It is also known as Baṅgālī (Bengali: বঙ্গালী, romanized:bôṅgalī),[2]Pūrvavaṅgīẏa (Bengali: পূর্ববঙ্গীয়, romanized:pūrbôbôṅgīẏô),[4]Prācya (Bengali: প্রাচ্য, romanized:prachyô),[5]Vaṅga (Bengali: বঙ্গ, romanized:bôṅgô),[3] or Vaṅgīẏa (Bengali: বঙ্গীয়, romanized:bôṅgīẏô). Chatterji often cited a more generalised variant of Eastern Bengali which he dubbed Typical East Bengali for the sake of broader comparison with other varieties of Bengali.[6] Eastern Bengali is often colloquially referred to by the exonymBangal Bhasha (Bengali: বাঙাল ভাষা, romanized:bangal bhasha) in West Bengal due to its association with Bangals. It may also be referred to by names such as Khaisi-Gesi Bangla[7] (Bengali: খাইছি-গেছি বাংলা, romanized:khaisi-gesi baṅla, lit.'I've eaten-I've gone Bengali'), emphasising the contrast between Eastern Bengali varieties and the standard language in terms of grammar by use of the example phrases "I have eaten" (খেয়েছিkheẏechhi in Standard Bengali but খাইছিkhaisi in Typical East Bengali) and "I have gone" (গিয়েছিgiẏechhi in Standard Bengali but গেছিgesi in Typical East Bengali). A similar name, Khaitesi-Zaitesi Bangla[citation needed] (Bengali: খাইতেছি-যাইতেছি বাংলা, romanized:khaitesi-zaitesi baṅla, lit.'I'm eating-I'm going Bengali'), instead juxtaposes the examples of "I am eating" (খাচ্ছিkhacchhi in Standard Bengali but খাইতেছিkhaitesi in Typical East Bengali) and "I am going" (যাচ্ছিjacchhi in Standard Bengali but যাইতেছিzaitesi in Typical East Bengali).
Suniti Kumar Chatterji, describing the cluster as "Vaṅga Dialects", further divided it into two groups of two: "Western and Southwestern Vaṅga" and "Eastern and Southeastern Vaṅga". Eastern Vaṅga is spoken across the modern Bangladeshi division of Sylhet and the Greater Comilla region of Chittagong along with the Barak Valley Division of Assam and the state of Tripura in India. Southeastern Vaṅga is spoken in the remaining area of the Chittagong division, corresponding to the former colonial territories of Noakhali District and Chittagong District, and historically extended further into Sittwe.[8] Western Vaṅga is spoken across the Bangladeshi divisions of Mymensingh, Dhaka, and Barisal. Southwestern Vaṅga is spoken across the Khulna Division, where Eastern Bengali transitions into Central Standard Bengali.[9]
Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah divided all Bengali dialects into two groups: Prācya (Bengali: প্রাচ্য, romanized:prachyô, lit.'eastern') and Pāścātya (Bengali: পাশ্চাত্য, romanized:pashchatyô, lit.'western').[10] Within his Prācya grouping, he created the divisions of "Southeastern" and "Extreme Eastern", which approximately correspond to Chatterji's "Western and Southwestern Vaṅga" and "Eastern and Southeastern Vaṅga", respectively. The Southeastern group is spoken across the modern Bangladeshi divisions of Mymensingh, Dhaka, Barisal, and Khulna, as well as the Greater Noakhali region of the Chittagong division and eastern parts of the 24 Parganas district in West Bengal.[11] The Extreme Eastern group is spoken across the Bangladeshi divisions Sylhet and Chittagong, including Greater Comilla and excluding Greater Noakhali, as well as the Barak Valley division of Assam.[12]
A map showing the dialects of Eastern Bengali according to Gopal Haldar.
