CENSUS OF INDIA 1991 SERIES 04 - ASSAM PART IV B(i)(a) - C-Series LANGUAGE Table C-7 State, Districts, Circles and Towns DIRECTORATE OF CENSUS OPERATIONS, ASSAM Registrar General of India (tn charge of the Census of India and vital statistics) Office Address: 2-A. Mansingh Road. New Delhi 110011. India Telephone: (91-11) 338 3761 Fax: (91-11) 338 3145 Email: [email protected] Internet: http://www.censusindia.net Registrar General of India's publications can be purchased from the following: • The Sales Depot (Phone: 338 6583) Office of the Registrar General of India 2-A Mansingh Road New Delhi 110 011, India • Directorates of Census Operations in the capitals of all states and union territories in India • The Controller of Publication Old Secretariat Civil Lines Delhi 110054 • Kitab Mahal State Emporium Complex, Unit No.21 Saba Kharak Singh Marg New Delhi 110 001 • Sales outlets of the Controller of Publication aU over India • Census data available on the floppy disks can be purchased from the following: • Office of the Registrar i3enerai, india Data Processing Division 2nd Floor. 'E' Wing Pushpa Shawan Madangir Road New Delhi 110 062, India Telephone: (91-11) 608 1558 Fax: (91-11) 608 0295 Email: [email protected] o Registrar General of India The contents of this publication may be quoted citing the source clearly PREFACE This volume contains data on language which was collected through the Individual Slip canvassed during 1991 Censlis. Mother tongue is a major social characteristic of a person. The figures of mother tongue were compiled and grouped under the relevant language for presentation in the final table. The table C-7 language presented in this volume comes undf'r Part IV B ( I) Social and Cultural tables and gives the data down to Revenue Circle/Town level for Assam state. The presentation of the 199 t language data is based on the same principles as were adopted in the 1971 and 1981 data. Besides. the figures in respect of individual mother tongues have also been presented now. This volume, Table C-7-language gives the distribution of popUlation by sex and rural/urban distribution according to place of residence which was initially cOlnpiled at the Regional Tabulation Offices s.t up during) 991 census. It was done by manual processing of the Census schedules by attending to certain basic compilations on full cOllnt basis. FlIl1:her, processing of the returns so received and preparation of the tables were undertaken in this Directorate under the able guidance of the Registrar General, India. I mllst record my deepest sense of gratitude to Shri A.R. Nanda, lAS, Dr. M. V;jayanunni, lAS former Registrar General, India and Shri J.K. Banthia, the present Registrar C~n~ .al. India for their valuable guidance in preparation of this volume. I am also very much thankful to Dr. B.P. Mahapatra, Deputy Registrar General (Language), Shri AX. Dutta. Joint Director. West Bengal Census Directorate who took over the additional charge of the oftice ofthe Deputy Registrar General (Language) thereafter and his colleagues for patiently <;crutinising the voluminolls language data. Shri N.C. Dutta, lAS who ,\-vas the Director and under whose able guidance the ]99] Census was carried out in Assam also deserves my appreciation. In my own office I received maximum co-operation and assistance at every stage from my staff who 'worked diligently and with devotion. Here I would like to place on record my appreciation to the valuable contribution of Shri N.C. Sen, Deputy Director. Shri Sailendra kr. Baruah, ex­ Assistant Director. Shri P. Kalita, Statistical Investigator Grade-I, Shri T.D. Sinha. St. Investigator Grade-If, Shri K.C. Patowari, St. Investigator Grade-III. Shri Dilip Das and Shri Jayanta Ghosh. Jr. Supervisor. ODE Centre, Shri Satada! Dutta, ODE Operator and Smt. Roopam Gupta. Sr. Stenographer. All officers and staff of regional Tabulation Offices set up during 1991 Census also deserves my appreciation. It is hoped that this publication will surely meet the requirements of linguistic scholars aJ1d researchers and will be of great help to d;lta users including State Government and local bodies. P. HAZAIHKA. L\.S Guwahati. Di,'ector' of Cellsus Opcl':ttions, Assam. iii CONTENTS Page Preface iii General Note 1-3 Statement 1: Abstract of languages and Mother tongues and their strengths -1991 4-8 Statement 2: Distribution of Languages (Inclusive of Mother Tongue Grouped Under Each) Specified in Schedule VIII to the Constitution of India - 1991 9 Statement 3: Distribution of Population by Scheduled and Non-Scheduled Languages - State and Districts - 1991 10 Statement 4: Distribution of 10,000 persons by language - State and Districts - 1991 12-13 C-7 PART A(i): Distribution of the 18 Scheduled Languages - Statel Districtsl Circlesl Towns - 1991 15-73 ; ...... C-7 PART