Central Bengali or Raṛhi Bengali () is a

dialect A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...

of the

Bengali language Bengali, also known by its endonym and exonym, endonym Bangla (, , ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian languages, Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. ...

spoken in the West-Central part of

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, in and around the

Bhagirathi River The Bhāgīrathī (Pron: /ˌbʌgɪˈɹɑːθɪ/) is a turbulent Himalayan river in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and one of the two headstreams of the Ganges, the major river of Northern India and the holy river of Hinduism. In the Hindu f ...

basin of

Nadia district Nadia () is a district in the state of West Bengal, India. It borders Bangladesh to the east, North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts to the south, Purba Bardhaman to the west, and Murshidabad to the north. Nadia district is highly influe ...

and other districts of the Presidency division in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, as well as the undivided Kushtia district region of western

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

. Associated with the upper

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

and eastern

Rarh region ''Rarh region'' () is a toponym for an area in the Indian subcontinent that lies between the Chota Nagpur Plateau on the West and the Ganges Delta on the East. Although the boundaries of the region have been defined differently according to vari ...

of Bengal, it forms the basis of the standard variety of Bengali.

Geographical boundaries

This dialect is prevalent in Central Bengal specifically in the West Bengal districts of

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

North 24 Parganas North 24 Parganas (abv. 24 PGS (N)) or sometimes North Twenty Four Parganas is a district in southern West Bengal, of eastern India. North 24 Parganas extends in the tropical zone from latitude 22° 11′ 6″ north to 23° 15′ 2″ north and ...

, Nadia,

Howrah Howrah (; ; alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River, opposite to its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively ...

, Hooghly, and Purba Bardhaman. It is also spoken natively in the Chuadanga,

Kushtia Kushtia () is a city located on the banks of the Gorai River in Bangladesh. It serves as the headquarters of Kushtia District and is considered the cultural capital of Bangladesh. The city is known for its Tiler Khaja (sesame sweets), kulf ...

and Meherpur districts of

, which were a part of the Nadia district prior to the 1947

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. Along with Eastern Bengali dialect, Modern Standard Bengali has been formed on the basis of this dialect.

Features

Phonology

* Extensive use of ''Obhishruti'' (অভিশ্রুতি, /obʱisrut̪i/, umlaut). E.g. ''koriya'' (করিয়া, /kôria/, meaning - having done) > ''koire'' (কইর‍্যা, /kôirê/) > ''kore'' (ক'রে, /kore/). * 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. ''ôti'' (written অতি, means 'excess') is pronounced as ''oti'' (ওতি, /ot̪i/). * Use of

vowel harmony In phonology, vowel harmony is a phonological rule in which the vowels of a given domain – typically a phonological word – must share certain distinctive features (thus "in harmony"). Vowel harmony is typically long distance, meaning tha ...

. E.g. Bilati (বিলাতি, /bilat̪i/, meaning - foreign) became Bileti (বিলেতি, /bilet̪i/).SK Chatterji, The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, Calcutta University, Calcutta, 1926 * The constant 'l' is sometimes pronounced as 'n' in the dialect. E.g Lebu (লেবু, /lēbü/, meaning - lemon) became nebu (নেবু, /nēbü/). * The aspirated 'chh' became akin to the tenuis 'ch'. E.g Giyechhi (গিয়েছি, meaning - have gone) became g(iy)echi (গিয়েচি, গেচি).

Morphology

* The common standard Bengali plural affix 'gula ~ gulo' (গুলা ~ গুলো) is pronounced 'gunô' (গুনো) in the Kolkata dialect. * The past first person affix (i)lām in standard dialect becomes (i)lum, or (i)nu. E.g the word in standard dialect 'kôr(i)lām' (কর'লাম) became kôr(i)lum (কর'লুম) or kôr(i)nu (কর'নু). * The 'go' suffix which is added to the singular genetive to form the genetive plural is also found in Rarhi dialect speaking areas but it is commonly used in Vanga dialects. E.g āmā-gô (our), tômā-gô (your).

Obhishruti and Opinihiti

''Ôbhishruti'' (অভিশ্রুতি, /obʱisrut̪i/) and ''Ôpinihiti'' (অপিনিহিতি, /opinihit̪i/,

epenthesis In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the first syllable ('' prothesis''), the last syllable ('' paragoge''), or between two syllabic sounds in a word. The opposite process in whi ...

) are two phonological phenomena that occur in spoken

Bengali dialects The Bengali dialects ( ) or Bengali varieties ( ) are the varieties of the Bengali language, an Eastern Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-European language family, widely spoken in the Bengal region of South Asia. The spoken dialects of Benga ...

. Opinihiti refers to the phonological process in which a ''i'' or ''u'' is pronounced before it occurs in the word. Obhishruti is the sound change in which this shifted ''i'' or ''u'' 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).Sunitikumar Chattopadhyay (1939) ভাষা-প্রকাশ বাঙ্গালা ব্যাকরণ, Calcutta University

References

{{Bengali language Bengali language in India Bengali dialects Languages of West Bengal Bengali language in Bangladesh