In the Zone : Analysis and Verification
4.3.2 A linguistic tool to include/exclude participants in/from in-group discussions
of the choices found marked or unmarked are mentioned in the analysis and interpretation, but the dominating function is given in parenthesis in the statement heading. It is noteworthy that the use of code-switching as a linguistic device and implicator, is various and has no bounds. It is as infinite as the language itself. In the present study, the use of code-switching as a major sociolinguistic device used by the Misings as found in the field work conducted in the strategically selected villages and towns/cities, are covered and presented.
Example 1
Setting : The meeting hall of the the All Guwahati Mising Kebang (All Guwahati Mising Society) located at Japorigog in Guwahati. The Kebang is the apex body of the Mising population of Guwahati city. It plays a pivotal role in taking initiatives for the socio-cultural development of the Mising community living in the city. The Kebang is constructing a Murong Okum (cultural house) at Japorigog with a government grant. A site engineer is appointed to oversee the construction works at the site who is an Assamese-speaking person. From time to time the members of the construction committee meet to take stock of the progress of the construction works.
In one of its meetings held in June, 2005, the speeches/debates of the members progress as shown below :
1 Member A : Kébang Abu odokké g kumsuné ajon k d nga, longkoké meeting dokké su:pak der mang koi ika:bo. (Mr. Chairman and my colleagues, it’s been one and half months since the last meeting.) 2 : Sidd dinso sé bareyo:sémyé it la dun ? (Is that wall alone being
built all these days ?)
3 : Sémpé itom lo kapé ngolu sé bosérék ara:so okumsém mop nyen?
(If it goes in this way, how shall we complete the building within this year ?)
4 : Su:paktu ngolu po:lo-po:lolo murkongém bige:la Kangapya:né engineer kosin la:tagbo, odok p :mang émna, labour émsin la:dérmotakkubo. (Now we have taken a monthly-paid site engineer and as reported required, the labour strength has also been increased ?)
5 : Empige:lasin, kapila ager sé lomma:pé idun baru. (Even then why isn’t the work picking up ?)
6 : Moi eituei janibo khujisu je ohubidhatu kot hoise ? (I just want to know where is the problem ?)
7 : Kamtu kiyo aag barha nai ? (Why isn’t the work progressing ?)
8 Member B : (Secretary)
Obosye, kamtu jiman aag barhibo lagisile himan aag barha nai.
(The work, of course, is not progressing as it should have been.) 9 : Aru borokhun-or karoneu keidinman kam bondho hoi asil.
(Further, the work got stalled for a couple of days due to rains.) 10 : Amar site engineer-e jonuwa mote kisuman technical ohubidhar
karone majote prai dui hoptah man kam bondho rakhibo loga hoisile. (As reported by our site engineer, due to certain technical problems, the work had to be stopped for almost two weeks.) 11 : Karon, architect-or clearance napale ami sad-tu dhalai koribo
nuwaru, aru architect jon ehoptahor karone out-of-station asil.
(Because, without the clearance of the architect, we can’t cast the slab and the architect was out of station for one week.)
12 : Odokké, sé ngoluk kangapné tanisé:sin lonyi-loum ko g toma, b k b rmékolok midangai émna. (Our site engineer too didn’t come for two-three days for he had gone to attend his sister’s marriage.) 13 : B k lubinam mote ager-gerné tani:k d :sé:sin am rém aiyo:pé pa:mang émna complain dung émdak. (He has also informed that the labourers had complained of non receipt of their dues.)
14 : Édém su:gam sé ager ru:tum tanisém tatla:pé. (We shall, however, ask this work superintendent later in this regard.)
15 : Kapé-kapéi idaggom, su:pakkolokké, aiyo:pé agersém gerbonpé lagidagbo jate ami December-rot ghorkhon uliyabo paru.
