Sylheti (Sylheti Nagri: , síloṭi, ; , sileṭi, ) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by an estimated 11 million people, primarily in the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh, Barak Valley of Assam, and northern parts of Tripura in India.["Sylheti is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 11 million people in India and Bangladesh (Hammarström et al., 2017). Sylheti is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language, primarily spoken in the Sylhet division of Bangladesh, and in Barak valley, in Assam of the India and in the northern parts of the state of Tripura in India."][ as well as diaspora communities in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and the Middle East.
]
It is variously perceived as either a Bengali dialects or a language in its own right. While most linguists consider it an independent language,["Along the linguistic continuum of eastern Indic languages, Sylheti occupies an ambiguous position, where it is considered a distinct language by many and also as a dialect of Bengali or Bangla by some others." ]["At the geographical extremes, Chittagonian, Sylheti, Mal Paharia, and Rohingya are so unintelligible to speakers of other dialects that they are almost universally considered by linguists to be separate languages on their own." ] for many native speakers Sylheti forms the diglossia vernacular, with standard Bengali forming the codified lect.["In Bangladesh, Sylheti functions as a diglossic "Low" variety and Bengali, the official language of Bangladesh, as the "High" variety. Bengali is the language of official administration and education in Bangladesh, and Sylheti is normative in informal contexts in Sylhet." ] Some incorrectly consider it as a "corrupt" form of Bengali,["In the context of the UK, Sylheti has more vitality than Bangla on the basis of its demography." ]
Name
Sylheti is eponymously named after Sylhet, referring to the dialect or language spoken of that area.[Anne Kershen (2004). Strangers, Aliens and Asians: Huguenots, Jews and Bangladeshis in Spitalfields 1666-2000. p. 145. Routledge. Retrieved 10 September 2020.] According to the vernacular was called Sylhettia by the Europeans after the town of Sylhet.["Sylhet Town, which is the headquarters of the District, being within six miles of the Jaintiapur Faiganaj lies within the area in which this dialect is spoken, and hence this form of speech is called Sylhettia by Europeans. For this reason, it is often wrongly said that the language of the whole Sylhet District is uniform, and the term Sylhettia is incorrectly applied to the dialect of the west of the District, as well as to that of the North-East. The term 'Sylhettia 'properly means the language of the town, and not of the District, of Sylhet." ] Though the speakers at that time referred to it as Jaintiapuri, Purba Srihattiya, or Ujania with the latter meaning "the language of the upper country".["As already stated, the dialect spoken in Sylhet Town and in the North and North-East of the District is that which Europeans called Sylhettia. Sylheti speakers did not use this title. They called it Jaintiapuri, Purba Srihattiya, or Ujania. The latter means the language of the upper country.]
Sylheti is also spelt or known as Sylhetti (or Sileti), Sylheti Bangla and Siloti (also spelt in Syloti or Syloty).[William Farwley (2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: 4-Volume Set. p. 483. Oxford University Press, USA. Retrieved 9 September 2020.]
History
Sylheti belongs to the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages that evolved from Magadhi Prakrit.[South Asian folklore: an encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, By Peter J. Claus, Sarah Diamond, Margaret Ann Mills, Routledge, 2003, p. 203] The lowlands around Sylhet were originally inhabited by ancient Khasi people (Austroasiatic);["copper plate inscriptions indicate that land around the Kushiara was more densely populated, because Kamarupa kings had granted large tracts of land to immigrant Brahmans and their supporting castes, to make this region part of Assam (Khanda Kamarupa)." ][ |SOAS] Sylhet town (Srihatta) then emerged as a center of lowland territorialism after the 10th century.[" Sylhet town (Srihatta) became a major centre of lowland territorialism after the 10th century CE" ] The 11th century Bhatera grants from the Srihatta kings Kesavadeva and Isanadeva were written in Sanskrit.[Rakhal Das Banerji (2003). Origin of the Bengali Script. p. 6.]
The Muslim Conquest of Sylhet in 1303 CE extended the migratory movements of Muslims from western lands, who settled among the native population and greatly influenced the local language.[J. K. Mandal, Goutam Saha, Debatta Kandar, Arnab Kumar Maji (2018). Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing and Communication System: 13CS 2016, NEHU, Shillong, India. p. 452. Springer. Retrieved 9 September 2020.] indicating the Perso-Arabic influence on the vernacular.[Surinder Singh (2008). Popular Literature and Pre-modern Societies in South Asia. p. 32. Pearson Education India. Retrieved 9 September 2020.] Its earliest known work had been written during the 1600s, called Bhedsar by Syed Shah Husayn Alam.[Thibaut d'Hubert, Alexandre Papas (2018). Jāmī in Regional Contexts: The Reception of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī's Works in the Islamicate World, ca. 9th/15th-14th/20th Century. p. 667. BRILL. Retrieved 9 September 2020.][Thibaut d'Hubert, ed. Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. (2014), "Dobhāshī", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE (Brill Online). Retrieved 9 September 2020.] The script was read and taught culturally among households and was not institutionalised,[ as the Islamic dynasties who ruled over Bengal established Persian alongside Arabic as the official languages.][Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu (2003). Culture and Learning in Islam. p. 115. UNESCO. Retrieved 9 September 2020.] Printed texts of the script reached its peak during the late 19th century, however its use became obsolete by around the middle of the 20th century.[ Archiving texts in the Sylhet Nagri script (EAP071) British Library. Retrieved 9 September 2020.]
