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Rarhi Bengali dialect

Dialect of Bengali

Rāṛhī Bengali
Central Bengali
রাঢ়ী বাংলা
Native to	India, Bangladesh
Region	India: Rarh region (Nadia, Howrah, Kolkata, Murshidabad, Bardhaman, Hooghly) Bangladesh: Kushtia, Meherpur, Chuadanga
Ethnicity	Bengali peopleofPresidency Division and Greater Kushtia
Language family	Indo-European Indo Iranian Indo Aryan Eastern Zone Bengali-Assamese Bengali Rāṛhī Bengali
Writing system	Bengali alphabet
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–
Glottolog	cent1983  Central Bengali

Rāṛhī Bengali (রাঢ়ী বাংলা) or Central Bengali,^[1] is a dialect of the Bengali language spoken in the southeastern part of West Bengal, in and around the Bhagirathi River basin of Nadia district^[2] and other districts of the Presidency divisioninWest Bengal, as well as the Kushtia District region of western Bangladesh. Associated with the Rarh region of eastern India, it forms the basis of the standard variety of Bengali.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

This dialect is prevalent in the Rarh region of India specifically in the West Bengal districts of Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Nadia, Howrah, Hooghly and Purba Bardhaman. It is also spoken natively in the Chuadanga, Kushtia and Meherpur districts of Bangladesh, which were a part of the Nadia district prior to the 1947 Partition of India. Along with Eastern Bengali dialect, Modern Standard Bengali has been formed on the basis of this dialect.

Extensive use of Obhishruti (অভিশ্রুতি, /obʱisrut̪i/, umlaut). E.g. Beng. Koriya (করিয়া, /koria/, meaning - having done) > Beng. Koira (কইর‍্যা, /koirya/) > Beng. Kore (করে, /kore/).^[8]

• The change of অ to ও, when অ is the first sound of a word where the অ is followed by ই(ি), ও(ো), ক্ষ or য. E.g. Ati (written অতি, means 'excess') is pronounced as Oti (ওতি, /ot̪i/).
• Use of vowel harmony. E.g. Bilati (বিলাতি, /bilat̪i/, meaning - foreign) became Biliti (বিলিতি, /biliti/).^[9]

Ôbhishruti (অভিশ্রুতি, /obʱisrut̪i/) and Ôpinihiti (অপিনিহিতি, /opinihit̪i/, epenthesis) are two phonological phenomena that occur in spoken Bengali dialects. Opinihiti refers to the phonological process in which a ইorউ is pronounced before it occurs in the word. Obhishruti is the sound change in which this shifted ইorউ becomes removed and changes the preceding vowel. Observe the example above : Koriya (করিয়া, /koria/) > Koirya (কইর‍্যা, /koira/) > Kore (করে, /kore/). First Opinihiti changes Koriya to Koirya (notice how the I changes position.), then Obhishruti changes Koirya (কইর‍্যা) to Kore (করে).^[10]