(Whatever is the problem, from now onwards, the work has to go speedily so that we can complete the building by December.) 16 : Karon apunaluke itimodhye gom paisei je, Narah sir-e bisare je
election-or agote CM-or dara ghor khonor hubharombhoni korabo lage. (Because, as you all are already aware, Narah-sir (the WPT Minister) wants to ge the house inaugurated by the Chief Minister before the elections.)
The first member makes an unmarked choice when he begins his speech in Mising, but he switches over to a marked language Assamese in Sentence 6 and 7 apparently because he wants to include the site engineer, an Assamese-speaker, to understand this part of his speech. The speech of the second speaker has a number of communicative implications. When the first speaker has openly complained of the slow progress of the work, the second member who is also the Secretary of the organization, makes it clear to all members, particularly to the site engineer who is a non-Mising speaker and does not understand bulk of the previous speaker’s speech, that due to certain unavoidable reasons, the work could no progress satisfactorily.
Apparently, his beginning in Assamese is intentional and marked which is directed in making the site engineer understand what the previous speaker had said or meant and also to rescue him from a possible state of discomfort (for not understanding Mising). All of a sudden he again switches to Mising when he says about the absence of the site engineer for a couple of days which is again purposeful – he seems to be not very happy with the engineer’s absence and he does not want this expression to be understood by the engineer at this moment. He also informs in Mising that the labourers have complained of non-reciept of some of their dues and the work supervisor has to be asked about the reason. This again seems intended to exclude the work supervisor from the present discussion. These speeches are metaphorically framed and therefore they are marked choices of language.
Example 2
Setting : Inside a Mising household in the evening when the members of the family gather around the fire-place to discuss the next day’s works. As usual, the father who is the head of the family is taking stock of the progress of work in the paddy fields and is preparing to distribute works for the next day. Then his younger son informs that Brojen Barman (41) who is doing a sharecropping with the family, has not come back from home till date. He had gone home in Nalbari in lower Assam in early summer of 2003. But the time for beginning the amdang ar g (summer crop) may run out if he delays further in coming back for the weather is not going to wait for him. Another sharecropper Gombhir Boro (34) is sitting nearby and is there to take
seeds for next day’s sowing. Mohan, the elder son of the family and his father explore the possibility of giving the stretch of land allotted to Brojen, to Gombhir in the following conversation.
1 Father : Édé Borjen-dé sin lentokuma, longkok deobar do:bo g sa:yéku émge:la okko kapikang émdang baru. (That Brojen too hasn’t turned up, he was supposed to come back last Sunday, I don’t know what happened to him.)
2 : Su:pak bottepé pédong omango:dosém kotiya pari-namdém ingapma:m lo ledupé olomang-tolomang iyéku. (Now that it’s not raining too heavily we have to finish growing the paddy seeds, otherwise, afterwards we will be left neither this way nor that way.)
3 Elder Son : Ba:bu, sé akon sémméi b k ba:g démsin bipéboi ? (Father, shall we give his share to this man (the other sharecropper) ?)
4 Father : Édémé:pé ipa:yépé, b m (Brojen) toya:m lo ar g yokyé. (We may have to do that way, otherwise if we go on waiting for him (Brojen) we will lose crop.)
5 : Sém luposul kangk to, b :sin-ba pagyésong pagma:yésong. (Try talking to this man, it’s not sure if he will be able to do it too.) 6 : Jone kheti koribo nuware, tak mati di ki labh ase, tatke belegog
diyai bhal. (No point giving land to someone who can’t do cropping, instead, its better to give it to someone else.)
Mohan and his father are worried about timely beginning and completion of the harvest. The rains have already started and they have to finish growing the paddy seeds, otherwise once it starts raining heavily, it will be very difficult for them to complete the work. When his father reminds of this warning, the anguished Mohan proposes to his father that the land allotted for Brojen be given to the other sharecropper Gombhir in Sentence 3. But he does not want that Brojen should
understand this proposal at this moment. Even in Sentence 5, still in unmarked Mising, when the father asks Mohan to talk to Gombhir to find out his capability to take over the piece of land kept for Brojen, Gombhir is deliberately excluded from the discussion. But in sentence 6 the father switches over to Assamese when he expresses that there is no point in lending land to a person who does not do the cultivation in time, and instead, it is better to give it to someone else who can do it.
