Eastern Bengali Explained

Eastern Bengali
Also Known As:	Vaṅga
Nativename:	Bangali (বঙ্গালী)
State:	Bangladesh India
Region:	Bangladesh Barisal Division, Chittagong Division, Dhaka Division, Khulna Division, Sylhet Division India Tripura, Barak Valley
Familycolor:	Indo-European
Fam2:	Indo-Iranian
Fam3:	Indo-Aryan
Fam4:	Eastern Zone
Fam5:	Bengali-Assamese
Script:	Bengali alphabet Latin-Roman (Banglish) Sylhet Nagari (historical) Perso-Arabic (historical) Portuguese (historical)
Isoexception:	dialect
Glotto:	vang1242
Glottoname:	Vanga

Eastern Bengali, Baṅgālī (Bengali: বঙ্গালী|bôṅgalī) or Vaṅga (Bengali: বঙ্গ|bôṅgô) is a nonstandard dialect cluster of Bengali spoken in most of Bangladesh and Tripura, thus covering majority of the land of Bengal and surrounding areas.

Names

It is also known as Baṅgālī (Bengali: বঙ্গালী|bôṅgalī), Pūrvavaṅgīẏa (Bengali: পূর্ববঙ্গীয়|pūrbôbôṅgīẏô),^[1] Prācya (Bengali: প্রাচ্য|prachyô), Vaṅga (Bengali: বঙ্গ|bôṅgô), or Vaṅgīẏa (Bengali: বঙ্গীয়|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. Eastern Bengali is often colloquially referred to by the exonym Bangal Bhasha (Bengali: বাঙাল ভাষা|bangal bhasha) in West Bengal due to its association with Bangals. It may also be referred to by names such as Khaisi-Gesi Bangla^[2] (Bengali: খাইছি-গেছি বাংলা|lit=I've eaten-I've gone Bengali|khaisi-gesi baṅla), emphasising the contrast between Eastern Bengali varieties and the standard language in terms of grammar by use of the example phrases "I have eaten" (Bengali: খেয়েছি kheẏechhi in Standard Bengali but Bengali: খাইছি khaisi in Typical East Bengali) and "I have gone" (Bengali: গিয়েছি giẏechhi in Standard Bengali but Bengali: গেছি gesi in Typical East Bengali). A similar name, Khaitesi-Zaitesi Bangla (Bengali: খাইতেছি-যাইতেছি বাংলা|lit=I'm eating-I'm going Bengali|khaitesi-zaitesi baṅla), instead juxtaposes the examples of "I am eating" (Bengali: খাচ্ছি khacchhi in Standard Bengali but Bengali: খাইতেছি khaitesi in Typical East Bengali) and "I am going" (Bengali: যাচ্ছি jacchhi in Standard Bengali but Bengali: যাইতেছি zaitesi in Typical East Bengali).

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.^[3] 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.^[4] Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah divided all Bengali dialects into two groups: Prācya (Bengali: প্রাচ্য|prachyô|lit=eastern) and Pāścātya (Bengali: পাশ্চাত্য|lit=western|pashchatyô).^[5] 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.^[6] 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.^[7] 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.^[8] The de facto Standard East Bengali spoken around the Bikrampur region is a member of this group, comparable to Chatterji's "Typical East Bengali".^[9] 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.^[10] 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.^[11] Group IV or "South East Bengali" is spoken in the Chittagong Division, notably excluding the Greater Comilla region.^[12] 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.^[13] 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.^[14]

Phonology

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

Metathesis

Eastern Bengali notably preserves metathesis (Bengali: অপিনিহিতি|ôpinihiti) from an earlier stage of Bengali.^[15] Thus, the equivalent of Sādhu Bhāṣā Bengali: করিয়া (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.^[16] 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.^[17] Bengali: 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].^[18] Hence Bengali: 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.^[19] Hence, Bengali: 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, Bengali: 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 Bengali: ব্রাম্য (ISO-15919: brāmya).^{[20] [21]}

