In the Zone : Analysis and Verification
4.3.4 A means to attract attention and emphasize points
Under a formal situation, a speaker switches from L1 to L2 to attract attention of the participants or an intended group in the audience. A formal situation is referred to as a setting where the participants’ behaviours are controlled which means that they are not as free as they usually are in the company of friends and family members. Such a situation is created normatively when and where a sense of discipline and conduct is in force, such as, in offices, meetings and even gatherings where respected persons are present. In such situations, usually participants speak formal language, i.e., the official language befitting the situation. In such a situation, the rights and obligation set of the audience commands that the speaker completes his speech in the language in which he begins it, but midway he switches to L2. By making the unmarked choice of language, the speaker displays two purposes : first, he emphasizes the point he is raising, and second, he attempts to attract the attention of the authority present.
Example – 1
Setting : A meeting hall of the Assam Legislative Assembly at Dispur where the Speaker of the Assembly (himself a Mising) is chairing a meeting of the representatives of the Guwahati Mising Kebang (Guwahati Mising Society) and the Mising Autonomous Council, a statutory body for Mising self-rule constituted by the Government of Assam. Sonatan Doley (48) is an Executive Member of the Mising Autonomous Council and is representing the Council in this meeting held on February 02, 2001. The members are discussing among other things matters related to socio-cultural development of the Mising community. Doley’s speech delivered in the meeting is found to be of significance for the present study. The following is an excerpt presented sentence-wise (Mising words are in normal fonts while Assamese words are in italics and English words are in underlined italics) :
1 : Méngésunam Kébang Abu, Asom Bidhan Sabha lok Adhyokyo Mohudoy, odokké g kumsuné rengama. (Respected Chairman, Honourable Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly, and the gathering.)
2 : Ngo Mising Autonomous Council-ém protinidhitto ila sé kéba:so:pé g dung.
(I am attending this meeting as a representative of the Mising Autonomous Council.)
3 : Silo sémpiné kébang kolo ngo du:pa:la airu:péi mé:podung. (I am immensely happy to be with you all in such a meeting.)
4 : Lupé lum lo, MAC-ém sorkar-é Mising rengamsém kangabdopé émna gothon bitagai. (Indeed, the government had constituted the MAC to look after the Mising people.)
5 : Mising dungko-dagko, lambe-pédung odokké Mising d rb sok ainam lega:pé agerém gergeboyépé émna ngolum tol gtaggai. (We are pledged to initiate the required activities for betterment of their livelihood, roads, and culture.) 6 : Edé app :dém ngolu gerbomna du:bo, Kintu édé agerk d :dém gerabnadopé
sorkar-sé p :dopé murkongém bima:pé idung. (We have already begun such welfare activities, but the government is not providing sufficient fund for their completion.)
7 : Silo sé kéba:so Ahomsok Speaker Mohudoy b :sin dung, b m ngo MAC-r hoi eta kotha jonabo bisarisu je taniyé ka:begdopé agersém gerrama:la ngolum jonohadharaon-é aidag émna luma:bo. (Today, in presence of the Hon’ble Speaker, I would like to mention that we are being blamed for non- completion of the half-done works.)
8 : Eta kothar karonei amak bohut beya lage je, sorkar binam poisa:dém pange:la ngolu MAC-tok ager iné k d ngé orpansula dopakdag émna taniyé mé:dag. (People think, we at the MAC just share the money received from the government amongst ourselves, and I am very upset for that.)
9 : Kintu raij, apulaluke hunok, janahadharane bhabe je sorkare diya poisakhinir hatbyabahar ami kora nai. (But, dear members, please listen, people think that we do not utilize the money that we receive from the government.)
10 : Kintu, heitu hosa nohoi. (But, this is not true).
11 : Sorkar-e jurake poisa nidile ami keneke kamtu complete korim? (If the government does not provide sufficient fund, how can we complete the
works?)
12 : Édémpila supak ngoluk AGP sorkar-sé du:do:sém – yampo-ro: election-éi p nga:yébo – gerngo:nam agerk d ngém gerabnadopé murkongko bim lopak ami basim. (Therefore, during this AGP regime of ours – the elections are already approaching – we must complete the works.)
13 : Nohole ngoluk uporot manuhor bisshah naikiya hoi jabo. (Or else, we will lose people’s faith.)
