Dialectical Variations of Bengali: Cultural, Linguistic and Historical Perspectives Written by Protiva Rani Karmaker Director and Associate Professor Institute of Modern Languages Jagannath University, Dhaka . E-mail: protiva.karmaker@gmail.com Dialectical Variations of Bengali: Cultural, Linguistic and Historical Perspectives Abstract: Language has a significant role in the identification of one’s own identity, culture, behavioral pattern, society and tradition. Since language is the recollection of human thoughts generated in particular culture within a particular period of time, it upholds the nature of that culture present in the society for a long time. There are a large number of Bengali dialects that depict the cultural, historical and linguistic pattern of a particular social class. According to linguistics dialect refers to a variety of a language that is characteristic of a particular group of the language’s speakers as well as social class. Dialect as a regionally or socially distinctive variety of language, identified by a particular set of words or grammatical structures sometime separates particular groups of people from each other sharing same national identity. This writing mainly focuses on the reasons of dialectical variations of Bengali from historical as well as cultural or linguistics perspectives. Key Words: Bengali dialect, cultural, linguistic, historical, variety. Dialectical Variations of Bengali: Cultural, Linguistic and Historical Perspectives Introduction: Language has a significant role in the identification of one’s own identity, culture, behavioral pattern, society and tradition. Any language with a reasonably large number of speakers will develop dialects especially if there are geographical barriers separating groups of people from each other or if there are divisions of classes. One dialect may predominate as the official or standard form of the language and this is the variety which may come to be written down. Geographical Location and Dialectical Variation: There lies a difference between geographical location and dialectical variation. The East-Regional dialects include languages of Dhaka, Mymonsing, Srihall, Kasar, Tipura, Sandip, Faridpur, Kulna and Joshor. The south –regional dialects are found in the languages of Chittagong, Hatia, Noakhali, Ramganj, Hill-Tracts of Chittagong etc. In Chittagang Hill tract there are lots of indigenous languages what is also claimed as dialect. At present the total population of Bangladesh is more than 16 crore. It has more than 40 ethnic minorities who use 30 separate languages .According to the population census of 1991 in the 13 hill tract regions there are 13 languages and in non-hill tract regions there are 17 indigenous languages. At present total indigenous languages of Bangladesh is more than 45 and number of language speaker is 20 lac. All the languages are more or less related with the other languages of the world. If we study historical perspective of these languages we will notice that the traits of European languages have been noticed in the languages of Chakma, Hajong, Barman, Ora, Malo, Sing, Mahota. The Autro-Asiatic languages are Shaotal, Khasi, Munda, Kharia and Kol. They are mainly found in the northern sides and Sylhet region. The Kurukh of north side and Tibati Barma language of Patra, Tripura, Garo, Marma, Khiang, Monipuri, Lucia, Pangkhua, Khumi etc are found amongst the speakers of different places of Mymansing, Tangail, Sherpur, Netrokona, Sylhet, Shunamganj, Moulouvibazar,Coxsbazar, Potuakhali and in some other hill areas of Chittagong. Due to socio-economic status of the speakers some indigenous languages are endangered. Moreover most of the language speakers do not have their own written vernacular Dialectical Variation and Historical Perspectives: A dialect that is associated with a particular social class can be termed a sociolect, a regional dialect may be termed a regiolect or topolect. The regional variation in spoken Bengali constitutes a dialect continuum. Linguist Sunit Kumar Chatterjee grouped these dialects into four clusters Radh, Banga, Kamarupa and Varendra. Besides this many alternative grouping schemes have also been proposed. Amongst all these Bengali is the dominant dialect group in Bangladesh. G.A. Grierson proposed two groups of Bengali dialect as ‘East’ and ‘West’. Like other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Bengali arose from the eastern Middle Indic languages of the Indian subcontinent. Though Bangla has complex geographical inheritance, speakers of Bangla tend to oversimplify the geographical differentiation in terms of a dichotomy of Easterner or Bengali Vs Westerner or Ghoti. From the diachronic study of language we can observe that dialectical variation occur in these three periods as identified in the history of Bengali (J.B.Ara, 2005). 