The Phonetics of the Assamese Language

Assamese is the major language spoken in the state of Assam in North East India. It is the eastern-most branch of the Indo-Aryan (IA) group of languages which is a branch of the greater Indo-European (IE) language group. The phonetics of the Assamese language is somewhat different from other IA languages in India (Sanskrit, Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, etc.) chiefly for four reasons. (1) Assamese has developed, over the years, in comparative isolation from other IA languages in India. (2) Assamese was influenced heavily by the Tibeto-Burman and other languages of NE, while other IA languages in mainland India were not. (3) The IA languages in mainland India, on the other hand, were influenced heavily by the Dravidian languages while Assamese was not. (4) The branch of Aryans that emigrated to Assam in pre-historic times, were pre-Vedic Aryans, because of which Assamese still retains some of the characteristics of the original phonetics of the Indo-European group of languages which other IA languages in India seem to have lost. In the table below, we summarize the basic phonemes of the Assamese language as the Assamese speak today, and give a brief explanation of the same with nearest IPA symbols and English sounds.

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