Central Bengali dialect

Raṛhi Bengali
Central Bengali
রাঢ়ী বাংলা
Native to	India, Bangladesh
Region	India: Nadia, Murshidabad, Bardhaman, Hooghly, Howrah, Kolkata, Bangladesh: Kushtia, Meherpur, Chuadanga
Ethnicity	Bengali people of Presidency Division and Greater Kushtia
Language family	Indo-European Indo Iranian Indo Aryan Eastern Zone Bengali-Assamese Bengali Raṛhi Bengali
Writing system	Bengali alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	cent1983  Central Bengali

Central Bengali^[1] or Raṛhi Bengali (রাঢ়ী বাংলা) is a dialect of the Bengali language spoken in the southeastern part of West Bengal, in and around the Bhagirathi River basin of Nadia district^[2] and other districts of the Presidency division in West Bengal, as well as the undivided Kushtia district region of western Bangladesh. Associated with the upper Delta and eastern Rarh region of Bengal, it forms the basis of the standard variety of Bengali.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

Geographical boundaries

This dialect is prevalent in Central Bengal specifically in the West Bengal districts of Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly, and Purba Bardhaman. It is also spoken natively in the Chuadanga, Kushtia and Meherpur districts of Bangladesh, which were a part of the Nadia district prior to the 1947 Partition of India. Along with Eastern Bengali dialect, Modern Standard Bengali has been formed on the basis of this dialect.

Features

Extensive use of Obhishruti (অভিশ্রুতি, /obʱisrut̪i/, umlaut). E.g. Beng. Koriya (করিয়া, /koria/, meaning - having done) > Beng. Koira (কইর‍্যা, /koirya/) > Beng. Kore (করে, /kore/).^[8]

• The change of অ to ও, when অ is the first sound of a word where the অ is followed by ই(ি), ও(ো), ক্ষ or য. E.g. Ati (written অতি, means 'excess') is pronounced as Oti (ওতি, /ot̪i/).
• Use of vowel harmony. E.g. Bilati (বিলাতি, /bilat̪i/, meaning - foreign) became Biliti (বিলিতি, /biliti/).^[9]

Obhishruti and Opinihiti

Ôbhishruti (অভিশ্রুতি, /obʱisrut̪i/) and Ôpinihiti (অপিনিহিতি, /opinihit̪i/, epenthesis) are two phonological phenomena that occur in spoken Bengali dialects. Opinihiti refers to the phonological process in which a ই or উ is pronounced before it occurs in the word. Obhishruti is the sound change in which this shifted ই or উ becomes removed and changes the preceding vowel. Observe the example above : Koriya (করিয়া, /koria/) > Koirya (কইর‍্যা, /koira/) > Kore (করে, /kore/). First Opinihiti changes Koriya to Koirya (notice how the I changes position.), then Obhishruti changes Koirya (কইর‍্যা) to Kore (করে).^[10]

References

1. India, Linguistic Survey of (1903). Linguistic Survey of India. Office of the superintendent of government printing, India. pp. 17–19.
2. Chakrabarti, Kunal; Chakrabarti, Shubhra (2013). Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810880245. Archived from the original on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
3. Karan, Sudhir Kumar (2004). Thus Flows The Ganges. Mittal Publications. ISBN 9788170999232. Archived from the original on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
4. Calcutta, Philological Society of (1966). Bulletin of the Philological Society of Calcutta. Department of Comparative Philology, University of Calcutta. Archived from the original on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
5. Bandyopadhyay, Anita (2001). "Problems of Phonetic Transcription in Bengali". Praci-Bhasha-Vijnan Indian Journal of Linguistics. 20: 79. OCLC 2256120. Archived from the original on 2021-06-10. Retrieved 2020-09-30. by the word standard Bengali pronunciation we normally understand the Bengali language as is spoken in Calcutta and round about the places on the banks of the river Bhagirathi.
6. Bangladesh Quarterly. Department of Films & Publications, Government of Bangladesh. 2002. p. 6. Archived from the original on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
7. Calcutta, Philological Society of (1966). Bulletin. Archived from the original on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
8. Folk-lore. Indian Publications. 1975. Archived from the original on 2022-09-24. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
9. SK Chatterji, The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, Calcutta University, Calcutta, 1926
10. Sunitikumar Chattopadhyay (1939) ভাষা-প্রকাশ বাঙ্গালা ব্যাকরণ, Calcutta University