A(ii): Distribution of the Mother tongues (Grouped under each of the languages specified in Schedule VIII) with 10,000 or more speakers at India level - State/ Districts/ Circles! Towns - 1991 "14-170 C-7 PART B(i): Distribution of the 68 Non-Scheduled languages - State/ Districts/ Circles! Towns - 1991 171-240 c-? PART 8(ii): Distribution of the Mother tongues (Grouped under E.dch of the 96 "'on-Scheduled languages) with 10,000 or more speakers at India level - Statei Districts! Circles/ Towns - 1991 241-323 Acknowledgement 325 GENERAL NOTE Language is one of the important cultural characteristics of the population. The language census literature has a more than 100 years long history in the Indian Census and has thrown light on ethnic and linguistic composition of the country. 1n order to meet the growing demand of the data users requirements, efforts have been made in this volume to present the language data in a more comprehensible and comprehensive manner as well as user-friendly. In the 1991 Census, as in the previous Censllses, the mother tongue as returned by e;t.J individual was collected through the queslion number 6 in the individual slip which was canvassed universally except Jammu and Kashm ir where the 199 J Census could not be held due to disturbed conditions then prevailing there. The language of the person enumerated was recorded as returned by the respondent. The instruction to the enumerators for filling up question 6 on language are given below: "MOTHER TONGUE is the language spoken in the childhood by the person's mother to the person". If the mother died in infancy, the language mainly spoken in the person's home in childhood will be the mother tongue. In case of infants and deaf mutes, the language usually spoken by the mother should be recorded. In case of doubt, the language mainly spoken in the household may be recorded. Record mother tongue in full. whatever be the name of the language returned by the respondent and do not use abbreviations. Please note the following: (a) You are not expected to determine if the language returned by a person is a dialect of another language. (b) Y 011 should not try to establish any relationship between religion and mother tongue. Cc) You are bOllnd to record the language as returned by a person as his/her mother tongue and you should not enter into any argument with him/her and try to record any language other than what is returned. and (d) If you have any reason to suspect that in any area due to any organised movement, the mother tongne is not being truthfully returned, you should record the mother tongue as actually returned by the respondent and make a report to your supervisory officers for verification. You are not authorised to make any corrections on your own. Since a household may consist of persons related by blood or of unrelated persons or a mix of both, it is absolutely necessary to ask of every person about his/her mother tongue because the mother tongue of each member of a household need not necessarily be the same - these may be different for different persons in the household. Owing to this a large number of languages/mother tongues names from all over the state was recorded faithfully by the enumerator. These were thoroughly scrutini~ed following the usual linguistic methods for rational grouping based on available linguistic information. The language tables presented in this volume comes under the series of Social & Cultural Tables of 1991 Census Tabulation plan bears the Table number C-7 which is further divided into Part A and Part B. Each part is further divided into two pans as indicated below: Table C-7 Part A (i): . Distribution of the 18 Scheduled Languages - State/ Districts/ Circles! Towns-1991. Table C-7 Part A (ii): Distribution of the Mother tongues (Grouped under each of the Languages specified in Schedule VIII) with 10,000 or more speakers at India level- State! Districts! Circles! Towns - 1991. Table C-7 Part n (i): Distribution of the 68 N on Scheduled Languages - State! Districtsl Cirlces/ Towns- 1991. Table C-7 Part B Oi): Distributif)fl oftheMother tongues (Grouped under each of the 68 Non-Scbe.duJed Languages) with 10,000 or more speakers at lRdia (evel - State! Districts/ Circlesl Towns- 1991. In both Part A & Part B" mothertongues have been grouped in some cases under relevant languages which are based on the linguistic information readily available or in light of studies already made and those identitiable variants which returned 10,000 or more speakers each at all India level have been presented under Part A & Part B languages. All other returns falling under Part B and which returned less than 10,000 speakers each at the All India level or were not linguistically identifiable are included in the category ··Others" occuring as the last entry in Part B.