In 1903, Grierson reported that Sylheti was spoken only around Sylhet town of the then Sylhet district (now Sylhet Division and Karimganj district in Assam), and that among the Indo-Aryan speakers in the district, about 33 per cent spoke this language.["In North-East and North Sylhet, especially in Jaintiapur and Karimganj, the language is more corrupt. Sylhet Town, which is the head-quarters of the District,
being within six miles of the Jaintiapur Pargana lies within the area in which this
dialect is spoken, and hence this form of speech is called Sylhettia by Europeans. E For this reason it is often wrongly said that the language of the whole Sylhet District is uniform, and the term Sylhettia is incorrectly applied to the dialect of the west of the District, as well as to that of the North-East. The term 'Sylhettia' properly means the language of the town, and not of the District, of Sylhet. It is estimated that of the 2,033,000 speakers of Bengali in Sylhet, 1,355,000 use ordinary Eastern Bengali. The rest speak Sylhettia." ]
The earliest appearance of a documentation of Sylheti vocabulary was in the Government Report on the History and Statistics of Sylhet District by T. Walton, B.C.S. in 1857, which contained a list of peculiar words used in Sylhet.[Pradip Phanjoubam (2015). The Northeast Question: Conflicts and frontiers. p. 180. Routledge. Retrieved 12 September 2020.]
Status
According to Simard, Dopierala and Thaut, Sylheti is a "minoritised, politically unrecognised, and understudied language."["Sylheti is a minoritised, politically unrecognised, and understudied Eastern Indo-Aryan language with approximately 11 million speakers worldwide, with high speaker concentrations in the Surma and Barak river basins in north-eastern Bangladesh and south Assam, India, and in several diasporic communities around the world (especially UK, USA, and Middle East)." ] It is currently not officially recognised as a language in either Bangladesh or India.["It is not officially recognised in Bangladesh, where it is simply referred to as a dialect of Bengali by the government (Faquire 2012); it has, equally, no legal status in India." ] Many native speakers consider it to be a slang or corrupt version of Standard Bengali and not an independent language;["Sylheti is often dismissed as 'slang' or as a corrupted version of Bengali, even by some of its own speakers, for whom it is not a language in its own right." ] and there is a reported language shift to Standard Bengali and a decrease in the number of native speakers since parents are not teaching it to their children.["There is reported language shift in the Sylheti-speaking regions of Bangladesh and India, as well as in the diaspora with Bengali replacing Sylheti, as some parents do not speak Sylheti to their children, reducing the number of future Sylheti speakers." ] In Bangladesh, there is a diglossia where Sylheti is one among other low status Bengali dialects while Standard Bengali, the official language, has a high status.
In the Indian state of Assam where Assamese is the state language, Standard Bengali language serves as an additional official language in its Barak Valley districts, which host a majority Sylheti-speaking population.[James N. Stanford, Dennis Richard Preston (2009). Variation in Indigenous Minority Languages. Disciplines. p. 441. Retrieved 20 September 2020.]
In the United Kingdom, British schools have begun enlisting Sylheti in their syllabi.
Classification
notes that the language of eastern Sylhet is not intelligible to Bengalis from the west, though he still classed it as Bengali,["The language spoken by the inhabitants of Eastern Sylhet is not intelligible to the natives of Central or Northern Bengal. It is, nevertheless, Bengali. There are some peculiarities of pronunciation which tend to render it unintelligible to strangers. The inflections also differ from those of regular Bengali, and in one or two instances assimilate to those of Assamese." ] grouping it under "Eastern Bengali".["The Cachar version in p. 234 may be taken as illustrating the typical Eastern Sylhet dialect also." ] too calls it a dialect of Bengali and places it in the eastern Vangiya group of [[Magadhi Prakrit]] and notes that all Bengali dialects were independent of each other and did not emanate from the literary Bengali called "[[sadhu bhasha]]".["Dialects are independent of literary speech: as such East Bengali dialects, North Bengali dialects (with which Assamese is to be associated) and West Bengali dialects are not only independent of one another, but also they are not, as it is popularly believed in Bengal, derived from literary Bengali, the "sadhu-bhasha", which is a composite speech on an early West Bengali basis."] Among the different eastern dialect groups, Sylheti and Chittagonian have phonetic and morphological properties that are alien to standard Bengali and other western dialects of Bengali, and these differences are such that Sylheti is more distant to standard Bengali than is Assamese.["The Bengali dialects of the extreme east and south-east (Sylhet, Chittagong) are certainly more removed from Standard Bengali than is Assamese." ]
Recent scholarship notes that these morpho-phonological and mutual intelligibility differences are significant enough that Sylheti could claim itself as a language on its own right.["... because of significant morpho-phonological differences and a lack of mutual intelligibility, a strong argument can be made in favour of Sylheti claiming the status of a language in its own right." ] Ethnologue groups Sylheti in Bengali–Assamese languages;[ whereas Glottolog gives further subgrouping and places it in the "Eastern Bengali" group alongside Hajong language, separately from the Bengali dialects.]
