LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:8 August 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Copyright © 2012
M. S. Thirumalai
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A Stylistic Analysis of English Newspapers of Assam with
Special Emphasis on The Assam Tribune and The Sentinel

Dinee Samad, M.A., Ph.D. Scholar

Introduction

English print journalism gained ground in Assam towards the end of the 19th century .The publication of the first English newspaper, The Times of Assam (1895-1947), which started as a weekly edition, added a new chapter in the history of English journalism. This article draws attention to the fact that, how in a state, where English is not the native language, is the practice of writing in newspapers (in a non-native language ) be at par with the journalistic style and structure, compared to other National English dailies. In other words, it aims at investigating the linguistic style of English newspapers - both non-extinct and current in Assam - vis-à-vis the change that has come about since the publication of the first English newspaper. However, it is to be mentioned in this context that most of the English newspapers of yesteryears like The Weekly Express, Nagarik, News Star, North East Times, Eastern Clarion, News Front, North East Observer, etc., were short-lived and their copies (except The Times of Assam) are not available for reference. Therefore, in this paper the discussion would be based on data from The Times of Assam (a few issues are available for reference.), The Sentinel and The Assam Tribune - the latter two, being the most circulated dailies at present.

1. A Brief History

The weekly Eastern Herald (1898-1901) existed only for a short period, and dealt with “Politics, morals and society”, including provincial and local news and the social evils of the Indian society. It reproduced news items from the then leading national papers like Pioneer Mail and Pioneer. This reproduction could be called a special feature of this paper. Though Eastern Herald couldn’t last long, it paved the way for the publication of a second English paper in Assam in 1902, namely, The Citizen, which continued its publication for five years. After this, The Advocate of Assam appeared as a weekly paper in 1905. It supported the ‘Swadeshi’ and ‘Swaraj’ movements and focused on its attention on politics, agriculture, economics and sanitation. The interests of the people of Assam were given much attention in the columns of this paper.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dinee Samad, M.A., Ph.D. Research Scholar
Resource Person, Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL)
North Eastern Regional Language Centre
Bongaon, Majhipara
Beltola College Road
Beltola, Guwahati-28
Assam
India
dineesamad@gmail.com
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