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The Importance of Bengali
Bengali is often overlooked as a language, but it has a rich history and immense cultural impact both in its immediate geographical region and around the world .
The History Bengali
Far from an obscure language used in an obscure (to Westerners) country, Bengali is one of the most-spoken languages in the world . Almost 200 million people speak Bengali, ranking it about 6th in most-spoken languages. Like Hindi and Urdu and other languages of the area, Bengali has a very long history that goes back into the very earliest recorded events. Dating back to the 12th century BCE, Bengali as a distinct language shares some connections to Sanskrit. Today it is the primary language spoken in Bangladesh as well as the second most spoken language in India, with the highest concentration of speakers in the West Bengal province.
Bengali has been so important to the ethnic and national pride of the Bengalese that many people died in an attempt to make Bengali the national language of their country, which shows the remarkable passion people have for this language. The 1952 protests that sought to establish Bengali are today commemorated every year as Language Movement Day.
The importance of Bengali began to assert itself in the late 19th and early 20th centuries during what is now known as the Bengali Renaissance. The Bengali language had only been codified and standardised in the 18th century, and by the late 19th century there was a movement that sought to simultaneously appreciate and preserve what was seen as the strongest elements of Indian and Bengali traditional culture while embracing the good ideas and positive influences of Western culture. This was a remarkable concept, as many in the area saw the undue influence of the British and other Western cultures as oppressive. Instead of a reactionary movement that sought to reject all modern Western influence as destructive, the Bengali Renaissance sought to combine the best of both approaches, peacefully and intelligently, recognising that many of the ancient practices of the region were no longer defensible in the modern world.
This movement established the literary and cultural bona fides of the Bengali language and produced some amazing poetry, music, and literature which is still influential and beautiful to read today. Never discount the Bengali language! If you have the opportunity to study it, I urge you to do so.
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- Internet Archive - The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language
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Bengali language , member of the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is spoken by more than 210 million people as a first or second language , with some 100 million Bengali speakers in Bangladesh ; about 85 million in India , primarily in the states of West Bengal , Assam , and Tripura ; and sizable immigrant communities in the United Kingdom, the United States , and the Middle East . It is the state language of Bangladesh and one of the languages officially recognized in the constitution of India.
There is general agreement that in the distant past Oriya , Assamese , and Bengali formed a single branch, from which Oriya split off first and Assamese later. This is one reason that the earliest specimens of Bengali language and literature, the Charyapadas ( Buddhist mystic songs), are also claimed by speakers of Oriya and Assamese as their own.
The Bengali linguists Suniti Kumar Chatterji and Sukumar Sen suggested that Bengali had its origin in the 10th century ce , deriving from Magahi Prakrit (a spoken language) through Magahi Apabhramsha (its written counterpart). The Bengali scholar Muhammad Shahidullah and his followers offered a competing theory, suggesting that the language began in the 7th century ce and developed from spoken and written Gauda (also, respectively, a Prakrit and an Apabhramsha).
Although Bengali is an Indo-European language, it has been influenced by other language families prevalent in South Asia , notably the Dravidian , the Austroasiatic , and the Tibeto-Burman families , all of which contributed to Bengali vocabulary and provided the language with some structural forms. In the 1960s and ’70s, Chatterji examined dictionaries from the early 20th century and attributed slightly more than half of the Bengali vocabulary to native words (i.e., naturally modified Sanskrit words, corrupted forms of Sanskrit words, and loanwords from non-Indo-European languages), about 45 percent to unmodified Sanskrit words, and the remainder to foreign words. Dominant in the last group was Persian , which was also the source of some grammatical forms. More recent studies suggest that the use of native and foreign words has been increasing, mainly because of the preference of Bengali speakers for the colloquial style.
There are two standard styles in Bengali: the Sadhubhasa (elegant or genteel speech) and the Chaltibhasa (current or colloquial speech). The former was largely shaped by the language of early Bengali poetical works. In the 19th century it became standardized as the literary language and also as the appropriate vehicle for business and personal exchanges. Although it was at times used for oration, Sadhubhasa was not the language of daily communication .
Chaltibhasa is based on the cultivated form of the dialects of Kolkata (Calcutta) and its neighbouring small towns on the Bhagirathi River . It has come into literary use since the early 20th century, and by the early 21st century it had become the dominant literary language as well as the standard colloquial form of speech among the educated. The pronouns and verb forms of the Sadhubhasa are contracted in Chaltibhasa. There is also a marked difference in vocabulary.
Although distinctions in the use of Bengali are associated with social class , educational level, and religion, the greatest differences are regional. The four main dialects roughly approximate the ancient political divisions of the Bengali-speaking world, known as Radha (West Bengal proper); Pundra, or Varendra (the northern parts of West Bengal and Bangladesh); Kamrupa (northeastern Bangladesh); and Bangla (the dialects of the rest of Bangladesh; see also Bangladesh: history ). In addition, two cities, Sylhet and Chittagong , have developed dialects with lexical and phonological characteristics that are mostly unintelligible to other speakers of Bengali.
A simple Bengali sentence usually follows subject–object–verb word order. When present, the negative particle comes at the end of the sentence. The copula, or verb linking the subject and predicate , is often omitted. Six cases are generally recognized. Compound verbs, comprising a stem or root and a suffix, are a special feature. There are 3 verb tenses, but their subdivisions make them 10. There are two moods, indicative and imperative , and two numbers, singular and plural. The first, second, and third persons are expressed through six forms because they have both ordinary and honorific referents. Gender is natural, and there is no special declension for feminine and neuter. Adjectives are usually not modified according to the number or case of the nouns they qualify.
The Bengali script is derived from Brahmi , one of the two ancient Indian scripts, and particularly from the eastern variety of Brahmi. Bengali script followed a different line of development from that of Devanagari and Oriyan scripts, but the characters of Bengali and Assamese scripts generally coincided. By the 12th century ce the Bengali alphabet was nearly complete, although natural changes continued to take place until the 16th century. Some conscious alterations were also made in the 19th century.
