Western Bengali dialect

Manbhumi Bengali
Manbhumi Bengali
Western Bengali; Jharkhandi Bengali
মানভূমী বাংলা
Native to	India
Region	West Bengal (Medinipur division, Burdwan division); ; Jharkhand (Kolhan division, Santhal Pargana division)
Language family	Indo-European Indo Iranian Indo Aryan Eastern Zone Bengali-Assamese Bengali Manbhumi Bengali; ; ; ; ; ;
Writing system	Bengali alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	None

Western Bengali or Mānbhūmī Bengali (Bengali: মানভূমী বাংলা, romanized: Mānbhūmī Bāṅlā, pronounced [manbhumi baŋla]) is a local Bengali dialect spoken in the districts of Purulia, West Bardhaman, Western Bankura, Singhbhum and other adjacent areas of West Bengal and Jharkhand, previously Manbhum and Dhalbhum regions in Bengal Presidency. It is one of the Bengali dialects, having some influences of neighbouring dialects of Hindi and Odia in it.

Manbhumi Bengali has a rich tradition of folk songs sung in various occasions. Tusu songs are sung by village girls during a month-long observance of Tusu festival in villages of Purulia and some parts of Barddhaman, Bankura and Birbhum districts of West Bengal and parts of East Singhbhum, Saraikela Kharsawan, Bokaro, Dhanbad and Ranchi districts of Jharkhand. Bhadu songs, Karam songs, Baul songs and Jhumar songs are also composed in Manbhumi Bengali. Manbhumi Bengali songs are used by Chhau performers of Purulia School to depict various mythological events. Chhau is one of the distinguished dance forms of this geographical region which has been accorded the status of Intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2009.^[1]

Phonology

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Open-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Open		a

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m		n			ŋ
Plosive	voiceless		t̪			ʈ	k
Plosive	voiced		d̪			ɖ	ɡ
Affricate	voiceless				t͡ʃ
Affricate	voiced				d͡ʒ
Fricative	voiceless	ɸ		s				h
Fricative	voiced	β
Approximant				l
Rhotic				ɾ

Regional variation

This Bengali dialect is spoken in the Manbhum and Dhalbhum area and has its extended regional variants or subdialects throughout southern border area of Medinipur division of West Bengal, south eastern border of Kolhan division of Jharkhand.^[2]^[3]

Ranchi: æk loker du beţa rahe. (M)

Manbhum: æk loker duţa beţa chhilô. (M)

Pashchim Bardhaman district: kono loker duiţi chhele chhilo. (M)

Dhalbhum/East Singhbhum: ek loker duţa chha chhilo. (M)

Baharagora/Gopiballavpur: gotae noker duţa po thailaa. (M)

East Medinipur: gote loker duiţa toka thila. (M)

Ranchi: tumharman kahan jaatraho? (M)

Manbhum: tumhra kuthay jachho? (M)

Pashchim Bardhaman district: tumra kuthay jachchho? (M)

Dhalbhum/East Singhbhum: tumhra kaai jachho? (M)

Baharagora/Gopiballavpur: tumarkar kaai jaoţo ? (M)

East Medinipur: tumra kaai jaoţo? (M)

Ranchi: Chhaua ţa bes padhatrahe (M)

Manbhum: Chhana ţa bhalo padhchhe (M)

Pashchim Bardhaman district: Chhana ţa bhalo padhchhe (M)

Dhalbhum/East Singhbhum: Chha ţa bhalo padhchhe? (M)

Baharagora/Gopiballavpur: Chha ţa bhala padheţe? (M)

East Medinipur: Pila ţa bhala padhţe? (M)

There are two tribal languages, Kharia Thar and Mal Paharia, mainly spoken in Manbhum region of Bengal and Jharkhand by some small tribes, are closely related to Western Bengali dialects, but are typically classified as separate languages.

References

^ "UNESCO - Chhau dance".
^ Pronoun in Bengali (PDF). aus.ac.in (Thesis). Assam University, Silchar: Department of Linguistics Rabindranath Tagore School of Indian Languages and Cultural Studies. p. 24.
^ Krishan 1990.

Sources

Chowdhury, Tarapada (1952). "Some phonetic peculiarities of the Bengali dialect of Manbhumi". Journal of the Asia Asiatic Society. XVII (2): 65–72. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017.
Grierson, G.A. (1903). Linguistic survey of India, Vol – V. Indo-Aryan family, Eastern group, Pt – I, Specimens of the Bengali and Assamese languages. Calcutta: Office of the superintendent, Government printing, India. Archived from the original on 19 May 2004.
Krishan, Shree (1990). Linguistic Traits Across Language Boundaries: A Report of All India Linguistic Traits Survey. Anthropological Survey of India.
Mukharjee, Shibasis (2016). "Jharkhandi". Linguistic Survey of India – West Bengal (PDF). Part. I. Linguistic division, Office of the Registrar General, India. pp. 221–258.

[1] "UNESCO - Chhau dance".

[2] Pronoun in Bengali (PDF). aus.ac.in (Thesis). Assam University, Silchar: Department of Linguistics Rabindranath Tagore School of Indian Languages and Cultural Studies. p. 24.

[FOOTNOTEKrishan1990-3] Krishan 1990.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Bengali language
Written Bengali	Alphabet grammar consonant clusters Romanization Numerals Braille
Spoken Bengali	Phonology Vocabulary tôtsômô Dialects Bangali Chittagonian Dhakaiya Kutti Sylheti Manbhumi Rangpuri Rarhi Sadhu bhasha Varendri
Language movements	Bengali language movement (Bangladesh) Language Movement Day (Bangladesh) Shoheed Minar International Mother Language Day Bengali Language Movement in Assam Bengali Language Movement in India Bengali language movement (Manbhum)
Language institutions	Bangla Academy Shilpakala Academy PôshchimBônggô Bangla Akademi Bônggiyô Sahityô Pôrishôd Bishwô Sahityô Kendrô Pôshchim Bônggô Natyô Akademi
Literature	Folk literature Authors Poets
Literary awards	Bangla Academy Literary Award (1960) Ekushey Padak (1976) Rabindra Puraskar (1950) Sahitya Akademi Award (1955) Bankim Puraskar (1975) Ananda Puraskar (1958)
Personalities	Ram Mohan Roy Kazi Nazrul Islam Rabindranath Tagore Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar Nathaniel Brassey Halhed John Beames Suniti Kumar Chatterji Muhammad Shahidullah Humayun Azad
Mega-events	Ekushey Book Fair Kolkata Book Fair
Cinema	Cinema of Bangladesh Cinema of West Bengal
Other	Bengali input methods in computers States of India by Bengali speakers