Language-dialect controversy
While modern sociolinguistics generally talks about varieties, rather than languages and dialects, there are still many disagreements about the status of language varieties outside the discipline. These can be for reasons of funding or recognition,
The classification of Sylheti is contentious—Chalmers (1996) suggested that it was generally identified as a Bengali dialects of Bengali language though there were efforts to recognise it as a language.["Bengalis interviewed in the course of this study reported that the differences between Standard Bengali and Sylheti are relatively small ... We have to consider though that these statements were made by people who originate from Sylhet and who speak both the local vernacular Sylheti and Standard Bengali."]["Chalmers and Miah (1996) describe Sylheti as a distinct language that is 'mutually unintelligible to a Standard Bengali speaker' (p. 6), but anecdotal evidence from members of the London-Bengali community suggests that the differences are relatively small (Rasinger, 2007)" ] On the basis of the anecdotal evidence of mutual intelligibility, regionality and the fact that Sylheti is spoken by a predominantly rural community, concludes that Sylheti could be considered a dialect of Bengali.["Intelligibility of Standard Bengali by Sylhetis, the geographically clearly clearly defined use of Sylheti and its usage by a predominantly rural population indicate that Sylheti may indeed be a dialect of Bengali." ] Simard, Dopierala and Thaut have pointed out that the intelligibility could be an effect of prior exposure of Sylheti speakers to Standard Bengali,["The claim of mutual intelligibility by some speakers of both Sylheti and Bengali may be more an effect of the speakers' exposure to both languages; speakers of Sylheti who have never learned Bengali often report that they do not understand it to any functional degree." ] and that the academic consensus is that mutual intelligibility ranges from "unintelligible" to "hardly intelligible".["The academic consensus on mutual intelligibility between Sylheti and Bengali ranges from 'unintelligible' to 'hardly intelligible' (Chalmers 1996)."] On the basis of phonology and phonetics, lexicon, grammatical structure and a lack of mutual intelligibility, some recent linguists claim that Sylheti is not merely a dialectal variation of Bengali but a language in its own right.["The papers presented in this volume highlight some of the striking structural differences between Sylheti and standard Bengali, in phonetics and phonology, lexicon, and grammatical structure, and challenge the view that Sylheti is merely a dialectal variation of Bengali." ]["Considering the unique linguistic properties such as phoneme inventory, allophony, and inflectional morphology in particular and lexicon in general, Sylheti is often regarded as a separate language
(Grierson 1928, Chatterjee 1939, Gordon 2005).]
Phonologically Sylheti is distinguished from Standard Bengali and other regional Bengali dialects by significant deaspiration and spirantisation,["One of the properties that distinguish Sylheti from SCB or other regional varieties is the significant application of obstruent weakening involving de-aspiration and spirantization." ] leading to major restructuring of the consonant inventory["Consequently, the consonant inventory (especially the obstruents), of Sylheti exhibit a major reduction and restructuring compared to that of (Standard Colloquial Bengali)." ] and the development of tones.["Also noteworthy is the development of tones due to loss of the breathiness and aspiration contrast."]
As majority of the diaspora in the United Kingdom speak Sylheti, it created an environment that was somewhat uninfluenced by Standard Bengali, inevitably leading some to view Sylheti as a distinct language.[Chalmers, R. (1996:6). Learning Sylheti. London: Centre for Bangladeshi Studies, Roehampton Institute.] During the 1980s there were unsuccessful attempts to recognise Sylheti as a language in its own right by a small group in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which lacked support from the Sylheti community itself.[Kershen, Anne J. (2019). A Question of Identity. Section: Language in Bangladesh.]
Literature
Halat-un-Nabi, a puthi written by Sadeq Ali is considered to be the most prominent literature in Sylheti Nagri.
The presence and influence of Shah Jalal and Shri Chaitanya dev is found in the Sylheti literature.
Writing system
Sylheti currently does not have a standardised writing system.[ Historically in the Sylhet region, the Sylheti Nagri script was used alongside the Bengali script.][ Sylheti Nagri was however mostly limited to writing religious poetry.][David Kane (2021). Puthi-Pora. Blurb. p. 159. Retrieved 1 April 2021.] An endangered script, it has since seen a revival mostly by academics and linguists.
Because Standard Bengali is the medium of instruction of state schools in Bangladesh,[Robert Kirkpatrick (2015). English Language Education Policy in Asia. Springer. p. 30. Retrieved 23 September 2020.] some may write Sylheti using the Bengali–Assamese script.[ In United Kingdom, publishers use Latin script for Sylheti and according to the Sylheti Translation and Research (STAR), Latin (Roman) script is the most used script for writing Sylheti.]
Geographical distribution
Sylheti is the primary language of the Sylhet Division in north-eastern Bangladesh, with its concentration mostly in the districts of Sylhet District, Moulvibazar, eastern Sunamganj and north-eastern Habiganj.
Sylheti is also widely spoken in the southern Assam region of Barak Valley, India, which includes the districts of Cachar district, Hailakandi and Karimganj.[Ohi Uddin Ahmed (2019). The Mahimal Community of Sylhet-Cachar Region: A Historical Study with Special Reference to the Regional Ecology. pp. 1–2. History Research Journal. Retrieved 19 September 2019.] In addition, it is spoken in the northern parts of Tripura[ and Jiribam district, Manipur.][ A few numbers are also located in Kolkata, most of whom are migrants from Assam.