1. Old Bengali (900/100C.E- 1400C.E) The major text in this period includes Charapada. The devotional songs, emergence of pronouns, Ami, tumi, etc. are noticed in old Bengali language. Oriya and Assames branch out in this period due to historical separation. 2. Middle English (1400-1800) The first structural work of Bengali dialects was done by Portugese Preach Manuel de Assumpsau. While he came to share his religious ideas in the region of Vaol at Dhaka, he confronted the dialect of that place. During this time we get several dialects in some literary works like Chandidas’s ‘Srikrishnakirtan’ . Major texts of this period include Chandidas’s ‘Srikishnakirton’. In middle periods we find introduction of alali vasha in ‘Alaler Gharer Dulal’ by Parichad Mitra. Through this book one can discover the hidden beauty lying in that dialect. In the writing of Kali Prasanna Singh as in ‘Hutum Paechar Naksha’ we find lots of words bearing dialectical variation. The writers of that time couldn’t come out of their internal respect towards the regional language. 3. New Bengali (Since 1800C.F) New Bengali dialects emerges prominently through these writings as “Hazar Bachar er Purono Bangla Vashar Boudho Gan and Dhoha ” by Bangio Shahitya Parishat. In the same year we find Parziter’s ‘Vocabulary of Peculiar Vernacular Bengali Words”. In this book we find enriched collection of dialects. Much before this book we find Griarson’s ‘The Linguistic Survey of India’. After Grierson we find Sunit Kumar’s collection. In very recent time there is another book of Dr. Muhammed Shahidhullah. In this Book he defined Dialect into five types such as 1. Rari 2. Bangali 3. Barendri 4. Kamrupi and 5. Jarkhandi . Partition and Dialectical Variation : Partition acted as an important aspect in creating dialectical variation. After partition some people from Sylhet migrated to Assam and started talking in their own language. After liberation some people from Dhaka migrated to Kolkata. Inspite of having regional variation, the tie or cultural bondage prompt the mixed communities adopt a shared dialect. The Dialectical Relationship between Language and Culture Language and culture share an undeniable relationship to each other. This relationship is so intertwined that it is next to impossible to separate the two. This inseparable connection between language and culture which is both explicit and implicit was viewed from different perspectives specially from the perspectives of dialectical relationship. The concept of culture has mostly been understood as the way of life of a social group, the group's total man made environment including all the material and nonmaterial products of group life like knowledge, set of belief, art, morals, law, customs, values and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society and they are transmitted from one generation to the next through the universal appeal of language. It has been suggested that language cannot exist without culture because language is the expression of a particular culture. They exist as parallels. (Sapir 1949). The underlying idea concerning the relationship between language and culture is that languages spread across cultures and cultures spread across languages (Risager,2003).The inherent relationship of language and culture becomes particularly evident when the question of dialectical variation comes. A dialect is not only a dialect; it is something more than that. Culture has important influence in language change. For example due to cultural differences the languages of Dhaka and Kolkata differ. Here long-practiced life-style & social practice may have influence in variations. As for example we can quote some lines from standard language of Kolkata and Dhaka to refer these varieties in the corpus of languages (J.B Ara., 2005). ‡KvjKvZv: AvR‡Mi mfvq KZv nw”Pj, evewi gmwRZ wb‡q| GM`j †evj‡P, GmeB KcU †bZv‡`i mvRv‡bv †Ljv| Avi GM`j ‡evj‡P, hvB ejyb gkvq, mvaviY gvbym‡K GiKg wec‡` †djv cv‡ci KvR|fvewR wKPz wjM‡ev | hvB mœvbUv/PvbUv †m‡i wbB‡M, Zvici Ab¨ KvR| XvKv: AvR‡Ki kfvq K_v nw”&Qj evewi gkwR` wb‡q| GK`j †evj‡Q, GkeB gyybv‡dK †bZv‡`i mvRv‡bv †Ljv| Avi GK`j ‡evj‡Q, hvB e‡jb fvB, kvaviY gvbyl‡K GiKg wec‡` †djv cv‡ci /¸bvi KvR|fvewQ wKQy wjL‡ev| hvB ‡MvmjUv †m‡i wbB (‡M), Zvici Ab¨ KvR| Sometime the same word refers different meaning in different regions of Bangladesh. Culture is also a cause of it. For example the word ‰mj& is cyÎ( son) in Pabna, where as in Sylhet the same word means ‘cvwbi f~Z' ( ghost of water), in Noakhali ‘ Qjbv' (deception)etc. . With a view to indicating the manly or cowardly nature of a person Bangla language uses the words like mycyi“l, Kvcyi“l, bcyskK, bvgi`, ˆ¯¿b, †cŠi“l, cyi“lZ¡nxbZv etc. On the other hand women are identified as my‡Kkx, my`š—x, mynvwmbx, mybqbv, wbZw¤^bx, cwÙbx, n¯—xwb, Qjbvgqx etc. There are words originated from culture . Goddess ‘Durga’ takes separate names as `~M©v, cveZx©, Abœc~Y©v, PÛx, Kvwj, †MŠix, mZx, `yM©Zxbvwkbx, `kf~Rv, wÎbqbx, ÎvYKZx© (wkï wek¦‡Kvl, 257, 3q LÊ), wmsnevwnbx, gwnlgw`©bx, kvi`xqv etc. Moreover, in colloquial Bangla we have words like †L‡q‡`‡q, D‡V c‡o, †U‡bUz‡b where the second part is used to put emphases on the first part. Though it may seem to us redundant, it represents culture for the users. Culture is responsible here for the unnecessary expansion of words or redundancy in other words. Language used in certain society reflects the values shared by the people in that society. Culture is therefore a key component in language. Linguistic Perspectives and Dialectical Variation: Since ‘speech’ is the primary level of language and ‘sound’ is the intrinsic part of speech, we will not, however, be concerned with other levels of linguistic study such as lexical, grammatical, and contextual or semantic more deeply. In any language not only phonemes or the length of its vowels or consonants, stress or tone are important but also features like aspiration, nasalization, retroflection have syntagmatic implications within a word. Therefore these distinctive features have been abstracted and treated as properties of words to focus on linguistic variation of dialects. The language used by Bengali people is Bengali language. It has its origin in Magadhi Prakriti, though it is true that traces of Magadhi in Bengali are extremely difficult to establish with any cogency. All Bengali dialect possess some distinct linguistic characteristics with regards to their structural aspects. In the region of Faridpur though there exists a specific form of standard Bengali most of the native speakers use their own forms that are sharply different from the phonological, morphological and syntactic categories of standard Bengali. Though aspirated sounds of standard Bengali appear in this dialect of Faridpur, these are not uttered fully aspirated by its native speakers. Rather they make these sounds non-aspirated as they do not provide any heavy pressure during utterance. So voiced aspirated stops uttered as non-aspirated. Sometime the influence of correctness approach as well as stylistic need of native speakers influence original sounds as ‘nouka’ uttered as ‘louka’. Similarly some native speakers of Mymensing region speak ‘’chur’’ instead of ‘chor’ sound in Bengali the effect of which is found in the pronounciation of English sounds like ‘fur’ instead of ‘four’. Distinctive feature of Variation: Though many theories on distinctive feature have been propagated in the last two decades, there has been an attempt to bring a conceptual integration in the area of defining these special characteristics features of units as distinctive features. In an attempt to bring analysis to speech it has been stated that like the Harvard features only twelve units can be sufficient to define all the phonemes of the world language. They will be known as the “ultimate distinctive entities of language” and there will be no more division in them (Roman Jakobson, C. Gunner M. Fant and Morries Halle (1951). Later on, they adopted nine distinctive features to analyze the theories. Whereas all the world languages contain more or less 30 to 40 phonemes, if these nine distinctive features get appropriate to define them, it will save enough labor and time to the phoneticians. A review of the literature indicates that while suggesting unique features of distinction these researchers give stress on articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics and auditory phonetics. Depending on it we have got these features as popularly known Harvard Features. Roman Jakobson was also a member of the Prague school of linguistics and worked closely with Trubetzkoy. Distinctive feature theory, based on his own work and the work of Trubetzkoy, was first formalised by Roman Jakobson in 1941 and remains one of the most significant contributions to phonology. He was one of the influential linguists of twentieth century. The features of phonemes of Jackobson, Fant and Halle are divided into three parts as configurational features, expressive features and distinctive feature. The distinctive features are again divided into two parts as inherent features, prosodic feature. Inherent features are the fundamental features. Jakobson's original formulation of distinctive feature theory was based on the following ideas of resonance features. The prosodic features are secondary features. On the basis of fundamental feature the contrast of phonemes occur as as ¯^iaŸwb [+vocalic, – consonantal], e¨ÄbaŸwb [–vocalic, + consonantal], ZijaŸwb [+vocalic, + consonantal], kÖ“wZaŸwb ev Glides [–vocalic, – consonantal].Based on the secondary consonantal source there comes two other features as envelope feature or stridency feature. They are the result of auditory effect or kymograph. So it is related with auditory phonetics. In the Original distinctive features of Jacobson, Fant & Halle these variations are seen as vocalic vs non vocalic, consonantal vs non-consonantal, sonorant vs obstruent, rhotic vs nonrotic (Vowels), advanced vs non-advanced (vowels and diphthongs), front vs non-front (vowels), coronal vs non coronal (acute vs grave), anterior vs. non-anterior (compact vs diffuse) (consonants) . More other general features of distinction include high vs non-high, low vs non-low, back vs non-back, lateral vs non-lateral, rounded vs non-rounded, distributed vs non-distributed, nasal vs non-nasals, continuant vs stop, tense vs lax (vowels), voiced vs voiceless, strident vs mellow or non-strident. From the study of the major theories the key point that we notice about distinctive feature is that it deals mainly with the factors on which ground phonemes vary from each other depending on their special phonetic feature or phonological difference. On the basis of it the distinctive features of major Bengali sounds are shown below: Matrix of Distinctive Features of Bengali Phonemes (Consonants): c& p d& ph e& b f& bh Z& t _& th `& d a& dh U& t V& th W& d X& dh P& c Q& ch R& j S& jh K& k L& kh M& g N& gh g& m b& n O& n i& r j& l k& f n& h o& r ¯^i – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – e¨Äb + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + bvwmK¨ – – – – – – – – 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – – – – + + + 0 0 0 0 0 †gŠwLK + + + + + + + + 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + + + + – – – 0 0 0 0 0 Nbxf~Z – – – – – – – – – – – – + + + + + + + + – – + 0 0 0 0 0 wew¶ß + + + + + + + + + + – – – – – – – – – – + + – 0 0 0 0 0 AvKw¯§K 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + + + + 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0 0 wejw¤^Z 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 – – – – 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 + 0 0 m‡Nvl – – + + – – + + – – + + – – + + – – + + 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 A‡Nvl + + – – + + – – + + – – + + – – + + – – 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Aby`vË + + + + – – – – – – – – – – – – + + + + + – + – 0 0 – – D`vË – – – – + + + + + + + + + + + + – – – – – + – + 0 0 + + `„p – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 wkw_j + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – + – 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Symbolic Interpretation: Presence of phonetically distinctiveness (+) Absence of phonetically distinctiveness (–),Presence of redundancy (0) Matrix of Distinctive Features of Bengali Phonemes (Vowels & Semi-vowels): B i G e A¨v ae Av a A c I o D u B i G e A¨uv ae Auv a Au c Iu o Du u q& e Iq& o ¯^i e¨Äb + + + + + + + + + + + + + + – – – – – – – – – – – – – –– – – + + bvwmK¨ †gŠwLK – – – – – – – + + + + + + + 0 0 + + + + + + + – – – – – – – 0 0 Nbxf~Z wew¶ß – – + + + – – – – + + + – – 0 0 + + – – – + + + + – – – + + 0 0 AvKw¯§K wejw¤^Z 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 m‡Nvl A‡Nvl 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Aby`vË D`vË – – – 0 + + + – – – 0 + + + – + + + + 0 – – – + + + 0 – – – + – `„p wkw_j 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Symbolic Interpretation: Presence of phonetically distinctiveness (+) Absence of phonetically distinctiveness (–) Presence of redundancy (0) Aspiration and Dialectical Variation in Bengali Language: In analyzing a language in which aspiration plays an