A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PHONOLOGICAL BENGALI LANGUAGE AND CHITTAGONIAN DIALECT SPOKEN IN BANGLADESH Amit Barua A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Linguistics) Graduate School Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University C.E. 2020 A Comparative Study of Phonological Bengali Language and Chittagonian Dialect Spoken in Bangladesh Amit Barua A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts (Linguistics) Graduate School Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University C.E. 2020 (Copyright by Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University) i Thesis Title : A Comparative Study of Phonological Bengali Language and Chittagonian Dialect Spoken in Bangladesh Researcher : Amit Barua Degree : Master of Arts (Linguistics) Thesis Supervisory Committee : Assoc. Prof. Nilratana Klinchan, B.A. (English), M.A. (Politics) : Dr. Narongchai Pintrymool, B.A. (English), M.A. (Linguistics), Ph.D. (Linguistics) Date of Graduation : May 29, 2021 Abstract The purpose of this research is to explore the comparative study of Bengali Language and Chittagonian Dialect Phonology. The objectives of the study are classified into three parts as the following; 1) To study Vowels of both Bengali Language and Chittagorian Dialect, 2) To study Consonants of both Bengali Language and Chittagong Dialect and 3) To compare vowels and consonants of Bengali Language and Chittagorian Dialect. Research design in this study was qualitative and documentary research. Population was six key informants and study vowels and consonants about different sounds of Bengali Language and Chittagonian Dialect. Research tools was used by interview from interviewers, research works, books, thesis, documentary article about Bengali and Chittagonian Phonology etc. Data collection was the comparative study of phonological Bengali Language and Chittagonian Dialect collected from in Bengali, English books such as books, academic books, Bengali Dictionary, format (Bengali and Chittagonian, English and Bengali), thesis, documentary article, library and online research and interview. Data analysis of this study was classification and comparison of vowels and consonants of Bengali Language and Chittagonian Dialect. The results of the research found as follows: The study of comparative Bengali Language and Chittagonian Dialect Phonology. The research investigation divided into two types, Bengali Language Vowels ii and Chittagonian Dialect Vowels, Bengali Language Consonants and Chittagonian Dialect Consonants. Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh but Chittagonian Dialect does not have official recognition. In Chittagonian Dialect vowels and consonants are similar with Bengali Language. [ i̯ ], [ u̯ ], [ e̯ ] and [ o̯ ] are four types of Semi Vowels in Bengali Language, but all of these Bengali Semi Vowels are not available in Chittagonian Dialect but some of the words from those semi vowels are used in Chittagonian Dialect. In Bengali Language phonology [ s ], [ ś ], [ s̥ ] in Fricatives (occurs also in germination) occurs initially as the first member in combination with [ c ], [ ch ], [ k ], [ m ], [ n ], [ p ], [ ph ], [ t̥ ], [ t̥h ], [ kr ], [ pr ], [ t̥r ]. These combinations are available only in Bengali Language, but Chittagonian dialect are borrowed some words from Bengali Language. In Bengali phonology voiced glottal fricative [ ɦ ] occurs always in combination with other sound. [ ɦ ] sound is not available in Chittagonian Dialect. The purpose of showing comparison between Bengali Language and Chittagonian Dialect discovered in similarity and dissimilarity respectively. iii Acknowledgement As the researcher, I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude and sincere thanks to those who have contributed to my progress over the past years. This study would have never been completed without the support and encouragement of the many people involved. I would like to express my sincere gratitude and greatest appreciation to Asst. Prof. Dr. Veerakarn Kanokkamalade, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ruengdej Pankhuenkhat, Dr. Sakchai Posai for their valuable advice and guidance in various ways to do this thesis. I am heartily thankful to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Nilratana Klinchan and Dr. Narongchai Pintrymool whose guidance and support helped me to complete my thesis. I am deeply indebted to my supervisor for giving me their valuable time, suggestions, checking the correctness of thesis format and for supporting me throughout the wring process. I also would like to extend my gratitude and my respect for all lecturers of the Linguistics Program, the Faculty of Humanities at Mahachulalongkornrajavidalaya University who have made a lot of contributions to me including assistance and patience in the process of writing this thesis. Lastly, I am deeply appreciating my thanks to beloved family, relatives, lay devotees, dear friends and colleagues for their unfailing help, motivation, unceasing support and encouragement over the years and during the semester for the accomplishment of this study and have also shared ideas, opinions, and suggestions with me for data collection, giving suggestions, exchanging knowledge and giving some information and my responsibility. Amit Barua May 29, 2021 iv Table of Contents Title Page Abstract i Acknowledgement iii Table of Contents iv Abbreviations and Symbols vi Chapter I: Introduction 1 1.1 Background and Significance of the Problems 1 1.2 Scope of the Research 9 1.3 Objectives of the Research 10 1.4 Statements of the Research Question 10 1.5 Definition of the Terms Used in the Research 10 1.6 Research Methodology 11 1.7 Expected Benefits 11 Chapter II: Literature Review and Research Works Concerned 12 2.1 Phonology 12 2.2 Phonological Forms 14 2.3 Research Work Concerned 17 Chapter III: Research Methodology 50 3.1 Research Design 50 3.2 Population 51 3.3 Research Tools 51 3.4 Data Collection 53 3.5 Data Analysis 54 Chapter IV: Results 55 4.1 Kind of Phonological Forms of Bengali Language and Chittagonian Dialect 55 v Title Page 4.1.1 Bengali and Chittagonian Vowels and their Nasalized Counterparts 51 4.1.2 Bengali and Chittagonian Consonants 65 Chapter V: Conclusion, Discussion and Suggestion 91 5.1 Conclusion 91 5.2 Discussion 94 5.3 Suggestion for Further Studies 98 Bibliography 99 Appendix 103 Biography of Researcher 121 vi Abbreviations and Symbols SB = Sadhu Bhasha CB = Calito Bhasha BEN = Bengali Language CTG = Chittagonian Dialect IPA = International Phonetic Association etc. = Et Cetera ( ) = Optional / / = Phonemic Transcription ! = Exclamation Mark - = Dash or Hyphen . = Period Full Stop : = Vowel Length (Used after a vowel) "or" = Quotation Marks ' = Comma Chapter I Introduction 1.1 Background and Significance of the Problems Bangladesh is a small country in south Asia with a large population. It is bordered by Myanmar to the southeast and India to the west, north and northeast. Of its total land boundary of 2,637 miles (4,246 km), about 120 miles (93 km) of boarder are shared with Myanmar and rest with India. Bangladesh also has about 360 miles (580 km) of coastline overlooking Bay of Bengal. 1 Bangladesh is the world’s eighth populated country in the world and the fifth in Asia. It is also the third Muslim populated country in Asia.2 The official language of Bangladesh is Bengali. It is an Indo-Aryan Language in South Asia. It is also official language of several northeastern states of India such as West Bengal, Tripura and Asamese. With both countries together, the number of speakers is about 200 million. Bengali Language is seventh most spoken language in the world. This language has the great renaissance history in the late 19th Century. 3 Bengali being a member of Indo- Aryan Language, it derived from the Sanskrit language. Despite of Bengali is an Indo- Aryan Language; it has been influenced by other languages in South Asia such as Dravidian, Austroasiatic, Tibeto- Burman. 4 Bengali Linguist Suniti Kumar Chatterji grouped Bengali Dialects into four large clusters, 1 Lin Yong Jui and Whyte Mariam, Cultures of the World: Bangladesh, (Marshal Cavendish Benchmark: New York, 1997), p. 5. 2 Ray Punya Sloka, Hai Muhammed Abdul, Ray Lita, Bengali Language Handbook, (Center for Applied Linguistics: Washington DC, 1966), p. 8. 3 Datta, Asoke Kumar, Acoustics of Bangla Speech Sounds, (Springer Nature Ple Ltd: Singapore, 2018), p. 1. 4 Yong Lin Jui, Whyte Mariam, Bangladesh, (Cavendish Square LLC, 2010), p. 5. 2 namely; Rarh, Vanga, Kamarupa and Varendra. Rarh and Banga are from South- Western part; form the basis of modern standard colloquial Bengali.5 Bangla is a member of the Indo-Aryan sub-group of the Indo-European language family. Scholars agree that Bangla, along with Asamiya and Oriya belongs to the Eastern, or Magadhi, branch of Indo-Aryan. The Degree of their genetic relatedness to the so called Bihari languages of the Indo-Aryan group Maithili, Magadhi and Bhojpuri is more controversial. Over the years scholars have alternatively grouped those latter three in the Western branch, as well as in the Eastern branch, and also as their own branch of Indo- Aryan. However to the mixed dialectical ancestry of most NIA languages, The meaning of the name “Nia” is different in several languages, countries and cultures and has more than one possibly same or different meanings available. It is a precise and detailed historical taxonomy of the Indo Aryan languages is probably not achievable.6 Indo- Aryan languages, also called Indic languages, subgroup of the Indo Iranian branch