LANGUAGE IN INDIA

ENGLISH AND BENGALI INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES
A COMPARATIVE STUDY
Shah Mohammad Sanaul Karim

ABSTRACT

A comparative analysis of the construction and uses of the Interrogative Sentences in English and Bengali is attempted in this paper. In the course of discussion, the paper also deals with the similarities and dissimilarities between English and Bengali that a Bengali learner needs to bear in his/her mind to derive the Interrogative Sentences in English from the structural viewpoint of his/her mother tongue. This essay also discusses the different uses of the Interrogativesboth in English and Bengali.

BENGALI AND ENGLISH - CONTACT SITUATION

English and Bengali are two distinctive languages. In addition to structural differences, the cultures represented by these two languages also differ widely from each other. Cultural and linguistic structural differences that exist between these two languages have been noted in several studies in the past, right from the entry of East India Company into Bengal several centuries ago. Bengalis have exhibited a bittersweet attitude toward English for a long time, and perhaps this attitude still continues, although a vast majority of the Bengali people, both in India and Bangladesh appear to be moving certainly in favor of English because of globalization trends.

ERRORS IN ENGLISH COMMITTED BY BENGALI SPEAKERS

While there is still a protective trend to not allow native language interference in English, interference is always there and this makes the learning difficult and/or faulty. More often than not, when Bengalis use English to communicate with others, they transfer the grammatical rules and regulations of their mother tongue to English and, therein, lies the cause for their errors.

USE OF INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

A good number of errors bear a strong resemblance to characteristics of learner's mother tongue. The use of Interrogative Sentences clearly reveals this phenomenon.

When we want to know something, or inquire about something, we use sentences that are called Interrogative Sentences or Questions. Usually, we ask questions, or inquire about some person or thing that either performed some action or activity, or received the action. Questions are also asked about the manner, the reason, the time and the place of the performance of the action. So, we have to be very sure about the thing or idea our potential question is aiming at and our use of the Interrogative Word should be based mainly on this knowledge.

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES IN ENGLISH - YES OR NO TYPE

In English, there are two common but contrasting ways of asking questions, one by which we ask for specific information, and another by which we only want a simple yes or no as an answer (Freeborn Dennis, 1995, A Course Book in English Grammar. Palgrave, New York, 1995).

In the former case, in English, for specific information, we make use of a set of function words, and all these words except " how " begin with Wh . These Wh words demand specific information. They can not be answered by yes or no.

WH WORDS IN ENGLISH

The Wh words are grouped into three classes. The Wh words, the classes they belong to , their uses, the transliteration of their Bengali substitutes are given below.

OCCURRENCE OF WH WORDS

These Wh words take their places at the beginning of sentences.

(i) Who pays the bill?
(ii) Who stole the pen?
(iii) Which of you has killed the man?
(iv) What disturbs him?

Here, Wh words are subjects and the structure of every sentence is like that of Declarative Sentence. That is, it follows the structure:

Subject + Verb + Object/Complement.

And, the transliterations of the above sentences are -

(i.a) key bilta dey?
who the bill pays
subject object verb

(ii.a) key kalamta churi karechilo?
who the pen stole
subject object verb

(iii.a) tumra dui janer maje key luktake merechay?
which of you two the man has killed
subject object verb

(iv.a) ki takey birakta karey?
what him disturbs
subject object verb

BENGALI CORRESPONDING SENTENCES

In Bengali sentences, like the English Interrogative pronouns, the corresponding Wh word comes first. But, as for the rest of the structure, in Bengali, the object is followed by a verb.

Interrogative Adverbs always come first in the English Interrogative Sentences.

(v) When were you in Dhaka?
(vi) Where did you put the book?
(vii) Why have you broken the window?
(viii) How could you do this?

On the other hand, their corresponding Bengali expressions (here in transliteration) are as follows:

(v.a) tumi kakhan dhakai chile ?
you when in Dhaka were
(vi.a) tumi kuthai boita rekhechile?
you where the book (did) put
(vii.a) tumi kena janalata bhengecha?
you why the window have broken
(viii.a) tumi kivhabe eita karte parley?
you how this could do

In these sentences, the subject comes first, followed by corresponding Interrogative Adverbs, and the verb comes at the end. However, to achieve distinctive emphasis the speaker may reverse the structure in Bengali. For example,

(v.a) kakhan tumi dhakai chile? (in place of tumi kakhan dhakai chile?)
when you in Dhaka were
(vi.a) kuthai tumi boita rekechile? (in place of tumi kuthai boita rekhechile?)
where you the book (did) put

This sort of structure is used in only to achieve specific purposes like when the speaker tries to put an emphasis on, or is emotion-stricken, and the like . Usually, this kind of structure is not used.

THE INTERROGATIVE ADJECTIVES

The Interrogative Adjective occurs before the subject and modifies it. It can be used as object also. But, in all cases, the Wh word comes first. Consider the following sentences:

(ix) Which book was stolen? (x) What misfortune has upset you? (xi) Whose father is a doctor? (xii) How many children are present?

The Wh word along with the noun it modifies acts as subject. Therefore, the structure stands as -"Subject + Verb + ............" like that of a Declarative Sentence. Similarly, if we look at the following sentences,

(xiii) Which book has Rani stolen?
(xiv) What misfortune has Rani referred to?
(xv) Whose father have you called?
(xvi) How many children have you called?

we find that the same phrases of the sentences ix--xii act as objects of the verbs in the sentences xii-xvi.

