| Noakhali | |
|---|---|
| নোয়াখাইল্লা | |
| Noakhailla | |
 | |
| Native to | Bangladesh &India |
| Region | GreaterNoakhali, southernTripura |
| Dialects | Chatkhili[1] |
| Bengali script | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | (oak is proposed[2]) |
| Glottolog | noak1234 |
 Map of where Noakhali is spoken | |
Noakhali[3][4] orNoakhalian,[5]endonymNoakhailla (নোয়াখাইল্লা), is aBengali–Assamese language spoken by an estimated 7 million people, primarily in the GreaterNoakhali region ofBangladesh, as well as in southern parts ofTripura inIndia. Outside of these regions, there are substantial numbers of Noakhali speakers in other parts of Bangladesh and adiaspora population in theMiddle East,Italy,Europe and theUnited States.
Noakhali has no presence in formal settings, neither in Bangladesh nor India, though its standardisation has been proposed.[6][7][8]
Noakhailla is eponymously named after the district ofNoakhali. It is in the transformedVangiya form of the archaicNoakhaliya (নোয়াখালীয়া), where "-iya" is asuffix, commonly used in Bengali as a demonym, having gone through a linguistic process called Apinihiti (অপিনিহিতি), a form of epenthesis, to become Noakhailla (নোয়াখাইল্লা). It may also be known in English asNoakhalian, a relatively recent term which has gained prominence as a locative demonym since at the least thePakistan period.[5] "-an" is asuffix, commonly used in English to denote an action or an adjective that suggestspertaining to, thereby forming an agent noun.[9]
Noakhali, the area which it is named after, emerged in the 13th century as a center of regional territorialism by the name ofBhulua. The kings of Bhulua patronised theSanskrit language. The arrival of Muslims in Bhulua affected the local language to such a level that several Hindu rulers of Bhulua even took the Turkic title ofKhan.[10] Muslim migration was extended following the Mughal conquest of Bhulua in which the local language became influenced byArabic andPersian. The great lexical influence of Arabic among the Muslim people can still be found in Noakhali today.[11]
Its strong folk tradition dates back several centuries. During colonial rule, Irish linguistGeorge Abraham Grierson collected two Noakhali folk poems; one from the island ofHatia, which is off the coast of the Noakhali mainland, and another fromRamganj, presently inLakshmipur District.[12] The Portuguese merchants and Roman Catholic missionaries who settled in Noakhali adopted the local language as late as the 1920s.[13]
In December 2019, a mass demonstration was organised by some Noakhali's activists inMaijdee in response to a private television channel airing theNoakhali Bibhag Chai (We Want Noakhali Division) comical drama. They considered the drama to be an insult to the regional language, history and tradition of Noakhali district.[14]
Noakhali has no formal recognition or use in courts or in the legislature like the existent standard Bangla. The educated, elite, political and influential groups of Bangladesh bearing Noakhali homogeneity, usually prefer Bengali for their wider communication. They generally use Noakhali only for communication with other Noakhali-speakers.[6]
The usage of Noakhali is now in decline as more and more families of Noakhali are opting to raise their children to speak inStandard Bengali due to it being the official medium in the country and the negative stereotypes relating to Noakhali district held by other parts of Bengal.[15] It is often becoming the case thatGeneration Z urban Noakhali-speakers cannot speak in Noakhali though it is commonly spoken by their grandparents in their homes.[16] In contrast to speakers ofChittagonian andSylheti, it is reported that some speakers of Noakhali feel a linguistic inferiority complex.[17] Sultana, Dovchin and Pennycook have also highlighted the stigmatisation of Noakhali-speakers within Bangladeshi society.[18]