Bengali is written from left to right. There are no capital letters. The script is characterized by many conjuncts, upstrokes, downstrokes, and other features that hang from a horizontal line. The punctuation marks, save one, are all taken from 19th-century English.
Bengali spelling was more or less standardized through a set of reforms that were initiated by the University of Calcutta in 1936. However, the standardization process continued throughout the 20th and into the early 21st century. For instance, the Bangla Academy in Dhaka prefers a set of alternatives offered by the 1936 reforms, while the Bangla Academy in West Bengal has proposed new reforms. Visva-Bharati, the university founded by the Bengali poet and Nobelist Rabindranath Tagore , has also effected several spelling variations. Finally, some newspapers and publishers have their own house styles. Not surprisingly, these independent efforts to standardize Bengali orthography have helped to create a degree of confusion.
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February 21 is International Mother Language Day (IMLD) and every year since 2000, UNESCO has led the world in celebrating the occasion. IMLD was first proposed by Bangladesh, a UN Member State, in 1998 and its observance was approved by the UNESCO General Conference in 1999. February 21 represents much more for Bangladeshis, however, than a desire to promote linguistic diversity. Known as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh, February 21 represents the culmination of years of institutional racism and police brutality.
In 1947, the British ceded control of India and the country was partitioned into two sovereign nations: the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. Subsequently, a dispute arose among Pakistanis as to what the country’s official language should be. Western Pakistanis, who numbered approximately 25 million, argued that Urdu should be the sole national language. Eastern Pakistanis, who numbered approximately 44 million, argued that both Urdu and Bengali should be Pakistan’s official languages.
From 1947 to 1952, tensions were high between western and eastern Pakistanis. The government of Pakistan, largely comprised of western Pakistanis, omitted Bengali from the country’s stamps, currency, and navy recruitment tests. Eastern Pakistanis, particularly college students and professors, staged protests and demanded that Bengali be given official status as a national language. Police attempted to clamp down on public demonstrations by attacking and arresting protesters.
On February 21, 1952, tensions came to a head. Student protesters gathered at the University of Dhaka and armed police surrounded the campus. Students attempted to break the police line at the university gate and police began firing tear gas shells toward the gate. Some students attempted to leave the premises but were arrested as they fled.
Outraged by the arrests of some of their peers, students congregated outside the East Bengal Legislative Assembly. They attempted to storm the building and police opened fire on them, killing several people. As news of the shootings spread, shops closed, public transportation came to a halt, and a general strike ensued. In 1954, after a lengthy period of violence and unrest, the Pakistani government granted Bengali official status as a national language.
Unfortunately, that didn’t completely extinguish the flames of unrest. From 1956 to 1959, the Pakistani military attempted to reestablish Urdu as the sole national language. Though it failed to do so, eastern Pakistanis continued to struggle under the weight of discriminatory policies. They were under-represented in civil and military services and received far less state funding than their western counterparts.
In 1971, the Pakistani military carried out Operation Searchlight. One of the stated goals of the operation was to arrest eastern Pakistanis in favor of independence from western Pakistan. In actuality, the operation claimed the lives of tens of thousands of eastern Pakistanis. Though eastern Pakistanis declared independence that same year, they have never forgotten all those who lost their lives during the Bengali Language Movement.
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1952 language movement: A quest for cultural and linguistic identity
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1952 Language Movement: The Turning Point in Bangladesh's Cultural Identity
- Author: Admin
- February 21, 2024
Table of Contents
The roots of the movement, the dawn of the movement, 21st february 1952: the turning point, the aftermath and legacy, conclusion: a movement that shaped a nation.
The Language Movement of 1952 in Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, stands as a significant event in the nation's history, symbolizing the struggle for cultural identity and linguistic rights. This movement not only highlighted the importance of the Bengali language but also laid the foundation for the nation's eventual independence.
Pre-Partition Background
Before delving into the events of 1952, it's crucial to understand the historical context. Prior to the partition of India in 1947, the region of Bengal was a diverse melting pot of cultures and languages. The partition led to the creation of East and West Pakistan, separating the Bengali-speaking population in the East from the Urdu and Punjabi-speaking majority in the West.
The Language Controversy
Post-partition, the government of Pakistan attempted to impose Urdu as the sole national language. This move was met with strong opposition in East Pakistan, where Bengali was spoken by the majority. The refusal to acknowledge Bengali as a state language was seen as a direct attack on the cultural identity of the Bengali-speaking population.
The Protest Begins
The resistance began to take shape in 1948, with students from the University of Dhaka and other political activists leading the charge. The demand was simple yet powerful – recognition of Bengali as one of the state languages.
Key Events Leading to 1952
The movement gained momentum over the next few years, culminating in a series of events in early 1952. The government's persistent refusal to recognize Bengali and the imposition of Urdu incited widespread unrest.
The Fateful Day
February 21, 1952, marked a turning point in the movement. The government, in a bid to suppress the growing unrest, imposed Section 144, banning all public gatherings. Defying this ban, students and activists took to the streets in a peaceful protest.
The Tragic Outcome
The peaceful protest took a tragic turn when police opened fire on the demonstrators, resulting in numerous casualties. This brutal action sparked nationwide outrage, further strengthening the movement.
Recognition of Bengali
The sacrifices of the martyrs did not go in vain. The government, facing mounting pressure, eventually relented, granting Bengali the status of a state language alongside Urdu in 1956.
A Catalyst for Independence
The Language Movement of 1952 did more than just advocate for linguistic rights; it ignited a sense of national identity among the Bengali-speaking population. This sense of identity and unity played a crucial role in the eventual struggle for independence, leading to the birth of Bangladesh in 1971.
International Recognition
The legacy of the Language Movement extends beyond Bangladesh. In recognition of the struggle and sacrifice, UNESCO declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day in 1999, celebrating linguistic diversity and multilingualism worldwide.
The Language Movement of 1952 stands as a testament to the power of collective action and the importance of cultural identity. It not only shaped the course of Bangladesh's history but also left an indelible mark on the global stage, highlighting the significance of linguistic rights and cultural preservation.
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The Great Language Movement of Bangladesh: Some Reflections
The “Language Movement” of erstwhile East Bengal/East Pakistan and Bangladesh today was more than a language movement, it was a cultural-political movement for Bangladesh. No wonder, even after the Pakistan Constitution of 1956 had guaranteed Bengali as one of the two state languages along with Urdu, East Bengalis continued to mourn the deaths of half-a-dozen martyrs, who got killed by Bengali policemen at the order of a Bengali magistrate under a Bengali Chief Minister (Nurul Amin) of East Bengal on 21stFebruary 1952. In 1956, the province became East Pakistan after the merger of all the four provinces in the western wing of the country as “West Pakistan”.
The Language Movement is a very important historical event, not only for East Bengal but also for the whole world to learn as to how cultural movements can steer a political one, with a long-term programme with patience, courage, integrity, and determination of the people concerned. The Language Movement, in short, is a glorious example of people’s determination. The leaders of the movement, who besides the politicians were teachers, writers, poets, journalists, and last but not least, students, who organized millions of youths for 20 years (1952-1971) in the most unique way by walking bare-footed early in the morning every 21stFebruary on streets towards the Shaheed Minar(Martyrs Memorials) in Dhaka (and to the thousands of replicas across the country) and to the Azimpur graveyard in Dhaka where the martyrs lie buried.
It was simply a wonderful way of arousing patriotism and the sense of belonging to the Bengali Nation (which most East Bengalis never thought of as a requirement until the late 1960s, and finally in 1971) by organizing a political movement in the form of a cultural one, apparently to mourn the unjust killing of students and celebrate 21stFebruary as a day of remembrance.
However, there is a flipside of the movement. Had West Pakistanis and their local agents in East Bengal been respectful to Bengalis, their culture and their entity as fellow Pakistanis, there would not have been any Shaheed Day celebration as Bengalis celebrate it since 1953. Observing or celebrating the victory for the Bengali language in 1956, and eventually, independence in 1971, began as a protest against West Pakistani hegemony, and step-brotherly treatment of Bengalis. What Sukarno could achieve in Indonesia, Jinnah failed to do so in Pakistan, miserably. The tone of his two speeches made in Dhaka as the Governor-General of Pakistan in March 1948 struck the “first nail” into the coffin of united Pakistan through protests, and eventually defiance of the authorities in February 1952.
Sukarno’s quiet diplomacy, patriotism, and pragmatism won the day. He picked up a minority but widely used language as the national/state language of Indonesia. In hindsight, it seems to be the right decision. Himself being a Javanese – who were almost 70% of the population – Sukarno and his colleagues introduced minority Sumatrans’ mother tongue Malay (spoken in Malaya and Singapore as well) known as “Bazaar Malay” as the state language of Indonesia, which Sukarno and his countrymen called Bahasa Indonesia or the Language of Indonesia. They did not want to impose the majority language on the non-Javanese minority for the sake of national unity in a country which is far more diverse than Pakistan. The Javanese people adopted Malay (Bahasa Indonesia) without any resistance. Then again, the situation and demography in the two countries have been very different. Nevertheless, Sukarno’s persuasion to the whole nation in a respectful tone and manner was very different from Jinnah’s arrogance and dictatorial tone, that “Urdu and Urdu alone shall be the state language of Pakistan”. In fact, Pakistan started losing its case to remain united as one nation on 21stFebruary 1952.
The Language Movement is a historical landmark across the world. Its significance lies in the unique way the movement got its own momentum and new sets of leaders, year after year, throughout what emerged as Bangladesh in 1971. No wonder, Kofi Anan — as the Secretary-General of the United Nations — whole-heartedly supported the proposal made by two Bangladeshi-Canadians, the late Rafiqul Islam and Abdus Salam of Vancouver, to declare 21stFebruary as the International Mother-Language Day. What an innocuous movement, apparently to make Bengali as one of the state languages of Pakistan, achieved at home and got international recognition as a symbol of love and respect for every language and culture in the world is something very unique in world history.
There cannot be any doubt that but for the thousands of Shaheed Minarsraised at thousands of educational institutions in every town and settlements across the country East Bengalis never ever forget about their distinct national identity, which never died off while they were patriotic Pakistanis. Interestingly, most Bengalis from East Bengal/East Pakistan were willing to die for Pakistan, and many in fact gallantly defended Pakistan and died doing so during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965.
Bangladeshis, in general, are unaware that the movement for Bengali as a state language was a positive movement for due recognition of East Bengalis as equal citizens in the state of Pakistan because they knew they had played the most significant, if not the decisive, role in the creation of Pakistan. Thanks to the sheer neglect of history in Bangladesh today – it is not a compulsory subject beyond grade eight at the high school, let alone at college/university level for arts, science, business, medicine, and engineering students, unlike the developed world – many young and educated Bangladeshis do not know what actually happened on 21stFebruary of 1952. Unfortunately, many of them confuse the day with 25thMarch of 1971, the day Pakistani military started their genocidal war against Bangladesh.
As the Language Movement was a positive movement for due recognition of Bengalis as equal citizens of Pakistan, so was it not against any language, let alone Urdu and English. Sadly, thanks to the collective ignorance of Bangladeshis and their opportunist and dishonest leaders, the Language Movement has virtually become a symbol of discarding English as an essential second language of instruction in Bangladesh. The ill-informed leaders and academics believe or at least pretend so, that the Bangladeshi students do not need to learn English or any other language to become good citizens, knowledgeable, and professionally useful people. Many of them cite examples of Japan, China, and Korea, where students do all their study – from elementary schools to universities – in their mother tongue. So, the hypocritical and lame argument goes, there is no need for learning any other language, including English, for the Bangladeshi students. First of all, those who favour the abolition of English as an essential subject for education in Bangladesh – mainly people from the upper echelons – never ever send their children to Bengali-medium schools and universities. They send their children to expensive English-medium institutions at home and abroad. This is definitely hypocritical and conspiratorial to serve the vested interests of the rich and powerful because they know English-educated students are much better equipped than their Bengali-medium counterparts to get better opportunities in life.
What Bangladeshi “experts” and others who advocate pure Bengali-medium (nothing but Bengali) institutions of learning, in some cases, are not aware that other than Bengali language and literature, there are hardly any standard books and reading material in Bengali for any subject at college/university-level education. It might sound like a conspiracy theory, Bangladeshi ruling elites and their associates purposely promote three distinct mediums/systems of instruction – English, Bengali, and Madrasa – to produce three distinct classes of graduates: a) employable; b) under-employable; and c) unemployable. This is definitely what the leaders and martyrs of the Language Movement never thought of that one day their progeny would discard English or any other language in the name of protecting and promoting Bengali as a symbol of national pride and unity. It is time to educate the hyper-patriotic elements in society that no Afro-Asian language, other than Japanese, Mandarin, and Korean, is good enough for higher education in any discipline. As of today, one who wants to get higher education in any discipline will have to learn at least one European or one of the above three Asian languages. Even Turkish, Farsi, Arabic, Thai, Indonesian/Malay, Hindi, and Urdu are poor substitutes in this regard. Unfortunately, for ardent Bengali lovers, there is no way out of the situation, yet!
Last but not least, as Malaysian statesman Mahathir Mohamed once said (to paraphrase): “English language is no longer a symbol of British imperialism. Today, it is an essential tool of learning, as essential as the computer”. By the way, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, who once introduced Malay, Sinhalese, and Tamil as the only mediums of instruction at college/university level, eventually reverted to English, out of sheer pragmatic reasons. Bangladesh must learn from the Malaysian and Sri Lankan examples, if it wants Bangladeshi graduates to become competitive at home and globally in the realms of knowledge and employment opportunities.
Dr. Hashmi is an Adjunct Professor of Criminal Justice at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee, US. He is an analyst, historian, cultural anthropologist, and author of several books.
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The Bengali Language Movement: Why Language is So Important
The Bengali Language movement, known as the Bhasha Andolon in Bengali, took place in Bangladesh (then called East Pakistan). This important movement recognized Bengali as a language of East Pakistan. In 1948, the Government of Pakistan made Urdu the official language of Pakistan (both east and west). This was a command that the Bengali speaking majority of East Pakistan protested because it was wrong to take away their right to speak their own language. The people became angry, and the government became afraid of the people's righteous anger and outlawed public meetings and rallies. However, the students at the University of Dhaka and other activists broke the law and organized a protest on February 21, 1952, but little did these students know that blood would be spilt that day. In the morning of February 21, 1952, the college students defied the law on the University of Dhaka grounds. After a while, armed police surrounded the campus. At noon, the college students attempted to break the police line. For a warning, police fired tear gas shells at the students. Half the students started running into the Dhaka Medical College, and the other half continued towards the police lines. The vice-chancellor of the University ordered the police to stop firing shells. The police arrested several students who were trying to sneak away from the crowd. The students became enraged over this information, and they gathered around the East Bengal Legislative Assembly. Suddenly a group of students started trying to storm the building. The police opened fire instantly, killing Abdus Salam, Rafiq Uddin Ahmed, Abul Barkat, and Abbul Jabbar. The deaths of these young college students flashed across all the news channels. People were shocked, mournful, and specially angry at the killings of such youthful protestors, who were only standing up for their ideals. The Bangladeshi Party, Awami League, understood the mood of the people and took up the cause of the martyred boys. 'Remember the boys' they shouted in their slogans and rallies, and people listened. In 1956, the Pakistani central government granted official status to the Bengali language. Though a greater war over independence would erupt in 1971, during which Bangladesh would gain its autonomy, for the time being, the sacrifices of the boys were remembered and honored by their people. In 1999, a group called UNESCO declared 21 February International Mother Language Day because of the Language Movement. It is amazing to realize that these young students died to protect their right to speak their language. They didn't want to defy the law for publicity. These people risked their lives for their Mother Tongue. That is why I am amazed even 50 years after that people were that brave and cared that much for their language. I respect the people who died and will respect them for the rest of my life.
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Published: 12:00 AM, 11 February 2021
Language movement: The role of the students
Dr Forqan Uddin Ahmed
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The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language -An Overview
Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা) is the national language of Bangladesh. It is the second official language in India, and seventh in the list of most spoken languages in the world. The six languages that come before it are Chinese, English, Hindi-Urdu, Spanish, Arabic and Portuguese. As a language of more than two hundred million people around the world, it is spoken, apart from bangladesh, in the West Bengal, Assam, Tripura and Bihar in India, and by sizable immigrant communities in Eorupe, USA and the Middle-East. According to the language family, Bengali is categorised as a Modern or New Indo-Aryan (NIA) language of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. As Chatterji (1926, p. 1) notes, ‘[i]t has been in existence as an independent and characterized language, or, rather, as a distinct dialect group, for nearly ten centuries’. If we accept Chatterji’s remark, as about a hundred year has passed since the book was published, Bengali, as an independent language, has been in existence for about eleven centuries now. The present study provides an overview of the origin of the language and its development throughout these eleven centuries.
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Handbook of Comparative and Historical Indo-European Linguistics, edited by Jared Klein, Brian Joseph, and Matthias Fritz, 2017
A thorough linguistic history of each of the dialects of Indic is challenging in a single book and impossible in a single chapter. Rather than providing such a treatment, this chapter aims to outfit the internal history of Indic provided by Oberlies (this handbook) with an external history, furnishing each language with details relevant to its regional history. This chapter is best used in consultation with an atlas. We shall proceed chronologically through Old Indic, Middle Indic, and New Indo-Aryan, concluding with a brief discussion of the status of Nuristani.
