An Introduction to Bangla
by Jafina Jabin Khan (Bangladesh)
Not all people in the world speak the same language. Languages vary according to country, time, and community. Therefore, Arabic, Persian, English, French, Mandarin, and other languages are distinct. The language spoken by the people of a country is its language. Generally, languages are named after the country or nation associated with them. In Bangladesh, the language used by the Bengali community regardless of religion or ethnicity is called the Bengali language. Bengali is the language of the people of Bangladesh. In this Bengali language, we speak, dream, and express our thoughts and feelings.
Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah said, "The language used by the Bengali people is called the Bengali language."
Dr. Muhammad Enamul Haq stated, "The language that most of the inhabitants of East and West Bengal use among themselves to exchange their thoughts and feelings is called the Bengali language."
Bengali is the language of the people of East Bengal, that is, Bangladesh. Besides Bangladesh, Bengali is also spoken in West Bengal and in some regions of Bihar, Odisha, Tripura, and Assam in India. Bengali is also spoken in the Rakhine region of Myanmar. In addition, Bengali-speaking communities can be found in many countries around the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom. Bengali is the only language in the world for which an independent state called Bangladesh was established.
The relationship between civilization and language is inseparable. The creation and disappearance of languages are connected with the rise and fall of civilizations. When a civilization or nation is destroyed, its language may also disappear. Many nations and languages have already become extinct from the world. Therefore, determining the exact number of languages spoken around the world is not easy; rather, it is a difficult task. At present, more than approximately three and a half thousand languages are spoken throughout the world. Bengali is one of them. In terms of the number of native speakers, Bengali is the fifth-largest mother tongue in the world. At present, Bengali is spoken by approximately three hundred million people worldwide. As an official language, Bengali ranks sixth.
Different Forms and Styles of the Bengali Language
Every fully developed language has two forms or styles: the spoken or oral style and the written or literary style. In the absence of either one of these two styles, a language becomes stagnant. Even a rich, scholarly, and well-organized language like Sanskrit was forced into decline because of the absence of a living spoken form. Similarly, the internal spoken languages of various ethnic communities could not become established as independent languages because they lacked a written form.
Like other developed and fully established languages of the world, Bengali also has two types of language styles. One is the oral or spoken style. This is the language we use in everyday conversation. The second is the written or literary form. This is the language used in books of knowledge and science and in literary works.
Spoken or Oral Style
The language we speak in our everyday lives is called the spoken or oral form of the language. The spoken style is again of two types:
Regional language or dialect
Standard spoken language or colloquial language / refined style
In this regard, Munier Chowdhury says:
"People of different small regions speak in the language of their respective regions. These are regional spoken languages or dialects. Every language in the world has dialects. There is considerable difference between the spoken language of the people of one region and that of another. As a result, the language of one region may become difficult for people of another region to understand. For example, the common spoken language of the Chittagong region is not very easily understandable to the people of Dinajpur or Rangpur. It is not convenient to give such regional languages universal recognition as the language of speaking and writing, because doing so may create obstacles to the exchange of ideas among speakers of different regional languages. Therefore, the educated and scholarly communities of a country use a standard language. Educated Bengali speakers communicate and exchange their thoughts with one another in this standard language. This language, formed by combining the spoken styles of various regional dialects and used by refined and educated people, is the standard colloquial language."
Written Language
The literary or written form of the Bengali language also has two styles:
Formal style (Sādhu)
Colloquial style (Cholito)
The entire classification of the Bengali language can be briefly represented as follows.
Formal Bengali/Shadhu Bhasha
The artificial and solemn written style of Bengali, rich in Sanskrit-derived words, compounds and euphonic combinations, and characterized by the complete forms of verbs and pronouns and strict adherence to grammar, is called Formal Bengali.
Dr. Muhammad Enamul Haque says:
"The universal prose style introduced into Bengali literature, using the Sanskrit vocabulary of the Bengali language, the full forms of verbs and pronouns, and grammatically established elements, and modeled on the arrangement of words in English prose literature, is called Bengali Formal Language."
According to linguist Baman De, the particular style of the Bengali language in which the completeness of verb and pronoun forms remains intact is called Formal Bengali.
Colloquial Bengali
The language style consisting of words of native development, shortened verb forms and pronouns, and formed in the pattern of the standard spoken language in a simple and easily understandable manner is called Colloquial Bengali.
