In the Zone : Analysis and Verification
4.4.7 Switching to L2 unmarkedly motivated by annoyance and anger
2 : Headmaster émna kapiyen, ngok sakori sé venture school-or headmaster he? (What if my job is called a headmaster, it’s just the headmaster of a venture school.)
3 : Ngo:nu édd ko dormang-ém pa:dang? (How much do I get as salary?) 4 : Ba:boi b ngom porai taggai, b m ka:namdé ngok kortyobyo hoi. (Uncle
supported my education, so it’s my duty to take care of him.)
5 Hei buli sobei kam bon nokorake ngom akha kori thakile keneke hobo ? (How can it be that all in the family expect everything from me without doing anything ?)
6 : Nolu akon-akon ésin o:koi ita-ira sula apir pirnyiko la:lensupé émna mé:pé lage. (Some of you too should do something and try to earn some money for yourselves.)
Atul’s brother who did not pass his BA Part I examination last year, is presently with the students’ organization as an executive member of the local committee. Many parents and guardians, particularly those in the teaching profession, in the Mising areas do not approve their wards’ active association with such organizations ignoring their studies. Atul attributes his brother’s failure in his examination to his going around in the organizational works leaving aside studies, and is already annoyed. He is further angered by his brother’s asking money that too for going to attend a meeting of his organization. He shows his anger to his brother and also to the other members of the family as a warning, by intermittently switching to Assamese in his rebuke. Through the switches in Sentence 1 and 5, he expresses his deep annoyance when he protests the attitude of depending on him entirely by his family members, particularly his present brother. He tells about his income limitations and inability to support in Sentence 2 and 3 while he expresses his duty-bound commitment to his uncle in Sentence 4, using L2. His language behaviour in the present situation is unmarked as it is the expected and prevailing medium of expression in such a state.
Example 2
Setting : The front ground of the grocery shop of Tularam Mili (51) at Village Gomari on October 27, 2005. Although Mili’s main occupation is cultivation, he also runs a small grocery shop in the village. Due to financial problems in his family, he dropped out of school at the IXth standard. On the above date, a group of college students approach him for financial donation which, they say, they are seeking as a part of their fund-raising exercise for observing their annual meeting. They hand over a money receipt counterfoil with Mili’s name and a pre-written amount on it.
This is a common practice of various organizations in the Mising areas, particularly the students, to approach people for donations with pre-fixed amounts. Reacting to the present approach, Mili says :
1 Mili : Nolu édémpé lula kapiyen, bipénédé ngoluminé! (How can it be, even if you say so, we are the ones to give the donation!)
2 : Aru emahot keita donation tula manuh ahe? (Further, how many donation seekers come in a month ?)
3 : Tani akodé app ngém jodi dibo logiya hoi, ngolu keneke solim ? (If a person has to pay donations to all those seeking this way, how can we run ourselves ?)
4 Donation Seeker 1 : Ngolu sé bosérékso supago:min g a:dun ? (This is the only time we are coming this year.)
5 Donation Seeker 2 : Ngolutu édémpé tulleima. (We don’t seek donations, generally.)
6 Mili : Nolu tulimal kapiyén, nolukkémpin donation tuliné bohut ase nohoi ? (What if you don’t seek, there are many other donation seekers like you, don’t you know ?)
7 : Odok talé:lo nolu sémpé amount tu fix kori anise. (Over and above, you have come with the amount fixed.)
8 : Édémpétu sé:kosin bila:mayé. (No one will be able to pay
in this manner.)
9 : Ami dibo poratuhe dim! (We will donate only the amount we can.)
In the above example, apparently, Mili is fed up of paying donations. Especially he is annoyed at the present students’ manner of seeking donations, because they have brought a donation slip with a pre-fixed amount wtitten on it for Mili. He genuinely and sincerely tries to make the students understand the general feelings of the people of his class over the demand of the donation seekers who often approach them with pre-fixed amounts. All the words he uses are instinctual and naturally flown from a matured base of mental constitution. He spontaneously switches to Assamese while expressing his unhappiness and anguish over the manner in which the students are seeking donation from him. The full-sentence switching in Sentence 2 and Sentence 9 display respectively his tiredness of facing donation seekers and his firmness not to pay as the seekers demand but as he feels. Again through the intrasentential switches in Sentence 3, Sentence 6 and Sentence 7, he conveys to the students about his anguish over the manner adopted by not only them now, but also by the donation seekers in general. These switches are triggered by a general and unmarked tendency to switch to Assamese for making remonstrative expressions as that of Mili in the present situation.