Page:Growth of Asamiya Language.pdf/12

 THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE ASANIYA LANGUAGE essay on the territorial distribution of Indian languages styling Hindi, Kashmiri, Gujarati, Marathi, Oriya, Konkani, etc. as Sanskritoid, and the principal languages of the south as Tumalold. He altogether ignored the Austro-Asiatic group and did not even mention Munda. Stevenson's Comparative vocabulary of Aryan and non-Aryan lan- guages appeared in 1856, and it was Stevenson who first pointed out Ingeniously the fact of borrowing of Dravidian words by the Indo-Aryan languages hinting at the ethnical significance and suggesting quite a new line of research. In 1867 and 1872 respectively came out Outlines of Indian Philology and Comparative Grammar of the Aryan languages in India. In 1872 also appeared Dr. Hoernelle's first essays in the Journal of the Royal Asiatle Society of Bengal. His grammar of Easter Ilind compared with other Gaudian languages appeared in 1880. In between, Sir George Campbell issued a series of vocabularies of local Innguages in 1874 Dorn, a Russian linguist, wrote the first regular grammar of Pushto, and another Russian compiled the first grammar and vocabulary of Newari, Die Mon-Khmer Vokker, produced by Pater W. Schmidt in 1906, proved the inter-relation between the Munda group one hand, and Indo-Chinese and Indonesian groups on the other, with Khasi com- ing in between these groups. Schmidt established the blfurcation of the Austrie speech as Austro-Asiatic spoken in India and Austro-Nesian Spoken in Indonesia, Melanesia and Polynesia. As carly 4, 1888 the Oriental Congress held in Vienna passed a resolution uring that systematie survey of the languages of India should be scen undertaken; and the Government of India conducted it care- fully from 1894 with Sir George Grierson at its head. Sten Konow helped Grierson in the final stage and the results of the investigation were compiled during the following years, compared with the Census of 1921 and published in several volumes in 1027 as a monumental work. (Nere Age, V. 10, pp. 28-36). Curiously enough, Grierson was the first to try to judge Asamiya in its proper perspective; for Asam was ever outside the pale of politi- cal India practically until 1856, and earlier philologists Inclusive of Prikrit grammarians, had no chance whatsoever to have come in direct contact with it. Almost as a rejoinder to the grievous mistake of think- ing Asamiya to be a patols of Bengali by interested and ignorant people, Grierson observed: "North Bengal and Arm did not get their language from Bengal proper but directly from the West. Magadhi apabhrami, in fact, may be considered as spreading out eastwards and southwards