Linguist Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji said:
"The spoken language used by the respectable and educated society living along the banks of the Bhagirathi River in southwestern Bengal was accepted by the educated society of the whole of Bengal as the finest form of spoken language. This spoken language is specifically called 'Cholit Bhasha,' or Colloquial Language."
Dr. Muhammad Enamul Haque said:
"The fluent, lively, and universal literary prose style that developed in the pattern of the spoken language of Kolkata and the regions along the Bhagirathi, using words of native development, shortened verbs, shortened pronouns, and an arrangement of words according to the writer's intention, is called Colloquial Language."
The Origin and Evolution of Formal and Colloquial Bengali
The concepts of these two styles, Formal and Colloquial, mainly emerged after the practice of prose literature began. During the early and medieval periods of Bengali literature, poetry was the principal medium of literature. Although prose was used to some extent during the medieval period, particularly in letters, legal documents, official records, and inscriptions, its use was very limited and unorganized.
In the middle of the seventeenth century, the Portuguese missionaries Manoel da Assumpção and Dom Antonio published three works of Bengali prose written in the Roman script.
After the establishment of Fort William College in 1800, William Carey and several native Sanskrit scholars devoted themselves to writing Bengali prose in order to teach Bengali to English officials for their administrative work. During this period, intellectuals such as Raja Rammohan Roy and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar also began writing Bengali prose with the aim of social reform.
As a result, Bengali prose literature acquired a well-organized and harmonious form within a relatively short period. The Bengali prose of this period was mainly based on the Sanskrit language, vocabulary, and grammar traditionally used by learned and respectable people. Consequently, this style became difficult for ordinary people to acquire and use naturally. Rammohan Roy referred to this style as Formal Bengali.
During the second half of the nineteenth century, a group of writers opposed this style and argued in favor of writing prose in the spoken language. Among them, the names of Peary Chand Mitra and Kaliprasanna Singha are particularly noteworthy.
Later, through the efforts of Pramatha Chaudhuri and the writers associated with the Sabuj Patra group, this style became firmly established. This became known as the Colloquial style. Since it was closer to the language spoken by ordinary people, concise, and easy to understand, it quickly became established throughout almost every field of literature.
In this regard, Dr. Humayun Azad said:
"For the needs of the Bengali language and the Bengali nation, two standard language styles emerged, Formal and Colloquial. Both have provided extensive benefits. However, these two created a long-lasting bilingual situation. Since the Formal style is not capable of fulfilling all the functions of life, the seeds of its disappearance were present within itself. The Colloquial style, being capable of fulfilling all these functions, possesses the strength to survive. The Formal style has now reached the verge of extinction and is gradually disappearing, and the dual-style situation of the Bengali language is also disappearing. This may seem mournful to those attached to tradition; but its disappearance is so inevitable that even within the twentieth century it must take its place in a historical cemetery marked by a memorial stone."
Rabindranath Tagore said:
"Fairy tales say that once there was a king who had two queens, Suorani and Duorani. Similarly, the kingdom of Bengali sentences also has two queens. One has been lovingly given the name Formal Language, while the other is called Spoken Language; some call it Colloquial Language, and in some of my writings I have called it the natural language. Formal Language is polished and adorned with ornaments borrowed from Sanskrit grammar and dictionaries. The everyday attire of Colloquial Language is woven with thread spun on its own spinning wheel. If you ask about ornaments, one may quote a line from Kalidasa as an answer: "What ornament is needed for those who already possess sweetness?' What has natural beauty looks beautiful in whatever it wears. In fairy tales, we hear that Suorani goes into exile, while Duorani remains on the throne as queen. In Bengali too, the Colloquial Language has long found a place in ordinary homes and alongside the kitchen, by the cowshed, beside the courtyard freshly cleaned with cow dung, where a lamp is lit at the sacred basil plant in the evening, and where a woman comes at dawn singing the name of God. The ending of the story has not yet fully arrived, but I believe that Suorani will take her leave, while the lonely Duorani will sit upon the royal throne."(Translated from "Introduction to the Bengali Language"(Bangla Bhashar Porichoy), Rabindranath Tagore)
Regional Language or Dialect
Just as differences in place, time, and community bring variations in people's ways of life, their manner of speaking also changes from one region to another. The spoken language of the inhabitants of a particular geographical area, containing the distinctive characteristics of that region, is called the regional language or dialect of that region. A dialect is a geographical variation within a language. According to Dr. Hayat Mamud, "Generally, dialect refers to the language used in different small regions of a country, or a regional language, or the language used in the everyday life of a particular region."