]
Outside the Indian subcontinent, the largest grouping of Sylheti speakers reside in the United Kingdom, of which 95 percent of British Bangladeshis have origins from the Sylhet region.[Christina Julios (2012). Contemporary British Identity: English Language, Migrants and Public Discourse. Chapter 3: Ethnic Linguistic Minorities. Ashgate Publishing Limited. Retrieved on 2024-08-24.] It is estimated there are around 400,000 Sylheti speakers in the UK.[Comanaru, Ruxandra; D'Ardenne, Jo (2018). The Development of Research Programme to Translate and Test the Personal well-being Questions in Sylheti and Urdu. p. 16. Köln: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Retrieved 30 June 2020.] The largest concentration live in east London boroughs, such as Tower Hamlets.[ Sylheti NYC Languages Languages of New York City. Retrieved on 2024-08-24.] and in Hamtramck, Michigan where majority of Bangladeshi Americans there are of Sylheti origin.[Nazli Kibria (2011). Muslims in Motion. pp. 58–61. Retrieved 1 July 2020.][Sook Wilkinson (2015). Asian Americans in Michigan. pp. 166–167. Wayne State University Press. Retrieved 14 September 2020.] There are also small numbers located in Toronto, Canada.[Harald Bauder (2012). Immigration and Settlement: 7, Experiences, and Opportunities. Canadian Scholars' Press. p. 239. Retrieved 17 September 2020.][Gideon Bolt, A. Sule Özüekren, Deborah Phillips (2013). Linking Integration and Residential Segregation. p. 137. Routledge. Retrieved 17 September 2020.] Significant Sylheti-speaking communities reside in the Middle East of which most are migrant workers,
Lexicon
Sylheti shares most linguistic properties with Standard Bengali,[(Chatterjee 1939, Gordon 2005)] with a lexical similarity of 53.2%.[Karim, M. A. (2013). Technical Challenges and Design Issues in Bangla Language Processing. IGI Global. pp.xiv. Retrieved 19 September 2020.]
Phonology
The phoneme inventory of Sylheti differs from both Bengali language as well as the Eastern Bengali.["Its phoneme inventory differs from the inventory in the Standard dialect of Bangla or its closest varieties (Khan, 2010)." ] It is characterised by a loss of breathiness and aspiration contrasts, leading to a significant reduction in its phoneme inventory and to the development of tones. In particular, the following developments are seen:
-
Both voiced and voiceless aspirated stops have become unaspirated ( → ; → ).
-
The voiceless labials have spirantised to homorganic fricatives ( → ; → ).
-
The velar stops have become velar fricatives ( → ; → ), although can be heard as an allophone of when preceded by high vowels .
-
The post-alveolar affricates have spirantised to alveolar fricatives ( → ; → ; → ; → ).
-
Among the voiceless stops only the dental /, / and retroflex /, / stops have remained stops. In some analyses, the dental–retroflex distinction (/, /) is replaced by highly unusual dental–alveolar one (/, /).
|}
|}
Tone
Sylheti is tonal.
|
|
| | | level | 'intestine' |
| | | high | 'hand' |
| | | level | 'ink' |
| | | high | 'empty' |
| | | level | 'powder' |
| | | high | 'horse' |
| | | level | 'theft' |
| | | high | 'knife' |
| | | level | 'net, web' |
| | | high | 'spicy/pungent' |
| | | level | 'tick' |
| | | high | 'correct' |
| | | level | 'branch' |
| | | high | 'shield' |
| | | level | 'palmyra, rhythm' |
| | | high | 'plate' |
| | | level | 'donation' |
| | | high | 'paddy' |
| | | level | 'bridge' |
| | | high | 'flower' |
| | | level | 'bangle' |
| | | high | 'good, welfare' |
| | | level | 'arthritis' |
| | | high | 'rice' |
A more recent study shows that there is a three-way tonal system in Sylheti words with two syllables or more. According to this analysis, words with aspiration in the final syllable historically gain a high tone across the word, whilst those with initial aspiration have this replaced by a low tone across the word. Those with no historical aspirated consonants retain a mid tone.
|
|
| 1 | | | High | 'goat' | | | Low | 'torn' | | | Mid | 'grindstone' |
| 2 | | | High | 'room' | | | Low | 'taunting' | | | Mid | 'stick' |
| 3 | | | High | 'fan' | | | Low | 'empty' | | | Mid | 'ripe' |
It is considered that these tones arose when aspirated consonants lost their aspiration. Sylheti continues to have a long history of coexisting with tonal Tibeto-Burman languages including various dialects of Kokborok such as Reang. Even though there is no clear evidence of direct borrowing of lexical items from those languages into Sylheti, there is still a possibility that the emergence of Sylheti tones is due to external influence, as the indigenous speakers of Tibeto-Burman languages by and large use Sylheti as a common medium for interaction.
Grammar
Sylheti grammar is the study of the morphology and syntax of Sylheti.
Nouns
Case
When a definite article such as -gu/ţa (singular) or -guin/ţin (plural) is added, equivalent to using the measure word for the noun as an infix, nouns are also inflected for number.| +Noun Inflection
! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="2"Animate
! colspan="2" | Inanimate |
|
|
|
|
|
Note how the case endings attach after the measure word.
For the genitive case, the ending may change depending on the last phoneme of the noun. A noun (without an article) which ends either in a consonant or in the inherent vowel, ô, is inflected by adding - ôr to the end of the word (and deleting the inherent vowel if applicable). An example of this would be the genitive of gus 'meat' being gus ôr 'of meat' or '(the) meat's'. A noun which ends in any vowel apart from the inherent vowel will just have a -r following it, as in the genitive of fua being fuar '(the) boy's'. The genitive ending is also applied to verbs (in their verbal noun forms), which is most commonly seen when using postpositions (for example: hiknôr lagi, 'for learning').
For the locative case, only applicable to inanimate nouns, the case marker also changes in a similar fashion to the genitive case, with consonants and the inherent vowel having their own ending, - ô, and all other vowels having another ending, - t. For example, silôţ ô 'in Sylhet', dáxát 'in Dhaka'.
