Chittagonian language

Chittagonian (চাটগাঁইয়া saṭgãia or চিটাইঙ্গা siṭaiṅga)[1][2] is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of the Chittagong Division in Bangladesh.[4] Its speakers identify with Bengali culture and the Bengali language.[8] Chittagonian and Standard Bengali are not inherently mutually intelligible, although it is considered as a nonstandard Bengali dialect.[4] Chittagonian is considered to be a separate language by some linguists.[9] It is mutually intelligible with Rohingya and to a lesser extent with Noakhailla. It is estimated (2009) that Chittagonian has 13 million speakers, principally in Bangladesh.[4]

Chittagonian
চাটগাঁইয়া[1]
চিটাইঙ্গা[2]
Pronunciation[saŋʈgaiyaŋ]
[siʈaiŋga]
Native toBangladesh
RegionChittagong region
EthnicityBengali[3]
Native speakers
13 million (2006)[4]
to 16 million (2007)[5]
Language codes
ISO 639-3ctg
ctg
Glottologchit1275
Linguasphere73-DEE-aa
  Chittagonian Language speaking area

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.[4] Grierson (1903) grouped the dialects of Chittagong under Southeastern Bengali, alongside the dialects of Noakhali and Akyab. Chatterji (1926) 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".[10] 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.[11]

Phonology

Consonants
Labial Dental/
Alveolar		 Retroflex Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop voiceless p t̪ ʈ k
aspirated pʰ t̪ʰ ʈʰ kʰ
voiced b d̪ ɖ ɡ
breathy bʱ d̪ʱ ɖʱ ɡʱ
Affricate voiceless ts tɕ
aspirated tɕʰ
voiced dʑ
breathy dʑʱ
Fricative voiceless f~ɸ s ʃ x h
voiced z ɣ
Nasal m n ŋ
Trill/Tap ɾ~r ɽ
Approximant lateral l
central (w) (j)
  • Approximants [w j] are only heard as allophones of vowels /i u/.
  • /ts/ can have a post-alveolar allophone of [tʃ].
  • /ʃ/ can have an allophone of [ç].
  • /f/ can have a bilabial allophone of [ɸ] .[12]

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i u
High-mid e o
Low-mid (ɛ) ɔ
Low æ a
  • Nasalization occurs for seven vowels /ĩ ẽ æ̃ ã ɔ̃ õ ũ/.
  • [ɛ] is heard as an allophone of /æ/.[13]

Writing system

The Arabic script has historically been used to write this language.

The Bengali script (Bangla Lipi) and Latin script are used to write this language.

Gboard for Android has added Chittagongian Keyboard.[14]

See also

Bibliography
  • Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. Calcutta University Press.
  • Grierson, G A, ed. (1903). Linguistic Survey of India: Indo-Aryan Family Eastern Group. Vol. V. Archived from the original on 27 June 2020. Retrieved 27 June 2020.

References
  1. Sirajul Islam; Miah, Sajahan; Khanam, Mahfuza; Ahmed, Sabbir, eds. (2012). "Chittagong City". Banglapedia: the National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Online ed.). Dhaka, Bangladesh: Banglapedia Trust, Asiatic Society of Bangladesh. ISBN 984-32-0576-6. OCLC 52727562. OL 30677644M. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
  2. "চট্টগ্রামের আঞ্চলিক স্বকীয়তা". Prothomalo (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 31 July 2022. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  3. Masica, Colin (1991). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 25.
  4. Chittagonian at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) closed access
  5. Nationalencyklopedin "Världens 100 största språk 2007" The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007
  6. "Chittagonian language and alphabet". Archived from the original on 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  7. "Chittagonian language and alphabet". Archived from the original on 1 August 2022. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  8. Masica, Colin (1991). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 25.
  9. Masica, Colin (1991). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 16. "The dialect of Chittagong, in southeast Bangladesh, is different enough to be considered a separate language."
  10. "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."(Chatterji 1926:108)
  11. Chatterji (1926), p. 138.
  12. Hai, Muhammad A. (1965). A study of Chittagong dialect. In Anwar S. Dil (ed.), Studies in Pakistani Linguistics. pp. 17–38.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. Moniruzzaman, M. (2007). Dialect of Chittagong. In Morshed, A. K. M.; Language and Literature: Dhaka: Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
  14. "Gboard for Android Adds Support for Over 20 New Languages". NDTV Gadgets 360. Archived from the original on 25 May 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2021.
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