According to Sukumar Sen, "A particular linguistic pattern used by small groups within a language community or in a specific region is called a dialect."
The definition of dialect given in the book 'A Dictionary of Linguistics' can be understood in essence as follows: "A particular form of a language that is spoken among the people of a specific region and that develops differences in pronunciation and form from the standard language."
Spoken Language
Every language in the world has a spoken or oral form. The Bengali language also has a spoken form. This is the oldest form of the language. Linguists believe that the people of the Bengal region had been using Bengali as a means of exchanging thoughts among themselves since ancient times, possibly as early as the seventh century. However, we do not find a written form of the Bengali language from that period. We find it later in the Charyapada. However, the language used in the Charyapada is not the spoken language of any particular region, because rhythmic and metrical speech of that kind was not commonly used in any region. The oral or spoken form of a language is called its spoken language. In other words, the ordinary language style commonly spoken among the people of the Bengal region is called the spoken or oral language.
The simple and understandable language through which people communicate with one another in order to carry out their everyday activities is called the spoken or oral form of a language.
Spoken language is of three types, namely:1.Regional dialect2.Social dialect3.Standard colloquial spoken language
Regional Dialect
In ancient times, undivided Bengal was divided into various regions. Bengal extended across regions such as Pundra, Rarh, Harikela, and Samatata. Although the land of Bengal was divided into various settlements, a continuous common language was in use among the people there for communication and for expressing their culture. Therefore, the mainstream Bengali language has a definite written form, but the varieties of language used in different regions outside the mainstream are called regional languages. Another name for a regional language is dialect.And the word "dialect (Upobhasha)" was first used in Greece, where its meaning was "the nature of speaking."In short:The variety of language commonly spoken by different people of a linguistic settlement is called the regional form or regional dialect of that language.Dr. Moniruzzaman says, "A spatial or geographical variety that differs sufficiently from the accepted, colloquial, or standard form of a language in terms of sound, form, or idiomatic usage, yet is independent but not separate from it, is called a dialect."[Standard Bengali Grammar, Volume 2, Bangla Academy, p. 167]
Munier Chowdhury and Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury say, "People of different small regions speak in the language of their respective regions; these are regional spoken languages or dialects."[Grammar of the Bengali Language, p. 19]
The morphological diversity of the dialects of Bangladesh is particularly great in three areas: pronouns, cases and case markers, and verbal inflections. The dialectal forms of the pronoun "I" are "mui" in northern Bengal and "ãi" in Noakhali. "My" is "mor" in northern Bengal and "ar" in Noakhali. "Our" is "hamar" in northern Bengal, "amrar" in Mymensingh, "mogo" in Barishal, and "amago" in Cumilla, etc.
History of the Study of Regional Languages
The study of regional dialects began in Europe through the work of the German linguist George Wenker. He initiated this work in 1876 through the compilation of Deutscher Sprachatlas.
Later, this field of study progressed through the work of French and Swiss scholars such as Gilliéron, Jaberg, and Jud, who collected dialects from different parts of Italy, France, and Switzerland.
The study of regional dialects in the Bengali language has not been particularly extensive. After George Grierson published the 'Linguistic Survey of India' between 1903 and 1918, the most notable work was Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah's "Dictionary of Regional Languages".
Classification of Bengali Dialects
Among those whose names are particularly noteworthy in the classification of Bengali dialects are:
George Abraham Grierson
Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji
Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah
Classification by George Grierson:
Grierson believed that the language changed after every ten kos. Therefore, he classified the language according to geographical distance and region.
Western:-
-Central or Standard Language:For example, the language of Hooghly.
-Southwestern:The language of the Odisha region.
-Western:The language of Bardhaman, Birbhum, Santal Parganas, and Bankura.
-Northern:The language of northern Bangladesh and regions inhabited by Rajbanshi and Koch communities.
Eastern
-Central:(Jessore–Khulna.)
-Central East:(Dhaka, Cumilla, Barishal, Sylhet, and Mymensingh.)
-Southeast:(Chittagong–Noakhali.)
-Hill:(The present-day Rangamati region, predominantly inhabited by the Chakma people.)
Classification by Dr. Suniti Kumar Chatterji:
In his book Origin and Development of the Bengali Language (ODBL), he divided Bengali dialects into four categories:
Rari
Borendrio
Bengali
Kamrupi
Rari Dialect:The Rarhi dialect is divided into two varieties.
-Peripheral Rari:The language of southwestern and southern-western Bengal.