Marked nominative / Ergative
The subject of a transitive verb in Sylheti is marked with the case marker - -e after consonant endings, and - -e after vowel endings and after the generic definite article ending - - ta.
On the other hand, the subject of an intransitive verb, or of the verb zaua 'to go', takes no case marker in its nominative case.
This feature of Sylheti is closer to Assamese than to Standard Bengali. This marked nominative case has been called an ergative case, and has also led to Sylheti being classified as an ergative–absolutive language. The particular system of split ergativity that Sylheti uses appears to be a retention of the system that emerged from Magadhi Prakrit.
Measure words
When counted, nouns must also be accompanied by the appropriate measure word. The noun's measure word ( MW) must be used in between the numeral and the noun. Most nouns take the generic measure word gu/ţa/xán, although there are many more specific measure words, such as zôn, which is only used to count humans.
Measuring nouns in Sylheti without their corresponding measure words (e.g. aţ mekur instead of aţ- gu mekur 'eight cats') would typically be considered ungrammatical. However, omitting the noun and preserving the measure word is grammatical and not uncommon to hear. For example, Xáli êx- zôn táxbô. (lit. 'Only one- MW will remain.') would be understood to mean 'Only one person will remain.', since zôn can only be used to count humans.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Sylheti personal pronouns are somewhat similar to English pronouns, having different words for first, second, and third person, and also for singular and plural (unlike for verbs, below). Sylheti pronouns, like their English counterparts, do differentiate for gender. Sylheti has different third-person pronouns for proximity. The first are used for someone who is nearby, and the second are for those who are a little further away. The third are usually for those who are not present. In addition, each of the second- and third-person pronouns have different forms for the familiar and polite forms; the second person also has a "very familiar" form (sometimes called "despective"). It may be noted that the "very familiar" form is used when addressing particularly close friends or family as well as for addressing subordinates, or in abusive language. In the following tables, the abbreviations used are as follows: VF=very familiar, F=familiar, and P=polite (honor); H=here, T=there, E=elsewhere (proximity), and I=inanimate.
The nominative case is used for pronouns that are the subject of the sentence, such as " I already did that" or "Will you please stop making that noise?"
| + Personal pronouns (nominative case)
! Subject !! Proximity !! Honor !! Singular !! Plural |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The objective case is used for pronouns serving as the direct or indirect objects, such as "I told him to wash the dishes" or "The teacher gave me the homework assignment". The inanimate pronouns remain the same in the objective case.
| + Personal pronouns (objective case)
! Subject !! Proximity !! Honor !! Singular !! Plural |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The possessive case is used to show possession, such as "Where is your coat?" or "Let's go to our house". In addition, sentences such as " I have a book" () or " I need money" () also use the possessive (the literal translation of the Bengali versions of these sentences would be "There is my book" and "There is my need for money" respectively).
| + Personal pronouns (possessive case)
! Subject !! Proximity !! Honor !! Singular !! Plural |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Indefinite and negative pronouns
Bengali has no negative pronouns (such as no one, nothing, none). These are typically represented by adding the negative particle ( nae) to indefinite pronouns, which are themselves derived from their corresponding question words. Common indefinite pronouns are listed below.
Relative pronouns
The relative pronoun ( ze) and its different variants, as shown below, are commonly employed in complex sentences. The relative pronouns for animate objects change for number and honour, but those for inanimate objects stay the same.
| + Animate relative pronouns
!
!Nominative ( who)
!Genitive ( whose)
!Objective ( to whom) |
| Singular (/) | ze | zar | zare |
| Singular () | zein | zen | zenore |
| Plural (/) | zara | zarar | zarare |
| Plural () | zein-tain | zein-tan | zein-tanore |
| +Inanimate relative pronouns
!Nominative/Objective ( which)
!Genitive ( of which)
!Locative ( in which) |
| zeta | zetar | zetat |
Adjectives
Adjectives do not inflect for case, gender, or number in Sylheti and are placed before the noun they modify.
Some adjectives form their opposites by prefixing be-, or sometimes ni-; for example, the opposite of ( ruzgar, 'earning') is ( beruzgar, 'not earning, idle, mendicant'), the opposite of ( xama, 'of use') is ( nixama, 'useless, of no use').
Demonstrative adjectives – 'this' and 'that' – correspond to i, ô/ôu and hi, hô/hou, with the definite article attached to the following noun. Thus, 'this book' would translate to i boi-xan, while 'those books' would translate to hi boi-gisin/boi-gun/boi-ain.
Comparatives and superlatives
Sylheti adjectives form their comparative forms with ( arô, 'more'), and their superlative forms with ( shôb táki, 'than all'). Comparisons are formed by using genitive form of the object of comparison, followed by the postposition ( táki/tóni, 'than') or the postposition ( laxan, 'like') and then by ( arô, 'more') or ( xôm, 'less'). The word for 'more' is optional, but the word for 'less' is required, so in its absence 'more' is inferred. Adjectives can be additionally modified by using ( bolon/bakka/bout, 'much') or ( bout, 'much'), which are especially useful for comparing quantities.
