Dark Age of the Assamese language Dark Age of the Assamese language The Dark Age of Assamese Language is the time-frame during which Bengali Language eclipsed the Assamese. This time-frame is about 37 years long, from 1836 until 1873. During British India, the Bengali Language was imposed over Assamese as the British took over Assam. The clerical and technical workers that they brought were Bengali, imposing Bengali as the medium of instruction in schools and colleges and for all official purposes. Nathan Brown, an American Baptist missionary to India, worked for the restoration of the Assamese language to avoid it being overtaken by the Bengali language
Assamese language realized as or as a retroflex approximant. Assamese and Sylheti are unusual among Eastern Indo-Aryan languages for the presence of the (which, phonetically, varies between velar () and a uvular () pronunciations, depending on the speaker and speech register), historically the MIA sibilant has lenited to and (non-initially). The derivation of the velar fricative from the coronal sibilant is evident in the name of the language in Assamese; some Assamese prefer to write or instead of or to reflect the sound change. The voiceless velar fricative is absent in the West Goalpariya dialects though it is found in lesser extent