Indian Journal of Language and Linguistics

Incomplete Neutralization in Bengali Geminates: An Articulatory Phonology Investigation

Sreeparna Sarkar — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This study investigates the phonetic manifestation of three types of Bengali geminates—true underlying geminates: e.g. /pat*t*a/ ‘whereabouts’, assimilated geminates: e.g. /kɔɹt*a/--> [kɔt*t*a] ‘master’, argued to be derived through total assimilation of a rhotic and a voiceless dental stop [ɹ+ t* ], and concatenated, formed by the concatenation of two identical stops across a morpheme boundary e.g. /pat* +t*e/--> [patte] 'to spread out', in order to test the competing predictions of Distinctive Feature Theory (DFT) and Articulatory Phonology (AP) using experimental techniques. DFT predicts complete phonetic neutralization across all three types, based on previous acoustic studies. AP, however, allows for incomplete neutralization in assimilated geminates and phonetic variability in concatenated geminates due to gestural overlap and morpheme boundaries, respectively. Using Electromagnetic Articulography (EMA) on native Bengali speakers, this research tested detailed articulatory parameters, including tongue displacement, peak velocity, and gesture activation duration. The findings revealed significant differences between true and assimilated geminates, indicating incomplete neutralization. Specifically, evidence for traces of rhotic articulation were observed in the assimilated geminates, with a notable pattern being the higher velocity of the tongue blade for assimilation compared to true geminates. Concatenated geminates showed variability in timing compared to true geminates which also support the predictions of articulatory phonology and that the pattern is not identical to true geminates. While perceptually both assimilated and concatenated geminates may sound similar to the true geminates, also supported by acoustic study findings, the current articulatory investigation showed different phonetic manifestations. Results support the AP framework and suggest that, despite overall similar acoustic and articulatory patterning, there are some key differences which distinguish assimilated and concatenated geminates from true geminates.

Kokborok Language Movement: A Resistance to Linguistic Imperialism and Cultural Hegemony in Tripura

Sudeshna Debbarma, Mousami Debbarma — Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The Kokborok language movement in Tripura is marked by an effort to protect, promote, and preserve the identity of the language and the Boroks. The Kokborok language movement was largely a response to the marginalisation and stigmatisation of the language in the field of administration, education, political, social spheres etc. The main objectives of the Kokborok language movement were to gain recognition, official status and to introduce in the educational institutions. The marginalisation and stigmatisation of the language and its speakers began with the demographic, political and linguistic shifts from the Kokborok majority speakers in the pre integration period to the Bengali majority speakers following Tripura’s integration to the Indian Union in 1949. The marginalisation and exclusion of the Kokborok language coupled with stigmatisation as a minority language, limited to household spheres resulted into Kokborok language movements. At present Kokborok is one of the official languages along with Bengali but is developing at snail's pace. The movement for Kokborok has been continuous but with the momentum gaining and losing at different points of time. Language development has been hindered by various factors including linguistic imperialism, stigmatisation of Kokborok and other minority languages, politicisation over script etc.

Difficulties in Learning and Using Bodo L2 by Assamese MT Speakers: A Phono-Morphosyntactic Contrastive Analysis

Aleendra Brahma, Bristi Kalita — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Learning Bodo second language (L₂) is a challenge for Assamese native speakers as the former has been a minor language in terms of the number of speakers. Though Assamese and Bodo have been two neighbouring languages in Assam, the very fact is that around 90% of bilingual Bodo use Assamese as an L₂ whenever and wherever necessary; whereas, Assamese mother tongue speakers usually do not use Bodo as an L₂. This is because Assamese is the primary lingua franca of Assam. On the other hand, Bodo- the major tribal language of Assam and the entire north-east is a Tibeto-Burman language whereas Assamese is an Indo-Aryan language. Therefore, although the speakers of these two languages have been living together for ages, there are differences between these languages in different levels including orthography. For example- in phonology level, the Bodo native sound /ɯ/ (represented orthographically with ओ), high vowel devoicing and distinctive tone features; in grammar level, the interferences between case markers, definiteness markers and classifier affixes cause the errors; whereas, in orthography level, the differences in using the vowel letters of Devanagari script in Hindi and Bodo cause the errors. Moreover, Bodo is a tonal and highly agglutinating language, which causes Bodo L₂learners to encounter errors in learning and using the language. This study addresses the difficulties Assamese MT speakers face when learning and using Bodo L₂, particularly at the orthographical, phonological, morphological, and syntactic levels. It also proposes pedagogical strategies for addressing learner errors.

Lexical Retrieval in Typical Hindi-English Bilingual Children

Tanya Singh, Satish Kumaraswamy — Mon, 08 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Bilingualism cannot be understood as a simple additive system in which two languages function independently; rather, it is a dynamic interaction where both languages remain active and continuously influence each other. The present study examined lexical retrieval in Hindi–English bilingual children aged 8 to 12 years, a group that has received relatively limited attention even though bilingual exposure is common in urban India. A total of 60 typically developing children, divided equally into two age groups: 8–10 years and 10–12 years participated in the study. Each participant completed a picture-naming task in four conditions: Blocked English (BE), Blocked Hindi (BH), Mixed English–Hindi (MEH), and Mixed Hindi–English (MHE). To account for the participants' distinct developmental levels, grade-stratified stimulus sets were used, and performance variations were analysed using a Two-Factor Mixed ANOVA framework. Performance in the Blocked English condition did not differ across the two age groups (p = .939), suggesting that single-language English retrieval mechanisms optimise early and successfully scale alongside advancing, age-appropriate vocabulary demands. In contrast, the Hindi and mixed-language conditions revealed significant age-related differences (p < .001), as older children demonstrated greater accuracy on their age-adjusted item sets. The most pronounced developmental gain emerged in the Mixed English–Hindi condition, indicating the specific cognitive load that sequential language switching places on developing dual-language control systems. Overall, these findings indicate that bilingual children’s vocabulary performance reflects changing patterns of dual-language control across different task contexts, rather than a consistent, linear developmental trajectory. By focusing on an underrepresented population, the study contributes to the current understanding of bilingual lexical processing and offers preliminary observations for culturally relevant clinical and educational contexts.

Plural Markers in Typical Children Speaking Hindi

Shivani Saxena, Satish Kumaraswamy — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Language development is a gradual process encompassing phonology, morphology, semantics, pragmatics, and syntax, which finally allows the child to express grammatical meaning. Morphological development, especially number marking, is essential for the morphosyntactic competence of Hindi-speaking children. This study examined the development pattern of plural markers in typical children speaking Hindi aged 3.0-4.11, 5.0-6.11, and 7.0-8.11 years (n = 60). The plurals were elicited using a structured procedure with 10 different plural items. The lowest score was 0 for incorrect responses, and the highest was 1 for correct responses. One-way ANOVA revealed a statistically significant age-related difference in the overall plural accuracy (p < .001), with progressive improvement across the groups. The youngest group (3.0-4.11 years) demonstrated emerging plural competence, while children aged 5.0-6.11 years revealed a substantial integration of grammatical rules, and children aged 7.0-8.11 years performed at a near-ceiling level. Overall, these findings provide a systematic developmental trajectory for plural acquisition in Hindi, showing early emergence, significant increase in overall accuracy in preschool, and high proficiency by middle childhood. The results compile normative data for each of the three age groups, providing information for the morphosyntactic assessment of Hindi-speaking children.