In the Zone : Analysis and Verification
4.4.4 A medium of communication with animals
the pigs are seen running towards her with ‘hrak, hrak’ sounds and begin to eat their food from the container brawling with each other. In an interview after the feeding, Bimolti replies to the queries as the following :
1 Q : No, kapé e:gém gogkan? (How did you call the pigs.)
2 Bimolti : E:g no:nan bakké du:malang. (There are languages for calling pigs.) 3 Q : Kapé no:doji lubilapéi, mé:ny ngo:ma:pé. (Can you say how the pigs
are called, if you don’t mind.)
4 Bimolti : Aninnokkém no:milo, ‘yui yui’ émna no:do, odokké, mo:té:lokkém no:yém lo, ‘kam-é kam’ émdo. (While calling from a nearby place, we call saying ‘yui yui’ and if we have to call from a distance, we shout saying ‘kam-e, kam, kam’.)
5 Q : Baru aidak, no kindone, édé e:g no:nan bhasha-dé kapé lenkan.
(Alright, do you know how this pig-calling language has come into existence.)
6 Bimolti : Kapéi lenka:song édém ngo kinma, kintu, ta:to-ya:yok doy ng k nam- mém tatk tangéna, ‘yui, yui’ émamdé, ngoluk Mising-ké, odokké,
‘kam, kam’ émnamdé leke birtis jug lokke angkang émna. (I don’t know how this language came into existence, but, we have heard our grandfathers and grandmothers saying that ‘yui yui’ is from the Misings themselves and ‘kam, kam’ has come from the erstwhile British.)
Bimolti does not know how and from where the language has come to be used that way. But she has heard from elder members that the first language ‘yui yui’ belongs to the Misings themselves and the second one has come from the British. From the sound and usage of the words, it is observed that the ‘kam, kam’ correspond to the English words ‘come, come’ both having the same meaning and usage, that is, to ask someone to move near to the caller. In the above example, the former utterance is used to call pigs from a narby place and the second is used from a greater distance,
usually, if the pigs are not to be seen in the surroundings of the house. But both are an unmarked medium of communicating with the pigs because they know and understand that when the above utterances are made by their owner, whose voice they recognize, they are being offered food. Further, as practiced regularly, they expect those utterances everyday after the family completes its morning and evening food.
Example 2
Setting : The paddy field of Binod Chintey (54) in the outskirts of Gohpur in the Sonitpur district of Assam on February 24, 2003. Binod along with his helpers is ploughing in the field preparing it for sowing the lai seeds, a variety of paddy cultivated in the pre-spring season. In the post-acculturation convention of manual ploughing, the ploughman drives the oxen pulling the plough with one hand holding a stick and the other holding the plough for proper tilling of the soil. While doing this, the ploughman communicates to the oxen uttering ‘ja, ja’ for moving forward or faster, ‘guri, guri’ for making a left turn, ‘bahire, bahire’ for making a right turn, and
‘ro, ro’ or ‘hou, hou’ for making a stop. They also utter ‘ah, ah’ for asking the oxen as well as other cattle to come near them. These are Assamese words and are typically used while making commands to the cattle. As English in case of communicating pigs in Example 1 above, here Assamese is the unmarked medium of communicating with the cattle. Further, Binod says that the oxen won’t understand if the commands are made in the Mising language. This is an evidence of continuance of the contact culture in their original form in the Mising society. When approached, Binod says the following about the language he, as other Misings, uses while communicating with the oxen and the cattle as a whole :
1 Q : Nolu, a:l g ddom kapé go:ru k d :dokki luposudon ? (How do you talk to the oxen while ploughing ?)
2 Binod : Ngolu ludo, agot-pé ba lomna g mopé ‘ja, ja’ émdo, lakkepé gurimopé
‘guri, guri’ émdo, lagb gpé gurimopé ‘bahire, bahire’ émdo, odokké roboloi ‘ro, ro’ naiba ‘hou, hou’ émdo. (We say, ‘ja, ja’ while
commanding them to go forward or faster, ‘guri, guri’ to turn left,
‘bahire, bahire’ to turn right, and ‘ro, ro’ or ‘hou, hou’ to stop.)
