Chittagonian ( or ) or Chittagonian Bengali is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of the Greater Chittagong in Bangladesh. Chittagonian is not inherently intelligible to other varieties of Bengali, although it is variously considered as a nonstandard Bengali dialect. However, Chittagonian speakers can understand other regional Bengali dialects very well. Chittagonian is also considered to be a separate language by some linguists. "The dialect of Chittagong, in southeast Bangladesh, is different enough to be considered a separate language." While Chittagonian is linguistically distinct, its speakers identify with Bengali culture and the Standard Bengali language. It is broadly mutually intelligible with the Rohingya language and with a lesser extent to Noakhali and Chakma. It is estimated (2006) that Chittagonian has 13 million speakers, principally in Bangladesh.
Classification Chittagonian is a member of the Bengali-Assamese sub-branch of the Eastern group of Indo-Aryan languages, a branch of the wider Indo-European language family. It is derived through an Eastern Middle Indo-Aryan from Old Indo-Aryan, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European. grouped the dialects of Chittagong under Southeastern Bengali, alongside the dialects of Noakhali and Akyab. places Chittagonian 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 dialect groups of these eastern dialects, Chittagonian has phonetic and morphological properties that are not present in standard Bengali and other western dialects of Bengali.
Phonology
Consonants LabialDental/AlveolarRetroflexPalatalVelarStopvoicelessvoicedFricativevoiceless~voicedNasalTrill/Tap~Approximantlateralcentral()
Approximants are only heard as allophones of vowels . can have an allophone of . can have a bilabial allophone of .
Vowels FrontCentralBackHighHigh-midLow-mid()Low
Nasalization occurs for seven vowels . is heard as an allophone of .
Writing system
The Bengali script (Bangla Lipi) and Latin script are used to write this language.
Gboard for Android has added a Chittagongian Keyboard.
Sample text The following text is Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, written in Chittagonian: Bengali Script
Romanisation Biyak manuś ijjôt edde ókôr íśabe ajad ar úyainnaa óiyere fôyda óy. Ítarattu ahôl edde bibek ase; etôllay ejjôn arejjônôr úyare bhaiyur nan bebhar gôrôn dôrhar.
English All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
See also Chittagong Chittagong Division Chittagong Hill Tracts
Bibliography
References
External links