Bengali dialects

These dialects are mostly spoken in and around the Bhagirathi River basin, in West Central Bengal. The standard form of the colloquial language (Choltibhasha) has developed out of the Nadia dialect.

Nadia/Standard Bengali language: æk jon loker duţi chhele chhilo. (M)

Kolkata: æk jon loker duţo chhele chhilo. (M)

Kolkata (Women's dialect): æk joner dui chhele chhelo. (P)

Howrah: æk loker duţi chhele chhilo. (M)

Howrah (Women's dialect): æk loker duţi chhele chhilo. (M)

Ghatal: æk loker duiţi putro chhilo. (M)

Tamluk: æk bektir duiţi puttro chhilo. (P)

Katwa: kono loker duţi chhele chhilo. (M)

Manikganj: æk zoner duiđi saoal asilo. (য়্যাক জনের দুইডী ছাওয়াল আছিলো) (P)

Mymensingh: æk zôner dui put asil. (এক জনের দুই পুৎ আছিল) (P)

Dhaka/Bikrampuri dialect/Pure Bangali dialect: æk jôner duiđa pola asilo. (P)

Comilla: æk bæđar dui fut asil. (M)

Noakhali: (Sandwip): ek shôkser dui beţa asilo.(P)

Noakhali (Feni) (Chhagalnaiya): æk zôner dui hola asil. (P)

Noakhali (Feni): egga mainsher duga hut/hola asilo. (P)

Noakhali (Hatia): ækzôn mainsher duga hola asil. (P)

Noakhali (Lakshmipur) (Ramganj): ekzôner dui hut asil. (P)

Chittagong: ægua mainsher dua fua asil. (P)

Sylhet: kono manushôr dui fua asil. (P)

Cachar) ækzôn manushór dugua fua asil (M)

Chuadanga : æk jon lokir duiţo seile silo. (M)

Khulna: æk zon manshir dui soal silo. (P)

Bagerhat: æk zon manshir dui saoal silo. (P)

Jessore: æk zoner duţo sol silo. (P)

Barisal (Bakerganj): æk zon mansher dugga pola asilo. (P)

Faridpur: kero mansher dugga pola silo. (P)

Satkhira: æk loker duđi sabal selo.

Kushtia: æk mansher duđi seile silo.

This dialect is mainly spoken in the districts of North Bengal. These are the only dialects in Bangladesh that pronounce the letters চ, ছ, জ, and ঝ as affricates [tʃ], [tʃʰ], [dʒ], and [dʒʱ], respectively, and preserve the breathy-voiced stops in all parts of the word, much like Western dialects (including Standard Bengali). The dialects of Rangpur and Pabna do not have contrastive nasalised vowels.

Dinajpur: æk jôn manusher dui chhaoa chhilô (P)

Pabna (Women's dialect): kono mansher dui chhaoal chhilô. (P)

Bogra: æk jhôner dui bæţa chhoil chhilô. (P)

Malda: æk jhon manuser duţa bæţa achhlô. (P)

Malda (Koch Mixed): æk jhona manser duţa bæţa achhlô. (P)

Rangpur: æk zon mansher duikna bêţa asil. (P)

Rajshahi: æk loker duida chhilo. (P)

Joypurhat: æta mansher duta bæta acholo

East Purnia (Siripuria): æk jhonar dui chhua chhil. (P)

Goalpara: æk zônkar dui bæţa asil. (P)

Rangpur: ækzôn mansher duikna bæţa asin. (P)

Jalpaiguri: æk jhônkar dui jhon bæţa achhil. (P)

Cooch Behar: æk jôna mansir dui kona bæţa achhil. (P)

Darjeeling (Terai): æk jhônkar duiţa bæţa chhilo. (P)

This dialect is spoken in the area which is known as Manbhum.

Manbhumi: æk loker duţa beţa chhilô. (M)

East Medinipur: gote loker duiţa toka thilo. (M)

Dhalbhum/East Singhbhum: æk loker duţa chha chhilo. (M)

Pashchim Bardhaman district: kono loker duiţi chhele chhilo. (M)

Ranchi: æk loker du beţa rahe. (M)

Midnapore: æk lokkar duţţa po thailô. (M)

The latter two, along with Kharia Thar and Mal Paharia, are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages. Similarly, Rajbangsi and Hajong are considered separate languages, although they are very similar to North Bengali dialects. There are many more minor dialects as well, including those spoken in the bordering districts of Purnea and Singhbhum and among the tribals of eastern Bangladesh like the Hajong and the Chakma.