SIMILARITY AND DISSIMILARITY

In the Bengali translation of the sentences from ix to xii,

(ix.a) koon boita churi hayechilo?
which book was stolen
(x.a) koon dukkha tumake byatita kareche?
which misfortune you has upset
(xi.a) kar baba daktar ?
whose father doctor
(xii.a) kata chelemeye upastit?
how many children present

we see that the structure is similar. In other words, if the Interrogative Adjectives are used as subjects, and are followed by a verb, the Bengali and English Interrogative Sentences are alike in structure. If the sentence has an object, the object comes before the verb as it is seen in the sentence - koon dukkha tumake byatita kareche ? (which misfortune you has upset).

In the same manner, if we look at the transliterated translation of the sentences numbering from xiii to xvi , we find them as --

(xiii.a) koon boita Rabi churi kareche?
which book Rabi has stolen
(xiv.a) koon dukk(er katha ) Rabi ullekh kareche?
what misfortune Rabi has referred to
(xv.a) kar baba( ke) tumi dekeche?
whose father you have called
(xvi.a) kata gulu chelemeyeke tumi dekhecha?
how many children you have called

This structure is dissimilar from that of Bengali in the fact that the auxiliary verb comes before the subject of the sentence. But, here, it is to be noted that there is no trend of using any auxiliary verb in Bengali.

When What and Which are used as Interrogative Adjectives, both the Wh words give the same meaning in Bengali, whereas in English both the words are not alike in usage (Thomson A. J. & Martinet A. V. A Practical English Grammar, ( 4th edition), Oxford University Press, Delhi,1994; P-72).

WITH PREPOSTION

If the Wh words - whom, which and what - act as the objects of preposition in formal English, we use Preposition + whom /what /which structure. This structure is very easy for the Bengali speaking people because it corresponds to the Bengali structure. Such as --

YES OR NO QUESTIONS

Apart from the Wh questions, there is another kind Interrogative Sentences to which the answer is given by Yes or No. To make this kind of sentence, we place the first auxiliary verb before the subject in English and to express this we have to use " ki " in Bengali. For example, "Have you read the book? " gives the Bengali transliteration -

Tumi ki boita padecha?
you the book have read.

The second word " ki " in Bengali transliteration is the result of the shifting of the auxiliary verb before the subject. Here, it is necessary to note that Bengali has no corresponding word for English Auxiliary verbs . Only the Modal Auxiliaries show their appearance in Bengali.

TAG QUESTIONS

In addition to the above two cases of Interrogative Sentences, we also have another sort of question known as Tag Question. For Question Tags, we have affirmative question after negative statement and vice versa. The Tag Questions are not unique to English. We also have it in Bengali. This type of tag question is used for the sake of confirmation or denial of any statement. In Bengali, we frequently use the term " tai na " (Rashid M. Harunur, English for Bangali Learners, Bangla Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh, February 2001, p-32.). And this is similar to any kind of tag question in English. But, it is not a real question at all. Rather, through this sort of tag question, the speaker tries to find out whether he/she is in agreement with the listener (Rashid M Harunur, English for Bangali Learners, Bangla Academy, Dhaka, Bangladesh, February 2001, p-32).

THE USE OF THE DECLARATIVE MOOD TO ASK QUESTIONS

It is true that the Interrogatives are the principal means of asking questions. But it is not the only medium for asking a question. Sometimes, the declarative mood, in which we declare something in the manner of proposition, acts as a question. The sentence - " Surely you remember that, comrades? " in George Orwell's Animal Farm is undoubtedly a question. In written English, this is shown by a question mark, and in case of verbal communication by distinctive intonation (Thomson A.J. & Martinet A.V. p. 127).

In other words, a declarative mood can become an Interrogative sentence because of the speaker's mood. In the same fashion, in Bengali also we have this kind of question. The sentence Tumi mate football khela (You play football in the field), which is a Declarative sentence from a structural point of view and is in no way an Interrogative, can become an Interrogative sentence because of the emphatic and distinctive intonation of the speaker.

English speaking people say the sentence "How do you do?" after an introduction. Originally it was an inquiry about other people's health. The expression is, from a structural point of view, an Interrogative. But now it is merely a formal greeting. But, we the Bengali speaking people do not have any such expression.

CONCLUSION

From the above study it appears that there are points of similarity and dissimilarity between English and Bengali Interrogative Sentences. The principal similarity is seen when the Wh word acts as the subject of the sentence. The basic causes of dissimilarity are seen in the case of Wh words when they act as objects, and also in the case of yes / no question because in Bengali there is no Auxiliary verb. In the matter of Question Tags, in comparison to English, we the Bengali speaking people have our own expression with the same objective of English. Thus in various ways of using Interrogative Sentences we, the Bengali speaking people have some similarities as well as dissimilarities with the native speakers of English.

CLICK HERE FOR PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Orwell's 1984 : Language of Totalitarianism | Syntax and Semantics of Verbs of Communication in English and Tamil | Practicing Literary Translation -- Fifth Round | The Effect of Text Cohesion on Reading Comprehension | The Discourse of Crossword Puzzles | English and Bengali Interrogative Sentences : A Comparative Study | Language Viewed Clinically | A Socio-Pragmatic Comparative Study of Ostensible Invitations in English and Farsi | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR