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Assamese Language

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19 views

Assamese Language

Uploaded by

TH RANABIR SINGHA eplLQCIVTF
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Assamese gains classical language status

Assamese gains classical language status

• On 12 October 2004, the Government


of India decided to create a new
category of languages called “classical
languages” and declared Tamil as a
classical language.
• The union cabinet chaired by Prime
Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday
approved the designation of Classical
Language status for Marathi, Pali,
Prakrit, Assamese, and Bengali.
Assamese gains classical language status
Criteria in 2004 Criteria in 2005
The following criteria were set during the The following criteria were set during the
time Tamil was given the classical time Sanskrit was given the classical
language status by the government of language status by the government of
India: India:
i. High Antiquity of its early texts/ i. High antiquity of its early
recorded history over a thousand texts/recorded history over a period
years. of 1500-2000 years.
ii. A body of ancient literature/ texts, ii. The classical language and literature
which is considered a valuable being distinct from modern, there
heritage by generation of speakers. may also be a discontinuity between
iii. The literary tradition must be original the classical language and its later
and not borrowed from another speech forms or its offshoots
community.
Assamese gains classical language status
Criteria in 2024
The following criteria were set by the Sahitya Akademi:
i. High antiquity of (its) is early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500- 2000 years.
ii. A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a heritage by generations of
speakers.
iii. Knowledge texts, especially prose texts in addition to poetry, epigraphical and
inscriptional evidence.
iv. The Classical Languages and literature could be distinct from its current form or
could be discontinuous with later forms of its offshoots

The concept of “the literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech
community” was replaced in the new criteria. Under these criteria, Assamese, Bengali,
Marathi, Pali and Prakrit were given the classical language status.
Assamese gains classical language status
• The inclusion of a language is recommended by the Linguistics Expert Committee of
the Union Culture Ministry.
• The Linguistics Expert Committee comprises representatives of the Union Ministries
of Home, Culture and four to five linguistic experts at any given time. It is chaired by
the president of the Sahitya Akademi.

Benefits of Granting Classical Language status:


Once a language is notified as a Classical language, the Human Resource and
Development Ministry provides certain benefits to promote it:
i. Two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in classical Indian
languages
ii. A Centre of Excellence for studies in Classical Languages is set up
iii. The University Grants Commission is requested to create, to start with at least in the
Central Universities, a certain number of Professional Chairs for the Classical
Languages so declared.
Assamese gains classical language status

Himanta Biswa Sharma also went on to


The recognition of these languages will emphasise that the push for classical
impact various sectors: status goes beyond the recommendations
of the Justice Biplab Sharma Committee
i. Preservation of Ancient Texts
report. He states that this recognition
ii. Cultural Tourism would solidify Assamese's place within
iii. Employment Generation India's diverse linguistic landscape,
iv. Preservation of Ancient Texts giving it prominence at both national and
global levels
Assamese gains classical language status
Languages in the Eighth Schedule: The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution consists of
the following 22 languages:
i. Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam,
Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu,
Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.
ii. Of these languages, 14 were initially included.
iii. Sindhi language was added in 1967 (21st Amendment Act).
iv. Three more languages Konkani, Manipuri and Nepali were included in 1992 (71st
Amendment Act).
v. Bodo, Dogri, Maithili and Santhali were added in 2004 (92nd Amendment Act).
Assamese gains classical language status
Q. Consider the following languages: (2014)
1. Gujarati
Q. Which one of the following was
2. Kannada
given classical language status recently?
3. Telugu (2015)
Which of the above has/have been declared
as ‘Classical Language/Languages’ by the
(a) Odia
Government?
(b) Konkani
(c) Bhojpuri
(a) 1 and 2 only
(d) Assamese
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

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