Gopal Haldar, in his study of Eastern Bengali, divided all East Bengali dialects into four groups. Group I or "Central East Bengali" spans the modern Bangladeshi divisions of Mymensingh, Dhaka, Faridpur, and Barisal, as well as the district of Chandpur in Chittagong Division.[13] The de facto Standard East Bengali spoken around the Bikrampur region is a member of this group, comparable to Chatterji's "Typical East Bengali".[14] Group II or "Central North East Bengali" is spoken in eastern areas of the Mymensingh and Dhaka divisions, the western half of the Sylhet Division, as well as the Brahmanbaria District of the Chittagong Division.[15] Group III or "North East Bengali" is spoken in the eastern half of the Sylhet Division as well as the bordering Barak Valley division of Assam, India.[16] Group IV or "South East Bengali" is spoken in the Chittagong Division, notably excluding the Greater Comilla region.[17] The Comilla District and Tripura state of India, the Bengalis in the latter chiefly being migrants from the former, sit at the confluence of all the major groupings and thus the speech of this region shares features with all the major groups classified by Haldar.[18] Transitionary East Bengali is spoken in the Khulna division as well as Western Greater Faridpur i.e. Rajbari District, which shares features with both Standard Bengali and Eastern Bengali dialects.[19]
Eastern Bengali is characterised by a considerably smaller phoneme inventory when compared with Standard Bengali.
Metathesis
Eastern Bengali notably preserves metathesis (Bengali: অপিনিহিতি, romanized:ôpinihiti) from an earlier stage of Bengali.[20] Thus, the equivalent of Sādhu Bhāṣāকরিয়া (ISO-15919: kariẏā) 'having done' in Typical East Bengali is [kɔ̝i̯ɾa̟], having gone through the medial phase of *[kɔi̯ɾiä]; by comparison, the Standard Bengali equivalent is [kore], as the standard language has undergone the additional phonological processes of syncope and umlaut, unlike most Eastern Bengali dialects.[21] Similar occurrences of metathesis occur in the case of consonant conjuncts containing ্য jôphôla, due to the fact that it had, in earlier Bengali, also represented the addition of the semivowel [i̯] at the end of a conjunct containing it in addition to its current standard usage of simply geminating the previous consonant in the conjunct.[22]সত্য (ISO-15919: satya, 'truth'), for example, pronounced [ʃɔt̪ːi̯ɔ] in earlier Bengali, is pronounced [ʃɔ̝i̯t̪ːo] in Eastern Bengali and [ʃot̪ːo] in Standard Bengali. Metathesis also occurs in the case of consonant conjuncts which were once pronounced with [i̯] as a component even if they do not contain ্য jôphôla itself, such as ক্ষ (ISO-15919: kṣa), whose value in earlier Bengali was [kːʰi̯].[23] Hence রাক্ষস (ISO-15919: rākṣasa, 'rakshasa'), with the earlier Bengali pronunciation of [räkːʰi̯ɔʃ], is pronounced [räi̯kʰːɔ́ʃ] or [räi̯kːɔ́ʃ] in Eastern Bengali and [räkːʰoʃ] in Standard Bengali. Such is also the case for the conjunct জ্ঞ (ISO-15919: jña), which had the value of [gːĩ̯] in earlier Bengali.[24] Hence, আজ্ঞা (ISO-15919: ājñā, 'order'), with the earlier Bengali pronunciation of [ägːĩ̯ä], has the Typical East Bengali pronunciation of [äi̯gːa̟] and the Standard Bengali [ägːä̃]. There is also a tendency to hypercorrect, leading to the frequent diphthongisation of vowels with [i̯] if they precede any consonant cluster, even when there is no etymological basis to do so. For example, ব্রাহ্ম (ISO-15919: brāhma, 'Brahmo') has the Standard Bengali pronunciation of [bɾämɦo], or, more commonly, [bɾämːo], but may be pronounced [bɾäi̯mːɔ̝] in Eastern Bengali as if it were spelt ব্রাম্য (ISO-15919: brāmya).[25][26]
The vowels /e/ and /o/ in the standard language are shifted to /ɛ/ and /u/, respectively.[27][28][29] For example, দেশ (ISO-15919: dēśa) 'country' and দোষ (ISO-15919: dōṣa) 'blame' are respectively pronounced [d̪eʃ] and [d̪oʃ] in Standard Bengali but [d̪ɛʃ] and [d̪uʃ] in Typical East Bengali. /o/ may be considered a marginal phoneme due to it not merging with /u/ in rare instances, such as in ধো (ISO-15919: dhō) 'wash'.[30]
/a/ is centralized, generally pronounced [ä]. A major exception to this is when the previous vowel is /i/, especially in cases of metathesis, where a fronted allophone [a̟] is used instead.[33][34]
Although Western Bengali features distinct nasalised forms of each of its vowels, nasalisation is absent in most dialects of Eastern Bengali with the notable exception of Southeastern Vaṅga.[35] This lack of nasalisation also characterises the Standard Bengali of Bangladesh.[36]
Phonemic voiceless aspirated stops—/kʰ/, /tʰ/, and /t̪ʰ/—have been attributed to some Vaṅga dialects, only contrasting with their unaspirated counterparts in initial position.[32] However, their phonemic status is based on analogy with Western Bengali. Učida (1970) provides the alternative interpretation that these aspirates are allophones—[kʰ], [tʰ], and [t̪ʰ]—of corresponding voiceless unaspirated stops—/k/, /t/, and /t̪/—which occur when followed by a suprasegmental change in pitch, i.e. tone.[37] Furthermore, some dialects invariably aspirate initial /t̪/ to [t̪ʰ].[38]
Voiceless stops—/k/, /t/, and /p/—undergo lenition in most varieties.