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Close-mid			(pronounced as /link/)
Open-mid	pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/
Open		pronounced as /link/

• The vowels /e/ and /o/ in the standard language are shifted to /ɛ/ and /u/, respectively.^{[22] [23] [24]} For example, Bengali: দেশ (ISO-15919: dēśa) 'country' and Bengali: 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 Bengali: 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/.^[25] This raising may also occur in open syllables.
• /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.
• 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.^[26] This lack of nasalisation also characterises the Standard Bengali of Bangladesh.^[27]

Consonants

			Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
Nasal			pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/
Plosive	voiceless	unaspirated	(pronounced as /link/)	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/
		aspirated		(t̪ʰ)	(tʰ)			(kʰ)
	voiced		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/			pronounced as /link/
Affricate	voiceless				(pronounced as /link/)
	voiced
Fricative	voiceless		pronounced as /link/		pronounced as /link/	pronounced as /link/
	voiced				pronounced as /link/				(pronounced as /link/)
Approximant					pronounced as /link/
Rhotic					pronounced as /link/		(pronounced as /link/)

• 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. Furthermore, some dialects invariably aspirate initial /t̪/ to [t̪ʰ].
• Like Standard Bengali, Eastern Bengali lacks true retroflexes.^{[28] [29]} However it further fronts the apical postalveolar stops of the standard language to apico-alveolar.
• 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.^{[30] [31]} Hence Bengali: পাকা (ISO-15919: pākā, 'ripe'), pronounced [päkä] in Standard Bengali, may variably be pronounced [päɦä], [ɸäɦä], or [ɸäxä] in Eastern Bengali dialects. [k] is often deleted entirely instead of simply being spirantised, especially when in proximity of [i]. For example, Bengali: বিকাল (ISO-15919: bikāla, 'afternoon'), pronounced [bikäl] in Standard Bengali, is frequently pronounced [biäl] in Eastern Bengali.
  • When followed by a rounded vowel, [ɸ] and [ɦ] are interchangeable in most dialects of Eastern Bengali. For example, Bengali: কাঁকই (ISO-15919: kām̐kai, 'comb') [käɦɔi̯] may often be pronounced [käɸɔi̯] and Bengali: ফকীর (ISO-15919: phakīra, 'beggar') [ɸɔɦiɾ] may often be pronounced [ɦɔɦiɾ]. This merger is expanded upon in the Noakhali dialect, where all word-initial [ɸ] (and, by extension, [p]) are pronounced [ɦ], e.g. Bengali: পাগল (ISO-15919: pāgala) 'madman' [pägɔl] → [ɸägɔl] → [ɦägɔl],^[32] and by some speakers of the Mymensingh and Comilla dialects, who pronounce all [ɸ] as [ɦ], e.g. Bengali: ঢুপি (ISO-15919: ḍhupi) [d̠ʱupi] → [dúɸi] → [dúɦi] 'dove'.
  • Intervocalic /t/ lenites to a voiced allophone [d] in most Eastern Bengali dialects. For example, Bengali: মাটি (ISO-15919: māṭi, 'soil') is pronounced [mät̠i] in Standard Bengali but [mädi] in Eastern Bengali. However, this does not occur in geminates,^[33] so Bengali: 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.^[34] This merger of /ɽ/ and /ɾ/ also characterises the Standard Bengali of Bangladesh.^[35]
• 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.^[36] For example, Bengali: চোর (ISO-15919: cōra, 'thief'), Bengali: ছয় (ISO-15919: chaẏa, 'six'), and Bengali: 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 Bengali: 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.^[37] [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,^[38] e.g. Bengali: বাচ্চা (ISO-15919: bāccā, 'child') /bat͡sːa ~ basːa/ [bäi̯t͡ʃːa̟], Bengali: ইঞ্চি (ISO-15919: iñci, 'inch') /int͡si ~ insi/ [int͡ʃi], Bengali: ইজ্জৎ (ISO-15919: ijjat, 'honour') /izːɔt̪/ [id͡ʒːɔt̪].
• /ʃ/ has a tendency to debuccalise to [ɦ] in word-initial position, e.g. Bengali: শালা (ISO-15919: śālā) /ʃälä/ → [ɦälä] 'brother-in-law', be deleted entirely in word-medial position, e.g. Bengali: উশাস (ISO-15919: uśāsa) /uʃäʃ/ → [uäʃ] 'breath', and be either retained or deleted in word-final position, e.g. Bengali: মানুষ (ISO-15919: mānuṣa) /mänuʃ/ → [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,^[39] such that the Standard Bengali phonemes /bʱ/, /d̪ʱ/, /ɖʱ/, /dʒʱ/, and /ɡʱ/ would respectively correspond to /pronounced as /link//, /pronounced as /link//, /pronounced as /link//, /ɗʒ/, and /pronounced as /link// 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.^{[40] [41]}