|
Xorim Rohimor tóni lampa | Karim of Rahim than tall | Karim is taller than Rahim |
Xorim Rohimor tóni aroo lampa | Karim of Rahim than more tall | Karim is taller than Rahim |
Xorim Rohimor tóni xom lampa | Karim of Rahim than less tall | Karim is shorter than Rahim |
Xorim Rohimor laxan lampa | Karim of Rahim like tall | Karim is as tall as Rahim |
Xorim Rohimor tóni bout lampa | Karim of Rahim than much tall | Karim is much taller than Rahim |
Verbs
Sylheti verbs are highly inflected and are regular with only few exceptions. They consist of a stem and an ending; they are traditionally listed in Sylheti dictionaries in their "verbal noun" form, which is usually formed by adding -a, - ni, -na to the stem: for instance, ( xani, to eat) is formed from the stem and similarly ( xôra/ xôrna, to do) is formed from the stem . The stem can end in either a vowel or a consonant. Verbs are conjugated for tense and person by changing the endings, which are largely the same for all verbs. However, the stem vowel can often change as part of the phenomenon known as vowel harmony, whereby one vowel can be influenced by other vowels in the word to sound more harmonious. An example would be the verb to write, with stem lex-: ( l exô, 'you all write') but also ( l ekí, 'we write'). If verbs are classified by stem vowel and if the stem ends in a consonant or vowel, there are nine basic classes in which most verbs can be placed; all verbs in a class will follow the same pattern. A prototype verb from each of these classes will be used to demonstrate conjugation for that class; bold will be used to indicate mutation of the stem vowel. Additionally, there are irregular verbs, such as ( zani, to go) that change the first consonant in their stem in certain conjugations.
Like many other Indo-Aryan languages (such as Bengali language or Assamese), nouns can be turned into verbs by combining them with select auxiliary verbs. In Sylheti, the most common such auxiliary verb is ( xôra, 'to do'); thus, verbs such as joke are formed by combining the noun form of joke () with to do () to create . When conjugating such verbs the noun part of such a verb is left untouched, so in the previous example, only would be inflected or conjugated (e.g.: I will make a joke becomes ; see more on tenses below). Other auxiliary verbs include and , but the verb enjoys significant usage because it can be combined with foreign verbs to form a native version of the verb, even if a direct translation exists. Most often this is done with English verbs: for example, to vote is often referred to as (, where is the transliteration of vote).
Copula
Sylheti is considered a zero copula language in some aspects.
-
In the simple present tense there is no verb connecting the subject to the predicative (the "zero verb" copula). There is one notable exception, however, which is when the predicative takes on the existential, locative, or possessive aspects; for such purposes, the incomplete verb ( as) is used, which is conjugated according to the rules given below.
-
In the past tense, the incomplete verb is always used as the copula, regardless of the nature of the predicative.
-
For the future tense and non-finite structures, the copula is supplied by the verb ( ówa), with the only exception being the possessive predicative for which the verb ( táxa, 'to remain') is utilised.
The following table demonstrates the rules above with some examples.
|
| I am happy | | No verb used to denote the copula |
| There is time | | used to connect to an existential predicative |
| I am at home | | used to connect to a locative predicative |
| We were happy | | In the past tense, is used as the copula |
| I will be at home | | In the future tense, is used as the copula |
| He will have a car | | In the future tense, is used to connect to a possessive predicative |
Negation
There are three sentence negators employed in Sylheti:
-
The zero verb copula is negated using the incomplete negator , which is conjugated as (1), (2), (3).
-
Existential sentences that use the verb are negated with ( nai), which does not need to be conjugated.
-
All other verbs (with the exceptions of the ones listed above) are negated using the universal negative particle ( nae). is typically placed after the finite verb (see examples below), but can also be placed at the end of the sentence, which negates the whole sentence. can be used in all tenses except two: the present perfect and the past perfect.
-
Verbs in the present perfect and the past perfect tenses are negated using the suffix ( na) which can also refer to "no" in yes–no questions.
| +
Negating verbs
!English
!Sylheti
!Notes |
| I am not happy | | Incomplete negator conjugated for first-person |
| We don't have a car | | used to negate , which is completely replaced |
| I don't work | | is used to negate all other finite verbs |
| I didn't help him | | |
Person
Verbs are inflected for person and honorific, but not for number. There are five forms: first person, second person (very familiar), second person (familiar), third person (familiar), and second/third person (polite). The same sample subject pronouns will be used for all the example conjugation paradigms: (), (), (), (), (), () and (). These have the following plurals respectively: (), (), (), ()/ (), ()/ () and ().
Comparison
A notable characteristic of spoken Sylheti is the correspondence of the and , pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative to the or of Bengali and voiceless glottal fricative to the /x/ of Assamese respectively.
