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

210 BENGALI.
The letter/, I represent by «, and y when pronounced as z by ?. Thus znta, instead
of jut&> shoes; ?£, instead of ye, which, CA is represented by *g, thus tsdkar for
chdJcar, and oAA by a, thus asW for achkil The three sibilants I represent through*
out by $h. Thus, I transcribe "fll'Tte, goods, daafta^ and not fi^satf.
When an aspirate is elided, I represent its absence by an apostrophe. Thus 'atto for
hatta, he became; 'ate, for &#te, by a hand; 'drdiyd, for hdrdiyd, having been lost;
tfaird (written dhato*&)9 for dhariyd, haying seized; Vala for SAafo, well.
The compound Jteft, I represent by ]fe#. Thus fc/<y££0, in the field.
The following special peculiarities may be noted :—
^-PRONUNCIATION.
The rowels a, (pronounced #), 6, and % are freely interchanged. Thus *ttrfw, for
cHofa, small; thnr& for Mow, a little; both dila and dilo, he gave; tfawar and tomdr,
thy; tor for tor, thy.
The letter M when medial, sometimes becomes A, thus both
then.
II.-NOTJNS.
The Nominative, as in Dacca, often ends in I. Thus j>w££, the son; ja
servants; bape> the father*
The Locative sometimes ends in a (pronounced o), as in muloka, in a country;
Jcteetti, in a field; dila, in the heart; landa, in the field. It sometimes ends in t, cor-
responding to the standard te. Thus, Iarlt9 in the house; galdt, on the neck.
Accusative-Datives Plural are t^&Uar&re, to the servants; dusardre, friends,
IIL-PEONOUNS.
Note the form tdne, to them. In the Dacca specimen, we had tan.
IV.-VEEBS,
The First person of the Future ends m dm. Thus, j><M&<iw, I will get; qdibdm,
1 will go; 1ca'ibdm> I will say.
The 3rd singular Past ends in a, or in o, and sometimes drops all terminations.
Thus, dily cfcfa, or dilo, he gave; dsil, he was.
The Respectful Imperative is peculiar. We hare deMdw* give thou*
The Infinitive ends in at, as in b'arat, to fill*
The Conjunctive Participle ends in yd, pronounced a. Thus, ^a^ra (written
dhaw*a), having seized; faird (written kair*a)9 having done; hunti, (written hwfd},
having heard.
Although the transcription is partly phonetic, the ordinary rales of Bengali pro-
nunciation, when not specially altered, are to be followed. Thus a is to be pronounced
as. a* or> when final, as 6. Eg.> the word Sara, is to be pronounced as boro.