Word	ISO 15919	Standard Bengali IPA	Eastern Bengali IPA	Tone	Meaning
গাঁও	gām̐ō	[gä̃o̯]	[gäo̯]	level	village
ঘাও	ghāō	[gʱäo̯]	[gä́o̯]	high	wound
গড়	gaṛa	[gɔɽ]	[gɔɾ]	level	ditch
ঘর	ghara	[gʱɔɾ]	[gɔ́ɾ]	high	room
গোড়া	gōṛā	[goɽä]	[guɾä]	level	ditch
ঘোড়া	ghōṛā	[gʱoɽä]	[gúɾä]	high	horse
জ্বর	jvara	[d͡ʒɔɾ]	[zɔɾ]	level	fever
ঝড়	jhaṛa	[d͡ʒʱɔɽ]	[zɔ́ɾ]	high	storm
জাল	jāla	[d͡ʒäl]	[zäl]	level	net
ঝাল	jhāla	[d͡ʒʱäl]	[zä́l]	high	hot
জামা	jāmā	[d͡ʒäma]	[zäma]	level	shirt
ঝামা	jhāmā	[d͡ʒʱäma]	[zä́ma]	high	vitrified brick
জীর	jīra	[d͡ʒiɾ]	[ziɾ]	level	earthworm
ঝির	jhira	[d͡ʒʱiɾ]	[zíɾ]	high	of maidservant
ডাক	ḍāka	[d̠äk]	[däk]	level	do call
ঢাক	ḍhāka	[d̠ʱäk]	[dä́k]	high	dhak
ডাকা	ḍākā	[d̠äkä]	[däɦä]	level	to call
ঢাকা	ḍhākā	[d̠ʱäkä]	[dä́ɦä]	high	Dhaka
ডোল	ḍōla	[d̠ol]	[dul]	level	container of paddy
ঢোল	ḍhōla	[d̠ʱol]	[dúl]	high	dhol
ডিম, ডিমা	ḍima, ḍimā	[d̠im], *[d̠imä]	[dim], [dimä]	level	egg
ঢিমা	ḍhimā	[d̠ʱimä]	[dímä]	high	slow
ডোলা	ḍōlā	[d̠olä]	[dulä]	level	container of fish made from bamboo shavings
ঢোলা	ḍhōlā	[d̠ʱolä]	[dúlä]	high	bending from side to side
দর	dara	[d̪ɔɾ]	[d̪ɔɾ]	level	price
ধর	dhara	[d̪ʱɔɾ]	[d̪ɔ́ɾ]	high	do catch
দান	dāna	[d̪än]	[d̪än]	level	donation
ধান	dhāna	[d̪ʱän]	[d̪ä́n]	high	paddy
দোয়া	dōẏā	[d̪oä]	[d̪uä]	level	to milk
ধোয়া	dhōẏā	[d̪ʱoä]	[d̪úä]	high	to wash
দুল	dula	[d̪ul]	[d̪ul]	level	a kind of earring
ধুলা	dhula	[d̪ʱulä]	[d̪úlä]	high	dust
বাত	bāta	[bät̪]	[bät̪]	level	rheumatism
ভাত	bhāta	[bʱät̪]	[bä́t̪]	high	boiled rice
বালা	bālā	[bälä]	[bälä]	level	bangle
ভালা	bhālā	[bʱälä]	[bä́lä]	high	good
বাপ	bāpa	[bäp]	[bäp ~ bäɸ]	level	father
ভাপ	bhāpa	[bʱäp]	[bä́p ~ bä́ɸ]	high	steam