The voiceless labial and velar plosives also undergo lenition into spirants, such that [p] becomes [ɸ] and [k] becomes [x] or [ɦ], especially intervocalically.[41][42] Hence পাকা (ISO-15919: pākā, 'ripe'), pronounced [päkä] in Standard Bengali, may variably be pronounced [päɦä], [ɸäɦä], or [ɸäxä] in Eastern Bengali dialects.[43] [k] is often deleted entirely instead of simply being spirantised, especially when in proximity of [i]. For example, বিকাল (ISO-15919: bikāla, 'afternoon'), pronounced [bikäl] in Standard Bengali, is frequently pronounced [biäl] in Eastern Bengali.[44]
When followed by a rounded vowel, [ɸ] and [ɦ] are interchangeable in most dialects of Eastern Bengali. For example, কাঁকই (ISO-15919: kām̐kai, 'comb') [käɦɔi̯] may often be pronounced [käɸɔi̯] and ফকীর (ISO-15919: phakīra, 'beggar') [ɸɔɦiɾ] may often be pronounced [ɦɔɦiɾ].[45] This merger is expanded upon in the Noakhali dialect, where all word-initial [ɸ] (and, by extension, [p]) are pronounced [ɦ], e.g. পাগল (ISO-15919: pāgala) 'madman' [pägɔl] → [ɸägɔl] → [ɦägɔl],[46] and by some speakers of the Mymensingh and Comilla dialects, who pronounce all [ɸ] as [ɦ], e.g. ঢুপি (ISO-15919: ḍhupi) [d̠ʱupi] → [dúɸi] → [dúɦi] 'dove'.
Intervocalic /t/ lenites to a voiced allophone [d] in most Eastern Bengali dialects. For example, মাটি (ISO-15919: māṭi, 'soil') is pronounced [mät̠i] in Standard Bengali but [mädi] in Eastern Bengali.[47] However, this does not occur in geminates,[48] so টাট্টি (ISO-15919: ṭāṭṭi, 'latrine') remains relatively unchanged across varieties, being [t̠ät̠ːi] in Standard Bengali and [tätːi] in Eastern Bengali.
The voiced retroflex flap found in Standard Bengali is almost always merged with /ɾ/ in Eastern Bengali, though it may occur in a minute number of speakers.[49] This merger of /ɽ/ and /ɾ/ also characterises the Standard Bengali of Bangladesh.[50]
Eastern Bengali dialects tend to spirantise the Standard Bengali palato-alveolar affricates /t͡ʃ/, /t͡ʃʰ/, as well as /d͡ʒ/ and /d͡ʒʱ/ into [t͡s], [s], and [z], respectively.[51] For example, চোর (ISO-15919: cōra, 'thief'), ছয় (ISO-15919: chaẏa, 'six'), and জাড় (ISO-15919: jāṛa, 'cold') are respectively pronounced [t͡ʃoɾ], [t͡ʃʰɔe̯], and [d͡ʒäɽ] in Standard Bengali but [t͡suɾ], [sɔe̯], and [zäɾ] in Typical East Bengali. /t͡s/ in tends to merge with /s/ as the areas of Eastern and Southeastern Vaṅga are approached, such that চা (ISO-15919: cā, 'tea'), pronounced [tʃä] in Standard Bengali, is pronounced [t͡sä] in farther western varieties and [sä] in farther eastern varieties of Eastern Bengali.[52] [d͡z] is an allophone of /z/ that more frequently occurs in Southwestern Vaṅga. [t͡ʃ] occurs as an allophone of /t͡s/ and /s/ while [d͡ʒ] occurs as an allophone of /z/ in geminates and consonant clusters,[53] e.g. বাচ্চা (ISO-15919: bāccā, 'child') /bat͡sːa ~ basːa/ [bäi̯t͡ʃːa̟], ইঞ্চি (ISO-15919: iñci, 'inch') /int͡si ~ insi/ [int͡ʃi], ইজ্জৎ (ISO-15919: ijjat, 'honour') /izːɔt̪/ [id͡ʒːɔt̪].
