Early Assamese
{{Short description|Form of Assamese spoken from 1300 to 1600}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Use Indian English|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox language
|name=Early Assamese
|nativename=
|pronunciation=
|era=14th-16th centuries
|region=Assam
|familycolor=Indo-European
|fam2=Indo-Iranian
|fam3=Indo-Aryan
|fam4=Eastern
|fam5=Bengali-Assamese
|ancestor=Kāmarūpī Apabhraṃśa
|dia1=Brajawali
|script=Eastern Nagari
|isoexception=historical
|glotto=none
}}
File:Illustrated Manuscript of Dakhinpat Sattra( Bhagawat).jpg manuscript written in Early Assamese, from Dakhinpat Satra.]]
Early Assamese or Proto-Eastern Kamarupa{{harvnb|Toulmin|2006}} is an ancestor of the modern Assamese language. It is found in the literature from the 14th century to the end of 16th century{{harvcol|Kakati|1941|p=48}}"The history of Assamese language, as preserved in literature, may be conveniently divided into three periods:- (1) Early Assamese: from the fourteenth to the end of the sixteenth century." {{harvcol|Kakati|1953|p=5}} in Kamata kingdom and rest the Brahmaputra valley of Assam.
Literature
Early Assamese literature period can be split into: a) The Pre-Vaishnavite period and b) The Vaishnavite sub periods.{{harvnb|Kakati|1941}} The Pre-Vaishnavite period covers the period before the advent of Sankardeva and the Vaishnavite period initiated by his literary activities. The earliest Assamese writer, viz. Hema Saraswati and Harivara Vipra who composed Prahlada Charitra and Babruvahana parva respectively wrote under the patronage of King Durlabhanarayana of Kamatapura who ruled towards the end of the 13th or the earlier part of the 14th century. The next two important poets of the same period are Rudra Kandali and Kaviratna Saraswati who composed Drona parva and Jayadratha vadha. But the towering poet of this period is Madhava Kandali who is respectfully referred to by Sankardeva (b. 1449) as his predecessor. Madhava Kandali flourished towards the end of the 14th century and translated the entire Ramayana under the patronage of Mahamanikya, the then Varāha king of Central Assam.{{harvcol|Kakati|1953|p=5}}
Writing system
File:Copperplate inscription of Nilachal king Madhavadeva.jpg
Early Assamese was written in the Eastern Nagari script.
Morphology and Grammar
=Pronouns=
| class="wikitable" style="font-size:80%;" |
| style="vertical-align:center" | Person{{harvcol|Bez|2012}}{{harvnb|Kakati|1941}}
! style="vertical-align:center" | Singular nominative ! style="vertical-align:center" | Singular oblique ! style="vertical-align:center" | Plural nominative ! style="vertical-align:center" | Plural oblique |
|---|
| 1st
|mai, maĩ, āmi |mo-, moho- |āmi, āmarā |āmā-, āmhā-, āmāsā- |
| 2nd informal
| tai, taĩ | to-, toho- | torā | torā- |
| 2nd familiar
| tumi | tomā-, tomhā |tomarā | tomāsā- |
| 3rd inf., prox., m.
| i, ito | ihā-, ā- | ārā | ārā-, esambā- |
| 3rd inf. dist. f.
| ei | ei- | ārā | ārā-, esambā- |
| 3rd hon., prox.
| ehe, eho | | ehante, ehanto | esambā- |
| 3rd inf., dist., m.
| si, sito | tā-, tāhā- | tārā | tārā-, tāsambā- |
| 3rd inf. dist. f.
| tāi | tāi- | | |
| 3rd hon. dist.
| tehõ, tehẽ, tehã | | tehante, tehento, tesambe | tāsambā- |
Notes
{{reflist}}
References
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite thesis |type=Ph.D. |first=Gitanjali |last=Bez |title=Grammatical Categories in Madhav Kandali's Ramayana |publisher=Gauhati University |year=2012 |hdl=10603/116370}}
- {{citation |last=Kakati |first=Banikanta |year=1941 |title=Assamese: Its Formation and Development |url=https://archive.org/details/AssameseitsFormationAndDevelopment |publisher=Government of Assam |place=Gauhati, Assam}}
- {{Citation |last=Kakati |first=Banikanta |contribution=The Assamese Language |editor-last=Kakati |editor-first=Banikanta |title=Aspects of Early Assamese Literature |pages=1–16 |publisher=Gauhati University |place=Gauhati |year=1953}}
- {{cite thesis |type=Ph.D. |first=Mathew W S |last=Toulmin |title=Reconstructing linguistic history in a dialect continuum: The Kamta, Rajbanshi, and Northern Deshi Bangla subgroup of Indo-Aryan |url=https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/45743 |publisher=The Australian National University |year=2006}}
{{refend}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Early Assamese Language}}
Category:Eastern Indo-Aryan languages