Abstract
This paper includes a detailed discussion on the intelligibility of the speakers of four regional dialects of the Indo-Aryan language of Assamese. Prior research on Assamese dialects mostly being confined to examining structural variation lends this study relevance and urgency. The dialects of Standard Assamese, Central Assamese, Kamrupi, and Goalparia, covering three varieties each, were considered for the study. Using a functional intelligibility testing approach, the rate of overall intelligibility as well as of inter- and intra-dialectal mutual intelligibility of the dialects were determined. 24 speakers (1 male and 1 female from each variety) were asked to record ‘texts’— words, sentences, and connected speech in their native varieties of Assamese. 11 listeners from each variety (132 in total) were then tested on their comprehension of texts from non-native varieties. Thereafter, their rates of comprehension were used to determine the rates of mutual intelligibility between speakers of the different dialects and varieties of Assamese. This paper establishes that the rates of mutual intelligibility are unequal and asymmetric among the dialects— the native speakers of the Standard and Central Assamese dialects were more intelligible to the speakers of Kamrupi and Goalparia than vice-versa. Finally, the paper finds that the rate of intelligibility is the lowest for words in isolation and reinforces the important role of context in intelligibility.
Highlights
The intelligibility of a speaker refers to their ability to express themselves clearly and unambiguously, ensuring an effective conveyance of their message to a listener. Kenworthy (1987) was of the opinion that intelligibility is a speaker’s speech being understood by a listener at a given time in any given situation
The speakers of the Standard Assamese dialect followed with the second-highest rate of 68% dialectal intelligibility
This paper made an attempt to investigate dialectal intelligibility and inter-dialectal mutual intelligibility among the four main regional dialects of Assamese. It established that the dialects of Assamese conform to the trends seen in dialectal intelligibility— in a dialect continuum, the rates of mutual intelligibility are the highest between geographically adjacent dialects whereas an increase in geographical distance between dialects leads to a decrease in rates of inter-dialectal mutual intelligibility
Summary
The intelligibility of a speaker refers to their ability to express themselves clearly and unambiguously, ensuring an effective conveyance of their message to a listener. Kenworthy (1987) was of the opinion that intelligibility is a speaker’s speech being understood by a listener at a given time in any given situation. The number of words that a listener is able to accurately identify out of a speaker’s speech is what determines the intelligibility of the speaker. An increase in the words that a listener can identify in a speaker’s speech, entails an increase in the speaker’s intelligibility. According to Jaya Raju (2005), “Every effective communication takes off from the base of intelligibility towards the destiny of interpretability. In this connection, it can allegorically be said that it is an effective base that makes the flight of communication reach its destiny effectively and successfully.
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