-Central Rari:The language of western Midnapore, eastern Midnapore, Howrah, Bardhaman, Birbhum, Nadia, Murshidabad, Santal Parganas, Bankura, Manbhum, Singhbhum, and northern Midnapore.
Borendrio Dialect:The language of Pabna, Bogura, South Dinajpur, Rajshahi, and Malda.
Bengali Dialect:This is divided into two sub-branches:
-Western and Southwestern BengaliThe language of Mymensingh, Dhaka, northeastern Nadia, Faridpur, Jessore, Khulna, Barishal, northwestern Sylhet, and Sandwip.
-Eastern and Southeastern BengaliThe language of Sylhet, Cachar, Tripura, Noakhali, and Chittagong, including the Chakma variety, belongs to this branch.
Kamrupi Dialect:The Kamrupi dialect is divided into two branches:
-Eastern:The language of the Assam region.
-Western:The dialects of Jalpaiguri, eastern Purnia, southern Darjeeling, Dinajpur, Cooch Behar, Rangpur, and western Goalpara.
Social Dialect
A social dialect is not a regional or geographical dialect. Rather, it is a dialect created by people belonging to different social classes and professions within the same linguistic region.
In short:
A dialect created by different social groups as a result of differences in socioeconomic status and position, religion, profession, caste, age, gender, education, and other factors is called a social dialect.
Several factors contribute to the formation of social dialects. These include:
Economic status
Religion
Education
Gender
Profession
Age
Clear differences can be observed in the verbal forms of standard Bengali. For example:
আমি আসছি — I am coming.আমি আসতেছি — I am coming.
আমি এসেছি — I have come.আমি আসছি — I am coming.
Types of Social Dialects
The varieties of social dialect depend mainly on social class, profession, and economic position.
Language of the Upper Class
Foreign languages, particularly English, tend to have a strong presence.
For example:
"অনটাইমে খাওয়ার ফলে এসিডিটি ফরম করেছে।"
Meaning:
"Eating at irregular times has caused acidity to form."
Language of the Lower Class
This type of dialect is used in the everyday conversations of socially marginalized groups.
For example:
"মামু! কাম-কাইজ নাই, হেল্লিগা রিকসা চালাই। ডাইল (ফেন্সিডিল) মাইরা টাল হইয়া গেছে।"
This roughly conveys:
"Brother! There's no work, so I drive a rickshaw around here. I've gotten completely messed up after taking drugs."
Language of the Youth
Educated young people and college and university students often speak in another variety formed by mixing Bengali with English or Hindi.
Examples include:
-অফজা (Ofja) — an informal youth expression
ধৈইঞ্চা (Dhoincha) — a slang expression
তারছিঁড়া (Tarchira)— crazy / eccentric
আজাইড়া (Ajaira) — useless / pointless-টাসকি খাইছি (Taski Khaichi)— I was shocked / surprised-বেইল নাই (Beil nai)— there's no time-প্যাদানী (Pedani) — to beat / hit-ক্যাচাল করা (Kechal kora) — to create trouble / start an argument
Examples in sentences:
"খাল্লাস, এসসাইনমেন্টটা জমা দিলাম।"
"Done! I submitted the assignment."
"এক্সকিউজ মি. নিউমার্কেটে যাবার শর্টকাট ওয়েটা বলেন তো।"
"Excuse me. Could you tell me which way the shortcut to New Market is?"
Standard Colloquial Spoken Bengali
People from different regions express their thoughts in their respective regional dialects. However, people throughout the Bengali-speaking regions follow a particular spoken style to communicate and exchange ideas with one another. This universally accepted common spoken language is called standard colloquial spoken Bengali.
In short:
The particular refined and standard colloquial language used by people throughout the Bengali-speaking regions is called standard colloquial spoken Bengali.
Munier Chowdhury and Mofazzal Haider Chowdhury say:
"The standard language in which educated Bengali speakers conduct conversations and exchange thoughts with one another, formed through the combination of the spoken styles of dialects from different regions and used by educated and refined people, is called the standard colloquial or standard spoken language."
In the end, Bangla is more than a language spoken within the borders of one country; it is a living language carried by communities across the world. Its regional varieties, social forms, literary traditions, and ever-changing vocabulary reflect the diversity of the people who speak it. From ancient verses to contemporary conversations, Bangla has continued to evolve while carrying the memories, creativity, and voices of generations. In a world of thousands of languages, Bangla stands as a reminder that a language is never merely a means of communication; it is also a record of who we are, where we come from, and how we see the world.
