Languages In India

Assam Bodo Language

Beginning

Bodo or Mech is the Burman Tibeto language of the Bodo people of the north eastern India and Nepal. It is also considered as one of the official languages of the Indian State of Assam and even one of the 22 scheduled languages in India. This language is ancient and rich and is one of the popular tribal languages. The bodo people reside in north eastern region speaks mostly this language. It is closely related to Dimasa language of the Assam state and also with the Garo language of the Meghalaya state. Furthermore this tribal language is closely related to Kokborok language and is chiefly spoken in the state of Tripura. However this popular north eastern language has no particularly record of its origin but it is said that a peak point in Bodo is a social political movement since 1913. After this language movement it was finally introduced in the primary schools and colleges. It has also been included as a part of post graduate programme. It strongly boasts rich literature through books, novels, poetry and biography. This language is also given a special constitutional status in India. The word Bodo denotes the language and the community and is also pronounced with a high on the second syllable.

History and Classification

Bodo Language has no records indicating the origin. The history of Bodo language is based on socio political highpoint movement which was launched by local Boro organisations. This language is closely related to Dimasa language of Assam and stretches from Dhubri in the west to Sadiya in the east. Since from the early stage on this earth, the Bodo community is well known for its culture and has come from its original Bathou religion which involves the worshipping of the sun.

Dialects

The dialects spoken in the Bodo language are:-

The Western Bodo Dialect (Swnabari)

The Eastern Bodo Dialect (Sanzari)

The Southern Bodo Dialect (Hazari)

The western Bodo dialect is spoken in the district of Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar. It has also gained the status of Standard dialect and has developed a written form as well.

Literature and Writing System

Bodo language represents a very rich literature and therefore consists of many famous books, novels and poetry. The last couple in decades especially prove the evolution of Bodo literature. As for writing style, Bodo language contains devanagri script. It also contains a long history on Roman script as well. Bodo language even inhabits a long history of using Assamese and Latin script. This language even shares some salient features with other languages which are similar in terms of morphology, phonology and vocabulary. Even this Bodo language is affected by many other communities especially from Kokrajhar and Bengali. In Udalguri district Bodo language is still heard in its pure form.