Eastern Bengali

Eastern Bengali, Baṅgālī (বঙ্গালী) or Vaṅga (বঙ্গ) is a nonstandard dialect cluster of Bengali spoken in most of Bangladesh and Tripura, thus covering majority of the land of Bengal and surrounding areas.

Names
It is also known as Baṅgālī (বঙ্গালী), Pūrvavaṅgīẏa (পূর্ববঙ্গীয়), Prācya (প্রাচ্য), Vaṅga (বঙ্গ), or Vaṅgīẏa (বঙ্গীয়). Chatterji often cited a more generalised variant of Eastern Bengali which he dubbed Typical East Bengali for the sake of broader comparison with other varieties of Bengali. Eastern Bengali is often colloquially referred to by the exonym Bangal Bhasha (বাঙাল ভাষা) in West Bengal due to its association with Bangals. It may also be referred to by names such as Khaisi-Gesi Bangla (খাইছি-গেছি বাংলা), emphasising the contrast between Eastern Bengali varieties and the standard language in terms of grammar by use of the example phrases "I have eaten" (খেয়েছি kheẏechhi in Standard Bengali but খাইছি khaisi in Typical East Bengali) and "I have gone" (গিয়েছি giẏechhi in Standard Bengali but গেছি gesi in Typical East Bengali). A similar name, Khaitesi-Zaitesi Bangla (খাইতেছি-যাইতেছি বাংলা), instead juxtaposes the examples of "I am eating" (খাচ্ছি khacchhi in Standard Bengali but খাইতেছি khaitesi in Typical East Bengali) and "I am going" (যাচ্ছি jacchhi in Standard Bengali but যাইতেছি zaitesi in Typical East Bengali).

Geographical distribution
Suniti Kumar Chatterji, describing the cluster as "Vaṅga Dialects", further divided it into two groups of two: "Western and Southwestern Vaṅga" and "Eastern and Southeastern Vaṅga". Eastern Vaṅga is spoken across the modern Bangladeshi division of Sylhet and the Greater Comilla region of Chittagong along with the Barak Valley Division of Assam and the state of Tripura in India. Southeastern Vaṅga is spoken in the remaining area of the Chittagong division, corresponding to the former colonial territories of Noakhali District and Chittagong District, and historically extended further into Sittwe. Western Vaṅga is spoken across the Bangladeshi divisions of Mymensingh, Dhaka, and Barisal. Southwestern Vaṅga is spoken across the Khulna Division, where Eastern Bengali transitions into Central Standard Bengali. Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah divided all Bengali dialects into two groups: Prācya (প্রাচ্য) and Pāścātya (পাশ্চাত্য). Within his Prācya grouping, he created the divisions of "Southeastern" and "Extreme Eastern", which approximately correspond to Chatterji's "Western and Southwestern Vaṅga" and "Eastern and Southeastern Vaṅga", respectively. The Southeastern group is spoken across the modern Bangladeshi divisions of Mymensingh, Dhaka, Barisal, and Khulna, as well as the Greater Noakhali region of the Chittagong division and eastern parts of the 24 Parganas district in West Bengal. The Extreme Eastern group is spoken across the Bangladeshi divisions Sylhet and Chittagong, including Greater Comilla and excluding Greater Noakhali, as well as the Barak Valley division of Assam. Gopal Haldar, in his study of Eastern Bengali, divided all East Bengali dialects into four groups. Group I or "Central East Bengali" spans the modern Bangladeshi divisions of Mymensingh, Dhaka, Faridpur, and Barisal, as well as the district of Chandpur in Chittagong Division. The de facto Standard East Bengali spoken around the Bikrampur region is a member of this group, comparable to Chatterji's "Typical East Bengali". Group II or "Central North East Bengali" is spoken in eastern areas of the Mymensingh and Dhaka divisions, the western half of the Sylhet Division, as well as the Brahmanbaria District of the Chittagong Division. Group III or "North East Bengali" is spoken in the eastern half of the Sylhet Division as well as the bordering Barak Valley division of Assam, India. Group IV or "South East Bengali" is spoken in the Chittagong Division, notably excluding the Greater Comilla region. The Comilla District and Tripura state of India, the Bengalis in the latter chiefly being migrants from the former, sit at the confluence of all the major groupings and thus the speech of this region shares features with all the major groups classified by Haldar. Transitionary East Bengali is spoken in the Khulna division as well as Western Greater Faridpur i.e. Rajbari District, which shares features with both Standard Bengali and Eastern Bengali dialects.

Phonology
Eastern Bengali is characterised by a considerably smaller phoneme inventory when compared with Standard Bengali.

Metathesis
Eastern Bengali notably preserves metathesis (অপিনিহিতি) from an earlier stage of Bengali. Thus, the equivalent of Sādhu Bhāṣā করিয়া (ISO-15919: kariẏā) 'having done' in Typical East Bengali is [kɔ̝i̯ɾa̟], having gone through the medial phase of *[kɔi̯ɾiä]; by comparison, the Standard Bengali equivalent is [kore], as the standard language has undergone the additional phonological processes of syncope and umlaut, unlike most Eastern Bengali dialects. Similar occurrences of metathesis occur in the case of consonant conjuncts containing ‍্য jôphôla, due to the fact that it had, in earlier Bengali, also represented the addition of the semivowel [i̯] at the end of a conjunct containing it in addition to its current standard usage of simply geminating the previous consonant in the conjunct. সত্য (ISO-15919: satya, 'truth'), for example, pronounced [ʃɔt̪ːi̯ɔ] in earlier Bengali, is pronounced [ʃɔ̝i̯t̪ːo] in Eastern Bengali and [ʃot̪ːo] in Standard Bengali. Metathesis also occurs in the case of consonant conjuncts which were once pronounced with [i̯] as a component even if they do not contain ‍্য jôphôla itself, such as ক্ষ (ISO-15919: kṣa), whose value in earlier Bengali was [kːʰi̯]. Hence রাক্ষস (ISO-15919: rākṣasa, 'rakshasa'), with the earlier Bengali pronunciation of [räkːʰi̯ɔʃ], is pronounced [räi̯kʰːɔ́ʃ] or [räi̯kːɔ́ʃ] in Eastern Bengali and [räkːʰoʃ] in Standard Bengali. Such is also the case for the conjunct জ্ঞ (ISO-15919: jña), which had the value of [gːĩ̯] in earlier Bengali. Hence, আজ্ঞা (ISO-15919: ājñā, 'order'), with the earlier Bengali pronunciation of [ägːĩ̯ä], has the Typical East Bengali pronunciation of [äi̯gːa̟] and the Standard Bengali [ägːä̃]. There is also a tendency to hypercorrect, leading to the frequent diphthongisation of vowels with [i̯] if they precede any consonant cluster, even when there is no etymological basis to do so. For example, ব্রাহ্ম (ISO-15919: brāhma, 'Brahmo') has the Standard Bengali pronunciation of [bɾämɦo], or, more commonly, [bɾämːo], but may be pronounced [bɾäi̯mːɔ̝] in Eastern Bengali as if it were spelt ব্রাম্য (ISO-15919: brāmya).

Vowels

 * The vowels /e/ and /o/ in the standard language are shifted to /ɛ/ and /u/, respectively.  For example, দেশ (ISO-15919: dēśa) 'country' and দোষ (ISO-15919: dōṣa) 'blame' are respectively pronounced [d̪eʃ] and [d̪oʃ] in Standard Bengali but [d̪ɛʃ] and [d̪uʃ] in Typical East Bengali. /o/ may be considered a marginal phoneme due to it not merging with /u/ in rare instances, such as in ধো (ISO-15919: dhō) 'wash'.
 * /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ have raised allophones, [ɛ̝] and [ɔ̝], that occur when followed by a close vowel such as /i/ or /u/. This raising may also occur in open syllables.
 * /a/ is centralized, generally pronounced [ä]. A major exception to this is when the previous vowel is /i/, especially in cases of metathesis, where a fronted allophone [a̟] is used instead.
 * Although Western Bengali features distinct nasalised forms of each of its vowels, nasalisation is absent in most dialects of Eastern Bengali with the notable exception of Southeastern Vaṅga. This lack of nasalisation also characterises the Standard Bengali of Bangladesh.