Meluhha-Mleccha is traced as parole (vācas) of mleccha 'copper' workers. In linguistics (which studies language as an abstract system of signs), parole vācas refers to individual expressions of language in contrast to langue. What we find in many language lexicons of India are vācas or expressions used in lingua franca, common parlance. The evidence is remarkable that almost every single glyph or glyptic element of the Indus script can be read rebus using the repertoire of artisans (lapidaries working with precious shell, ivory, stones and terracotta, mine-workers, metal-smiths working with a variety of minerals, furnaces and other tools) who created the inscribed objects and used many of them to authenticate their trade transactions. Many of the inscribed objects are seen to be calling cards of the professional artisans, listing their professional skills and repertoire. The identification of glosses from the present-day languages of India on Sarasvati river basin is justified by the continuation of culture evidenced by many artifacts evidencing civilization continuum from the Vedic Sarasvati River basin, since language and culture are intertwined, continuing legacies: Huntington notes [http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/Makara%20Site/makara]: “There is a continuity of composite creatures demonstrable in Indic culture since Kot Diji ca. 4000 BCE.” On the banks of River Narmada are found speakers of Nahali, the so-called language isolate with words from Indo-Aryan, Dravidian and Munda – which together constitute the indic language substratum of a linguistic area, ca. 3300 BCE on the banks of Rivers Sarasvati and Sindhu – a region referred to as Meluhha in Mesopotamian cuneiform records; hence the language of the inscribed objects can rightly be called Meluhhan or Mleccha, a language which Vidura and Yudhiṣṭhira knew (as stated in the Great Epic, Mahābhārata). Tracing Mleccha (cognate Meluhha) in texts of ancient India and language lexicons of the Indian sprachbund is the purport of this monograph.
Bulletin de l'Ecole française d'Extrême-Orient. Tome 87 N°2, 2000. pp. 741-763, 2000
(in English) Jean Pacquement Historical linguistics and history of language Eighty years after Jules Block's La formation de la langue marathe On the occasion of the centenary of the EFEO, this paper deals with La formation de la langue marathe by Jules Bloch, the first historical grammar of the Marathi language, published in 1919, whose approach to the history of the Indo-Aryan languages takes its inspiration from the comparativist school of Antoine Meillet and which has been a landmark in the field of Indo-Aryan linguistics generally, much as the Linguistic Survey of India of the same period authored by George Grierson, and particularly in the field of Marathi philological studies. This contribution presents the origin of Marathi and the main stages of its "formation", includes a history of the Marathi language from 1012 to the present day and finally mentions, by way of conclusion, the influence of La formation de la langue marathe on Indo-Aryan linguistics. (in French) Jean Pacquement Linguistique historique et histoire de la langue 80 ans après La formation de la langue marathe de Jules Bloch À l'occasion du centenaire de l'EFEO, cet article revient sur La formation de la langue marathe de Jules Bloch, première grammaire historique du marathi publiée en 1919, qui se caractérise par une approche de l'histoire de l'indo-aryen inspirée de l'école comparatiste d'Antoine Meillet et qui a marqué, au même titre que le Linguistic Survey of India contemporain de George Grierson, le champ de la linguistique indo-aryenne et en l'occurrence le domaine des études philologiques marathi. La présente contribution présente l'origine du marathi et les principales étapes de sa « formation », inclut une histoire de la langue marathe entre 1012 et aujourd'hui, avant d'évoquer en conclusion l'influence de La formation de la langue marathe sur la linguistique indo-aryenne.
is ancient language and literature belong to the ancient Indians lived here or it was taught by some superior people to this ancient Trading people . Whether the ancient language has its own origion or identity or it is borrowed from some nomad people who entered later. Whether the ancient indian language still alive or it is vanished .
Cumulation of Luise Anna Schwarzschild's (1926-2018) papers (with grammatical and word indices)
Franceschini, Marco, “History of Indic Scripts”, in S. Marchignoli (ed.), "Teaching and University Internationalization: The E-QUAL Project". Bologna: Bonomo Editore, 2018, pp. 67-115.
The present study offers an introductory survey on the history of Indic scripts. It was prepared in the frame of the E-QUAL project, and it provided the narrative structure on which a Moodle module on the same topic was built by the present author. Basically, it focuses on the developments of the Indic scripts, from the time of their earliest available attestations up to the time when the major present-day (modern) scripts reached their current form. The study is organized in six chapters. The first chapter has a prefatory character, in that it offers a general contextualization of what will be covered in the following sections of the work: the general plan of the work is outlined, the basic concepts are defined, and the major phenomena connected with the history of the Indic scripts are presented. In chapters two through six, a chronological account of the development of the Indic scripts is given, from their earliest attestations up to their current form. Chapter six is followed by three additional sections (Appendices), each focusing on a specific topic, i.e. the languages used in Indian inscriptions, the Siddhamātṛkā script, and the typological classification of the Indic scripts.
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Published in "Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics". Ed. Mark Aronoff, New York, Oxford University Press, 2018
History of Bangladesh: Early Bengal in Regional Perspectives up to c. 1200 CE, Vol. II, 2018
Published in "Histoire Épistémologie Langage" (special issue ed. by É. Aussant: La nomination des langues dans l'histoire), 2009
Office of the Registrar General India, 2016
The Indian Economic and Social History Review, 2014
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Essay on bengali language (1177 words).
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Essay on Bengali Language!
Bengali probably emerged as a separate language around 1000 AD. The beginnings of Bengali literature are to be seen in the songs composed in the llth-12th centuries. The Charyapada (ninth century), a collection of poems, is the oldest known Bengali written form.
The manuscript has 47 verses, written by 23 poets bearing association with various regions of east India. The Natha literature was inspired by the philosophy of the Buddhist Sahajiya cult. In the 14th century Vaishnavism spread over Bengal.
The Middle Bengali literature can be divided into three: Pre-Chaitanya era (15th century) when Vaishnava Padavali by Chandidas and Vidyapati was composed. Chandidas composed his devotional lyrics which deeply influenced the literature. Adaptations of the Ramayana became popular in the 15th century; Kritivasa Ojha’s rendering of the epic is given the same kind of respect in the east as Tulsidas’s Ramacharitmanas gets in the north.
