Languages of Assam
Like any other Aryan language, Asamiya had its roots in the Apabhramsa dialects developed from Magadhi Prakrit of the eastern group of Sanskritic languages. The Kamarupa variety of the Apabhramsa dialects made its way into Assam and eventually Asamiya was created. That Asamiya came into existence in Assam at a very early date can be gauged from a reference by Xuan-Zang, a Chinese traveler who visited Assam in 643 AD. The copper plate inscriptions of the rulers of Kamarupa or Assam from the 5th through 13th century AD (written in Sanskrit) and the stone inscriptions at Umachal dating back to the 5th century AD confirm such an observation.
Early in the 13th century, a section of the Mao branch of the Tai race entered Assam under the leadership of Chao-lung Shu-ka-pha and conquered it and ruled till the British annexed erstwhile Assam in 1826. These people came to be known as Ahoms and their language Ahom or more properly Tai-Ahom.Vocally the name Assam is pronounced /OxOm/ and has its roots with the Ahoms who were so called, /OxOmO/ meaning unequalled by the vanquished local people. For several centuries the Ahom language continued as their mother tongue in which work on various subjects such as history, astrology, religion and politics were produced. Many of these works are still preserved by certain families. But gradually the Ahoms converged ith the local OxO-mias 9the Assamese) and there was almost a total shift of language from Ahom to Assamese. Today, the Tai-Ahom language is used by the Mawsams, Mawhungs and Mawplangs (Deodhai Mawhun and Bailung), the three priestly Ahom classes, for religious purposes only. The shift of Ahom to Asamiya undoubtedly had a remarkable impact on the Asamiya language structure.
Large scale diffusion of linguistic innovations has been taking place between Asamiya, the Sino-Tibetean languages and Khasi in this area for a very long time, which has resulted in many common linguistic features binding all these languages in a common thread even though they are not related genetically. This is a direct result of linguistic innovation originating in one language spreading to neighbouring varieties through the medium of bilingual speakers. The common structural features shared by these languages of this area are not found in any language in the rest of the country. Xuan-Zing observed as early as in 643 AD that the languages spoken here differed from that of mid-India.
The word for history in Asamiya is’buranji’ which has been borrowed from Ahom.
A few Tai dialects are repoeted to be in use in East-Assam in the Dibrugarh district.
However, heavy carry over from the Asamiya is evident. These Tai dialects are Tai-Khamti, Tai-Phake, Tai-Aitong, Tai-Khamyang and Tai-Turung. Except for Tai-Ahom, all these dialects have maintained their own linguistic status.