
drew my attention wherein a translated 2 line script talking about the
primordial state of affairs.

In my opinion, that's not so according to our language. The pronunciation
of the words exactly matches the meanings and phrases of our fore-fathers
time which has a deeper meanings than what was thought by many scholars and
teachers in Assam and elsewhere.

I beg if anyone ready to help me and this small population fading away to
non-existence.


-- 
John Peterson
FB 7, Sprachwissenschaft
Universität Osnabrück
Neuer Graben 41
D-49069 Osnabrück
Germany

Telephone: (+49) (0)541-969 4252
Telefax: (+49) (0)541-969 4256
Homepage: http://www.SouthAsiaBibliography.de/