With Manasa Mangal and Chandi Mangal flourished the mangalkauya tradition—long narrative poems extolling the struggle and triumph of a god or a goddess in establishing himself or herself against rivals.
It became a popular literary form after Sanskrit works came to be rendered in Bengali. In the 16th-17th centuries another type of Vaishnava literature developed—biographical in nature, centred round the personality of Chaitanya. The best known work in this style is the Chaitanya Charitamrita by Krishnadasa Kaviraja.
The Chaitanya Charitamrita is a hybrid Bengali and Sanskrit biography that documents the life and precepts of the Vaishnava saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The Chaitanya Charitamrita is the main theological resource for Gaudiya Vaishnava theology. The translation of Mahabharata into Bengali became famous at the time.
Three major kinds of mangalkavya that flourished are Manasamangal, Chandimangal and Dharmamangal. In the Later Middle Ages, the tradition of Shakta Poetry or Shakta Padavali grew The age of mangalkavya has its end with the composition of Bharat Chandra’s Annada Mangal. The Baul tradition emerged as an intellectual icon with Lalan Fakir. The Eastern Bengal ballads and Muslim love songs are an important part of this period.
It was in the nineteenth century that modern Bengali literature came into being. In the development of Bengali prose, the role of the Christian missionaries must be acknowledged. William Carey wrote a Bengali grammar, compiled an English-Bengali dictionary and got the Bible translated into Bengali.
The establishment of the Fort William College at Calcutta in 1800 also contributed to the development of Bengali. But it was Raja Rammohan Roy’s pamphlets and essays on the issues of the day that gave to Bengali prose a forceful and vibrant style.
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Akshaykumar Dutta showed the rich potential of Bengali prose and brought a sense of discipline to the use of the language which became chaste and vigorous in their hands.
They standardised the medium, which their younger contemporary Bankim Chandra Chatterjee turned with skill and verve into a creative tool for his novels and stories. Bankim Chandra is considered the father of the modern novel in India, though social and historical novels had been written before him in Bengali, e.g. Pearcy Chand Mitra’s Alaler Gharer Dular which, in fact, anticipated the development of the novel. But Bankim Chandra established the novel as a major literary form in India.
The emotional temperament and lyrical genius of the Bengali found a fitting medium in poetry. Michael Madhusudan Dutt was the pioneer to break out of traditionalism and successfully experiment with naturalising European forms into Bengali poetry.
He is known for his epic in blank verse, Meghanabandah, an unorthodox interpretation of an episode from the Ramayana, besides a number of sonnets.
Calcutta (now, Kolkata) was the scene of the birth of the modern drama in Bengali. The first original play in Bengali was Kulin Kulasarvasva, a social satire on polygamy among the Kulin Brahmins by Pandit Ramnarayan. Madhusudan Dutt too wrote some plays.
Then came Dinabandhu Mitra’s Neel Darpan and Kamale Kamini. Girishchandra Ghose was another notable playwright. Bengali drama played an important role in conveying nationalism and ideas of social change to the common man.
Bengali literature found fruition in the works of Rabindranath Tagore who blended Vaishnava lyricism, the vigour of the folk medium and Western influences to a nicety. After Tagore, Bengali literature continued to offer rich fare.
Two dramatists radically brought about a major change in Bangla theatre. One was Nurul Momen who made the first modern and experimental plays, and is seen as the pioneer of modem Bengali drama, and the other was Bijon Bhattacharya.
Dwijendralal Ray, Jatindramohan Bagchi, Kumud Ranjan Mullick, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Ashraf Ali Khan, Farrukh Ahmad, Jibanananda Das, along with Buddhadeva Bose, made a major attempt to transcend the Tagore legacy.
The new genre of poets focused away from Tagore’s ideological style and adopted themes and philosophies such as Marxism and Freudian interpretation of mind, which were avoided and often criticised by Rabindranath Tagore.
Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay was one of the most popular novelists of the early 20th century whose specialty was exploring life and sufferings of women in contemporary rural Bengal. Famous Bengali novelists of the century include Humayun Ahmed, Jagadish Gupta, Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay (Banophool), Syed Shamsul Haque, Akhteruzzaman Elias, Bimal Kar, Samaresh Basu and Mani Shankar Mukherjee.
Famous short story writers are Rabindranath Tagore, Jagadish Gupta, Tarashankar Bandopadhyay, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay, Rajshekhar Basu (Parasuram), Shibram Chakrabarti, Subodh Ghosh, Narendranath Mitra, Jyotirindra Nandi, Debesh Roy, Satyajit Ray, Ratan Lai Basu, Syed Waliullah, Shawkat Osman, Hasan Azizul Huq and Shahidul Zahir.
Rajshekhar Basu was the best known writer of satiric short story in Bengali literature. He mocked the charlatanism and vileness of various classes of the Bengali society. Bibhutibushan’s Father Panchali and Aranyak are sensitive novels. Tarashankar Bandopadhyay’s Gana Devata and Arogyaniketan are widely read. Another great novel is Padmanadir Maghi by Manik Bandopadhyay. Ashapurna Devi’s Pratham Prathi Shruti got her the Jnanpith Award. Subhas Mukhopadhyay is a noted Bengali poet whose works such as Padatik and Ja Re Kagajeer Nauka are marked by social commitment. He, too, has received the Jnanpith Award.
The Hungry generation (or ‘Hungryalism’) is considered a path-breaking movement in Bengali literature of recent times. The famous poets of the movement are Malay Roy Choudhury, Shakti Chattopadhyay, Benoy Majumdar, Samir Roychoudhury, Falguni Roy, Saileswar Ghose, Pradip Chowdhuri, Subo Acharya, Arunesh Ghose and Tridib Mitra. Sandipan Chattopadhyay, Basudeb Dasgupta, Subimal Basak, Malay Roy Choudhury and Samir Roychoudhury are among the ficiton-writers of the movement.
In 2011 director Srijit Mukherji incorporated the Hungry generation movement into mainstream cinema (Baishe Sraboti) wherein Gautam Ghose portrayed the role of an anti-establishment ‘Hungryalist’ poet.