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.

Word	ISO 15919	Standard Bengali IPA	Eastern Bengali IPA	Tone	Meaning
বাচা মাছ	bācā mācha	[bät͡ʃä mät͡ʃʰ]	[bät͡sä mäs ~ bäsä mäs]	level	Eutropiichthys vacha
বাছা মাছ	bāchā mācha	[bät͡ʃʰä mät͡ʃʰ]	[bäsä́ mäs]	high	selected fish
চাও	cāō	[t͡ʃäo̯]	[t͡säo̯ ~ säo̯]	level	you want
ছাও	chāō	[t͡ʃʰäo̯]	[sä́o̯]	high	young ones of the animals
কাঁচের	kām̐cēra	[kä̃t͡ʃeɾ]	[kät͡sɛɾ ~ käsɛɾ]	level	of glass
কাছের	kāchēra	[kät͡ʃʰeɾ]	[käsɛ́ɾ]	high	of near
চিঁড়া	cim̐ṛā	[t͡ʃĩɽä]	[t͡siɾä ~ siɾä]	level	chira
ছিঁড়া	chim̐ṛā	[t͡ʃʰĩɽä]	[síɾä]	high	torn
কুটা	kuṭā	[kut̠ä]	[kudä]	level	to cut in pieces
কোঠা	kōṭhā	[kot̠ʰä]	[kudä́]	high	room
কাঁটা	kām̐ṭā	[kä̃t̠ä]	[kädä]	level	thorn
কাঠা	kāṭhā	[kät̠ʰä]	[kädä́]	high	katha
উডা	uḍā	[udä]	[udä]	level	front step
উঠা	uṭhā	[ut̠ʰä]	[udä́]	high	do lift up

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.

Word	ISO 15919	Standard Bengali IPA	Eastern Bengali IPA	Tone	Meaning
আতা	ātā	[ät̪ä]	[ät̪ä]	level	sugar apple
হাতা	hātā	[ɦät̪ä]	[ä́t̪ä]	high	sleeve, ladle
আছে	āchē	[ät͡ʃʰe]	[äsɛ́]	level	is
হাঁচে	hām̐cē	[ɦä̃t͡ʃe]	[ä́t͡sɛ ~ ä́sɛ]	high	sneezes
আঠা	āṭhā	[ät̠ʰä]	[ädä́]	level	glue
হাঁটা	hām̐ṭā	[ɦä̃t̠ä]	[ä́dä]	high	to walk
আড়াই	āṛāi	[äɽäi̯]	[äɾäi̯]	level	two and a half
হারাই	hārāi	[ɦäɾäi̯]	[ä́ɾäi̯]	high	I lose

