Linguistic Survey Of India Vol V Part I Indo Aryan Family Eastern Group

DIAItBCT

The root Making « to be,' does not occur iu Standard Bengali, but is found i
Onya. So we find a root tU in these specimens, tig. in

mak18 °r ^ *emai11' corIesIK)ndinS to <*Wi «M. he remains.

, ..

^la, he was, or they were, „

'x- i i* **

ite> lasting

mu '* j. . fl » .

Tt .e first person singular of the past tense in Oyiya ends in *, and the second
h » thus M. I did , M* ttou difct Boalao »ta.httll, ^eoiZS,
/colly,, thou didst*

The conjunctive participle in 0ny5 ends in 4, thus d»uf having seen. So we have
here words like jdi»n>i9 not having gone.

Besides the ahove the following peculiarities may he mentioned :<- -

(I) Pronunciation.— -4 is frequently written and pronounced as 5 or o. Thus we
have kor'd for Kariyd, having done; ehoFa, for cJialiya, having gone; "cttoi^a fo-
dhariya, having held; AoZya (pron. hollo) for ftaiZa, he hecame; ^«m for
then ; moftt3 for ^afe, like.

The vowel e is frequently written *&9 pronounced d (like the A in chat ').
13ius(/eZ«, he went, becomes g'ala, pronounced gala; dekhife, to see, hecomes
pronounced ddktSi chheti, the young of any animal, becomes chh'al'a, pronounced
x chhdlld.

There is, in fact, a tendency even for d to become this *& (a). Thus r&giys,
being angry, becomes r*ag*d, pronounced ragga.

As usual, di becomes e> and is so written* Thus khdila, he ate, becomes khgla.
This e again becomes 9d, as above, so that we have pdila$ he got, becoming first pela9
and then jfdla (pron. paid).

The vowel i between two consonants is frequently elided, and the first consonant is
assimilated to the second. Thus parity he fell, becomes pylla (pron, polio) ; karila, he
did, becomes Mia ; tarite, to do, becomes, katte ; ldgila} he began, becomes Idgla. Simi-
larly haila, he was, becomes hala or hol'a. This, it may be noted, is also common in
Oriya, If, however, the second consonant is y, the first consonant is not assimilated.
Thus for kariga, having gone, we have k(H*d ; for rdgiyd, being angry, becomes f9dgyd
(ragga).

There is a constant tendency to make a word, which properly ends in 'a, end in
yi. Thus madhur*a, .sweetness, becomes mddhtij'i; bd&a> a word, becomes latei\
(pron. bdkki) ; nit'a, continual, becomes litti (see below) (here the word is spelled as
pronounced).

As regards consonants, there is a steady tendency to double them when they are
medial, and the accent falls on the preceding syllable. Thus for phukd, squandering,
we have pJivkka ; for iafa, great, we have tadda ; for thekiyfi, having appointed, fhekki;
for bhoke, hunger, Ihokke ; for thdkur, God, thakkur ; f or &talt cold, &ttol ; for rnajhar*
pleasant, majbjhar ; and many others. Note also, in this connexion, the word saggal,

There is a tendency to disaspiration. Thus k&ch, near, for kdchbe ; ffldkte (ddkte),
for dekhite ; gaf for gaf h9 a fort. In hdblds for abhildsh, the t>h has been disaspirated,
and the aspiration transferred to the commcnceiaent of the word* A medial h is liable