In the above example, the speaker begins his speech in Mising which is an unmarked choice of language because in such a meeting, it is expected that the representative from the MAC would speak Mising. The rights and obligation set of the people commands that the preservers of the Mising language and culture make their speech in Mising. But as he observes that some of the audience are not paying sufficient attention to what he is saying, midway he switches over to Assamese with a louder voice. Here, apparently, his switching over to the marked language has two purposes:
first, for drawing the attention of the audience and through this the attention of the Speaker of the Assam Legislative Assembly that if the government doest not sanction sufficient fund, the MAC would not be able to complete the half-done works; and second, he emphasizes the point that if the government continues to show apathy to the peoples’ projects in the MAC area, their party will lose public faith which may prove dangerous for them during the next assembly elections.
It is noteworthy that in the first part of the speech, the speaker makes an unmarked choice by choosing Mising and uses the Assamese and English words just as borrowings, apparently to fill linguistic gaps in sentence 1, 2, 4, and 6 because these words are not available in the Mising language. In sentence 7 and 8, he goes for clausal switching. But in these sentences also, part of the complemetizing clause
“bim ngo MAC-r hoi eta kotha jonabo bisarisu je” in sentence 7 and “Eta kothar karonei amak bohut beya lage je” are in L2 which means that the linguistic base of the speech has shifted from the matrix language. And in sentence 9 he switches completely over to Assamese and continues upto sentence 11. He comes back to Mising to conclude his speech in sentence 12 but again reminds the participants of
his point in sentence 13 in L2 with which his speech ends. Here he uses Mising as a borrowing.
Example 2
Setting : An interior evening scene in Naren Kutum’s house at village Bhalukaguri on June 13, 2004. His elder son Manjit has failed the matriculation examination whose result was declared one week back. On the day of declaration of the result, he had gone to his school but had not returned home. The anxious parents got worried that in such situations teenagers may turn delinquent and commit misdeeds in bewilderment. On enquiring, it was found that he had gone to his uncle’s house at Biswanath Chariali. Following telephonic contacts, his uncle brings the boy home. A couple of neighbours too have come to enquire. All are sitted around the fire place over the evening round of Apong when the following conversation takes place in an effort to give comfort to Manjit.
1 Father : Nom ngo porikang pe:l-to emna ge:dulang, ge:ma:da. (Am I scolding you for failing the examination? I am not.)
2 : Sinying pe:l-to, lunnying ayo:pé porige:l bitokuk. (This year you have failed, you should prepare well and appear next year.)
3 Uncle : Porikangém léko fail yém loi taniyé odokk d pé mé:d rdon ? (Why do you lose heart after failing merely once ?)
4 : Amme léum-léppi:ko fail ge:lasinéi, abohehot pass dakku. (There are many people who fail three-four times and at last pass.)
5 : Ei khettrot monor jur aru nera-nepera sestar he prohijon ase. (In this regard, what is required is mental strength and perseverance.) 6 : Sesta solai thakile, edinakhon nischoy kritokarjya hobo. (If you
continue your efforts, you will surely be successful one day.)
In most cases in Mising villages, it is expected that when a candidate fails an examination, he/she is scolded by parents and guardians for not studying well and
causing to lose time and money. In the above case, Manjit’s father tries to console his son because already he seems to have been repenting which is demonstrated by his absconding for a week. Instead, Naren Kutum expresses his acceptance of his son’s failure and advises him to study well for the next year’s examination. Manjit’s uncle joins Naren in the consoling exercise in Sentence 3 and 4. He switches over to Assamese speech passages monor jur and nera-nepera sesta meaning mental strength and perseverence respectively in Sentence 5. These Assamese phrases are taught in primary schools and are usually instrumental in imbibing a sense of strength in the minds of youngsters. Then he tells another comforting speech in Sentence 6 in Assamese that if a person continues his/her sincere efforts towards a goal, he/she will surely be successful one day. It is significant that here Manjit’s uncle makes a marked choice because he makes a departure from the current medium of consoling the disappointed boy knowing that his speech in Assamese with the childhood phrases will have a better effect in Manjit’s mind. Another remarkable point observed here is that the other members present in the household including the three neighbours too, pay a better attention to this speech than they did to the earlier ones as evident from their body language. Here Manjit slightly moves his head towards his uncle partly as a sign of acknowledgement of what his uncle has said to him and partly to show that he has not ignored the speech.