In the Zone : Analysis and Verification
4.4.2 A verbal lubricant
Bilingualism itself is an unmarked medium of interaction amongst the Misings during verbal communication. Code-switching is largely used for making a smooth flow of ideas that the speaker desires to convey to the listeners. In many cases, it is seen that speakers wanting to continue in Mising face verbal hurdles for non- availability of terms and phrases representating the desired ideas. Therefore, they choose to switch over to Assamese or in some cases English for expressing smoothly and keeping intact the flow of ideas. Here the use of L2 or L3 depends, to a great extent, on the medium through which the speaker learnt and understood the concerned ideas.
Example 1
Setting : The soyar (an open area for people to sit and sleep inside a stilted house) in the house of Sonaram Kutum (56), a primary school teacher of village Lohitmukh Bhalukaguri. Soyar is also used for performing religious and ceremonial activities inside a Mising traditional house. Kutum has two sons and a daughter. The eldest son is a government employee and the younger one is an entrepreneur. His daughter Bonima who is the youngest in the family, is in college at Tezpur. One of Kutum’s brothers is in Guwahati doing a job. In the summer of 2002, Bonima goes to Guwahati to visit her uncle’s family and spends her entire summer holidays there.
During her stay there, she gets introduced to Sanjay who too is in Guwahati looking for a job after completion of his graduation. The friendship gradually turns to love.
They think, their relationship is unlikely to be approved by her uncle and parents. So one day they decide to elope and get married in a temple. Although elopement is one of the marital traditions of the Misings, this act of Kutum’s only daughter is not readily acceptable to her uncle and parents. On receiving the news, and as per the Mising traditions, Sanjay’s parents/family members come to the bride’s parents to offer Orai-al g (bride money). This is a highly formal situation under the village environment. The symbolic bride-money Orai-al g is arranged and kept in the middle of the soyar and the bride’s family members are sitted on one side facing the groom’s party. There is one mover-speaker on both sides. The following is an excerpt of the conversation beween the members of the bride’s party and the bride- groom’s party :
1 Speaker A : (Groom’s Party)
Nolu app ngém kumpa:suge:la, ngolu mitur agom ko k m nsukapé emna g dung. (Saluting all of you, we inform that we have come to talk on a marital matter.)
2 : Ngoluk ao Sanjay-b noluk omé Bonima:mé dugboge:la lonkok deubar-do okumto g a:botagku. (Our son Sanjay eloped with your daughter Bonima and he brought her home last Sunday.)
3 : Kapiyén, aokoné yamnéko duga:botagku, ngolu ané-abu hisabe kortyobyatu koriboi lagibo. (What to do, our son has brought a groom, it is our duty to do the needful as parents.) 4 : Yamnéko la:m lo orai-al gko binamdé Donyi-Polo agomé,
édémpila, sidém ngolu patige:la miturém kumdung, nolu mé:yin-ka:yinsula la:r gsuteika émna. (When a marriage takes place, it is divine to offer an orai-al g (bride money), and therefore, we put forward this modest bride-money and pray that it be accepted.
5 Speaker B : (Bride’s Party)
Ma, du:po:to. (No, wait.)
6 : Ngoluk ommé porila dungai, b k uporot amar bohut akha asile. (Our daughter was studying, we had high hopes from her.)
7 : Odokké, b b k Ba:boi ké okumbo gorom bondho-so dungkapéminé g kané. (And she had gone to her uncle’s place just to stay there during her summer holidays.)
8 : Bologkém édémpé dugpagbonamdém ngolu mé:yinsula:ma.
(But she has been taken away from there, so we can’t compromise.)
9 Speaker C : (Bride’s Party)
Ngoluk omésé atér ommé, b m ngolu bottéru:pé porai po:pé émna mé:tungai. (She is our only daughter, and we wanted to educate her.)
10 : Empige:la su:pak b m ammé dugpagbomkang, édésin okumsokké dugboma, b g g térrokké dugbokang. (But now she has been taken away, that too not from her parental home, but from a place where she was staying temporarily.
11 : Heikarone ami monot bohut dukh paisu. (Therefore, we are very hurt.)
12 Speaker A : (Groom’s Party)
Kédana, odok legangé amaru beya lagise. (Kedan [Parents of the bride and the bridegroom address each other as Kédan], we too are sorry for that.)
13 : Kintu kapiyén, ngoluk auo imurko ito, bim a k ommang :ngé émna mé:la mé:yinsuteibongka émna nulum kumdung. (But what to do, our son has committed a mistake, we pray that he be pardoned deeming him as your own child, and accepted.) 14 Speaker B :
(Bride’s Party)
(Bride’s Uncle looking at his brother) Kaiya, kapiyébon, su:pak mituré sémpé horaiko patige:la kumdung. (Brother,
what to do, now our miturs (in-laws of daughter) are praying this way with a horai.)
15 : Mitur hisabe jihetu ngolu bulum ohotman koribo nuwaru, émpila la:r géisula:boi émnana ludu:boné. (Since we cannot dishonour them as miturs, we may perhaps accept it.)
16 : (Turning to the Groom’s party) Odokké, Kédana, agom apirkodan nolum onurudh kori koisu je oméb BA final dibo logiya asile. (And, Kedan, we would like to request you for one thing that our daughter was to appear for her BA final examination.)
17 : Édém dan bidokupé bim nolu allow koribo lagibo. (So, you will kindly allow her to appear at the examination.)