|
|
ঢাকা
Dhaka | ঢাহা, ঢাকা
Ḍáha, Dáka | ঢাকা
Dhaka |
Daxa | /ɖáxa/ | Dhaka |
একজন মানুষ
Êkjôn manush | একজন মানুষ
Êkzôn manush | এজন লোক
Ezôn lük |
Êxzôn manu | /exzɔn manu/ | A person |
একজন লোক, একজন পুরুষ
Êkjon lok, Êkjôn purush | একজন লুক, একজন বেডা
Êkzôn luk, Êkzôn bêḍa | এজন মানুহ
Ezôn manuh |
Êxzôn beṭa | /exʈa beʈa/ | A man |
কীসের
Kisher | কীয়ের
Kiyer | কিহৰ
Kihôr |
Kior | /kiɔ́ɾ/ | Informal of Whereof |
কন্যা, ঝি, মেয়ে, পুত্রী
Kônna, Jhi, Meye, Putri | কইন্যা, ঝি, মাইয়া, পুড়ি
Kôinna, Zí, Maiya, Puri | জী, ছোৱালী
Zi, Süali | ,
Zí, Furi | /zí/, /ɸuɽi/ | Daughter |
মানবজাতি
Manôbjati | মাইনষের জাত
Mainsher zat | মানৱজাতি, মানুহৰ জাতি
Manôwzati, Manuhôr zati |
Manuzat | /manuzat̪/ | Mankind |
অসমীয়া, অহমীয়া
Ôshômiya, Ôhômiya | অহমীয়া
Ôhômiya | অসমীয়া
Ôxômiya |
Ôhômia | /ɔɦɔmia/ | Assamese people |
আঙুল
Angul | আঙ্গুল
Angul | আঙুলি
Anguli |
Anguil | /aŋguil/ | Finger, toe |
আংটি
Angṭi | আংটি, আঙ্গুইট
Angti, Anguiṭ | আঙুঠি
Anguṭhi |
Angṭí | /aŋʈi/ | Ring |
আগুনপোড়া
Agunpora | আগুনপুড়া
Agunpura | জুইত পোৰা, জুইত সেকা
Zuit püra, Zuit xeka |
Aguinfura | /aguinfuɽa/ | Baked, grilled |
পাখি, চিড়িয়া
Pakhi, Chiriya | পাখি, পাহি, পাইখ্যা
Pakhi, Pahi, Paikhya | চৰাই, পখী
Sorai, Pokhi | , ,
Sua, Fakia, Forinda | /sua/, /ɸakia/, /ɸɔrinda/ | Bird |
পরে
Pôre | পরে
Pôre | পাছত, পৰত
Pasot, Porot |
Bade | /bad̪e/ | Later |
সকল, সমস্ত, সব, তামাম
Shôkôl, Shômôsto, Shômôsto, Shôb, Tamam | হগল, হক্কল, সমস্ত, সব, তামাম, ব্যাক
Hôgôl, Hôkkôl, Shômôsto, Shôb, Tamam, Bêk | সকলো, সৱ, চব
Xôkôlü; Xôb; Sôb | , ,
Hôxôl, Shôb, Tamam | /ɦɔxɔl/, /ʃɔb/, /t̪amam/ | All |
পুরা, গোটা, আস্ত
Pura, Goṭa, Astô | পুরা, গুটা/গোডা, আস্তা
Pura, Guta/Goda, Asta | গোটেই
Güṭei | , ,
Asta, Fura, Guṭa | /ast̪a/, /ɸura/, /guʈa/ | Whole |
সাত বিল
Shat bil | সাত বিল, হাত বিল
Shat bil, Hat bil | সাত বিল
Xat bil |
Hat bil | /ɦat̪ bil/ | Seven wetlands |
সাতকড়া
Shatkôra | সাতকড়া, হাতকড়া
Shatkôra, Hatkôra | সাতকৰা
Xatkôra |
Hatxôra | /ɦat̪xɔɽa/ | Citrus macroptera fruit |
সিলেটি
Sileṭi | সিলডি, সিলেইট্যা
Silôḍi, Sileiṭṭa | ছিলঠীয়া
Silôṭhiya |
Silôṭi | /silɔʈi/ | Sylheti |
ভালো করে খান।
Bhalo kôre khan. | ভালা/ভালো কইরা খান।
Bála/Bálo kôira khan. | ভালকৈ খাওক।
Bhalkoi khaük. |
Bala xôri/tike xaukka. | /bála xɔɾi xaukka/, /bála ʈike xaukka/ | Bon appetit |
স্ত্রী, পত্নী, বউ
Stri, Pôtni, Bôu | বউ
Bôu | স্ত্রী, ঘৈণী, পত্নী
Stri, Ghôini, Pôtni | ,
Maug, Bôu | /maug/, /bɔu/ | Wife |
স্বামী, বর
Shami, Bôr | স্বামী, হাই, হাইন, জামাই
Shami, Hai, Hain, Zamai | গিৰিয়েক, পতি, স্বামী
Giriyêk, Pôti, Swami | ,
Hai, Zamai | /zamai/ | Husband |
জামাই
Jamai | জামাই
Zamai | জোঁৱাই
Züai |
Damand | /damand/ | Son-in-law |
শ্বশুর
Shôshur | হউর, হশুর
Hôur, Hôshur | শহুৰ
Xôhur |
Hôur | /ɦɔúɾ/ | Father-in-law |
শাশুড়ি
Shashuṛi | হউরী, হাশুরি, হাউরি
Hôuri, Hashuri, Hauri | শাহু
Xahu |
Hoṛi | /ɦɔɽi/ | Mother-in-law |
শ্যালক
Shyalok | শালা, হালা
Shala, Hala | খুলশালা
Khulxala |
Hala | /ɦala/ | Brother-in-law |
শ্যালিকা
Shyalika | শালী, হালী
Shali, Hali | খুলশালী
Khulxali |
Hali | /ɦali/ | Sister-in-law |
শেখা, শিখা
Shekha, Shikha | শিখা, শিহা, হিকা, হিহা, হিয়া
Shikha, Shiha, Hika, Hiha, Hiya | শিকা
Xika |
Hika | /ɦika/ | Learn |
সরিষা
Shôrisha | হইরা, সইষ্যা, হউরা
Hôira, Shôishya, Hôura | সৰিয়হ
Xôriôh | ,
Hôirô, Lai | /ɦɔiɾɔ/, /lai/ | Mustard |
শেয়াল, শিয়াল
Sheyal, Shiyal | শিয়াল, হিয়াল
Shiyal, Hial | শিয়াল
Xiyal |
Hial | /ɦial/ | Fox, Jackal |
বিড়াল
Biṛal | বিলাই, মেহুর
Bilai, Mehur | মেকুৰী, বিৰালী
Mekuri, Birali | ,
Mekur, Bilai | /mekuɾ/, /bilai/ | Cat |
শুঁটকি
Shuṭki | হুটকি, হুনি
Huṭki, Huni | শুকটি, শুকান মাছ
Xukôti, Xukan mas | ,
Huṭki, Hukôin | /ɦuʈki/, /ɦukoin/ | Sundried Fish |
আপনার নাম কী?