Prakalpana Movement has been fostering its new genres of Prakalpana fiction, Sarbangin poetry and Chetanavyasism, spearheaded by Vattacharja Chandan, since the late 1960s. It is probably the only bilingual (Bengali -English) literary movement in India mothered by Bengali literature, that has seen participation of well-known international avant-garde writers and artists.
Notable Bengali poets, writers and artists like Vattacharja Chandan, Dilip Gupta, Asish Deb, Bablu Roy Choudhury, Syamoli Mukherjee Bhattacharjee, Boudhayan Mukhopadhyay, Ramratan Mukhopadhyay, Nikhil Bhaumik, Arun Chakraborty and Abhijit Ghosh represent the movement.
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Make Your Note
Importance of Regional Language
- 07 Sep 2022
- 11 min read
- GS Paper - 2
- Government Policies & Interventions
For Prelims: Article 343, Regional Language, University Grants Commission (UGC), National Education Policy.
For Mains: Significance of Regional Language.
Why in News?
Recently, the Chairman of the University Grants Commission (UGC) emphasised that early initiation of learning a mother tongue is important for a child’s creative thinking.
What are Regional Languages?
- A language is considered regional when it is mostly spoken by people who reside largely in one particular area of a state or country.
- Article 343(1) of the Indian Constitution states that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagiri Script.
What is the Need for Regional Language?
- To remove the dilemma regarding giving preference to English language rather than any vernacular language and let the child think naturally in their own mother tongue.
- There was a need to change our attitudes , so that when someone asked a question in a class in a regional language, they should not feel inferior.
- Performance in science and math, in particular, has been found to be better among students studying in their native language compared to English.
- Poor grasp of English has been tied by many educationists to dropout rates at the premier engineering education institutions as well as poor performance of some students.
- Additional Benefits for the Less-Advantaged: This is especially relevant for students who are first-generation learners (the first one in their entire generation to go to school and receive an education) or the ones coming from rural areas, who may feel intimidated by unfamiliar concepts in an alien language.
What are the Initiatives taken by the Government for the Promotion of Vernacular Languages?
- The University Grants Commission is in talks with various regulatory bodies such as Bar Council of India for promotion of vernacular languages, therefore, a committee had been formed under former Chief Justice of India which would look into how institutions could provide legal education in local languages.
- Further, It is also working with the High-Powered Committee on Indian Language Development established by the Ministry of Education to identify experts as well as 10-12 disciplines so that books could either be translated or written afresh.
- The regulatory body was aiming at preparing 1,500 books in regional languages in the next one year across different disciplines.
- The Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology (CSTT) is providing publication grant towards the publications of University Level Books in regional languages.
- The National Translation Mission (NTM) is being implemented through the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL).
How would Regional Language be Promoted in Education?
- Either institutes would adopt a regional language as a medium of instruction or it would serve as a learning aid for students in English medium who may not be proficient in the language.
- Use of Technology: There was artificial intelligence-based technology available to enable real-time translations that would be seen in classrooms in the future.
- National Education Policy: The National Education Policy 2022 lays emphasis on promoting mother tongue which should be a medium of instruction at least till class fifth or class eighth and after which it should be offered as a language.
- It also urges universities to develop study material in regional languages.
What are the Constitutional Provisions related to Regional Language?
- Article 345: The legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the Language or Languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State.
- For example - If two or more States agree that the Hindi language should be the official language for communication between such States, that language may be used for such communication.
- Article 347: It gives the President the power to recognise a language as an official language of a given state, provided that the President is satisfied that a substantial proportion of that state desires that the language be recognised. Such recognition can be for a part of the state or the whole state.
- Article 350A: The facilities for instruction in mother-tongue at the primary stage.
- Article 350B : It provides for the establishment of a Special Officer for linguistic minorities.
- Article 351 : It gives power to the union government to issue a directive for the development of the Hindi language.
UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Questions (PYQs)
Q. Consider the following statements: (2021)
- 21 st February is declared to be the International Mother Language Day by UNICEF.
- The demand that Bangla has to be one of the national languages was raised in the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan.
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
(a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
- The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, in its session at Karachi on 23 rd February, 1948 proposed that the members would have to speak either in Urdu or in English at the Assembly. Dhirendranath Datta, a member from the East Pakistan Congress Party, moved an amendment motion to include Bangla as one of the languages of the Constituent Assembly. In the same year, the Government of the Dominion of Pakistan ordained Urdu as the sole national language, sparking extensive protests among the Bengalispeaking majority of East Bengal.
- The students of the University of Dhaka and other political activists defied the law and organised a protest on 21 st February, 1952. After years of conflict, the government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. In Bangladesh, 21 February is observed as Language Movement Day. Hence, statement 2 is correct.
- International Mother Language Day is observed on 21 st February every year. It was declared by UNESCO and not by UNICEF. It is in tribute to the Language Movement and the ethnolinguistic rights of people around the world. Hence, statement 1 is not correct.
- Therefore, option (b) is the correct answer.
Q. With reference to India, the terms ‘HaIbi, Ho and Kui’ pertain to (2021)
(a) dance forms of Northwest India (b) musical instruments (c) pre-historic cave paintings (d) tribal languages
- Odisha has a unique place in India due to its vast population of tribals residing in the state. 62 tribal communities live in Odisha which is 22.8% of the total population of Odisha.
- Austro-Asiatic: Bhumij, Birhor, Rem (Bonda), Gatah (Didyai), Gutab (Gadaba), Sora(Saora), Gorum (Parenga), Khadia, Juang, Santali, Ho, Mundari, etc.
- Dravida: Gondi, Kui-Kondh, Kuvi-Kondh, Kisan, Koya, Olari, (Gadaba) Parja, Peng, Kudukh (Oraon) etc.
- Indo Aryan: Bathudi, Bhuyan, Kurmali, Sounti, Sadri, Kandhan, Aghria, Desia, Jharia, Halbi, Bhatri, Matia, Bhunjia, etc.
