Rarhi dialect

Rarhi (/rɔːri/;রাঢ়ী) or Central Standard Bengali is a dialect of Bengali language spoken in the southeastern part of West Bengal, in and around the Bhagirathi River basin of Nadia district[1] and the presidency division in West Bengal. It forms the basis of the standard variety of Bengali.[2][3][4][5][6]

Central Standard Bengali
Rarhi
রাঢ়ী উপভাষা
Native toIndia
RegionPresidency Division, Nadia district, Purba Bardhaman district, Hooghly District
Native speakers
Bengali people of Presidency Division
Bengali alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-1bn
ISO 639-2ben
ISO 639-3ben
Glottologcent1983  Central Bengali

Geographical boundaries

This dialect is prevalent in Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly, Purba Bardhaman Standard Bengali has been formed on the basis of this dialect.

Features

Extensive use of Obhishruti (অভিশ্রুতি, /obʱisrut̪i/). E.g. old Bengali Koriya (করিয়া, /koria/, meaning - having done) > Beng. Koira (কইরা, /koira/) > Beng. Kore (করে, /kore/).[7]

  • 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. Ati (written অতি, means 'excess') is pronounced as Oti (ওতি, /ot̪i/).
  • Use of vowel harmony. E.g. Bilati (বিলাতি, /bilat̪i/, meaning - foreign) became Biliti (বিলিতি, /biliti/).[8]

Obhishruti and Opinihiti

Obhishruti (অভিশ্রুতি, /obʱisrut̪i/) and Opinihiti (অপিনিহিতি, /opinihit̪i/) are two phonological phenomena that occur in spoken Bengali. Opinihiti refers to the phonological process in which a ই or উ is pronounced before it occurs in the word. Obhishruti is the sound change in which this shifted ই or উ becomes removed and changes the preceding vowel. Observe the example above : Koriya (করিয়া, /koria/) > Koira (কইরা, /koira/) > Kore (করে, /kore/). First Opinihiti changes Koriya to Koira (notice how the I changes position.), then Obhishruti changes Koira (কইরা) to Kore (করে).[9]

References
  1. Chakrabarti, Kunal; Chakrabarti, Shubhra (2013). Historical Dictionary of the Bengalis. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810880245.
  2. Karan, Sudhir Kumar (2004). Thus Flows The Ganges. Mittal Publications. ISBN 9788170999232.
  3. Calcutta, Philological Society of (1966). Bulletin of the Philological Society of Calcutta. Department of Comparative Philology, University of Calcutta.
  4. "Praci Bhasavijnan: Indian Journal of Linguistics". Indian Journal of Linguistics. Bhasa Vidya Parishad. 20: 79. 2001.
  5. Bangladesh Quarterly. Department of Films & Publications, Government of Bangladesh. 2002. p. 6.
  6. Calcutta, Philological Society of (1966). Bulletin.
  7. Folk-lore. Indian Publications. 1975.
  8. SK Chatterji, The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language, Calcutta University, Calcutta, 1926; CP Masica, The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1991.
  9. Sunitikumar Chattopadhyay (1939) ভাষা-প্রকাশ বাঙ্গালা ব্যাকরণ, Calcutta University
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