Grierson (1903) grouped the language of Noakhali underSoutheastern Bengali dialects, alongside the languages ofChittagong andRohingya.Chatterji (1926) places Noakhali in the easternVanga group of dialects and notes that all Bengali languages were independent of each other and did not emanate from the historical literary register of Bengali called "sadhu bhasha".[19] Along with other Eastern Bengali languages, Noakhali has developed phonetic and morphological characteristics that are not present in western dialects of Bengali.[20] LinguistDr. Muhammad Shahidullah placed Noakhali under the Prachya branch as opposed to the Pashchatya branch of Bengali. By referring to this classification, linguist Paresh Chandra Majumder (1992) placed Noakhali under the "Purbadeshi" division of the Prachya (Vangiya) branch, the other branch being Pashchatya(Gourhi).[21] According toDr.Muhammad Shahidullah, the Noakhali language is a result of the fusion of other Bengali languages of that region.[22]
Noakhali is the primary language of Greater Noakhali which today comprises the Bangladeshi districts ofNoakhali,Feni andLakshmipur, and some parts of the sub-district ofHajiganj. It is also spoken by the Noakhaillas in the southern part ofIndia'sTripura state, specifically in some parts of theSouth Tripura district. In this district, along withStandard Bengali, it serves as alingua franca among some indigenous communities such as theTripuri/Reang, theChakma and theMog/Marma in addition to the Noakhali. Mainland Noakhali ismutually intelligible with neighbouring Sandwipi dialect, which is spoken inSandwip, an island in theBay of Bengal.[6] Some have stated that it is also mutually unintelligible with the Dinajpur dialect.[23]
Before and after thePartition of India, Noakhali-speakingBengali Hindus from Greater Noakhali migrated toWest Bengal,Assam andTripura also.[24][25] Outside ofthe subcontinent, the largest diaspora population from Noakhali reside inEurope (most notablyItaly) andNorth America. Significant Noakhali-speaking Bengali diaspora population reside in theMiddle East of which most are migrant workers, and in many other countries throughout the world.[26][27]
In Bangladesh, regional languages are not used for official purposes. WithStandard Bengali written in theBengali script as themedium of instruction in Bangladesh,[28] some may therefore write in Noakhali using the Bengali script, however it is viewed as more formal to write in standard Bengali.
Noakhali is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language with a large amount ofPersian andHindustani vocabulary. The most notable feature differentiating it from Standard Bengali and other Indo-Aryan languages is that words using thep sound in the latter languages are pronounced ash in Noakhali. An example is the Bengali word forwater (pani) which ishãni in Noakhali. Another notable characteristic is the presence of the /x/ sound (akin toخ inArabic), which is not found in Standard Bengali.[20]
| English | Bengali | Noakhali | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boy/Son | Chhele (ছেলে) | hola/hut (হোলা/হুত) | |
| Water | Panī (পানি) | hãni (হাঁনি) | |
| Listen | Shon (শোন)~Shun (শুন) | hon (হোন)~hun (হুন) | |
| What | Ki (কী) | kiya (কীয়া) | |
| All | Shôkôl (সকল), Bebak (বেবাক) | beggun (বেগগুন) | From bebak-gulin (বেবাক-গুলিন) |
| Chicken | Murgi (মুরগি), kũkr̥a (কুঁকড়া) | kur̥a (কুড়া) | debuccalised from the earlier kũkr̥a (কুঁকড়া) |
| Papaya | Pepe (পেঁপে) | hãbia (হাঁবিয়া) | |
| Calcutta | Kolkata (কলকাতা) | koilkatta (কইলকাত্তা)[29] | |
| Big | Bôṛo (বড়), Bôḍḍo (বড্ড) | bôḍḍa (বড্ডা)[29] | |
| Egg | Ḍim (ডিম), bôyda (বয়দা) | Bôyza (বয়জা) | FromArabic:بيضة,romanized: bayḍah |
