LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 25:3 March 2025
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Phonological Adaptations of Bangla Words in Chakma

Nilanjana Roy Chowdhury, (Ph.D.)

Abstract

This paper examines the phonological changes in the words from Bangla to Chakma. Chakma is considered to be heavily influenced by Bangla. The origin and advent of this language are controversial with no concrete proof. Scholars over time have categorised them as a dialect or a sub-dialect of Bangla. This paper is not further research as to whether or not this categorisation holds to the point but rather it has tried to capture the phonological changes taking place between the root words of the two languages. The processes involved in the phonological changes include: voicing, gemination, monothongization, fricativization, assimilation, cluster simplification, vowel harmony, de-fricativization, allophonic changes, and free variation, metathesis, and de-aspiration. This paper’s analysis of sound changes sheds light on the intricate linguistic connection between Chakma and Bangla, revealing the substantial influence of Bangla on Chakma's vocabulary and phonology. The study’s findings contribute to the broader discourse on language contact, linguistic identity, and the classification of Chakma within the Indo-Aryan language family in the conclusory note. Additionally, the research proposes potential avenues for future investigation into the linguistic dynamics of South Asia.

Keywords: Chakma Language, Bengali Influence, Phonological Processes, Language Contact, Linguistic Borrowing, Indo-Aryan Languages, Language Evolution, Multilingualism.

1. Introduction

The advent and origin of Chakma have no recorded history of their own. According to the 2011 Census of India, there are 2,28,281 Chakma speakers dwelling in India out of which 175 are found in West Bengal, 47,073 in Arunachal Pradesh, 92,850 in Mizoram, 84,269 in Tripura, 3,166 in Assam, 159 in Meghalaya, and 103 in NCT of Delhi. Besides India, Chakma speakers are also found in the Chittagong hill tract of Bangladesh. The Census of India categorises Chakma as a mother tongue under the Bengali language. Grierson (1903) has classified Chakma as a sub-dialect of the Bengali language which is seconded by Chatterjee (1967) in his letter to S.P. Talukdar (1994) which he has in his book.

There is a scholarly belief that the Chakmas originally belonged to the Sakya Dynasty and in the urge to spread Buddhism, they migrated to the Arakans. There is a certainty of their long history of migration which makes it difficult to achieve the original history except for the existing folklore and oral traditions which give a sketchy idea without concrete shreds of evidence. All these years of migration have made immense impacts on Chakma as a language. From the Arakans, they next moved to the Chittagong hill tract and from Chittagong to Rangamati. It was then they were believed to be introduced to the Bengali language. They started their formal education and daily survival exposure in Bengali.

All these years of migration and the direct impact of the Bengali language influenced Chakma as a language. The semantics and lexicon of the language are influenced largely by Bengali. The geographical area and contact with the Bengali language profoundly impact the language so much that linguists consider them as a dialect or variant of the Bengali language. There are considerable sound changes from Bengali to Chakma because Bangla has influenced the Chakma words. The borrowed words have undergone considerable phonemic changes through the processes of voicing, gemination, fricativization, assimilation, etc. A detailed analysis of those sound changes has been provided in this paper.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Nilanjana Roy Chowdhury, (Ph.D.)
nilanjanar5@gmail.com
Techno India University
Department of English
Kolkata, India
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