Bengali dialects

These dialects are mostly spoken in and around the Bhagirathi River basin, in West Central Bengal. The standard form of the colloquial language (Choltibhasha) has developed out of the Nadia dialect.

Nadia/Choltibhasha West Bengal Standard: æk jon loker duţi chhele chhilo. (M)

Kolkata: æk jon loker duţo chhele chhilo. (M)

Manikganj: æk zoner duiđi saoal asilo. (P)

Mymensingh: æk zôner dui put asilo. (P)

Munshiganj (Bikrampur): æk jôner duiđa pola asilo. (P)

Comilla: æk bæđar/zôner dui put asilo. (M-bæđar/P-zôner)

Noakhali (Sandwip): egga mainsher duga hut/hola asilo.(P)

Noakhali (Feni): egga mainsher duga hut/hola asilo. (P)

Noakhali (Hatia): egga mainsher duga hut/hola asilo. (P)

Noakhali (Ramganj): egga mainsher duga hut/hola asilo. (P)

Chittagong: ugga mainshôr dugga fua asil. (P)

Sylhet: ex/ekgu betar dugu fua aslo (M)

Moulvibazar ek betar duigu fua asil (M)

Barak Valley (Cachar) ekta betar duita séle asil (M)

Chuadanga : æk jon lokir duiţo seile silo. (M)

Khulna: æk zon manshir dui soal silo. (P)

Jessore: æk zoner duđe soal sêlo. (P)

Barisal (Bakerganj): æk bedar dugga pola alhe. (P)

Faridpur: kero mansher dugga pola silo. (P)

Satkhira: æk loker duđi sabal selo.

Kushtia: æk mansher duđi seile silo.

This dialect is mainly spoken in the districts of North Bengal. These are the only dialects in Bangladesh that pronounce the letters চ, ছ, জ, and ঝ as affricates [tʃ], [tʃʰ], [dʒ], and [dʒʱ], respectively, and preserve the breathy-voiced stops in all parts of the word, much like Western dialects (including Standard Bengali). The dialects of Rangpur and Pabna do not have contrastive nasalised vowels.

Dinajpur: æk manusher dui chhaoa chhilô (P)

Pabna: kono mansher dui chhaoal chhilô. (P)

Bogra: æk jôn mansher dui chhara chhoul chhilô. (P)

Malda: æk jôn manuser duţa bêţa achhlô. (P)

Rangpur: æk zon mansher duikna bêţa asil. (P)

Rajshahi: æk loker duida chhilo. (P)

Joypurhat: æta mansher duta bæta acholo

This dialect is spoken in the area which is known as Manbhum.

Manbhumi: ek loker duţa beţa chhilô. (M)

East Medinipur: gote loker duita toka thilo. (P)

The latter two, along with Kharia Thar and Mal Paharia, are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages. Similarly, Rajbangsi and Hajong are considered separate languages, although they are very similar to North Bengali dialects. There are many more minor dialects as well, including those spoken in the bordering districts of Purnea and Singhbhum and among the tribals of eastern Bangladesh like the Hajong and the Chakma.

This category is for dialects, mostly restricted to certain communities instead of a region, as well as closely related languages. Dobhashi was a highly Persianised dialect originating during the Bengal Sultanate period. The sadhu bhasha was a historical Sanskritised register of Bengali and Christian Bengali was a Europeanised dialect; both of which originated during the colonial period.

Dobhashi: "æk adomer dui aolad chhilô." (এক আদমের দুই আওলাদ ছিল।) (M)

Christian Bengali: "æk bektir dui putrô chhilô." (এক ব্যক্তির দুই পুত্র ছিল।) (P)

Sadhu bhasha: "æka byaktira duiṭi putra chhila" (এক ব্যক্তির দুইটি পুত্র ছিল।) (P)

Assamese: "ezôn manuhôr duzon putek asil" (এজন মানুহৰ দুজন পুতেক আছিল) (P)

Hajong: "ek zôn manôlôg duida pôla thakibar"

Chakma: ek jônôtun diba poa el.

There are marked dialectal differences between the speech of Bengalis living on the পশ্চিম Poshchim (western) side and পূর্ব Purbo (eastern) side of the Padma River.

Bengali dialects include Eastern and Southeastern Bengali dialects: The Eastern dialects serve as the primary colloquial language of the Dhaka district. In contrast to Western dialects where ট　/ʈ/ and ড /ɖ/ are unvoiced and voiced retroflex stops respectively, most Eastern and Southeastern dialects pronounce them as apical alveolar /t̠/ and /d̠/, especially in less formal speech. These dialects also lack contrastive nasalised vowels or a distinction in approximant র /ɹ/, tap ড় /ɾ/ and flap ঢ় /ɽ/, pronouncing them mostly as /ɾ/, although some speakers may realise র /ɹ/ when occurring before a consonant or prosodic break. This is also true of the Sylheti dialect, which has a lot in common with the Kamrupi dialect of Assam in particular, and is sometimes considered a separate language. The Eastern dialects extend into Southeastern dialects, which include parts of Chittagong. The Chittagongian dialect has Tibeto-Burman influences.

In the dialects prevalent in much of eastern Bangladesh (Barisal, Chittagong, and Dhaka), many of the stops and affricates heard in Kolkata Bengali are pronounced as fricatives.

Poshchim Bengali (Western Bengali) palato-alveolar affricates চ [tʃ], ছ [tʃʰ], জ [dʒ], and ঝ [dʒʱ] correspond to Purbo Bengali (Eastern Bengali) চʻ [ts]~[tɕ], ছ় [s]~[tsʰ], জʻ [dz]~[z], and ঝ় [z]. A similar pronunciation is also found in Assamese, a related language across the border in India.

The aspirated velar stop খ [kʰ] and the aspirated labial stop ফ [pʰ] of Poshchim Bengali correspond to খ় [x]~[ʜ] in some and ফ় [ɸ]~[f] in many dialects of Purbo Bengali.

Many Purbo Bengali dialects share phonological features with Assamese, including the debuccalisation of শ [ʃ] to হ [h] or খ় [x].

The influence of Tibeto-Burman languages on the phonology of Purbo Bengali (Bangladesh) is seen through the lack of nasalised vowels, an alveolar articulation for the Retroflex stops ট [ʈ], ঠ [ʈʰ], ড [ɖ], and ঢ [ɖʱ], resembling the equivalent phonemes in languages such as Thai and Lao and the lack of distinction between র [ɹ] and ড়/ঢ় [ɽ]. Unlike most languages of the region, some Purbo Bengali dialects do not include the breathy voiced stops ঘ [ɡʱ], ঝ [dʑʱ], ঢ [ɖʱ], ধ [d̪ʱ], and ভ [bʱ]. Some variants of Bengali, particularly Chittagonian and Chakma Bengali, have contrastive tone; differences in the pitch of the speaker's voice can distinguish words. In dialects such as Hajong of northern Bangladesh, there is a distinction between উ and ঊ , the first corresponding exactly to its standard counterpart but the latter corresponding to the Japanese [ü͍] sound listen . There is also a distinction between ই and ঈ in many northern Bangladeshi dialects. ই representing the [ɪ] sound whereas ঈ represents a [i].