| Mischief | shôytani (শয়তানী) | Khônnashi (খন্নাশি)[30] | FromArabic:خناس,romanized: khannās |
| to Lie down | Shuye poṛa (শুয়ে পড়া) | hota (হোতা) | |
| Friend | Bôndhu (বন্ধু), dost(o) (দোস্ত), iyar (ইয়ার) | bondu (বন্ধু), dost(o) (দোস্ত), eyar (এয়ার) | |
| He phoned me | She amake phon kôrechilô (সে আমাকে ফোন করেছিল) | hẽte ãre hon kôirchilô (হেতে আঁরে হোন কইর্ছিলো) | |
| Shall not allow to do | Kôrte debô na (করতে দেব না) | Kôirtam ditam nô (কইর্তাম দিতাম ন)[20] | |
| I think it is 5 o'clock | Amar mône hôy pãchṭa baje (আমার মনে হয় পাঁচটা বাজে) | ãr mônôy hãsta baijje (আঁর মনয় হাঁচটা বাইজ্জে), ãtlai hãsṭaijjai (আঁতলাই হাঁচটাইজ্জাই)[17] |
There are some differences of Noakhali dialects in accent, spoken in different parts of the Greater Noakhali region. In theLinguistic Survey of India, conducted in the early 20th century, theIrish linguistGeorge Abraham Grierson used the phrasea man had two sons to show dialectic diversity ofBengali language inBengal region.[23]
Noakhali personal pronouns are somewhat similar to English pronouns, having different words for first, second, and third person, and also for singular and plural (unlike for verbs, below). Noakhali pronouns, like their English counterparts, do differentiate for gender. In addition, each of the second- and third-person pronouns have different forms for the familiar and polite forms; the second person also has a "very familiar" form (sometimes called "despective"). It may be noted that the "very familiar" form is used when addressing particularly close friends or family as well as for addressing subordinates, or in abusive language. In the following tables, the abbreviations used are as follows:VF=very familiar,F=familiar, andP=polite (honor);H=here,T=there,E=elsewhere (proximity), andI=inanimate.
Thenominative case is used for pronouns that are the subject of the sentence, such as "I already did that" or "Willyou please stop making that noise?"
| Subject | Honor | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | আঁই (Ãi, I) | আমরা (amra, we) | |
| 2 | VF | তুই (tui, you) | তোরা (tura, you) |
| F | তুঁই (tũi, you) | তোমরা (tomra, you) | |
| P | আম্নে/আন্নে (amne/anne, you) | আম্নেরা/আন্নেরা (amnera/annera, you) | |
| 3 | F | হেতে (hete, he), হেতি (heti, she) | হেতেরা (hetera, they m.), হেতিরা (hetira, they f.) |
| P | হেতেন (heten, he), হেতিন (hetin, she) | হেতেনরা (hetenra, they m.), হেতিনরা (hetinra, they f.) | |
| I | হেই/হিয়েন (hei/hiyen, it) | হিগুন/হিগিন/হিগুলি/হিগাইন (higun/higin/higuli/higain, these) |
Thepossessive case is used to show possession, such as "Where isyour coat?" or "Let's go toour house". In addition, sentences such as "I have a book" (আঁর কিতাব আছে) or "I need money" (আঁর টিয়া দরকার) also use the possessive (the literal translation of the Standard Bengali versions of these sentences would be "There ismy book" and "There ismy need for money" respectively).
| Subject | Honor | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | আঁর (Ãr, my) | আঙ্গো (ango, our) | |
| 2 | VF | তোর (tor, your) | তোগো (togo, your) |
| F | তোঁয়ার (tõar, your) | তোঁগো (tõgo, your) | |
| P | আম্নের/আন্নের (amner/anner, your) | আম্নেগো/আন্নেগো (amnego/annego, your) | |
| 3 | F | হেতের (heter, his), হেতির (hetir, her) | হেতেগো (hetego, their m.), হেতিগো (hetigo, their f.) |
| P | হেতেনের (hetener, his), হেতিনের (hetiner, her) | হেতেনগো (hetengo, their m.), হেতিনগো (hetingo, their f.) | |
| I | হিয়ার/হিয়েনের (hiyar/hiyener, its) | হিগুনের (higuner, of those) |
The dominant stream ... follows the national curriculum in which Bangla is the language of instruction. The second one is madrasa education ... Bangla is the medium of instruction in this stream ... The third is English-medium education
| Official language | |
|---|---|
| Indo-European | |
| Sino-Tibetan | |
| Austroasiatic | |
| Dravidian | |
| Afro-Asiatic | |
| Sign | |
