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Concern over precarious status of Assamese language

By STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI, Dec 8 � The precarious condition of the Assamese language at the hands of immature journalists � both in the print and the electronic media � and also in the works of an emerging band of new Assamese writers together with the general apathy of the educated Assamese people towards maintenance of the sanctity and beauty of the Assamese language was discussed at length at a seminar organized under the joint auspices of the Assam Literary and Journalist Pensioners� Association and Kamrup Mahanagar Zila Sahitya Sabha recently.

Senior journalist DN Chakravartty presided over the function.

Inaugurating the seminar, veteran journalist and editor of Dainik Asam, Radhika Mohan Bhagawati, in his discourse, dwelt at length how the Assamese language that had attained a covetous status of beauty and grandeur at the hands of great writers such as Lakshminath Bezbaruah was now �facing a state of decadence because of lawlessness in the domain of grammar and general laws of phonetics in preset-day Assamese language.�

Bhagawati suggested that a kind of consortium with respectable representation from the universities, Asam Sahitya Sabha, editors, and leading philologists and grammarians should be constituted in order to set out the basic guidelines and norms to be followed by the press as well as writers and textbook publishers.

Prof Deven Dutta, in his scathing speech, deprecated the �audacious tendency of a new generation of journalists who vaunt their ignorance of Assamese by mindlessly copying Bengali and other languages.� He also found fault with the bad pronunciation of several artistes and anchors in the electronic media.

Prof Dutta attributed the present anarchical situation in the realm of the Assamese language to the absence of dedicated and competent teachers.

Philologist Dr Ramesh Pathak, in his speech, deliberated on the wrong use of words and malapropism in the domain of present-day use of the Assamese language, both in common parlance and in the world of literature.

Linguist Pramod Chandra Bhattacharya criticized the lack of seriousness on the part of teachers to give correct guidance to the new generation, which he said was causing long-term harm to Assamese language and literature.

Chakravartty, in his presidential remarks, appealed to all those engaged in the electronic and print media to be more vigilant in order to preserve the beauty and glory of the Assamese language. He expressed hope that in the succeeding seminars there would be larger participation to thrash out a universally acceptable guideline in respect of preservation of the charm and sanctity of the Assamese language. Earlier, Dimbeswar Pathak, secretary, Kamrup Mahanagar Zila Sahitya Sabha, explained the purpose of the event.

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