important role as it does in Bengali and most other languages of South Asia, we have to consider the factors as whether the sounds are distinctive or redundant. ‘Aspiration’ as a phonetic term has been defined as the articulation of a sound, “with considerable force and noticeable puff of breath (Danicl Jones,1960). Aspiration is a sound the pronunciation of which involves an intensity in the expulsion of air from the oral cavity. We notice the replacement of aspirated plosive ‘ফ’ [ph] as voiceless plosive ‘প’ [p] in Kolkata creating different dialects. Like the word ‘অফিস’ is pronounced in Kolkata as ‘আপিশ’ what in English means ‘office’ (n.). The word ‘cvB' in Noakhali is pronounced as ‘duvB ’ . Here both aspiration and nasalization take place.. Allophonic Change in Dialectical Variation: Logically speaking, allophones must be treated by the speakers of a language in two ways at one. In phonological terms, different allophones realize the same phoneme and thus they should count as a single perceptual object; at the same time, the allophones must be distinct in production even though when their origin is from single element “phone”. Phones are phonetic units and appear in square brackets. Allophonic variations create distinction in dialect. The sounds থ [th] and ত [t̪] refer to same phoneme ত [t̪] in kolkata. They are used differently as in Dhaka: ‘কথা’ and in Kolkata‘কতা’which means the same what in English means‘to talk’ (n. /v.) or ‘a discussion’ (n.)/ ‘to discuss’(v.). In Rajshahi the word ‘কথা’ (a word or words spoken) is pronounced as ‘কতা’ . So the word ‘KwZ' indicates ‘†Kv_vq'. Instead of ‘†Kv_vq RvBev?' (Where will you go?) some people of Rajshahi say ‘KwZ RvBev ? ' Nasalization and Variation: The presence of nasalisation is noticed more prominantly in the spoken form of Kolkata rather than Dhaka as in Bangladeshi spoken ‘বাবা’ (non-nasalised) is spoken as ‘বাঁপু’ (nasalised) as in the sentence ‘জানিনা বাঁপু তোঁমরা কি ভাঁব!’. In Chittagong the middle ‘g' is nasalized as AuvB (Avwg) (myself), Auvi(Avgvi), ZuzB (Zzwg) (you), KzuAvi (Kzgvi) ( a young boy) , QuB (wQg) (a portable covering made of straw for a boat or hackery) etc. Nasals and nasalisation in the Sanskrit languages raise fundamental questions of phonetic and phonological theory and also problems for roman transcription. There are some foreign words included in Bengali also where we get nasalized sounds such as, huvZx - a small double knife to cut betel nuts huvZv-mill,quern (yantra) †Ku‡ojx-impertinancy ïuox -wine dealer etc.  In conclusion, we can say that dialectal variation does not occur for a single cause. Establishing separate identity is a prominent cause of dialectical variation. Our history, cultural pattern, linguistics theory, change in life-style, particular vernaculars, geographical location etc. are the significant causes of dialectical variation  References: Ara, J.B. (2005) Bhashatotto: Bangla Bhasha Proshango. Hemi Books & Books. Banglabazar, Dhaka.pp-83 Mridha,,R.G. (2005) Foreigners Bangla: Contrastive Analysis. The Bangla Academy Journal. Vol:2. Issue 2. pp-100 K, Risager. (2005) Languaculture as a key concept in language and culture teaching. In H.H.A.F. Bent Preisler, S. Kjaerbeck & K. Risager (Eds.), The consequences of mobility. Roskilde: Roskilde University. pp. 185–196. Sapir, E., 1949. Culture, language, and personality. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. L, Sercu. (2004) Intercultural Communicative Competence in Foreign Language Education: Integrating Theory and Practice. In:O. St. John, K. van. pp-115-130. Short Biography: Protiva Rani Karmaker has been working as Director & Assistant Professor at Centre for English Language of a public university named Jagannath University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. As first Director of the Centre for English Language, she has been playing a pivotal role in designing academic curriculum, pedagogy, imparting training and holding workshops, preparing lessons and setting up all other facilities to build my students. She has extensive experience of teaching graduate level students for more than 10 years in the areas of Language Teaching, Second Language Acquisition, Writing texts, Grammar, Literature etc. together with evaluation of examination papers. Moreover she has one year experience of working as Advisor in a leading private university of Bangladesh. She has 12 articles in her credit in national and regional publications. She is interested in Bangladeshi culture, language and society.