18 : Kaiké akha eta asile b m BA dém pass mopé émna. (My brother had a dream that she would complete her BA.)
19 Speaker A : (Groom’s Party)
(Groom’s uncle joined by others) É, Kédana, édém ngolu mé:podanna togésudung. (Yes Kedan, we accept this with all pleasure.)
20 Speaker D : (Groom’s Party)
Ngolusin bhabu ngoluk yamé:de BA pass toka émna. (Even we would like our daughter-in-law to complete her BA.) 21 : Heitu amar karone gourobor bishoy. (It is a matter of pride
for us.) 22 Speaker E :
(Groom’s Party)
(Bride’s father) Nolu app ngé édémpé ludu:bo:milo, tor géisuyébo:nna. (If you all say that way, we may accept it.) 23 : Ngodan Kédana agom apirko lupa:pé émna mé:dung. (I would
like to say one thing, Kedan.)
22 : Ngoluk oméb ajjoupé amil g kang, ekebare nabalika hoi ase, ngolu okkomsinéi luy rpa:toma. (My daughter has married at a young age and is still immature, we couldn’t teach her anything.)
23 : Nolu a ké ommé émna luy r-mé:y r sula:bo. (You may please teach her accepting her as your own daughter.)
24 Speaker A : (Groom’s Party)
Kédana, édém no ajjoukosin mé:pé lagima. (You needn’t have to worry least for that, Kedan.)
25 : Édétu amar kortobyo. (That is our duty.)
26 : Siyum-s :ro omékolang yaméngko kama. (Now-a-days, there is no difference between a daughter and a daughter-in-law.) 27 : Ngoluk ghorot lakhyi ejoni paisu, ngolu b m abdal koriboi
lagibo. (A lakhyi (luck) has come to our home, so we will surely take care of her.)
The above example reflects a typical situation of the Mising society related to marriage. There are mainly four customary ways of marriage in the Mising society : first, dugla la:nam (elopement), second, sola la:nam (forceful marriage), third, mida:pé la:nam (wedding), and fourth, kumsu-do:sula la:nam (marriage with information/blessing but without ceremony). In view of the prevailing patriarchal system of the Mising society, here the word la:nam denoting a man’s marrying a woman has been taken for analyzing the example rather than its antonym ginam denoting a woman’s getting married to a man. Among these four ways of marriage, sola la:nam is increasingly losing popularity with the girl child today getting a greater amount of weightage, particularly in marital matters, than earlier days. The other three are the popular ways of marriage : dugla la:nam is normally resorted to by lovers sensing disproval from either of the families, mida:pé la:nam is a formal and ritual way of marriage which is becoming increasingly popular today, and kumsu-do:sula la:nam is a low-budget marriage system and is normally adopted due to the crunch of money or time. The present example which is an event of dugla la:nam, requires two major activities to follow immediately : Dugtad (information to the bride’s family) and Orai-al g (bride-money). Through Dugtad, the parents of the bride is informed by especial messengers sent from the bride-groom’s family that their daughter is in the possession/acceptance of the groom’s family while Orai-al :g
is the ceremonial presentation of the bride-money to the bride’s parents by the bride- groom’s family. This is an example of highly sensitive and formal occasion where the rights and obligations of the members call for a pleading and convincing attitude from the bride-groom’s family and an attitude with the power of acceptingt or rejecting from the bride’s family. Behaviourally, the bride-groom’s party is expected to be prepared for any eventuality. In such situations, even a misbehaviour from any member of the bride’s family is tolerated and accepted with all humility by the bride- groom’s party. In order to deal with such a highly sensitive issue, code-switching is used as a verbal oil to keep the expression going smoothly and spontaneously. The clausal switching kortyobyatu koriboi lagibo in Sentence 3 represents the dutiful obligation as parents towards their children while bik uporot amar bohut akha asile in Sentence 6 is an expression of parents’ expectation from children. The full- sentence switching Heikarone ami monot bohut dukh paisu in Sentence 11 expresses the bride’s family being hurt while the use of amaru beya lagise in Sentence 12 is an ettempt to console and share from the bride-groom’s party. The complementizing clause Mitur hisabe jihetu … ohotman koribo nuwaru in Sentence 15 denotes the rights and obligations of the bride-groom’s party from the bride’s party and vice- versa in such situations. The clauses onurudh kori koisu je and BA final dibo logiya asile in Sentence 16, allow koribo lagibo in Sentence 17 and akha eta asile in Sentence 18, help the speaker to quickly pass on a piece of information to his counterpart that his brother (bride’s father) expects his only daughter to complete BA and therefore she should be allowed to appear at the examination. The next sentence Heitu amar karone gourobor bishoy in Sentence 21 conveys a ready acceptance and a feeling of happiness over the proposal. The use of ekebare nabalika hoi ase by the bride’s father in Sentence 22, helps convey a parental perspective towards children, viewing them to be always young and innocent. The use of L2 in the reply of the bride-groom’s party amar kortobyo in Sentence 25, and ghorot lakhyi ejoni paisu … abdal koriboi lagibo in Sentence 27 help the speaker in readily and smoothly conveying that they are treating the bride as a propitious event in the family and they are committed to look after her welfare. Although the italicized speech passages are the switches from L1 to L2, they form parts of an unmarked choice because this is
the expected medium of interaction in the given situation. The compound word gorom bondho in Sentence 7 and English word allow in Sentence 17 are habitually inserted compensatory terms.