Consonants

 * Phonemic voiceless aspirated stops—/kʰ/, /tʰ/, and /t̪ʰ/—have been attributed to some Vaṅga dialects, only contrasting with their unaspirated counterparts in initial position. However, their phonemic status is based on analogy with Western Bengali. Učida (1970) provides the alternative interpretation that these aspirates are allophones—[kʰ], [tʰ], and [t̪ʰ]—of corresponding voiceless unaspirated stops—/k/, /t/, and /t̪/—which occur when followed by a suprasegmental change in pitch, i.e. tone. Furthermore, some dialects invariably aspirate initial /t̪/ to [t̪ʰ].
 * Like Standard Bengali, Eastern Bengali lacks true retroflexes. However it further fronts the apical postalveolar stops of the standard language to apico-alveolar.
 * Voiceless stops—/k/, /t/, and /p/—undergo lenition in most varieties.
 * The voiceless labial and velar plosives also undergo lenition into spirants, such that [p] becomes [ɸ] and [k] becomes [x] or [ɦ], especially intervocalically. Hence পাকা (ISO-15919: pākā, 'ripe'), pronounced [päkä] in Standard Bengali, may variably be pronounced [päɦä], [ɸäɦä], or [ɸäxä] in Eastern Bengali dialects. [k] is often deleted entirely instead of simply being spirantised, especially when in proximity of [i]. For example, বিকাল (ISO-15919: bikāla, 'afternoon'), pronounced [bikäl] in Standard Bengali, is frequently pronounced [biäl] in Eastern Bengali.
 * When followed by a rounded vowel, [ɸ] and [ɦ] are interchangeable in most dialects of Eastern Bengali. For example, কাঁকই (ISO-15919: kām̐kai, 'comb') [käɦɔi̯] may often be pronounced [käɸɔi̯] and ফকীর (ISO-15919: phakīra, 'beggar') [ɸɔɦiɾ] may often be pronounced [ɦɔɦiɾ]. This merger is expanded upon in the Noakhali dialect, where all word-initial [ɸ] (and, by extension, [p]) are pronounced [ɦ], e.g. পাগল (ISO-15919: pāgala) 'madman' [pägɔl] → [ɸägɔl] → [ɦägɔl], and by some speakers of the Mymensingh and Comilla dialects, who pronounce all [ɸ] as [ɦ], e.g. ঢুপি (ISO-15919: ḍhupi) [d̠ʱupi] → [dúɸi] → [dúɦi] 'dove'.
 * Intervocalic /t/ lenites to a voiced allophone [d] in most Eastern Bengali dialects. For example, মাটি (ISO-15919: māṭi, 'soil') is pronounced [mät̠i] in Standard Bengali but [mädi] in Eastern Bengali. However, this does not occur in geminates, so টাট্টি (ISO-15919: ṭāṭṭi, 'latrine') remains relatively unchanged across varieties, being [t̠ät̠ːi] in Standard Bengali and [tätːi] in Eastern Bengali.
 * The voiced retroflex flap found in Standard Bengali is almost always merged with /ɾ/ in Eastern Bengali, though it may occur in a minute number of speakers. This merger of /ɽ/ and /ɾ/ also characterises the Standard Bengali of Bangladesh.
 * Eastern Bengali dialects tend to spirantise the Standard Bengali palato-alveolar affricates /t͡ʃ/, /t͡ʃʰ/, as well as /d͡ʒ/ and /d͡ʒʱ/ into [t͡s], [s], and [z], respectively. For example, চোর (ISO-15919: cōra, 'thief'), ছয় (ISO-15919: chaẏa, 'six'), and জাড় (ISO-15919: jāṛa, 'cold') are respectively pronounced [t͡ʃoɾ], [t͡ʃʰɔe̯], and [d͡ʒäɽ] in Standard Bengali but [t͡suɾ], [sɔe̯], and [zäɾ] in Typical East Bengali. /t͡s/ in tends to merge with /s/ as the areas of Eastern and Southeastern Vaṅga are approached, such that চা (ISO-15919: cā, 'tea'), pronounced [tʃä] in Standard Bengali, is pronounced [t͡sä] in farther western varieties and [sä] in farther eastern varieties of Eastern Bengali. [d͡z] is an allophone of /z/ that more frequently occurs in Southwestern Vaṅga. [t͡ʃ] occurs as an allophone of /t͡s/ and /s/ while [d͡ʒ] occurs as an allophone of /z/ in geminates and consonant clusters, e.g. বাচ্চা (ISO-15919: bāccā, 'child') /bat͡sːa ~ basːa/ [bäi̯t͡ʃːa̟], ইঞ্চি (ISO-15919: iñci, 'inch') /int͡si ~ insi/ [int͡ʃi], ইজ্জৎ (ISO-15919: ijjat, 'honour') /izːɔt̪/ [id͡ʒːɔt̪].
 * /ʃ/ has a tendency to debuccalise to [ɦ] in word-initial position, e.g. শালা (ISO-15919: śālā) /ʃälä/ → [ɦälä] 'brother-in-law', be deleted entirely in word-medial position, e.g. উশাস (ISO-15919: uśāsa) /uʃäʃ/ → [uäʃ] 'breath', and be either retained or deleted in word-final position, e.g. মানুষ (ISO-15919: mānuṣa) /mänuʃ/ → [mänuʃ ~ mänu] 'people'.

Tone
The aspiration and breathy voice present in Standard Bengali is notably mostly if not entirely absent in Eastern Bengali. The West Bengali linguists Chatterji and Sen described the deaspirated voiced consonants present in Eastern Bengali as being implosive consonants, such that the Standard Bengali phonemes /bʱ/, /d̪ʱ/, /ɖʱ/, /dʒʱ/, and /ɡʱ/ would respectively correspond to //, //, //, /ɗʒ/, and // in Eastern Bengali. However, Animesh K. Pal, a native speaker of Eastern Bengali from Narayanganj, disputed this claim, instead describing the deaspiration as leading to the development of tones. These tones are not limited to voiced aspirates, but are also present as compensation for the aspiration of consonants that were voiceless aspirates in Standard Bengali. Tone continues to exist in words even if they are not part of a near-identical pair that requires it for the sake of contrast. Furthermore, the [ɦ] of Standard Bengali is most often deleted in Eastern Bengali dialects. This h-dropping has also been said to result in tone.