Eastern Bengali dialects

Geographical distribution

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. 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.

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'). 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. 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.

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. The de facto Standard East Bengali spoken around the Bikrampur region is a member of this group, comparable to Chatterji's "Typical East Bengali". 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. 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. Group IV or "South East Bengali" is spoken in the Chittagong Division, notably excluding the Greater Comilla region. 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. 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.

Phonology

Eastern Bengali is characterised by a considerably smaller phoneme inventory when compared with Standard Bengali.

Epenthesis

Modern eastern Bengali notably preserves the Middle Bengali tendency of a form of "epenthesis" (Bengali: অপিনিহিতি, romanized: ôpinihiti), which is more accurately described as the retrograde metathesis of high-vowel glides (i.e. /i̯/ and /u̯/) across a non-initial consonant boundary. Thus, the equivalent of Standard Literary Bengali করিয়া (ISO-15919: kariẏā) 'having done' in Typical East Bengali is [kɔ̝i̯ɾa̟], having gone through the medial phase of *[kɔi̯ɾi̯ä], from original [kɔɾi̯ɑ]; by comparison, the Standard Colloquial Bengali equivalent is [kore], as the standard language has undergone the additional phonological processes of syncope and umlaut, unlike most Eastern Bengali dialects.

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. সত্য (ISO-15919: satya, 'truth'), for example, pronounced [ʃɔt̪ːi̯ɔ] in Middle 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]. Hence রাক্ষস (ISO-15919: rākṣasa, 'rakshasa'), with the Middle Bengali pronunciation of [rɑkːʰi̯ɔʃ], 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. Hence, আজ্ঞা (ISO-15919: ājñā, 'order'), with the Middle Bengali pronunciation of [ɑgːĩ̯ɑ], has the Typical East Bengali pronunciation of [äi̯gːa̟] and the Standard Bengali [ägːä̃].

There is also a tendency to hypercorrect, leading to the diphthongisation of other vowels with [i̯] (true epenthesis) if they precede any geminated consonant, 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).

Vowels

• The vowels /e/ and /o/ in the standard language are shifted to /ɛ/ and /u/, respectively. 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. /e/ and /o/ may be considered marginal phonemes, due to lack of mergers in rare instances, such as in কেন (ISO-15919: kēn) 'buy' and ধো (ISO-15919: dhō) 'wash'.
• /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ have raised allophones, [ɛ̝] and [ɔ̝], that occur when followed by a close vowel such as /i/ or /u/. This raising may also occur in open syllables.
• /ɑ/ 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.
• 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. This lack of nasalisation also characterises the Standard Bengali of Bangladesh.

Consonants

• Phonemic voiceless aspirated stops—/kʰ/, /tʰ/, and /t̪ʰ/—have been attributed to some Vaṅga dialects, only contrasting with their unaspirated counterparts in initial position. 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. Rarely, some dialects invariably aspirate initial /t̪/ to [t̪ʰ].
• Like Standard Bengali, Eastern Bengali lacks true retroflexes. However it further fronts the apical postalveolar stops of the standard language to apico-alveolar.
• In the first person future tense verb forms, the intervocalic b changes to m. Eg. dimu < dibo (will give), kormu < korbo < koribo (will do), khamu < khabo < khaibo (will eat) etc.
• Voiceless stops—/k/, /t/, /p/ and their aspirated equivalents—undergo lenition variably. /pʰ/ is generally spirantized in all positions, except when geminated.
  • The voiceless labial and velar stops undergo lenition into spirants, such that [p] becomes [ɸ] and [k] becomes [x] or (only intervocalically) [h]. Western forms (e.g. Khulna, Jashore) retain word-initial /k/, /kʰ/ and /p/, intermediate forms (e.g. Mymensingh, Faridpur, Barishal, Comilla) spirantize all /p/, and far-eastern forms (e.g. Sylhet, Noakhali) spirantize all /k/ and /kʰ/. Hence পাকা (ISO-15919: pākā, 'ripe'), pronounced [päkä] in Standard Bengali, may variably be pronounced [pähä], [ɸähä], or [ɸäxä] in Eastern Bengali dialects. Sometimes, intervocal /h/ can also undergo deletion. For example, বিকাল (ISO-15919: bikāla, 'afternoon'), pronounced [bikäl] in Standard Bengali, may be pronounced [biäl] in Eastern Bengali. However, spirantization never occurs when the stops are geminated, hence চক্কর (ISO-15919: cakkara, 'circle') is pronounced [t͡sɔkːɔɾ] or [sɔkːɔɾ].
  • When followed by a rounded vowel, [ɸ] and [h] are interchangeable in many dialects of Eastern Bengali. For example, কাঁকই (ISO-15919: kām̐kaï, 'comb') [kähɔi̯] may often be pronounced [käɸɔi̯] and ফকীর (ISO-15919: phakīra, 'beggar') [ɸɔhiɾ] may often be pronounced [hɔhiɾ]. This merger is expanded upon in the Noakhali dialect, where all word-initial [ɸ] (and, by extension, [p]) are pronounced [h], e.g. পাগল (ISO-15919: pāgala) 'madman' [pägɔl] → [ɸägɔl] → [hägɔl], and by some speakers of the Mymensingh and Cumilla dialects, who pronounce all [ɸ] as [h], e.g. ঢুপি (ISO-15919: ḍhupi) [d̠ʱupi] → [dúɸi] → [dúhi] 'dove'.
  • Intervocalic and post-nasal /t/ and /tʰ/ lenite to a voiced allophone [d] in most Eastern Bengali dialects. For example, মাটি (ISO-15919: māṭi, 'soil') and কোনটা (ISO-15919: kōnṭā, 'which' (interrogative)) are pronounced [mät̠i] and [kont̠ä] in Standard Bengali, but [mädi] and [kunda] in Eastern Bengali. However, this never occur in geminates, so টাট্টি (ISO-15919: ṭāṭṭi, 'latrine') remains mostly similar across Bengali, 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. This merger of /ɽ/ and /ɾ/ also characterises the Standard Bengali of Bangladesh.
• 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. 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. [d͡z] is an allophone of /z/ that more frequently occurs in western forms of Vaṅga. [t͡ʃ] occurs as an allophone of /t͡s/ and /s/ while [d͡ʒ] occurs as an allophone of /z/ in geminates and post-nasal consonant clusters, e.g. বাচ্চা (ISO-15919: bāccā, 'child') /bat͡sːa ~ basːa/ [bä(i̯)t͡ʃːa̟], ইঞ্চি (ISO-15919: iñci, 'inch') /int͡si ~ insi/ [int͡ʃi], ইজ্জৎ (ISO-15919: ijjat, 'honour') /izːɔt̪/ [id͡ʒːɔt̪].
• /ʃ/ has a tendency to debuccalise to [h] in word-initial position, e.g. শালা (ISO-15919: śālā) /ʃälä/ → [hälä] 'brother-in-law'. Rarely, it can also be deleted in intervocalic position (not geminated), e.g. উশাস (ISO-15919: uśāsa) /uʃäʃ/ → [uäʃ] 'breath', and word-final position, e.g. মানুষ (ISO-15919: mānuṣa) /mänuʃ/ → [mänu] 'people'.