3 : Odokké, ngok ruyiso:pé goga:péyém lo ‘ah, ah’ émdo. (And we say
‘ah, ah’ for calling them to our side.)
4 Q : Ede Ahomiyang agomema:lang, edem nok go:ruk d :de tatkindang ? (Isn’t this language Assamese, do your oxen understand it.)
5 Binod : Tadkindag, bulu Mising-pé lum lo tadkinéima:yé. (They understand it, they won’t understand if talked in Mising.)
6 Q : Baru, édémpé Ahomiya:pé Mising go:rom luposunamdém Misin-é kapé irrobton ? (Ok, how did this way of talking to Mising cattle in the Assamese language start ?)
7 Binod : Ngoluk mémkampé, édé Ahomiya jatir pora aha a bostu. (We think, it is a thing that has come from the Assamese society.)
8 : Karon, ngoluk Mising-étu tolo adi:to du:dodém sémbulum kinmangai.
(Because, we Misings didn’t know about all this when we were in the hills.)
9 : Su:pak sé bhoiyam-so du:langkula:miné sémpé ar g inamdém kintoné.
(Living here in the plains only we have come to know about this way of cultivation.)
10 : Su:pak, sé go:ru, nangol, jungoli, moi édé app :déi Mipag agomo:ngé.
(Now these ‘goru’ ‘nangol’, ‘junwoli’, ‘moi’ all these are Assamese words.)
11 : Bulukkolokké-tu bohut bostuei ngoluk Mising-lo:pé ahise. (A number of elements have come from them to our Mising culture.)
According to Binod, the present way of cultivation with ploughing has come from the plains Assamese society. The Misings did not know about this way of cultivation earlier when they were in the hills and now they have adopted it living in the plains.
(Sentence 8, 9, 10, 11). Therefore, the Misings still use the original names of the
agricultural equipment and animals, such as, ‘goru’ (cattle), ‘nangol’ (plough),
‘junwoli’ (log used for holding the oxen together), and ‘moi’ (leveler).
Example 3
Setting : The front side of Kundiram Patir’s (56) house at village Majulipur, Laimekuri on April 18, 2002. Kundiram is a mahaut (elephant keeper) in charge of an elephant owned by Ganesh Kuli of Milanpur, a nearby village. After a day-long jungle-cleaning work, Kundiram and the elephant are back at home in the evening and the mahaut is cleaning the elephant with hot water mixed with ‘posotiang’, a variety of herb. He asks the elephant to sit uttering ‘byeit, byeit’ so that he can clean its back also. After the cleaning is over, he goes to the front of the elephant and cammands it to lift him to its back. While doing so, he says ‘kan de’ when the elephant lends forward its two big ears holding which the mahaut stands on its trunk and says ‘uta’ commanding it to lift him to its back. Sitting on the back of the elephant, he puts his both feet at the root of its ears on both sides and says ‘agad ja’
asking it to move forward. He drives the elephant to the corner of the enclosure where the elephant eats a banana tree. The language of the mahaut in dealing with the elephant is noteworthy. He speaks Hindi while asking the elephant to sit, ‘byeit’
(sit). He makes the rest of his commands in Assamese, such as, to lend forward its ears, ‘kan de’ (give ears), to lift him to the elephant’s back, ‘uta’ (lift), and to move forward, ‘agéd ja’ (move forward). It is to be noted that the word ‘uta’ is the intonated Mising version of the Assamese word ‘utha’ with the same meaning. Here he uses non-verbal mediums of communication as well. For example, the elephant would turn left or right sensing the strokes from the mahaut’s feet, that is, repeated strokes at the right ear means to turn left and at the left ear will make the elephant to turn right. This again is an unmarked medium of communication for the present mahaut and elephant as it is the treatment and language expected and understood by both of them.