Comparison

Dialect	A man had two sons.	IPA
Sādhu Bhāṣā	Bengali: কোন এক ব্যক্তির দুটি পুত্র ছিল	pronounced as /[kono æk bekt̪iɾ d̪uʈi put̪ɾo t͡ʃʰilo]/
Southwestern Vaṅga
Bagerhat	Bengali: অ্যাক্ জোন মান্শির দুই ছওাল ছিলো	pronounced as /[ɛk zon mänʃiɾ d̪ui̯ sɔäl silo]/
Jessore	Bengali: এক জোনের দুট ছল ছিল	pronounced as /[ɛk zonɛɾ d̪uto sɔl silo]/
Western Vaṅga
Manikganj	Bengali: য়্য়্য়ক জনের্ দুইডী ছাওয়াল্ আছিলো	pronounced as /[ɛk zɔnɛɾ d̪ui̯di säo̯äl äsilo]/
Mymensingh	Bengali: এক জনের দুই পুৎ আছিল্	pronounced as /[ɛk zɔnɛɾ d̪ui̯ put̪ äsil]/ or pronounced as /[ɛk zɔnɛɾ d̪ui̯ ɸut̪ äsil]/
Barisal	Bengali: এক জন মান্ষের দুগ্‌গা পোলা আছিল	pronounced as /[ɛk zɔn mänʃɛɾ d̪ugːä polä äsilo]/ or pronounced as /[ɛk zɔn mänʃɛɾ d̪ugːä ɸolä äsilo]/
Sandwip	Bengali: এক শক্‌সের দুই বেটা আছিল	pronounced as /[ɛk ʃɔkʃɛɾ d̪ui̯ bɛtä äsilo]/
Eastern Vaṅga
Sylhet	Bengali: কোন মানুষর দুই পুয়া আছিল্	pronounced as /[kuno mänuʃɔɾ d̪ui̯ ɸuä äsil]/
Cachar	Bengali: একজন মানুষর দুগুয়া পুয়া আছিল	pronounced as /[e̞xzɔn mänuʃɔɾ d̪ugu̯ä ɸuä äsil]/
Comilla	Bengali: এক বেডার দুই পুৎ আচিল্	pronounced as /[ɛk bɛdäɾ d̪ui̯ ɸut̯ äsil]/
Southeastern Vaṅga
Chittagong	Bengali: উগ্গা মাইন্‌শর দুয়া ফোয়া আছিল্	pronounced as /[ugga mäi̯nʃɔɾ d̪uä ɸuä äsil]/
Hatiya	Bengali: একজন মাইন্‌সের দুগা হোলা আছিল্	pronounced as /[ɛkzɔn mäi̯nʃɛɾ d̪ugä ɦolä äsil]/
Chhagalnaiya	Bengali: একজনের দুই হোলা আছিল্	pronounced as /[ɛkzɔnɛɾ d̪ui̯ ɦolä äsil]/
Lakshmipur	Bengali: একজনের দুই হুত্ আছিল্	pronounced as /[ɛkzɔnɛɾ d̪ui̯ ɦut̪ äsil]/

Bibliography

• • Chatterji. Suniti Kumar. 1931. Recursives in New Indo-Aryan. Indian Linguistics. I. 15–44.
  • Haldar. Gopal. 1929. A Brief Phonetic Sketch of the Noakhali Dialect of South-Eastern Bengali. Journal of the Department of Letters. XIX. 1–40.
    • Pal. Animesh K.. 1965. Phonemes of a Dacca Dialect of Eastern Bengali and the Importance of Tone. Journal of the Asiatic Society. VII. 39–48.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Morshed. Abul Kalam Manzur. 5 May 2014. উপভাষা. live. বাংলাপিডিয়া. https://web.archive.org/web/20210129050947/http://bn.banglapedia.org/index.php/%E0%A6%89%E0%A6%AA%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B7%E0%A6%BE . 2021-01-29 .
2. Web site: Esh. Dhruba. 3 October 2019. তোমার যে ফুল. Bhorer Kagoj.

3. "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."

4. "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."

5. "আমরা ধ্বনিতত্ত্ব, রূপতত্ত্ব ও পদক্রম আলোচনা করিয়া বাঙ্গালা উপভাষাগুলিকে দুইটি ভাগে বিভক্ত করিতে পারিঃ (১) পাশ্চাত্য, (২) প্রাচ্য।"

6. "দক্ষিণ-পূর্বঃ—জেলা ২৪ পরগণার পূর্বাংশ, যশোহর জেলা, খুলনা জেলা, ঢাকা বিভাগ এবং নোয়াখালী।"

7. "পূর্ব-প্রান্তিকঃ—কাছাড় হইতে চট্টগ্রাম পর্যন্ত সমস্ত স্থান।"

8. "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)."

9. "along with Dacca-Manikganja dialect, Dacca-Vik. is the main source for what is sometimes called Std. EB"

10. "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."

11. "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)."

12. "Group IV or Chittagong-Noakhali or 'South-Eastern Group' includes the dialects of Chittagong and Noakhali."

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."

14. "'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."

15. "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."

16. "অভিশ্রুতি এবং স্বরসঙ্গতি নাই, সুতরাং স্বরধ্বনিতে প্রাচীনত্ব খানিকটা রক্ষিত (যেমন, রাখিয়া > *রাইখিআ > রাইখা, করিয়া > *কইরিয়া > কইরা, দেশি)"

17. "« -y » in a consonant nexus brings about epenthesis in Vaŋga and North Bengali, and to some extent in Varêndra."

18. "Sanskrit ক্ষ « kṣ » had in Bengali, Assamese and Oṛiyā the value of « khy » initially and « -kkhy- « in the interior of a word"

19. "and Sanskrit জ্ঞ « jñ » similarly had the sounds of « gy-, -ggy- », with the nasalisation of the contiguous vowels."

20. "য-ফলায় ও যুক্তব্যঞ্জনে অপিনিহিতির মত স্বরাগম হয় (যেমন, সত্য > সইত্ত, ব্রাহ্ম > ব্রাইম্ম, রাক্ষস > রাইক্‌খস)"

21. "and the groups ক্ষ জ্ঞ হ্ম « kṣ, jñ, hm », pronounced like « kkhy, ggỹ, my », behave in the same way"

22. "and the close « ē » of West Bengali frequently becomes open [ɛ] in Vaŋga"

23. "West Bengali « o », original or derived, often becomes « u » in Vaŋga."

24. "এ-কার প্রায়ই অ্যা-কারে এবং ও-কার উ-কারে পরিণত"

25. "A preference for the open vowels and thus 'e' becoming 'ae' if it is not checked by closed vowels 'i' and 'u'."

26. "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-»"

27. Khan . Sameer ud Dowla . 2010 . Bengali (Bangladeshi Standard) . Journal of the International Phonetic Association . 40 . 2 . 221–225. 10.1017/S0025100310000071 .

28. "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."

29. Book: Mazumdar . Bijaychandra . The history of the Bengali language . 2000 . Asian Educational Services . 978-8120614529 . Repr. [d. Ausg.] Calcutta, 1920. . New Delhi . 57 . 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 'Bengali: ট' class we will see that we articulate 'Bengali: ট' and 'Bengali: 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. . The history of the Bengali language.

30. "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."

31. "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."

32. "[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]"

33. "When it occurs non-initially we find it as a doubled consonant as in ThaTTa."

34. "and although rarely in some of the Vaŋga tracts « ṛ » does occur, the absence of it can be said to characterise the eastern dialects."

35. Khan . Sameer ud Dowla . 2010 . Bengali (Bangladeshi Standard) . Journal of the International Phonetic Association . 40 . 2 . 221–225. 10.1017/S0025100310000071 .

36. "The palatals « c, ch, j, jh » are pronounced as dental affricates « t͜s, s, d͜z, z » in Vaŋga and in North Bengal."

37. "Then চ ch is pronounced like English s, and there is no difference between চ ch and ছ chh."

38. "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'."

39. "ঘোষবৎ মহাপ্রাণ, অর্থাৎ চতুর্থ বর্ণ, মহাপ্রাণতা ত্যাগ করিয়া কণ্ঠনলীয়স্পর্শযুক্ত (recursive) তৃতীয় বর্ণে পরিণত হইয়াছে যেমন সিন্ধীতেও"

40. "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'."

41. "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."