- Out of these languages only 7 have scripts. They are Santali (Olchiki), Saora ( Sorang Sampeng), Ho (Warangchiti), Kui (Kui Script), Oraon (Kukhud Tod), Mundari (Bani Hisir), Bhumij (Bhumij Anl). Santali language has been included in the 8 th Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
- Therefore, option (d) is the correct answer.
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898. The Bangla Language & the Fight for Belonging by Shomita Mahmud. Culture is the basis of humanity, and my culture is being Bengali, as in from Bangladesh. To me, being Bengali includes the foods that we eat, the clothes that we wear, and also the way we go about our lives. We are each taught different concepts of being respectful and how ...
Far from an obscure language used in an obscure (to Westerners) country, Bengali is one of the most-spoken languages in the world. Almost 200 million people speak Bengali, ranking it about 6th in most-spoken languages. Like Hindi and Urdu and other languages of the area, Bengali has a very long history that goes back into the very earliest ...
Thereafter, the literature is divided into medieval (1360-1800) and modern (after 1800). Bengali language, member of the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is spoken by more than 210 million people as a first or second language, with some 100 million Bengali speakers in Bangladesh; about 85 ...
February 21 is International Mother Language Day (IMLD) and every year since 2000, UNESCO has led the world in celebrating the occasion. IMLD was first proposed by Bangladesh, a UN Member State, in 1998 and its observance was approved by the UNESCO General Conference in 1999. February 21 represents much more for Bangladeshis, however, than a desire to promote linguistic diversity.
1952 language movement: A quest for cultural and linguistic identity. The Bengali Language Movement of 1952 was a significant event in the history of Bangladesh. The movement, which got its start as a protest against Pakistan's declaration of Urdu as its sole official language, grew to represent the Bengali people's resistance and cohesion.
The Language Movement of 1952 in Bangladesh, then East Pakistan, stands as a significant event in the nation's history, symbolizing the struggle for cultural identity and linguistic rights. This movement not only highlighted the importance of the Bengali language but also laid the foundation for the nation's eventual independence.
The Language Movement is a very important historical event, not only for East Bengal but also for the whole world to learn as to how cultural movements can steer a political one, with a long-term ...
In 1952s' Language Movement people erupted in protests. For violating section 144 on 21 February people were shot by police. Barkat, Jabber, Rafiq, Salam, Shafiur were killed. Those massacres made a big reaction in the minds of Bengalis. This movement made the people of the country aware of their rights, unity and freedom.
February 21, 1952, is widely acknowledged as a watershed moment in the history of Bangladesh. The killing of students at the hands of an oppressive Pakistani state that neither spoke the language of half of its constituents nor cared about their material interests was the major catalyst in a series of events that culminated into adoption of Bangla as state language in 1956, a landmark moment ...
This important movement recognized Bengali as a language of East Pakistan. In 1948, the Government of Pakistan made Urdu the official language of Pakistan (both east and west).
t. e. The Bengali language movement[a] was a political movement in former East Bengal [b] in 1952, advocating the recognition of the Bengali language as a co- lingua franca of the then- Dominion of Pakistan to allow its use in government affairs, the continuation of its use as a medium of education, its use in media, currency and stamps, and to ...
Abstract. Bengali identity is both secular and deeply influenced by religion. The various markers of Bengali identity, like language, culture, ethnicity and religion, sit easily together unless manipulated by political elites to create majorities in support of their specific views. Conflict arises when opposing markers are emphasised by elites ...
Bengali is ethnographically known as Bangla (a common endonym). It is the national. and offi cial language of Bangladesh and the state language of West Bengal in India. I t is. regarded officially ...
Bengali Identity, Secularism and the Language MovementB. he Language MovementTazeen M. MurshidIntroductIonBengali iden. ity is both secular and deeply influenced by religion. The various markers of Bengali identity, like language, culture, ethnicity and religion, sit easily together unless manipulated by political elites t.
Bengali, [a] also known by its endonym Bangla (বাংলা, Bāṅlā, ⓘ), is an Indo-Aryan language from the Indo-European language family native to the Bengal region of South Asia. With over 237 million native speakers and another 41 million as second language speakers as of 2024, [1] Bengali is the fifth most spoken native language and the seventh most spoken language by the total ...
The importance of the language movement behind the establishment of independent Bangladesh is undeniable. There is a historical background behind the Bengali language movement. Even though Bengali is the mother tongue of the majority of the people of Pakistan, attempts were made to impose Urdu as the state language in East Bengal in a ...
It is important to realize that there is something programmatic about referring to "the Bengali language" as a historical formation. While there has been a written form of Bengali for some ten centuries, throughout this time spoken forms varied widely across the region and it was impossible to identify clear linguistic boundaries.
Following chart presents different historical periods of Bengali language. Fig 4: Three Periods of Developemnt 2.3.1 Formative Period: The period between 10th and 12th/13th centuries is regarded as the formative period of the Bengali language. It was a period of proto-Bengali stage. The only representative text of this period was the Caryāpada.
Abstract. This paper is an analysis of the role played by the 1952 language movement (bhasha andolan) in East Bengal in the development of a Bengali nationalist discourse. The language movement forged a conscious link between various subaltern social groups, enabling them to transcend existing barriers and transform them into formidable ...
International Mother Language day had been made up for Bangla language. No other country in the world did not lose lives for mother language; no one didn't fight for their own language. Bangla language actually comes from "Shankskriti" Bhasha. Our language actually mixes of some language as...
Essay on Bengali Language! Bengali probably emerged as a separate language around 1000 AD. The beginnings of Bengali literature are to be seen in the songs composed in the llth-12th centuries. The Charyapada (ninth century), a collection of poems, is the oldest known Bengali written form. ... Bengali drama played an important role in conveying ...
Regional language is a term used to refer to a language that is spoken by a sizeable number of people ... Importance of Regional Language . 07 Sep 2022; 11 min read; Tags: GS Paper - 2; ... February, 1952. After years of conflict, the government relented and granted official status to the Bengali language in 1956. In Bangladesh, 21 February is ...