Surjapuri language

Surjapuri is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language spoken in Eastern India including North Bengal, West Bengal, and Eastern Bihar, as well as in Nepal. Among speakers in some regions, it is known as 'Deshi Bhasa'. It possesses similarities with Kamatapuri, Assamese, Bengali, and Maithili.

Surjapuri
Sura, Deshi Bhasa
सुरजापुरी, সুরজাপুরী
'Surjapuri' in Devanagari & Bengali scripts
Native toIndia, Nepal, Bangladesh
RegionBihar, West Bengal
Native speakers
2,256,228 (2011 census)[1]
Census results conflate some speakers with Hindi.[2]
Devanagari, Bengali
Language codes
ISO 639-3sjp
Glottologsurj1235

Geographical distribution

Surjapuri is mainly spoken in the parts of Purnia division (Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, and Araria districts) of the Mithila region of Bihar.[3] It is also spoken in West Bengal (Uttar Dinajpur and Dakshin Dinajpur districts, and in North Malda of Malda district, specially in Harishchandrapur and Chanchal area and Siliguri city of Darjeeling district – part of the North Bengal region within the Jalpaiguri division), as well as in parts of eastern Nepal.

Surjapuri is associated with the Kamtapuri language (and its dialects Rangpuri and Koch Rajbangshi) spoken in North Bengal and Western Assam,[4] as well as with Assamese, Bengali, and Maithili.

Pronouns[5][6][7]
Person Singular nominative Singular oblique Plural nominative Plural oblique
1st mũi mo- hāmrā hāmsā-, hāmcā-
2nd tũi to- tumrā, tomrā tumsā-, tomsā-
3rd proximal yāhāy yahā- emrā, erā ismā-, isā-
3rd distal wahā̃y wahā- amrā, worā usmā-, usā-

Surjapuri has the oblique plural suffixes: sā (hamsā-, tomsā-) and smā (ismā-, usmā-). They are also seen in Early Assamese as: sā (āmāsā-, tomāsā-) and sambā (esambā-, tesambā-) and their occurrences are similar.[8]

Notes
  1. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
  2. "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues – 2001". Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  3. Kumāra, Braja Bihārī (1998). Small States Syndrome in India. p. 146. ISBN 9788170226918. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
  4. Hernández-Campoy, Juan Manuel; Conde-Silvestre, Juan Camilo, eds. (15 February 2012). The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781118257265. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
  5. (Toulmin 2006, p. 184)
  6. (Bez 2012)
  7. Kakati 1941
  8. (Bez 2012)

References
  • Bez, Gitanjali (2012). Grammatical Categories in Madhav Kandali's Ramayana (Ph.D.). Gauhati University. hdl:10603/116370.


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