Apnar nam ki? | আপনের নাম কী(তা)?
Apner nam ki(ta)? | আপোনাৰ নাম কি?
Apünar nam ki? |
Afnor nam kita? | /aɸnôɾ nam kit̪a/ | What's your name? |
ডাক্তার আসার আগেই রোগী মারা/মরে গেল।
Daktar ashar agei rogi mara/more gelô | ডাক্তর আহার/আওয়ার আগেই রোগী মইরা গেল।
Daktôr ahar/awar agei rügi môira gelô | ডাক্তৰ অহাৰ আগতেই ৰোগী মৰি গ'ল।
Daktor ohar agotei rügi mori gól |
Daxtôr aanir ageu bemari môri gelô. | /ɖaxt̪ɔɾ aanir age bemaɾi mɔɾi gelo/ | Before the doctor came, the patient had died. |
বহু দিন দেখিনি।
Bôhú din dekhini. | বহুত দিন দেহিনাই/দেখছি না।
Bôhút din dehinai/dekhsi na. | বহুদিন দেখা নাই।
Bôhudin dekha nai. |
Bakka din dexsi na. | /bakka d̪in d̪exsi na/ | Long time, no see. |
আপনি ভালো আছেন নাকি?
Apni bhalo achhen naki? | আপনে ভালা আছইন/আছেন নি?, আপনে ভালো আছেন নিকি?
Apne bála asôin/asen ni?, Apne bálo asen niki? | আপুনি ভালে আছেনে?
Apuni bhale asênê? |
Afne bala asôin ni? | /aɸne bála asoin ni/ | Are you fine/good? |
আমি তোমাকে ভালোবাসি।
Ami tomake bhalobashi. | আমি তুমারে ভালোবাসি।
Ami tumare bálobashi. | মই তোমাক ভাল পাওঁ।
Moi tümak bhal paü. |
Ami tumare bala fai. | /ami t̪umare bála ɸai/ | I love you. |
আমি ভুলে গেছি/গিয়েছি।
Ami bhule gechhi/giyechhi. | আমি ভুইলা/ভুইল্যা গেছি, আমি পাউরি গেছি।
Ami búila/búilla gesi, Ami pauri gesi. | মই পাহৰি গৈছোঁ।
Môi pahôri goisü. |
Ami faûri lisi. | /ami ɸaʊɾi lisi/ | I have forgotten. |
আলু গোস্তের/মাংসের ঝোলটা আমার ভালো লাগল।
Alu goster/mangsher jholṭa amar bhalo laglo. | আলু গুস্তের/মাংসের ঝুলটা/ছালনডা আমার ভালা লাগলো।
Alu guster/mangsher jhulta/salônḍa amar bála laglo. | মাংসৰ তৰকাৰীখন মোৰ খুব ভাল লাগিছে।
Mangxôr tôrkarikhôn mür khub bhal lagise. |
Alu gusôr salômguta amar bakka bala lagse. | /gust̪ɔɾ salɔmguʈa amaɾ bakka bála lagse/ | I liked the Alu gosht curry. |
শিলচর কোনদিকে?
Shilcôr kondike? | শিলচর কোনদিকে/কোন ফাইল/কোন মুহি?
Shilcôr kündike/kün phail/kün muhi? | শিলচৰ কোনফালে?
Xilsôr künphale? |
Hilcôr kunbae/kunbaidi/kunmuka? | /ɦil͡tʃɔɾ kunbae, kunbaed̪i, kunmuká/ | Which way to Silchar? |
| এটা কী?
Eṭa ki? | এইটা/এইডা কী(তা)?
Eita/(E)iḍa ki(ta)? | এইটো কি?
Eitü ki? |
Igu/Ikṭa kita? | /igu, ikʈa kit̪a/ | What is this? |
| সেটা কী?
Sheṭa ki? | হেইটা/হেইডা কী(তা)?
Heita/H(e)iḍa ki(ta)? | সেইটো কি?
Xeitü ki? |
Higu/Hikṭa/Hiṭa kita? | /ɦigu, ɦikʈa kit̪a/ | What is that? |
শেষ
Shesh | হেষ
Hêsh | শেষ
Xex |
Hesh | /ɦeʃ/ | End, finish |
Comparison with Standard Bengali
A phrase in:
-
Standard Bengali: এক দেশের গালি আরেক দেশের বুলি .
-
Sylheti: ex deshôr gail arôx deshôr mát.
which literally means 'one land's obscenity is another land's language', and can be roughly translated to convey that a similar word in one language can mean something very different in another.
Another example:
-
মেঘ in Standard Bengali means 'cloud'.
-
মেঘ in Eastern Bengali means 'rain' or 'cloud'.
-
/মেঘ megh in Sylheti means 'rain'.
-
In Pali, मेघ megha means both 'rain' and 'cloud'.
See also
Notes
Bibliography
External links