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, such that the Standard Bengali phonemes /bʱ/, /d̪ʱ/, /ɖʱ/, /dʒʱ/, and /ɡʱ/ would respectively correspond to //, //, //, /ɗʒ/, and // 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.

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.

Furthermore, the [ɦ] of Standard Bengali is most often deleted in Eastern Bengali dialects. This h-dropping has also been said to result in tone.

Mymensinghi Bengali

Mymensinghi Bengali (Bengali: ময়মনসিংহী বাংলা) is an eastern dialect of the Bengali language, spoken primarily in the greater Mymensingh region of Bangladesh. Mymemsinghi Bengali closely resembles the dialect of greater Dhaka region. It is also highly mutually intelligible with other dialects of Bengali. It is commonly classified among the "Central East Bengali" varieties of Bengali language.

Names

The word "Mymensinghi" is locally pronounced as Momensinga and Moimensinga. It is also referred to as Mymensingiyo, Moymonsingha, Maimensingha or simply Mymensingh.

Geographical distribution

The Mymensinghi dialect is common in almost all districts of Mymensingh Division of Bangladesh. It is also spoken by many local residents of Kishoreganj and Tangail districts of Dhaka division outside Mymensingh division. Additionally, it is spoken by people in adjacent areas of the Meghalaya state in India, as well as the Gazipur, Kurigram and Sunamganj districts of Bangladesh.

Features and Comparison

Phonology: Mymensinghi dialect shows almost same features like others eastern dialects of Bengali language.

• Mymensinghi Bengali speakers generally produce consonantal sounds with reduced aspiration. For example, the Standard Bengali consonants /t͡ʃ/ and /t͡ʃʰ/ are pronounced as [t͡s] and [s] respectively.
• The sound corresponding to ‘p’ sometimes articulated in a less aspirated manner and becomes akin to [ɸ] in some areas.
• In addition, the dialect shows variation in the realization of certain affricates and fricatives. Moreover, there are extensive uses of epenthesis of ‘i’ and ‘u’ vowels, developed from the Late Middle Bengali stage of Bengali language.
• There is a tendency of intervocalic 'b' changes to 'm' in case of first person future tense verb forms. Eg. dimu/diām<dibo (will give), kôrmu/kôrām<kôrbô (will do) etc.
• The vowel sound ‘o’ may shift toward a pronunciation akin to ‘u’. For example, বোকা (ISO-15919: bōkā, 'dumb') is pronounced bukā in this dialect.

Morphology: The morphology of the Mymensinghi Bengali retains several features that differentiate it from the standard dialect.

• A notable example along with other eastern Bengali dialects, Mymensinghi Bengali agree in having ‘rē’ as the proper affix for objective case whereas the standard dialect prefer ‘kē’. For example, the word "āmākē" (to me) becomes "āmārē" in all eastern and southern Bengali varieties.
• The '-gô' or '-gôr' suffix, derived from Middle Bengali 'kôr'/'ker', added to the singular genetive to form the genetive plural is commonly used in most of the Vanga dialects. Eg. āmā-gô/āmā-gôr (our), tômā-gô/tôma-gôr or Tô-gôr (your). It is also found in Rarhi dialect-speaking areas.
• The Mymensingh dialect has mid-front and back vowel mergers.

Comparison: A comparison of Standard Bengali and two Eastern Bengali dialects are presented below: