Bengali language - Wikipedia

Bengali language - Wikipedia
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Indo-Aryan language
"Bangla language" redirects here; not to be confused with
Bangala language
Bengali
বাংলা
(Bangla)
The word "Bangla" in the
Bengali-Assamese script
Bengali alphabet
Pronunciation
[ˈbaŋlaˑ]
Native to
Bangladesh and India
Region
Bengal
Bangladesh
and
West Bengal
, India)
Assam
, India (
Barak valley
and
Lower division
Tripura
, India
Jharkhand
, India
Andaman and Nicobar islands
, India
Ethnicity
Bengalis
Speakers
L1
: 242 million (2011–2023)
L2
: 43 million (2011–2023)
Total: 284 million (2011–2023)
Language family
Indo-European
Indo-Iranian
Indo-Aryan
Eastern
Bengali–Assamese
Bengali
Early forms
Magadhi Prakrit
Magadhan
Apabhraṃśa
Abahaṭ‌ṭha
Old Bengali
Middle Bengali
Dialects
See
Bengali dialects
Writing system
Bengali–Assamese script
Bengali alphabet
Bengali Braille
Alternative and historic scripts
Official status
Official language in
Bangladesh
India
West Bengal
Tripura
Assam
Barak Valley
Jharkhand
(additional)
Regulated by
Bangla Academy
(Bangladesh)
Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi
(India)
Language codes
ISO 639-1
bn
ISO 639-2
ben
ISO 639-3
ben
– inclusive code
Individual codes:
ctg
Chittagonian
oak
Noakhali
syl
Sylheti
rkt
Rangpuri
rhg
Rohingya
Glottolog
beng1280
Linguasphere
59-AAF-u
Geographical distribution of the Bengali language. Darker shades imply a greater percentage of native speakers.
This article contains
IPA
phonetic symbols.
Without proper
rendering support
, you may see
question marks, boxes, or other symbols
instead of
Unicode
characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see
Help:IPA
This article contains
Bengali text
Without proper
rendering support
, you may see
question marks, boxes, or other symbols
Part of a series on
Bengalis
Bengali history
Vanga kingdom
Gangaridai
Gauda Kingdom
Pala Empire
Bengal Sultanate
Bengal Subah
Bengal Presidency
Partition of Bengal (1905)
Eastern Bengal and Assam
Partition of Bengal (1947)
East Bengal
West Bengal
East Pakistan
Names of Bengal
Bengali homeland
Bengal
Bangladesh
West Bengal
Barak Valley
Karimganj
Bengali people
Social groups:
Bangal
Ghotis
Diaspora:
Bangladeshi
Indian Bengalis
Hindu
Religious communities:
Muslims
Hindus
Buddhists
Christians
Sikhs
Jains
Baháʼís
Jews
Atheists
Bengali name
Subgroups:
Dhakaiyas
Sylhetis
Bengali culture
Bangaliana
Language
Dialects
Alphabet
Romanisation
Literature
Poetry
Science fiction
Novels
Folklore
Art
Music
Cinema:
Bangladesh
West Bengal
Theatre
Weddings:
Bengali Muslim wedding
Bengali Hindu wedding
Cuisine
Architecture
Bengal Temple
Calendar
Festivals:
New Year
Spring
Monsoon
Harvest
Bengali symbols
Bangamata
Joy Bangla
Bengal tiger
Bengal cat
Bungalow
Bengal fire
Bengal Renaissance
Amar Sonar Bangla
Banglar Mati Banglar Jol
National symbols of Bangladesh
State symbols of West Bengal
Fish and rice:
Ilish
Chingri malai curry
Rasgulla
Chomchom
Jamdani
Ganges
Suvarnabhumi
Bay of Bengal
Bengali nationalism
List of rulers of Bengal
United Bengal
Bangabhumi
Bengali
also known by its
endonym
Bangla
is a
classical
Indo-Aryan language
primarily spoken by the
Bengali people
, native to the
Bengal region
in
South Asia
, spread across
Bangladesh
and the
Indian states
of
West Bengal
Tripura
, and parts of the
Barak Valley
of southern
Assam
. With over 242 million
native speakers
and another 43 million as
second language
speakers as of 2025,
Bengali is the
sixth most spoken native language
in the world, and the
seventh most spoken language
by the total number of speakers.
Bengali is the
official
national
, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh,
10
11
with 98% of
Bangladeshis
using Bengali as their first language.
12
13
It is the second-most widely spoken
language in India
. It is the official language of the Indian states of
West Bengal
Tripura
and the
Barak Valley
region of the state of
Assam
. It is also the second official language of the Indian state of
Jharkhand
since September 2011.
It is the most widely spoken language in the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
in the
Bay of Bengal
14
and is spoken by significant populations in other states including
Bihar
Arunachal Pradesh
Delhi
Chhattisgarh
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Odisha
and
Uttarakhand
15
Bengali is also spoken by the Bengali diasporas (
Bangladeshi diaspora
and Indian Bengalis) across Europe, North America, the Middle East and other regions.
16
Bengali was accorded the status of a
classical language
by the
Government of India
on 3 October 2024.
17
18
It is the second most spoken and fifth fastest growing
language in India
, following
Hindi
Kashmiri
Gujarati
, and
Meitei
Manipuri
), according to the
2011 census of India
19
Bengali has developed over more than 1,400 years.
Bengali literature
, with its millennium-old literary history, was extensively developed during the
Bengali Renaissance
and is one of the most prolific and diverse literary traditions in Asia. The
Bengali language movement
from 1948 to 1956 demanding that Bengali be an official language of Pakistan fostered
Bengali nationalism
in
East Bengal
leading to the
emergence of Bangladesh
in
1971
. In 1999,
UNESCO
recognised
21 February
as
International Mother Language Day
in recognition of the language movement.
20
21
Bengali Language mural at
Hamtramck, Michigan
History
edit
Main article:
History of Bengali language
Indo-Iranian languages
Bengali
The descent of proto-Gauda, the ancestor of the modern Bengali language, from the proto-Gauda-Kamarupa line of the proto-Magadhan (Magadhi Prakrit).
22
Ancient
edit
With the advent of the
Indo-Aryans
in the 3rd century BCE, Bengal was gradually being
Sanskritised
23
The varieties of
Prakrit
spoken in Bengal region were generally referred to as "eastern
Magadhi Prakrit
", as coined by linguist
Suniti Kumar Chatterji
24
as the
Middle Indo-Aryan dialects
were influential in the
first millennium
when Bengal was a part of the
Greater Magadhan
realm.
Muhammad Shahidullah
attempted to trace the origin of Bengali to
Old Indo-Aryan
through the
Gaudi Prakrit
; his findings were later supported by
A. B. Keith
and others.
25
The local varieties had no official status during the
Gupta Empire
, and with Bengal increasingly becoming a hub of
Sanskrit literature
for Hindu priests and Buddhist Acharyas, the vernacular of Bengal gained much influence from Sanskrit.
26
23
Magadhi Prakrit
was also spoken in modern-day
Bihar
and
Assam
, and this vernacular eventually evolved into
Ardha Magadhi
27
28
Ardha Magadhi began to give way to what is known as
Apabhraṃśa
, by the end of the first millennium. The Bengali language evolved as a distinct language over the course of time.
29
Early
edit
Main article:
Old Bengali
A Sanskrit-Chinese dictionary compiled by the Chinese poet Li-Yen in 782 AD shows the presence of Bengali. A research document
Classical Bangla
published in 2024 by the Kolkata-based institute "
Institute of Language Studies and Research
" (ILSR), mentions the presence of 51 Bengali words in the dictionary. The lexicon strongly supports the existence of Old Bengali in the 8th century or earlier.
30
31
Though some archaeologists claim that some 10th-century texts were in Bengali, it is not certain whether they represent a differentiated language or whether they represent a stage when
Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
were differentiating.
32
The local Apabhraṃśa of the eastern subcontinent, Purbi Apabhraṃśa or
Abahatta
lit.
meaningless sounds
), eventually evolved into regional dialects, which in turn formed three groups, the
Bengali–Assamese languages
, the
Bihari languages
, and the
Odia language
The language was not static: different varieties coexisted and authors often wrote in multiple dialects in this period. For example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around the 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time.
33
better source needed
The ancestor of Bengali was the language of the
Pala Empire
and the
Sena dynasty
34
35
Medieval
edit
See also:
Persian language in the Indian subcontinent
Silver coin of Maharaj Gaudeshwar Danujmardandev of
Deva dynasty
c.
1417
Silver coin with proto-Bengali script,
Harikela
Kingdom,
c.
9th
–13th century
During the medieval period,
Middle Bengali
was characterised by the
elision
of the word-final
and the spread of compound verbs, which originated from the
Sanskrit
schwa
. Slowly, the word-final
disappeared from many words influenced by the
Arabic
Persian
, and
Turkic languages
citation needed
The arrival of merchants and traders from the Middle East and
Turkestan
into the
Buddhist
-ruling
Pala Empire
, from as early as the 7th century, gave birth to Islamic influence in the region.
citation needed
By the beginning of 15th century or even earlier, a literary standard form of Middle Bengali grew up which was rapidly used across all of
Bengal region
as the standard dialect of
Middle Bengali literature
36
In the 13th century, subsequent
Arab Muslim
and
Turco-Persian
expeditions to Bengal heavily influenced the local vernacular by settling among the native population.
37
38
Bengali absorbed Arabic and Persian influences in its vocabulary and dialect, including the development of
Dobhashi
37
Bengali acquired prominence, over Persian, in the court of the
Sultans of Bengal
with the ascent of
Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah
39
Subsequent Muslim rulers actively promoted the literary development of Bengali,
40
allowing it to become the most spoken
vernacular
language in the Sultanate.
41
Bengali adopted many words from
Arabic
and
Persian
, which was a manifestation of
Islamic culture
on the language. Major texts of Middle Bengali (1400–1800) include
Yusuf-Zulekha
by
Shah Muhammad Sagir
and
Srikrishna Kirtana
by the
Chandidas
poets. Court support for Bengali culture and language waned when the
Mughal Empire
conquered Bengal in the late 16th and early 17th century.
42
Modern
edit
See also:
Bengali language movement
The standard literary form of Modern Bengali was developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries based on the west-central dialect spoken in
Shantipur region
of the
Nadia district
. Modern Bengali shows a high degree of
diglossia
, with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language.
43
Modern
Bengali vocabulary
is based on words inherited from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, along with
tatsamas
and reborrowings from Sanskrit and borrowings from
Persian
Arabic
Austroasiatic languages
and other languages with which it has historically been in contact.
In the 19th and 20th centuries, there were two standard forms of written Bengali:
চলিতভাষা
Chôlitôbhasha
, a colloquial form of Bengali using simplified inflections.
সাধুভাষা
Sadhubhasha
, a formal and genteel form of Bengali.
44
45
In 1948, the government of Pakistan tried to impose
Urdu
as the sole state language in Pakistan, giving rise to the
Bengali language movement
46
This was a popular ethnolinguistic movement in the former
East Bengal
(today
Bangladesh
), which arose as a result of the strong linguistic consciousness of the
Bengalis
and their desire to promote and protect spoken and written Bengali's recognition as a state language of the then
Dominion of Pakistan
. On 21 February 1952, five students and political activists were killed during protests near the campus of the
University of Dhaka
; they were the first ever
martyrs
to die for their right to speak their mother tongue. In 1956, Bengali was made a state language of Pakistan.
46
21 February has since been observed as
Language Movement Day
in Bangladesh and has also been commemorated as
International Mother Language Day
by
UNESCO
every year since 2000.
In 2010, the parliament of Bangladesh and the legislative assembly of West Bengal proposed that Bengali be made an official UN language.
47
As of January 2023, no further action has been yet taken on this matter. However, in 2022, the UN did adopt Bangla as an unofficial language, after a resolution tabled by India.
48
In 2024, the
government of India
conferred Bengali with the status of
classical language
17
18
The
Central Shaheed Minar
in
Dhaka
, Bangladesh
Language Martyr's Memorial at Silchar Railway Station in
Assam
, India.
Mother Language Day Monument in
Kolkata
, West Bengal
Geographical distribution
edit
Approximate distribution of native Bengali speakers (assuming a rounded total of 280-290 million) worldwide.
Bangladesh
or
Bangladeshi origin
49
50
51
(68.0%)
India
or
Indian origin
(32.0%)
Geographical distribution of the Bengali language in the world.
Main language
Regional language
Overseas population of more than a million
Overseas population of more than 100 thousand
Overseas population of more than 10 thousand
Overseas population of more than a thousand
Besides the native region it is also spoken by the Bengalis living in
Tripura
, southern
Assam
and the Bengali population in the Indian union territory of
Andaman and Nicobar Islands
. Bengali is also spoken in the neighbouring states of
Odisha
Bihar
, and
Jharkhand
, and sizeable minorities of Bengali speakers reside in Indian cities outside Bengal, including
Delhi
Mumbai
Thane
Varanasi
, and
Vrindavan
. There are also significant Bengali-speaking communities in the
Middle East
59
60
61
the
United States
62
Singapore
63
Malaysia
Australia
Canada
, the
United Kingdom
, and
Italy
Official status
edit
The 3rd article of the
Constitution of Bangladesh
states Bengali to be the sole
official language
of Bangladesh.
11
The
Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987
, made it mandatory to use Bengali in all records and correspondences, laws, proceedings of court and other legal actions in all courts, government or semi-government offices, and autonomous institutions in Bangladesh.
It is also the
de facto
national
language of the country.
In India, Bengali is one of the 22
official languages
64
It is the official language of the Indian states of
West Bengal
Tripura
and in
Barak Valley
of
Assam
65
66
Bengali has been a second official language of the
Indian state
of
Jharkhand
since September 2011.
In
Pakistan
, Bengali is a recognised secondary language in the city of
Karachi
67
68
69
mainly spoken by
stranded Bengalis of Pakistan
. The Department of Bengali in the
University of Karachi
(established by East Pakistani politicians before
Independence of Bangladesh
) also offers regular programs of studies at the Bachelors and at the Masters levels for Bengali Literature.
70
The national anthems of both Bangladesh (
Amar Sonar Bangla
) and India (
Jana Gana Mana
) were written in Bengali by the Bengali Nobel laureate
Rabindranath Tagore
71
Notuner Gaan
known as "
Chol Chol Chol"
is Bangladesh's national march, written by
The National Poet
Kazi Nazrul Islam
in Bengali in 1928. It was adopted as the national marching song by the
Bangladeshi government
in 1972. Additionally, the first two verses of
Vande Mataram
, a patriotic song written in Bengali by
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee
, was adopted as the "national song" of India in both the colonial period and later in 1950 in independent India. Furthermore, it is believed by many that the national anthem of Sri Lanka (
Sri Lanka Matha
) was inspired by a Bengali poem written by
Rabindranath Tagore
72
73
74
75
while some even believe the anthem was originally written in Bengali and then translated into
Sinhala
76
77
78
79
In 2009, elected representatives in both Bangladesh and West Bengal called for Bengali to be made an
official language of the United Nations
80
Dialects
edit
Main article:
Bengali dialects
Regional
varieties
in spoken Bengali constitute a
dialect continuum
. Linguist
Suniti Kumar Chatterji
grouped the dialects of Bengali language into four large clusters:
Rarhi
Vangiya
Kamrupi
and
Varendri
81
82
but many alternative grouping schemes have also been proposed.
83
The West-Central dialects (
Rarhi
or
Nadia
dialect) form the basis of modern standard colloquial Bengali. In the dialects prevalent in much of eastern and south-eastern Bangladesh (
Barisal
Chittagong
Dhaka
and
Sylhet Divisions
of Bangladesh), many of the stops and
affricates
heard in
West Bengal
and western Bangladesh are pronounced as
fricatives
. Western
alveolo-palatal affricates
tʃɔ
tʃʰɔ~tʃɔ
dʒɔ
correspond to eastern
[tsɔ~sɔ]
[sɔ]
[dzɔ~zɔ]
The potential influence of
Tibeto-Burman languages
on the
phonology
of Eastern Bengali is used to explain the lack of nasalised vowels and an alveolar articulation of what are categorised as the "cerebral" consonants (as opposed to the postalveolar articulation of western Bengal). Some
varieties
of Bengali, particularly
Sylheti
84
Chittagonian
and
Chakma
, have contrastive
tone
; differences in the pitch of the speaker's voice can distinguish words.
Kharia Thar
and
Mal Paharia
are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages. Similarly,
Hajong
is considered a separate language, although it shares similarities to
Northern Bengali
dialects.
85
During the standardisation of Modern Bengali in the 19th century and early 20th century, the cultural centre of Bengal was in
Kolkata
, a city founded by the British. What is accepted as the standard form today in both West Bengal and Bangladesh is based on the
West-Central dialect
of
Nadia
and
Kushtia District
86
There are cases where speakers of Standard Bengali in
West Bengal
will use a different word from a speaker of Standard Bengali in Bangladesh, even though both words are of native Bengali descent. For example, the word salt is
লবণ
lôbôṇ
in the east which corresponds to
নুন
nun
in the west.
87
A map of
Bengal
(including parts of
Assam
Bihar
Myanmar
Nepal
and
Jharkhand
) showing the Bengali dialect clusters and their dialects. Cluster shades:
Blue =
Bangali
Green =
Rarhi
Red =
Varendri
Pink =
Rangpuri
Yellow =
Manbhumi
Purple =
Sundarbani
those marked with an asterisk (*) on the map are sometimes considered dialects and sometimes considered separate languages
Bengali exhibits
diglossia
, though some scholars have proposed triglossia or even n-glossia or
heteroglossia
between the written and spoken forms of the language.
43
Two styles of writing have emerged, involving somewhat different vocabularies and
syntax
86
88
Sadhu bhasha
সাধু ভাষা
"upright language") was the written language, with longer verb inflections and more of a
Pali
and
Sanskrit
-derived
Tatsama
vocabulary. Songs such as India's national anthem
Jana Gana Mana
(by
Rabindranath Tagore
) were composed in this style. Its use in modern writing however is uncommon, restricted to some official signs and documents as well as for achieving particular literary effects.
Chôlito bhasha
চলিত ভাষা
"running language"), known by linguists as Standard Colloquial Bengali, is a written Bengali style exhibiting a preponderance of colloquial idiom and shortened verb forms and is the standard for written Bengali now. This form came into vogue towards the turn of the 19th century, promoted by the writings of
Peary Chand Mitra
Alaler Gharer Dulal
, 1857),
89
Pramatha Chaudhuri
Sabujpatra
, 1914) and in the later writings of
Rabindranath Tagore
. It is modelled on the dialect spoken in the
Shantipur
and
Shilaidaha
region in
Nadia
and
Kushtia
Districts respectively. This form of Bengali is often referred to as the "Kushtia standard"(Bangladesh), "Nadia standard" (West Bengal), "West-Central dialect", "Shantipuri Bangla" or "Shilaidahi Bangla".
83
Linguist
Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar
categorises the language as:
Madhya
Rarhi
dialect
Kanthi
(Contai) dialect
Kolkata
dialect
Shantipuriya
(Nadia) dialect
Shershahabadia
(Maldahiya/ Jangipuri) dialect
Barendri
dialect
Rangapuriya
dialect
Sylheti
dialect
Dhakiya
(Bikrampuri) dialect
Jashore
/Jessoriya dialect
Barisal
(Chandradwip) dialect
Chattal
(Chittagong) dialect
While most writing is in Standard Colloquial Bengali (SCB), spoken dialects exhibit a greater variety. People in southeastern West Bengal, including Kolkata, speak in SCB. Other dialects, with minor variations from Standard Colloquial, are used in other parts of West Bengal and western Bangladesh, such as the
Midnapore
dialect, characterised by some unique words and constructions. However, a majority in Bangladesh speaks dialects notably different from SCB. Some dialects, particularly those of the
Chittagong
region, bear only a superficial resemblance to SCB.
90
The dialect in the Chittagong region is least widely understood by the general body of Bengalis.
90
The majority of Bengalis are able to communicate in more than one
variety
– often, speakers are fluent in
Cholitobhasha
(SCB) and one or more regional dialects.
44
Even in SCB, the vocabulary may differ according to the speaker's religion: Muslims are more likely to use words of Persian and Arabic origin, along with more words naturally derived from Sanskrit (
tadbhava
), whereas Hindus are more likely to use
tatsama
(words directly borrowed from Sanskrit).
91
For example:
87
Predominantly Hindu Usage
Origin
Predominantly Muslim Usage
Origin
Translation
নমস্কার
nômôskār
Directly borrowed from
Sanskrit
namaskāra
আসসালামু আলাইকুম
āssālāmu ālāikum
Directly from
Arabic
as-salāmu ʿalaykum
hello
নিমন্ত্রণ
nimôntrôṇ
Directly borrowed from Sanskrit
nimantraṇa
as opposed to the native Bengali
nemôntônnô
দাওয়াত
dāowāt
Borrowed from Arabic
daʿwah
via
Persian
invitation
জল
jôl
Directly borrowed from Sanskrit
jala
পানি
pāni
Native, compare with Sanskrit
pānīya
water
স্নান
snān
Directly borrowed from Sanskrit
snāna
গোসল
gosol
Borrowed from Arabic
ghuṣl
via Persian
bath
দিদি
didi
Native, from Sanskrit
devī
আপা
āpā
From
Turkic languages
sister / elder sister
দাদা
dādā
Native, from Sanskrit
dāyāda
ভাইয়া
bhāiyā
Native, from Sanskrit
bhrātā
brother / elder brother
92
মাসি
māsi
Native, from Sanskrit
mātṛṣvasā
খালা
khālā
Directly borrowed from Arabic
khālah
maternal aunt
পিসি
pisi
Native, from Sanskrit
pitṛṣvasā
ফুফু
phuphu
Native, from Prakrit
phupphī
paternal aunt
কাকা
kākā
From Persian or Dravidian
kākā
চাচা
chāchā
From Prakrit
cācca
paternal uncle
দিদিমা
didimā
From Sanskrit
Devī
and
Mātā
নানী
nānī
From
Hindi
नानी (Nani)
maternal grandmother
ঠাকুরমা
ṭhākuramā
From Sanskrit
Ṭhākura
and
Mātā
দাদী
dādī
From Persian
dādī
paternal grandmother
প্রার্থনা
prārthonā
Directly borrowed from Sanskrit
prārthanā
দোয়া
doyā
or
নামাজ
nāmāj
Borrowed from Arabic
duʿāʾ
prayer
আশীর্বাদ
āśīrbād
From Sanskrit
Āśīrvāda
দোয়া
doyā
From Arabic
duʿāʾ
blessings
লঙ্কা
lônkā
Native, named after
Lanka
মরিচ
morich
Directly borrowed from Sanskrit
marica
chilli
Phonology
edit
Main article:
Bengali phonology
The
phonemic
inventory of standard Bengali consists of 29 consonants and 7 vowels, as well as 7
nasalised vowels
. The inventory is set out below in the
International Phonetic Alphabet
(upper grapheme in each box) and romanisation (lower grapheme).
Vowels
Non-nasalised
Nasalised
Front
Central
Back
Front
Central
Back
Close
ই~ঈ
উ~ঊ
ইঁ
ঈঁ
উঁ
ঊঁ
Close-mid
এঁ
ওঁ
Open-mid
অ্যা
অ্যাঁ
æ̃
æ̃
অঁ
ɔ̃
ɔ̃
Open
আঁ
Consonants
Labial
Dental
Retroflex
Palato-
alveolar
Velar
Glottal
Nasal
Plosive
Affricate
voiceless
unaspirated
t̪
tʃ
aspirated
pʰ
t̪ʰ
ʈʰ
tʃʰ
kʰ
voiced
unaspirated
d̪
dʒ
aspirated
bʱ
d̪ʱ
ɖʱ
dʒʱ
ɡʱ
Fricative
voiceless
voiced
Approximant
Rhotic
unaspirated
aspirated
ɽʱ
Bengali is known for its wide variety of
diphthongs
, combinations of
vowels
occurring within the same
syllable
93
Two of these,
/oi̯/
and
/ou̯/
, are the only ones with representation in script, as
and
respectively.
/e̯
i̯
o̯
u̯/
may all form the glide part of a diphthong. The total number of diphthongs is not established, with bounds at 17 and 31. An incomplete chart is given by Sarkar (1985) of the following:
94
e̯
i̯
o̯
u̯
ae̯
ai̯
ao̯
au̯
æe̯
æo̯
ei̯
eu̯
ii̯
iu̯
oe̯
oi̯
oo̯
ou̯
ui̯
Stress
edit
In standard Bengali,
stress
is predominantly initial. Bengali words are virtually all
trochaic
; the primary stress falls on the initial
syllable
of the word, while secondary stress often falls on all odd-numbered syllables thereafter, giving strings such as in
সহযোগিতা
shô
-hô-
jo
-gi-
ta
"cooperation", where the
boldface
represents primary and secondary stress.
Consonant clusters
edit
Main article:
Bengali consonant clusters
Native Bengali words do not allow initial
consonant clusters
95
the maximum syllabic structure is CVC (i.e., one vowel flanked by a consonant on each side). Many speakers of Bengali restrict their phonology to this pattern, even when using Sanskrit or English borrowings, such as
গেরাম
geram
(CV.CVC) for
গ্রাম
gram
(CCVC) "village" or
ইস্কুল
iskul
(VC.CVC) for
স্কুল
skul
(CCVC) "school".
Writing system
edit
Main articles:
Bengali-Assamese Script
Bengali alphabet
, and
Bengali Braille
An example of handwritten Bengali. Part of a poem written in Bengali (and with its English translation below each Bengali paragraph) by Nobel Laureate
Rabindranath Tagore
in 1926 in Hungary
The Library of
Whitechapel
in
East London
with the word "বাংলা" illuminated in its front.
The
Bengali-Assamese script
is an
abugida
, a script with letters for consonants, with diacritics for vowels, and in which an
inherent vowel
(অ
) is assumed for consonants if no vowel is marked.
96
The
Bengali alphabet
is used throughout Bangladesh and eastern India (Assam, West Bengal, Tripura). The Bengali alphabet is believed to have evolved from a modified
Brahmic script
around 1000 CE (or 10th–11th century).
97
It is a
cursive
script with eleven
graphemes
or signs denoting nine vowels and two
diphthongs
, and thirty-nine graphemes representing
consonants
and other modifiers.
97
There are no distinct
upper and lower case
letter forms. The letters run from left to right and spaces are used to separate
orthographic words
. Bengali script has a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the graphemes that links them together called
মাত্রা
matra
98
Since the Bengali script is an abugida, its consonant graphemes usually do not represent phonetic
segments
, but carry an "inherent" vowel and thus are
syllabic
in nature. The inherent vowel is usually a
back vowel
, either
[ɔ]
as in
মত
[m
t]
"opinion" or
[o]
, as in
মন
[m
n]
"mind", with variants like the more open
[ɒ]
. To emphatically represent a consonant sound without any inherent vowel attached to it, a special diacritic, called the
hôsôntô
(্)
, may be added below the basic consonant grapheme (as in
ম্
[m]
). This diacritic, however, is not common and is chiefly employed as a guide to pronunciation. The abugida nature of Bengali consonant graphemes is not consistent, however. Often, syllable-final consonant graphemes, though not marked by a
hôsôntô
, may carry no inherent vowel sound (as in the final
in
মন
[m
n]
or the medial
in
গামলা
[ɡamla]
).
A consonant sound followed by some vowel sound other than the inherent
[ɔ]
is orthographically realised by using a variety of vowel
allographs
above, below, before, after, or around the consonant sign, thus forming the ubiquitous consonant-vowel
typographic ligatures
. These allographs, called
কার
kar
, are
diacritical
vowel forms and cannot stand on their own. For example, the graph
মি
[mi]
represents the consonant
[m]
followed by the vowel
[i]
, where
[i]
is represented as the diacritical allograph
(called
ই-কার
i-kar
) and is placed
before
the default consonant sign. Similarly, the graphs
মা
[ma]
মী
[mi]
মু
[mu]
মূ
[mu]
মৃ
[mri]
মে
[me~mɛ]
মৈ
[moj]
মো
[mo]
and
মৌ
[mow]
represent the same consonant
combined with seven other vowels and two diphthongs. In these consonant-vowel ligatures, the so-called "inherent" vowel
[ɔ]
is first expunged from the consonant before adding the vowel, but this intermediate expulsion of the inherent vowel is not indicated in any visual manner on the basic consonant sign
[mɔ]
The vowel graphemes in Bengali can take two forms: the independent form found in the basic inventory of the script and the dependent, abridged, allograph form (as discussed above). To represent a vowel in isolation from any preceding or following consonant, the independent form of the vowel is used. For example, in
মই
[moj]
"ladder" and in
ইলিশ
[iliʃ]
"Hilsa fish", the independent form of the vowel
is used (cf. the dependent form
ি)
. A vowel at the beginning of a word is always realised using its independent form.
In addition to the inherent-vowel-suppressing
hôsôntô
, three more diacritics are commonly used in Bengali. These are the superposed
chôndrôbindu
(ঁ)
, denoting a suprasegmental for
nasalisation
of vowels (as in
চাঁদ
[tʃãd]
"moon"), the postposed
ônusbar
(ং)
indicating the
velar nasal
[ŋ]
(as in
বাংলা
[baŋla]
"Bengali") and the postposed
bisôrgô
(ঃ)
indicating the
voiceless glottal fricative
[h]
(as in
উঃ!
[uh]
"ouch!") or the
gemination
of the following consonant (as in
দুঃখ
[dukʰːɔ]
"sorrow"). Like other Indic scripts, the Bengali script has
Schwa deletion
and does not always mark when the inherent vowel is deleted — typically at the end of words.
The
Bengali consonant clusters
যুক্তব্যঞ্জন
juktôbênjôn
) are usually realised as ligatures, where the consonant which comes first is put on top of or to the left of the one that immediately follows. In these ligatures, the shapes of the constituent consonant signs are often contracted and sometimes even distorted beyond recognition. As in, ক্ষ (ক+ষ) or হ্ম (হ+ম) In the Bengali writing system, there are nearly 285 such ligatures denoting consonant clusters. Although there exist
a few visual formulas
to construct some of these ligatures, many of them have to be learned by rote. Recently, in a bid to lessen this burden on young learners, efforts have been made by educational institutions in the two main Bengali-speaking regions (West Bengal and Bangladesh) to address the opaque nature of many consonant clusters, and as a result, modern Bengali textbooks are beginning to contain more and more "transparent" graphical forms of consonant clusters, in which the constituent consonants of a cluster are readily apparent from the graphical form. However, since this change is not as widespread and is not being followed as uniformly in the rest of the Bengali printed literature, today's Bengali-learning children will possibly have to learn to recognise both the new "transparent" and the old "opaque" forms, which ultimately amounts to an increase in learning burden.
Bengali punctuation marks, apart from the downstroke
daṛi
– the Bengali equivalent of a
full stop
– have been adopted from Western scripts and their usage is similar.
99
Unlike in Western scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, etc.) where the letter forms stand on an invisible baseline, the Bengali letter-forms instead hang from a visible horizontal left-to-right headstroke called
মাত্রা
matra
. The presence and absence of this matra can be important. For example, the letter
tô
and the numeral
"3" are distinguishable only by the presence or absence of the
matra
, as is the case between the consonant cluster
ত্র
trô
and the independent vowel
, also the letter
hô
and Bengali
Ôbogroho
(~ô)
and letter
and consonant cluster
ত্ত
ttô
. The letter-forms also employ the concepts of letter-width and letter-height (the vertical space between the visible matra and an invisible baseline).
There is yet to be a uniform standard
collating sequence
(sorting order of graphemes to be used in dictionaries, indices, computer sorting programs, etc.) of Bengali graphemes. Experts in both Bangladesh and India are currently working towards a common solution for this problem.
Alternative and historic scripts
edit
An 1855
Dobhashi
manuscript of
Halat-un-Nabi
written by
Sadeq Ali
using the
Sylheti Nagri
script.
Throughout history, there have been instances of the Bengali language being written in different scripts, though these employments were never popular on a large scale and were communally limited. Owing to Bengal's geographic location, Bengali areas bordering non-Bengali regions have been influenced by each other. Small numbers of people in
Midnapore
, which borders
Odisha
, have used the
Odia script
to write in Bengali. In the border areas between
West Bengal
and
Bihar
, some Bengali communities historically wrote Bengali in
Devanagari
Kaithi
and
Tirhuta
100
In
Sylhet
and
Bankura
, modified versions of the
Kaithi script
had some historical prominence, mainly among Muslim communities. The variant in Sylhet was identical to the Baitali Kaithi script of
Hindustani
with the exception of Sylhet Nagri possessing
matra
101
Sylhet Nagri was standardised for printing in
c.
1869
10
Up until the 19th century, numerous variations of the
Arabic script
had been used across Bengal from
Chittagong
in the east to
Meherpur
in the west.
102
103
104
The 14th-century court scholar of Bengal,
Nur Qutb Alam
, composed Bengali poetry using the
Persian alphabet
105
106
After the
Partition of India
in the 20th century, the Pakistani government attempted to institute the Perso-Arabic script as the standard for Bengali in
East Pakistan
; this was met with resistance and contributed to the Bengali language movement.
107
In the 16th century, Portuguese missionaries began a tradition of using the Roman alphabet to transcribe the Bengali language. Though the Portuguese standard did not receive much growth, a few Roman Bengali works relating to Christianity and Bengali grammar were printed as far as
Lisbon
in 1743. The Portuguese were followed by the English and French respectively, whose works were mostly related to Bengali grammar and transliteration. The first version of the
Aesop's Fables
in Bengali was printed using Roman letters based on
English phonology
by the Scottish linguist
John Gilchrist
. Consecutive attempts to establish a Roman Bengali have continued across every century since these times, and have been supported by the likes of
Suniti Kumar Chatterji
Muhammad Qudrat-i-Khuda
, and
Muhammad Enamul Haq
108
The
Digital Revolution
has also played a part in the adoption of the
English alphabet
to write Bengali,
109
with certain social media influencers publishing entire novels in Roman Bengali.
110
Orthographic depth
edit
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sources
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The Bengali script in general has a comparatively
shallow orthography
when compared to the Latin script used for English and French, i.e., in many cases there is a one-to-one correspondence between the sounds (phonemes) and the letters (graphemes) of Bengali. But grapheme-phoneme inconsistencies do occur in many cases. In fact, Bengali-Assamese script has the deepest orthography (
deep orthography
) among the Indian scripts. In general, the Bengali-Assamese script is fairly transparent for grapheme-to-phoneme conversion, i.e., it is easier to predict the pronunciation from spelling of the words, though there are many cases where pronunciation is different from what is written. But the script is fairly opaque for phoneme-to-grapheme conversion, i.e., it is often quite difficult to predict the spelling from the pronunciation of the words. In general, the script is fairly transparent for "tadbhav" words (native Bengali words). But it is quite opaque for "tatsam" words (words derived from Sanskrit), for both, phoneme-to-grapheme as well as grapheme-to-phoneme conversions.
One kind of inconsistency is due to the presence of several letters in the script for the same sound. In spite of some modifications in the 19th century, the Bengali spelling system continues to be based on the one used for Sanskrit,
99
and thus does not take into account some sound mergers that have occurred in the spoken language. For example, there are three letters (
, and
) for the
voiceless postalveolar fricative
[ʃ]
, although the letter
retains the
voiceless alveolar sibilant
[s]
sound when used in certain consonant conjuncts as in
স্খলন
[skʰɔlon]
"fall",
স্পন্দন
[spɔndon]
"beat", etc. The letter
also, sometimes, retains the
voiceless retroflex sibilant
[ʂ]
sound when used in certain consonant conjuncts as in
কষ্ট
[kɔʂʈo]
"suffering",
গোষ্ঠী
[ɡoʂʈʰi]
"clan", etc. Similarly, there are two letters (
and
) for the
voiced postalveolar affricate
[dʒ]
. Moreover, what was once pronounced and written as a retroflex nasal
[ɳ]
is now pronounced as an alveolar
[n]
when in conversation (the difference is heard when reading) (unless conjoined with another
retroflex consonant
such as
and
), although the spelling does not reflect this change. The
near-open front unrounded vowel
[æ]
is orthographically realised by multiple means, as seen in the following examples:
এত
[æto]
"so much",
এ্যাকাডেমী
[ækaɖemi]
"academy",
অ্যামিবা
[æmiba]
"amoeba",
দেখা
[dækʰa]
"to see",
ব্যস্ত
[bæsto]
"busy",
ব্যাকরণ
[bækorɔn]
"grammar".
Another kind of inconsistency is concerned with the incomplete coverage of phonological information in the script. The inherent vowel attached to every consonant can be either
[ɔ]
or
[o]
depending on
vowel harmony
স্বরসঙ্গতি
) with the preceding or following vowel or on the context, but this phonological information is not captured by the script, creating ambiguity for the reader. Furthermore, the inherent vowel is often not pronounced at the end of a syllable, as in
কম
[kɔm]
"less", but this omission is not generally reflected in the script, making it difficult for the new reader.
Many consonant clusters have different sounds than their constituent consonants. For example, the combination of the consonants
ক্
[k]
and
[ʂ]
is graphically realised as
ক্ষ
and is pronounced
[kkʰo]
(as in
রুক্ষ
[rukkʰo]
"coarse"),
[kʰɔ]
(as in
ক্ষমতা
[kʰɔmota]
"capability") or even
[kʰo]
(as in
ক্ষতি
[kʰoti]
"harm"), depending on the position of the cluster in a word. Another example is that there are around 7 or more graphemes to represent the sound
[ʃ]
. These are '
' as in
শব্দ
śabda
, pronounced as
śôbdo
"word"), '
' as in
ষড়যন্ত্র
ṣaṛayantra
, pronounced as
śoṛōjontrō
"conspiracy"), '
' as in
সরকার
sarakāra
, pronounced as
śorkar
"government"), '
শ্ব
' as in
শ্বশুর
(written as
śbaśura
but pronounced with the ব
silent, i.e., as
śōśur
"father-in-law"), '
শ্ম
' as in
শ্মশান
(written as
śmaśāna
but pronounced with the
'm' silent, i.e., as
śośan
"crematorium"), '
স্ব
' as in
স্বপ্ন
(written as "sbapna" but pronounced with the
'b' silent, i.e., as
śopnō
"dream"), '
স্ম
' as in
স্মরণ
(written as
smaraṇa
but pronounced with the
'm' silent, i.e., as
śorōn
"remembrance"), '
ষ্ম
' as in
গ্রীষ্ম
(written as
grīṣma
but pronounced with the
'm' silent, i.e., as
griśśō
"summer") and so on. In most of the consonant clusters, only the first consonant is pronounced and rest of the consonants are silent. Examples are
লক্ষ্মণ
(written as
lakṣmaṇa
but pronounced as
lokkhōn
Lakshman
"),
বিশ্বাস
(written as
biśbāsa
but pronounced as
biśśaś
"belief"),
বাধ্য
(written as
bādhya
but pronounced as
baddhō
"obliged") and
স্বাস্থ্য
(written as
sbāsthya
but pronounced as
śasthō
"health"). Some consonant clusters have completely different pronunciation as compared to the constituent consonants. For example, '
হ্য
' as in
ঐতিহ্য
(meaning "heritage") where
hy
is pronounced as
jjh
(written as
aiti
hy
but pronounced as
ōiti
jjh
). The same হ্য is pronounced as 'hæ' as in
হ্যাঁ
(meaning "yes") (written as
hyām̐
but pronounced as nasalised "hæ").
Another example of inconsistency in the script is that of words like,
অন্য
(written as
anya
but pronounced as
ōnnō
"other, different") and
অন্ন
(written as
anna
but pronounced as
onnō
"cooked rice, food"); in these words, the letter
is combining with two different consonant clusters
ন্য
nya
) and
ন্ন
nna
), and while the same letter
has two different pronunciations,
and
, the two different consonant clusters have the same pronunciation. Thus, same letters and graphemes can often have different pronunciations depending on their position in a word and different graphemes and letters often have the same pronunciation.
The main reason for these numerous inconsistencies is that there have been lots of sound mergers in Bengali, but the script has failed to account for the sound shifts and consonant mergers in the language. Bengali has lots of tatsam words (words directly derived from Sanskrit) and in all these words, the original spelling has been preserved but the pronunciations have changed due to consonant mergers and sound shifts. In fact, most of the tatsam words have many grapheme-to-phoneme inconsistencies while most of the tadbhav words (native Bengali words) have fairly consistent grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence.
Another reason is that Vidyasagar's reformations in the 19th century flooded the Bengali language with lots of Sanskrit words. By the 19th century, the Bengali phonology had diverged a lot from Sanskrit phonology and had lost many of the consonant clusters used in Sanskrit. So when these Sanskrit words re-entered the Bengali vocabulary as tatsam words, their pronunciations were modified, but their spellings were retained. That is why most of the tatsam words are pronounced way different from what they are written or spelt. Almost all the cases of silent letters existing in Bengali are found in the tatsam words.
The Bengali writing system, therefore, is often not a true guide for pronunciation.
Uses
edit
The script used for Bengali, Assamese, and other languages is known as
Bengali script
. The script is known as the
Bengali alphabet
for Bengali and its dialects and the
Assamese alphabet
for
Assamese language
with some minor variations. Other related languages in the nearby region also make use of the Bengali script like the
Meitei language
in the Indian state of
Manipur
, where the Meitei language has been written in the Bengali script for centuries, though the
Meitei script
has been promoted in recent times.
Number system
edit
Bengali digits are as follows:
Some 19th-century grammars note additional signs for fractions, quarters and sixteenths in particular.
111
112
Romanisation
edit
Main article:
Romanisation of Bengali
There are various romanisation systems used for Bengali created in recent years, most of which have failed to represent the true Bengali phonetic sound. The Bengali alphabet has often been included with the group of Brahmic scripts for romanisation where the true phonetic value of Bengali is never represented. Some of them are the
International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration
, or IAST system (based on diacritics);
113
"Indian languages Transliteration", or
ITRANS
(uses upper case letters suited for
ASCII
keyboards);
114
and the
National Library at Kolkata romanisation
115
In the context of Bengali
romanisation
, it is important to distinguish
transliteration
from
transcription
. Transliteration is orthographically accurate (i.e. the original spelling can be recovered), whereas transcription is phonetically accurate (the pronunciation can be reproduced). As the spelling often doesn't reflect the actual pronunciation,
transliteration
and
transcription
are often different.
Although it might be desirable to use a transliteration scheme where the original Bengali orthography is recoverable from the Latin text, Bengali words are currently romanised on Wikipedia using a
phonemic transcription
, where the true phonetic pronunciation of Bengali is represented with no reference to how it is written.
The most recent attempt has been by publishers Mitra and Ghosh with the launch of three popular children's books,
Abol Tabol
Hasi Khusi
and
Sahoj Path
, in Roman script at the Kolkata Book Fair 2018. Published under the imprint of Benglish Books, these are based on phonetic transliteration and closely follow spellings used in social media but for using an underline to describe soft consonants.
Grammar
edit
Main article:
Bengali grammar
Bengali nouns are not assigned gender, which leads to minimal changing of adjectives (
inflection
). However, nouns and pronouns are moderately
declined
(altered depending on their function in a sentence) into four
cases
while verbs are heavily
conjugated
, and the verbs do not change form depending on the number of the noun.
Romani
grammar is also closer to Bengali grammar than to that of western Indo-Aryan languages.
116
Word order
edit
As a
head-final
language, Bengali follows a
subject–object–verb
word order
, although variations on this theme are common.
117
Bengali makes use of
postpositions
, as opposed to the prepositions used in English and most European languages.
Determiners
follow the
noun
, while numerals,
adjectives
, and
possessors
precede the noun.
118
Yes–no questions do not require any change to the basic word order; instead, the low (L)
tone
of the final syllable in the utterance is replaced with a falling (HL) tone. Additionally, optional
particles
(e.g.
কি
-ki
না
-na
, etc.) are often
encliticised
onto the first or last word of a yes–no question.
Wh-questions are formed by fronting the wh-word to
focus
position, which is typically the first or second word in the utterance.
Nouns
edit
Nouns and pronouns are inflected for
case
, including
nominative
objective
genitive (possessive)
, and
locative
29
The case marking pattern for each noun being inflected depends on the noun's degree of
animacy
. When a
definite article
such as
-টা
-ṭa
(singular) or
-গুলো
-gulo
(plural) is added, as in the tables below, nouns are also inflected for
number
In most of Bengali grammar books, cases are divided into 6 categories and an additional possessive case (the possessive form is not recognised as a type of case by Bengali grammarians). But in terms of usage, cases are generally grouped into only 4 categories.
Noun inflection
Animate
Inanimate
Singular
Plural
Singular
Plural
Nominative
ছাত্রটি
chatrô-ṭi
ছাত্রটি
chatrô-ṭi
the student
ছাত্র
রা
chatrô-
ra
ছাত্রগণ
ছাত্র
রা
/ ছাত্রগণ
chatrô-
ra
{} {}
the students
জুতোটা
juto-ṭa
জুতোটা
juto-ṭa
the shoe
জুতাগুলা
juta-gula
জুতোগুলো
juto-gulo
জুতাগুলা / জুতোগুলো
juta-gula / juto-gulo
the shoes
Objective
ছাত্রটি
কে/রে
chatrô-ṭi-
ke/re
ছাত্রটি
কে/রে
chatrô-ṭi-
ke/re
the student
ছাত্র
দের(কে)
chatrô-
der(ke)
ছাত্র
দের(কে)
chatrô-
der(ke)
the students
জুতোটা
juto-ṭa
জুতোটা
juto-ṭa
the shoe
জুতাগুলা
juta-gula
জুতোগুলো
juto-gulo
জুতাগুলা / জুতোগুলো
juta-gula / juto-gulo
the shoes
Genitive
ছাত্রটি
chatrô-ṭi-
ছাত্রটি
chatrô-ṭi-
the student's
ছাত্র
দের
chatrô-
der
ছাত্র
দের
chatrô-
der
the students'
জুতোটা
juto-ṭa-
জুতোটা
juto-ṭa-
the shoe's
জুতাগুলা
juta-gula
জুতোগুলো
juto-gulo-
জুতাগুলা / জুতোগুলো
juta-gula / juto-gulo-
the shoes'
Locative
জুতোটা
য়
juto-ṭa-
জুতোটা
য়
juto-ṭa-
on/in the shoe
জুতাগুলা
juta-gula
জুতোগুলো
তে
juto-gulo-
te
জুতাগুলা / জুতোগুলো
তে
juta-gula / juto-gulo-
te
on/in the shoes
When counted, nouns take one of a small set of
measure words
. Nouns in Bengali cannot be counted by adding the numeral directly adjacent to the noun. An appropriate measure word (
MW
), a
classifier
, must be used between the numeral and the noun (most languages of the
Mainland Southeast Asia linguistic area
are similar in this respect). Most nouns take the generic measure word
-টা
-ṭa
, though other measure words indicate semantic classes (e.g.
-জন
-jôn
for humans). There is also the classifier
-khana,
and its diminutive form
-khani
, which attaches only to nouns denoting something flat, long, square, or thin. These are the least common of the classifiers.
119
Measure words
নয়
টা
Nôy-
ṭa
nine-
MW
গরু
goru
cow
নয়
টা
গরু
Nôy-
ṭa
goru
nine-
MW
cow
Nine cows
কয়
টা
Kôy-
ṭa
how many-
MW
বালিশ
balish
pillow
কয়
টা
বালিশ
Kôy-
ṭa
balish
{how many}-
MW
pillow
How many pillows
অনেক
জন
Ônek-
jôn
many-
MW
লোক
lok
person
অনেক
জন
লোক
Ônek-
jôn
lok
many-
MW
person
Many people
চার-পাঁচ
জন
Ĉar-pãc-
jôn
four-five-
MW
শিক্ষক
shikkhôk
teacher
চার-পাঁচ
জন
শিক্ষক
Ĉar-pãc-
jôn
shikkhôk
four-five-
MW
teacher
Four to five teachers
Measuring nouns in Bengali without their corresponding measure words (e.g.
আট বিড়াল
aṭ biṛal
instead of
আট
টা
বিড়াল
aṭ-
ṭa
biṛal
"eight cats") would typically be considered ungrammatical. However, when the semantic class of the noun is understood from the measure word, the noun is often omitted and only the measure word is used, e.g.
শুধু এক
জন
থাকবে।
Shudhu êk-
jôn
thakbe.
lit.
Only one-
MW
will remain.") would be understood to mean "Only one
person
will remain.", given the semantic class implicit in
-জন
-jôn
In this sense, all nouns in Bengali, unlike most other Indo-European languages, are similar to
mass nouns
Verbs
edit
There are two classes of verbs:
finite
and non-finite. Non-finite verbs have no inflection for tense or person, while finite verbs are fully inflected for
person
(first, second, third),
tense
(present, past, future),
aspect
(simple, perfect, progressive), and
honour
(intimate, familiar, and formal), but
not
for number.
Conditional
, imperative, and other special inflections for
mood
can replace the tense and aspect suffixes. The number of inflections on many verb roots can total more than 200.
Inflectional
suffixes in the
morphology
of Bengali vary from region to region, along with minor differences in
syntax
Bengali differs from most Indo-Aryan Languages in the
zero copula
, where the
copula
or connective
be
is often missing in the present tense.
99
Thus, "he is a teacher" is
তিনি শিক্ষক
se shikkhôk
, (literally "he teacher").
120
In this respect, Bengali is similar to Russian and
Hungarian
Vocabulary
edit
Main article:
Bengali vocabulary
Origins of Words in the Bengali Language
Tadbhavas in Bengali (Inherited Indo-Aryan vocabulary) (16.0%)
Tatsamas in Bengali (Direct borrowings from Sanskrit) (40.0%)
Native Words (Indigenous, "Desi" words) (16.0%)
Foreign Loanwords (words originating from Persian, Turkish, Arabic, English, Portuguese, etc.) (28.0%)
Bengali is typically thought to have around 100,000 separate words, of which 16,000 (16%) are considered to be তদ্ভব
tôdbhôbô, or
Tadbhava
(inherited
Indo-Aryan
vocabulary), 40,000 (40%) are তৎসম
tôtśômô
or
Tatsama
(words directly borrowed from
Sanskrit
), and borrowings from দেশী
deśi,
or "indigenous" words, which are at around 16,000 (16%) of the Bengali vocabulary. The rest are বিদেশী
bideśi
or "foreign" sources, including
Persian
Turkish
Arabic
, and English among others, accounting for around 28,000 (28%) of all Bengali words, highlighting the significant influence that foreign languages and cultures have had on the Bengali language throughout Bengal's long history of contact with different peoples and the cultural exchanges that came with such interactions.
121
Bengali is reportedly similar to
Assamese
and has a lexical similarity of 40 per cent with
Nepali
122
According to
Suniti Kumar Chatterji
, dictionaries from the early 20th century attributed a little more than 50% of the Bengali vocabulary to native words (i.e., naturally modified
Sanskrit
words, corrupted forms of Sanskrit words, and loanwords non-Indo-European languages). About 45% per cent of Bengali words are unmodified Sanskrit, and the remaining words are from foreign languages.
123
However, more modern sources cite that this is not the case with Bengali vocabulary, as there are far more dominant foreign influences that accurately reflect the way modern Bengalis speak and utilise Bengali.
124
Persian
is also thought to have influenced many grammatical forms.
125
More recent studies suggest that the use of foreign words has been increasing, mainly because of the preference of Bengali speakers for the colloquial style.
123
Because of centuries of contact with
Europeans
Turkic peoples
, and
Persians
, Bengali has absorbed numerous words from foreign languages, often totally integrating these borrowings into the core vocabulary.
Persian
influence was significant for the development of Bengali up to the modern day, and was the primary official language in the region for 600 years, until
British
rule, when it was changed to English in 1836. In fact, there was so much Persian influence that a register of highly Persianized Bengali, known as
Dobhashi
appeared in medieval Bengal.
126
The most common borrowings from foreign languages come from three types of contact. After close contact with several indigenous Austroasiatic languages,
127
128
129
130
and later the
Delhi Sultanate
, the
Bengal Sultanate
, and the
Mughal Empire
, whose court language was
Persian
, numerous
Arabic
Persian
, and
Chaghatai
words were absorbed into the lexicon.
46
Later, East Asian travellers and lately European
colonialism
brought words from
Portuguese
French
Dutch
, and most significantly English during the
colonial period
citation needed
Sample text
edit
The following is a sample text in Bengali of Article 1 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
131
সমস্ত
Sômôstô
ʃɔmosto
All
মানুষ
manush
manuʃ
human
স্বাধীনভাবে
shadhinbhabe
ʃadʱinbʱabe
free-manner-in
সমান
sôman
ʃoman
equal
মর্যাদা
môrjada
mɔɾdʒada
dignity
এবং
ebông
eboŋ
and
অধিকার
ôdhikar
odʱikaɾ
right
নিয়ে
niye
nie̯e
taken
জন্মগ্রহণ
jônmôgrôhôn
dʒɔnmoɡrohon
birth-take
করে।
kôre.
kɔɾe
do.
তাঁদের
Tãder
tãdeɾ
Their
বিবেক
bibek
bibek
reason
এবং
ebông
eboŋ
and
বুদ্ধি
buddhi
budʱːi
intelligence
আছে;
achhe;
atʃʰe
exist;
সুতরাং
sutôrang
ʃutoraŋ
therefore
সকলেরই
sôkôleri
ʃɔkoleɾi
everyone-indeed
একে
êke
ɛke
one
অপরের
ôpôrer
ɔporeɾ
another's
প্রতি
prôti
proti
towards
ভ্রাতৃত্বসুলভ
bhratrittôsulôbh
bʱratritːoʃulɔbʱ
brotherhood-ly
মনোভাব
mônobhab
monobʱab
attitude
নিয়ে
niye
nie̯e
taken
আচরণ
achôrôn
atʃorɔn
conduct
করা
kôra
kɔra
do
উচিত।
uchit.
utʃit
should.
সমস্ত মানুষ স্বাধীনভাবে সমান মর্যাদা এবং অধিকার নিয়ে জন্মগ্রহণ করে। তাঁদের বিবেক এবং বুদ্ধি আছে; সুতরাং সকলেরই একে অপরের প্রতি ভ্রাতৃত্বসুলভ মনোভাব নিয়ে আচরণ করা উচিত।
Sômôstô manush shadhinbhabe sôman môrjada ebông ôdhikar niye jônmôgrôhôn kôre. Tãder bibek ebông buddhi achhe; sutôrang sôkôleri êke ôpôrer prôti bhratrittôsulôbh mônobhab niye achôrôn kôra uchit.
ʃɔmosto manuʃ ʃadʱinbʱabe ʃoman mɔɾdʒada eboŋ odʱikaɾ nie̯e dʒɔnmoɡrohon kɔɾe tãdeɾ bibek eboŋ budʱːi atʃʰe ʃutoraŋ ʃɔkoleɾi ɛke ɔporeɾ proti bʱratritːoʃulɔbʱ monobʱab nie̯e atʃorɔn kɔra utʃit
All human free-manner-in equal dignity and right taken birth-take do. Their reason and intelligence exist; therefore everyone-indeed one another's towards brotherhood-ly attitude taken conduct do should.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They possess conscience and reason. Therefore, everyone should act in a spirit of brotherhood towards each other.
See also
edit
Bangla Academy (Bangladesh)
Bangla Academy (West Bengal)
Bengali numerals
Bengali-language newspapers
Notes
edit
ɔː
ben-
GAW
-lee
ɑː
বাংলা
Baṅla
[ˈbaŋlaˑ]
The number of
Bangladeshis
worldwide exceeds 190 million. Nearly 15 million Bangladeshis live outside Bangladesh and are not included during national census counts.
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
Considering the total number of Bengalis to be around 270–280 million, Bangladeshis constitute approximately 67–70% of the global Bengali population.
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Further reading
edit
Thompson, Hanne-Ruth (2012).
Bengali
. Volume 18 of London Oriental and African Language Library. John Benjamins Publishing.
ISBN
90-272-7313-8
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Darjeeling
related topics
History and government
Darjeeling district
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Education
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