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

164 BENGALI.

AUTHORITIES-

GEIERSON, G. A.,— Notes on the Rangput Dialect.— Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol

xlvi, 1877, Ft. I, pp. 186 and ff.— • Grammar and Selections,

GIUEBSON, G. A.,— The Song of Manik Ohandra.— Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Vol,
*bii, 1878, Pt. I, pp. 136 and ft. An Epic Poem in the dialect Tntli Translation*

The following Grammar of the dialect is based on the one above ^mentioned. The
difference of the dialect from Northern Bengali is principally owing to a large infusion
of the idiom of East rn Bengal :—

L— PRONUNCIATION. — In addition to the usual contracted forms which we meet
in every Bengali dialect, the following peculiarities of the Bajbangft dialect are to be
noticed. As in Northern Bengali, 5 is frequently substituted for a. Consonants are
often elided, as in $a-i for wkhi, a friend ; de-o for deb or devas a god ; pi-a, for priya,
beloved one, a husband. The letter ohh is pronounced as a dental 8 ; thus, achhe> he is,
is pronounced ase ; the name of the present writer, when he was stationed in Tiangpur,
AYHS written, c Gnrclihan.' The letter / is pronounced as * or as jh ; thus, jan> a person,
pronounced ZUM ; jan9 for jakhan, when, pronounced in the same way ; so, jel&
pronounced jliela or seta, when. The letters I and n are frequently interchanged. For
instance, the word bandila, he made, appears sometimes as baldna, sometimes as faldfa9
sometimes as bamla. An initial r is usually elided, and if the following vowel is a,
it becomes d. Thus, randhite, to cook, becomes dndhite, and raba> a noise, becomes do*

Aspirated letters are exchanged for unaspirated ones, and vioe versa* Thus, jhan
and /C<H, a man ; 'je and jhS9 who ; garbha and garba, a womb ; bddhd and bddd> a
hindrance.

II,— NOUNS. — The following is an example of the declension of a noun : —

Sing. Plur.

Nom. bdlak or balake, a boy, b&lakrd or bdlak-guld.

Acc.-Dat. bdlalcak or bdlakok, bdlafaguldk*

Instr. bdlak-Mtdy, Idlak-guld

Abl. bdldk-thane or thai9 and so on.
Gen. bdlakar or bdlak~kdr,
Loc. bdlakat or

Besides the above, the forms of Standard Bengali are also met. Instead of gula
gild may be used to form the plural. These words are sometimes added to the Genitive
singular, instead of to the base. Thus (Goalpara), sdter*guld9 companions. "We also
find the word gliar substituted for guld^ also used with the Genitive singular. Thus
(Jalpaiguri), chdkarer-ghar, servants ; landhur-ghW) friends ; (Cooch Behar) sakhir-
ghar, friends* In Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri, we also find the suffix Id. Thus, U4& or
«-W| these; ai-ld9 those ; yet-far, (those) which ; chdkriyd-ld> servants ; kasbi-ld, harlots.
The case-suffixes fluctuate a good deal, both in form and use. Thus, for hdtdy, we
find Mte ; and for thane9 tdne, or tane. "We also find tdne, meaning * for,1 and hdte
used as a sign of the ablative.
IIL-PBONOONS-
The above remarks about number and case also refer to pronouns.