Through this marked choice of language, the father intends to include Gombhir in to the discussion. Through this he also gives a general warning that a non-performer is not going to get land for sharecropping.
Example 3
Setting : In the verandah of the pucca house of Dinesh Pegu (57) of village Gomari in the Golaghat district of Assam on October 27, 2007. A distant relative of Pegu has come to fetch a house maid who happens to be the mother of an eight-year old boy staying with Pegu. Pegu seems to be a father figure to the boy as well as his mother and guides them in all major activities. Over their morning tea, Pegu and his relative talk about the woman who is sitting on a bench in the other side of the verandah.
1 Pegu : Sé né:sé b k ab :n b rodo du:m ndag, odokké, amodé:bulu luk n- lum ndag émna olop kosto pai ase aru. (This woman stays with her elder brother and she complains that her sisnter-in-law and others behave scornfully with her.)
2 : Maiki manuhor kothatu. (You know, it’s a matter of women.) 3 Relative : B k milbo:dé ? (Her husband ?)
4 Pegu : B k milbo:dé ménny ng-konny :bo g pakkang émdag. (She says, her husband has gone away (from her) long back.)
5 : Su:pag sari-pas bosor-koi idu:bo:pé, yoknamé. (Probably, it’s already four-five years now since he went missing.)
6 : Aipé lagidag, karon b ménnying Jibo Gogoi kolo:sin dungkatu.
(She should make a good domestic help, because she stayed with
Jibo Gogoi (former Speaker, Assam), last year.
7 : Lora-suwaliu suwa-sita koribo pare. (She can take care of the children also.)
8 : Émpige:la, léko léko nappa:dé tatkigamdagnéna, ge:yé-payé m lo kerigsudag. (But sometimes, she has a sour mouth, particularly when scolded, she replies.)
9 : Édém no ka:la solai tobo péna. (That may be taken care of by you.) 10 Relative: Ma, agerdém aiyo:pé germ lo, ko:ka:ngém aiyo:pé kangapm lo,
okodémméi ge:pénam kadang. (No, if she does her work properly, if she takes care of the children, what is there to scold her for.)
11 Pegu : Kamtu koriboi lagibo, karubar ghorot thakok, nijor ghorot thakok.
(One has to work irrespective of his/her being at home or at someone else’s home.)
12 : Asolote, jotei nathakok ghorkhon nijor buli bhabi lobo lage, tetiya tat thaki, kam-bon kori bhal lage. (Actually, wherever a person stays he/she should take that place as his/her own home, then, it becomes a comfortable place to stay and work in.)
While introducing Rashmi to her new Malik (employer or owner), Pegu informs him about her family status and experience in the related field in Sentence 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6. He describes this mostly in the unmarked language of Mising with naturally inserted Assamese words and phrases because he does not mind if she understands what they are talking about her such as that she is staying with her elder brother and she is unhappy with the behaviour of her sister-in-law. In Sentence 1, he effects a clausal swicthing and in Sentence 6, the whole sentence which indicates her inclusion in the discussion. It is also implicated that this transmission of information is directed toward preparing the new Malik about her and drawing a sort of symphathy towards her. In Sentence 7, he makes a marked choice when he speaks pure Mising in expressing that she is sometimes sour in replying when scolded. The speaker does not want this part of his speech to be understood by her. Through this,
the speaker excludes Rashmi from the discussion. In Sentece 9, when the new Malik makes it clear that there is nothing to scold her about if she does her works properly, Pegu again switches to Assamese in Sentence 10 and 11 to convey the morale of what her new Malik says. In fact, the expression that one must work with a sense of belongingness wherever he/she stays, is directed to her to understand and grab.
Through this marked choice of language, the speaker again includes Rashmi in the conversation.
4.3.3 A comforting agent for non-speakers during in-group conversations