Noakhailla (নোয়াখাইল্লা), Noakhali Bengali (নোয়াখালী বাংলা)^[3][4] also known by the demonym Noakhalian,^[5] is a dialect of Bengali, ^{[6][7][8][9][10]} spoken by an estimated 7 million people, primarily in the Greater Noakhali region of Bangladesh as well as southern parts of Tripura in India. Outside of these regions, there are substantial numbers of Noakhailla speakers in other parts of Bangladesh; as well as diaspora communities in the Middle East, Italy, Europe and the United States.

Noakhailla dialect has no presence in formal settings, neither in Bangladesh nor India, though its standardisation has been prospected.^[11] There is a post-modernist demand of the Noakhali Division due to the old history, tradition and culture of Noakhali (currently a district of Chittagong Division) Bangladesh by Noakhailla activists.^[12][13] The movement has gained disrepute and commonly been the subject of meme culture and trolling in Bangladesh.^[14][15]

Etymology

Noakhailla is eponymously named after Noakhali, referring to the dialect spoken of that area. It is in the transformed Vangiya form of the archaic Noakhaliya (নোয়াখালীয়া), where "-iya" is a suffix, commonly used in Bengali as a demonym, having gone through a linguistic process called Apinihiti (অপিনিহিতি), a form of epithesis, to become Noakhailla (নোয়াখাইল্লা). It may also be known in English as Noakhalian, a relatively recent term which has gained prominence as a locative demonym since at the least the Pakistan period.^[5] "-an" is a suffix, commonly used in English to denote an action or an adjective that suggests pertaining to, thereby forming an agent noun.^[16]

History

Noakhailla dialect belongs to the Eastern dialects of the Bengali language that evolved from the fusion of other dialects of that region.^[17] Noakhali, the area which it is named after, emerged in the 13th century as a center of regional territorialism by the name of Bhulua. The kings of Bhulua patronised the Sanskrit language. The arrival of Muslims in Bhulua affected the local dialect to such a level that several Hindu rulers of Bhulua even took the Turkic title of Khan.^[18] Muslim migration was extended following the Mughal conquest of Bhulua in which the local dialect became influenced by languages such as Arabic and Persian. The great lexical influence of Arabic among the Muslim people can still be found in Noakhailla today.^[19]

Its strong folk tradition dates back several centuries. During colonial rule, Irish linguist George Abraham Grierson collected two Noakhailla folk poems; one from the island of Hatia, which is off the coast of the Noakhali mainland, and another from Ramganj, presently in Lakshmipur District.^[20] The pure Portuguese merchants and Roman Catholic missionaries which settled in Noakhali also adopted the local language as late as the 1920s.^[21]

In December 2019, a mass demonstration was organised by Noakhailla activists of all strata in Maijdee in response to a private television channel airing the Noakhali Bibhag Chai (We Want Noakhali Division) comical drama. They considered the drama to be an insult to the Noakhailla dialect, history and tradition of Noakhali district.^[22]

Status and usage

Noakhailla has no formal recognition or use of the Noakhailla dialect in public, in courts, or in the legislature like the existent standard Bangla. The educated, elite, political and influential groups of Bangladesh bearing Noakhali homogeneity, or being intrinsically exposed to the socio-cultural phenomenon of Noakhali, usually prefer the standard form of Bangla for their wider communication. They keep this dialect as their private means of communication only with members of the homogenous community of Greater Noakhali.^[11]

The usage of Noakhailla is now in decline as more and more Noakhailla families are opting to raise their children to speak in Standard Bengali due to it being the official medium in the country and the negative stereotypes relating to Noakhali held by other parts of Bengal.^[23] It is often becoming the case that Generation Z urban Noakhaillas cannot speak in Noakhailla though it is commonly spoken by their grandparents in their homes.^[24] In contrast to speakers of Chittagonian and Sylheti, it is reported that some speakers of Noakhailla sometimes feel a linguistic inferiority complex.^[25] Sultana, Dovchin and Pennycook have also highlighted the stigmatisation of Noakhailla within Bangladeshi society.^[26]