/ʃ/ has a tendency to debuccalise to [ɦ] in word-initial position, e.g. শালা (ISO-15919: śālā) /ʃälä/ → [ɦälä] 'brother-in-law', be deleted entirely in word-medial position, e.g. উশাস (ISO-15919: uśāsa) /uʃäʃ/ → [uäʃ] 'breath', and be either retained or deleted in word-final position, e.g. মানুষ (ISO-15919: mānuṣa) /mänuʃ/ → [mänuʃ ~ mänu] 'people'.[54]
Tone
The aspiration and breathy voice present in Standard Bengali is notably mostly if not entirely absent in Eastern Bengali. The West Bengali linguists Chatterji and Sen described the deaspirated voiced consonants present in Eastern Bengali as being implosive consonants,[55] such that the Standard Bengali phonemes /bʱ/, /d̪ʱ/, /ɖʱ/, /dʒʱ/, and /ɡʱ/ would respectively correspond to /ɓ/, /ɗ̪/, /ᶑ/, /ɗʒ/, and /ɠ/ in Eastern Bengali. However, Animesh K. Pal, a native speaker of Eastern Bengali from Narayanganj, disputed this claim, instead describing the deaspiration as leading to the development of tones.[56][57]
These tones are not limited to voiced aspirates, but are also present as compensation for the aspiration of consonants that were voiceless aspirates in Standard Bengali. Tone continues to exist in words even if they are not part of a near-identical pair that requires it for the sake of contrast.
Grierson 1903, p.12: "It stretches down the East littoral of the Bay of Bengal into Northern Burmah, its way eastwards being similarly barred by the Hill tribes of Arakan. To the South, it meets the Burmese language in the District of Akyab."
Chatterji 1926, p.139: "In the border districts of the delta, namely, South Faridpur, East Nadiya, West Jessore, West Khulna, the Rāḍha and Vaŋga forms intermingle, where Rāḍha influences Vaŋga."
Shahidullah 1958, p.62: "আমরা ধ্বনিতত্ত্ব, রূপতত্ত্ব ও পদক্রম আলোচনা করিয়া বাঙ্গালা উপভাষাগুলিকে দুইটি ভাগে বিভক্ত করিতে পারিঃ (১) পাশ্চাত্য, (২) প্রাচ্য।"
Haldar 1986, p.10: "Group I or Dacca Group or the Central EB Group, which may also be called 'East Bengali General', includes the dialects in general of the districts of (1) Dacca, (2) Faridpur, (3) Bakharganja, (4) Maimansing, (5) Sylhet (west) and (6) Comilla (northern and western)."
Haldar 1986, p.11: "The Maim. East division is dialectally allied to the contiguous areas of Habiganja-Sunamganja of Sylhet West and should be taken together for study, and should include in the former (Maim. E-Sylhet W.) and a large slice (Brahmanberia) of Comilla. Group II or Maimansing East - Sylhet West Group."
Haldar 1986, p.12: "Group III or Sylhet Group or 'North-Eastern Group' of East Bengali (may also be called 'Sylhet-Kachar' Group) includes Sylhet Central (in Bangladesh now), Sylhet southern i.e. Moulavibazar area (in Banglades as well); Karimganja (now in Kachar, i.e. within the Indian Union), and Kachar itself (Indian Union)."
Haldar 1986, p.13: "Comilla. formerly Tippera, in which we include Tripura with its immigrant speakers of nearby districts, is a meeting ground of the Groups in its three neighbouring zones; viz. Chandpur is closer to Dacca Group, Brahmanberia to Maim. East and Sylhet West, a southern West of Comilla strip shows some Noakhali features. When mentioned separately, Comilla or Kumilla signifies sadar areas and is put between Group III and Group IV; it shows features of Dacca and Maimansing also."