This category is for dialects, mostly restricted to certain communities instead of a region, as well as closely related languages. Dobhashi was a highly Persianised dialect originating during the Bengal Sultanate period. The sadhu bhasha was a historical Sanskritised register of Bengali and Christian Bengali was a Europeanised dialect; both of which originated during the colonial period. Examples of heavily Sanskritised Bengali include the Jana Gana Mana.

Dobhashi: "æk adomer dui aolad chhilô." (এক আদমের দুই আওলাদ ছিল।) (M)

Christian Bengali: "æk homor dui putrô chhilô." (এক হোমোর দুই পুত্র ছিল।) (P)

Sadhu bhasha: "kono æk bektir duṭi putrô chhilô" (কোন এক ব্যক্তির দু'টি পুত্র ছিল।) (P)

Heavily Sanskritised Bengali: "æka byaktira putradvaya chhila" (এক ব্যক্তির পুত্রদ্বয় ছিল।) (P)

Assamese: "ezôn manuhôr duzon putek asil" (এজন মানুহৰ দুজন পুতেক আছিল) (P)

Hajong: "ekzôn manôlôg duida pôla thakibar" (একজন মানলগ দুইদা পলা থাকিবার) (P)

Chakma: ek jônôtun diba pwa el.

Kharia Thar: æhôk nôker duiţa chhaoga rôhina. (M)

Mal Paharia Language: æk jhỗṇỗr duiţô beţa achhlæk. (M)

There are marked dialectal differences between the speech of Bengalis living on the পশ্চিম Poshchim (western) side and পূর্ব Purbo (eastern) side of the Padma River.

Bengali dialects include Eastern and Southeastern Bengali dialects: The Eastern dialects serve as the primary colloquial language of the Dhaka district. In contrast to Western dialects where ট　/ʈ/ and ড /ɖ/ are unvoiced and voiced retroflex stops respectively, most Eastern and Southeastern dialects pronounce them as apical alveolar /t̠/ and /d̠/, especially in less formal speech. These dialects also lack contrastive nasalised vowels or a distinction in র /r~ɾ/, ড়/ঢ় /ɽ/, pronouncing them mostly as /ɹ/, although some speakers may realise র /r~ɾ/ when occurring before a consonant or prosodic break. This is also true of the Sylheti dialect, which has a lot in common with the Kamrupi dialect of Assam in particular, and is sometimes considered a separate language. The Eastern dialects extend into Southeastern dialects, which include parts of Chittagong. The Chittagonian dialect has Tibeto-Burman influences.

In the dialects prevalent in much of eastern Bangladesh (Barisal, Chittagong, and Dhaka), many of the stops and affricates heard in Kolkata Bengali are pronounced as fricatives.

Poshchim Bengali (Western Bengali) Palato-alveolar or alveolo-palatal affricates চ [tɕɔ~tʃɔ], ছ [tɕʰɔ~tʃʰɔ], জ [dʑɔ~dʒɔ], and ঝ [dʑɔʱ~dʒɔʱ] correspond to Purbo Bengali (Eastern Bengali) চʻ [ts]~[tɕ], ছ় [s]~[tsʰ], জʻ [dz]~[z], and ঝ় [z]. A similar pronunciation is also found in Assamese, a related language across the border in India.

The aspirated velar stop খ [kʰ], the unvoiced aspirated labial stop ফ [pʰ] and the voiced aspirated labial stop ভ [bʰ] of Poshcim Bengali correspond to খ় [x~ʜ], ফ় [f~ɸ] and ভ [β~v] in many dialects of Purbo Bengali.

Many Purbo Bengali dialects share phonological features with Assamese, including the debuccalisation of শ [ʃ] to হ [h] or খ় [x].

The influence of Tibeto-Burman languages on the phonology of Purbo Bengali (Bangladesh) is seen through the lack of nasalised vowels, an alveolar articulation for the Retroflex stops ট [ʈ], ঠ [ʈʰ], ড [ɖ], and ঢ [ɖʱ], resembling the equivalent phonemes in languages such as Thai and Lao and the lack of distinction between র [ɹ] and ড়/ঢ় [ɽ]. Unlike most languages of the region, some Purbo Bengali dialects do not include the breathy voiced stops ঘ [ɡʱ], ঝ [dʑʱ], ঢ [ɖʱ], ধ [d̪ʱ], and ভ [bʱ]. Some variants of Bengali, particularly Chittagonian and Chakma Bengali, have contrastive tone; differences in the pitch of the speaker's voice can distinguish words. In dialects such as Hajong of northern Bangladesh, there is a distinction between উ and ঊ , the first corresponding exactly to its standard counterpart but the latter corresponding to the Japanese [ü͍] sound listen . There is also a distinction between ই and ঈ in many northern Bangladeshi dialects. ই representing the [ɪ] sound whereas ঈ represents an [i].