Classification

Grierson (1903) grouped the dialect of Noakhali under Southeastern Bengali dialects, alongside the dialects of Chittagong and Akyab. Chatterji (1926) places Noakhailla in the eastern Vanga group of dialects of Bengali and notes that all Bengali dialects were independent of each other and did not emanate from the historical literary register of Bengali called "sadhu bhasha".^[27] Along with some Eastern dialects of Bengali, Noakhailla dialect has developed some phonetic and morphological characteristics that are not present in other western dialects of Bengali.^[28] Linguist Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah placed this dialect under the Prachya branch as opposed to the Pashchatya branch of Bengali dialects. By referring to this classification, linguist Paresh Chandra Majumder(1992) placed Noakhailla dialect under the purbodeshi sub-category of Prachya (Vangiya) branch, the other branch being Pashchatya(Gourhi).^[7] According to Dr.Muhammad Shahidullah, the Noakhali dialect is a result of the fusion of other Bengali dialects of that region. The fusion gave rise to this unique and distinct Bengali dialect.^[29]

Geographical distribution

Noakhailla is the primary dialect of Greater Noakhali which today comprises the Bangladeshi districts of Noakhali, Feni and Lakshmipur, and some parts of the sub-district of Hajiganj. It is also spoken in the southern part of India's Tripura state, specifically in some parts of the Sipahijala, South Tripura and Gomati districts. In these three districts along with Standard Bengali, it serves as a lingua franca among the multiethnic communities of inhabitants residing there such as the Tripuri/Reang, the Chakma, the Mog/Marma in addition to the Noakhailla-Bengalis. Noakhailla is very much mutually intelligible with neighbouring Sandwipi dialect, which is spoken in Sandwip, an island in the Bay of Bengal.^[11] Some have stated that in the dialect Continuum of Bengali, Noakhailla dialect is mutually unintelligible with the Dinajpur dialect (Northern dialect) due to the geographical distance between the two dialects.^[30]

Before and after the Partition of India, Noakhailla speakers had migrated to West Bengal, Assam and Tripura also.^[31][32] Outside of the subcontinent, the largest Noakhailla diaspora communities reside in Europe (most notably Italy) and North America. Significant Noakhailla-speaking communities reside in the Middle East of which most are migrant workers, and in many other countries throughout the world.^[33][34]

Writing system

In Bengali language, regional nonstandard dialects are not used in official purposes. With Standard Bengali written in the Bengali script as the medium of instruction in Bangladesh,^[35] some may therefore write in Noakhailla dialect using the Bengali script, however it is viewed as more formal to write in standard Bengali. The Sylheti Nagri script was historically used in Noakhali district and as well as other parts of today's Bangladesh and West Bengal until the latter part of the 20th century and that script was only used in puthis, written in the Sadhu and Dobhashi literary registers of Standard Bengali.^[36][37]

Features and lexical comparison

Noakhailla is an Eastern Bengali dialect with a large amount of Persian and Hindustani vocabulary. The most notable feature differentiating it from Standard Bengali and other Indo-Aryan languages is that words using the p sound in the latter languages are pronounced as h in Noakhailla. An example is the Bengali word for water (pani) which is hãni in Noakhailla. Another notable characteristic is the presence of the /x/ sound (akin to خ in Arabic), which is not found in Standard Bengali.^[28]

Variations

There are some differences of Noakhailla dialect in accent, spoken in different parts of the Greater Noakhali region. In the Linguistic Survey of India, conducted in the early 20th century, the Irish linguist George Abraham Grierson used the phrase a man had two sons to show dialectic diversity of Bengali language in Bengal region.^[30]

• Standard Bengali: ækjon manusher duţi chhele chhilo.
• Noakhailla (Grierson): ekzon mainsher duga hola asil.
• Noakhailla of Chhagalnaiya: ækzôner dui hola asil.
• Noakhailla of Feni: egga mainsher duga hut/hola asilo.
• Noakhailla Hatiya Island: ækzôn mainsher duga hola asil.
• Noakhailla of Ramganj: ekzôner dui hut asil.

Grammar

Noakhailla grammar is the study of the morphology and syntax of Noakhailla dialect of South Eastern Bengali sub group of Bengali.^[38]

Further reading

• Morshed, Abul Kalam Manzur (1985). A study of standard Bengali and the Noakhali dialect (Thesis). Dhaka: Bangla Academy.
• Chakraborty, Uttam (2014). Das, Shyamal (ed.). A prosodic study of the Noakhali dialect of Bangla and its implication for teaching and learning of English as a second language by the native speakers of the dialect. Shodhganga (Thesis). Tripura: Tripura University. hdl:10603/190533.

Bibliography

References