Haldar 1986, p.12: "'Transitional' or Khulna-Jessore Group includes Khulna (Banglades), western Faridpur and Jessore (except for Bongaon area, Jessore is in Banglades). As a 'transitional' form it is more and more coming under the influence of the Std. Coll. Bg., though the EB dialectal traits are still there."
Chatterji 1926, p.379: "So far as Bengali is concerned, we see a weakening of «-i, -u» after «å, ā» in the 14th century; and the beginnings of epenthesis certainly go back to that century."
Chatterji 1926, p.142: "but in the Vaŋga dialects nasalisation is entirely dropped: only in certain Eastern Vaŋga dialects, e.g., Chittagongese, nasalisation has recently developed from a Bengali intervocal «-m-»"
Chatterji 1926, p.268: "The retroflex [ṭ ḍ] are no longer the cerebrals of OIA. (such as are still found in the Dravidian languages, and in Panjābī for instance among NIA. speeches), but they have advanced forward considerably towards the palato-alveolar region, so much so that to a Bengali there is no difference between the so-called cerebrals of his language and the t d of English, alveolar sounds."
Mazumdar, Bijaychandra (2000). The history of the Bengali language (Repr. [d. Ausg.] Calcutta, 1920.ed.). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. p.57. ISBN978-8120614529. yet it is to be noted as a fact, that the cerebral letters are not so much cerebral as they are dental in our speech. If we carefully notice our pronunciation of the letters of the 'ট' class we will see that we articulate 'ট' and 'ড,' for example, almost like English T and D without turning up the tip of the tongue much away from the region of the teeth.
Chatterji 1926, pp.269–270: "A kind of bilabial [ꜰ], in which the lips are much more widely separated from each other than in the case of the Standard Bengali [ph > ꜰ], with the acoustic effect of [ɦ] to the unaccustomed ear, is the East Vaŋga equivalent of a single [p, ph] of Standard Bengali. [x]: the velar fricative, unvoiced, is found for [k, kh] in East Vaŋga, and in some forms of West Vaŋga as well."
Pal 1965, p.41: "There is a guttural unvoiced fricative 'x'. This occurs when the unvoiced velar stop is spirantized. There is one labio-dental fricative 'f'. It occurs when the bi-labial unvoiced stop 'p' is spirantized."
Haldar 1929, p.16: "[ꜰ] is one of the most characteristic sounds in the dialect, and, as has been noted, pronounced with the lips so open as to seem to be reduced to [h]"
Chatterji 1926, p.142: "and although rarely in some of the Vaŋga tracts «ṛ» does occur, the absence of it can be said to characterise the eastern dialects."
Pal 1965, p.41: "The alveo-palatal unvoiced affricate 'cʃ' = c is found only in non-initial positions and as a doubled consonant. This is an allophone of the dental affricate 'ts' = C. The alveo-palatal voiced affricate 'ɟ͡ʒ' = j, too, is found only in non-initial positions and as a doubled consonant. This is an allophone of the alveolar fricative 'z'. Same is the case with alveo-palatal unvoiced aspirated affricate 'cʃh' = ch. This is an allophone of the dental fricative 's'."
Sen 1957, p.137: "ঘোষবৎ মহাপ্রাণ, অর্থাৎ চতুর্থ বর্ণ, মহাপ্রাণতা ত্যাগ করিয়া কণ্ঠনলীয়স্পর্শযুক্ত (recursive) তৃতীয় বর্ণে পরিণত হইয়াছে যেমন সিন্ধীতেও"
Pal 1965, pp.44–45: "The tonal element in Panjabi as well as in Eastern Bengali has been noticed in respect of various new ways of treating the voiced aspirates and 'h'."
Masica 1991, p.102: "Glottalization is often connected with tone and in the East Bengali cases seem to be related to the evolution of tone from the voiced aspirates."
Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926), The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, Calcutta University Press
Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1931). "Recursives in New Indo-Aryan". Indian Linguistics. I: 15–44.
Grierson, George Abraham (1903), Linguistic Survey of India, vol.V, Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent, Government Printing, India
Haldar, Gopal (1929). "A Brief Phonetic Sketch of the Noakhali Dialect of South-Eastern Bengali". Journal of the Department of Letters. XIX: 1–40.
Haldar, Gopal (1986), A Comparative Grammar of East Bengali Dialects, Puthipatra
Masica, Colin P. (1991), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge University Press
