Bangladeshi English is an English accent heavily influenced by the Bengali language and its dialects in Bangladesh.[1][2] This variety is very common among Bengalis from Bangladesh.
| Bangladeshi English | |
|---|---|
| Native to | Bangladesh |
Early forms | |
| Latin (English alphabet) Unified English Braille | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| IETF | en-BD |
The code-mixed usage of Bengali/Bangla and English is known as Benglish or Banglish. The term Benglish was recorded in 1972, and Banglish slightly later, in 1975.[3]
Use
editBengali is the sole official and national language of Bangladesh. However, English is often used secondarily in the higher tier of the judiciary in the country. Laws were written in English during the British Reign.
Since the introduction of Bangla Bhasha Procolon Ain, all the laws by parliament and all Ordinances promulgated by the President are being enacted in Bengali[4] in Bangladesh.
There are ten English language newspapers in Bangladesh. English medium schools are also operated in English. Mainly, the people of Bangladeshi descent residing in the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US and students of English medium schools in Bangladesh use Benglish (though the teaching of Standard English is also attempted).
However, upon public demand in 2012, the High Court of Bangladesh banned the use of Benglish, described as a slang mixture of Bengali and English, in radio and television programs "to protect local tongue".[5]
Benglish is a term that has been used in academic papers to describe a mixture of Bangla and English. For example, Benglish verbs are described as a particular type of complex predicate that consists of an English word and a Bengali verb, such as æksiḍenṭ kôra 'to have an accident', in kôra 'to get/come/put in' or kônfyus kôra 'to confuse'.[6][7][8]
History
editThe East India Company adopted English as the official language of the empire in 1835. Replacement of the Persian language with English was followed by a surge in English language learning among Bengali babus. English remained an official language of the region until 1956 when the first constitution of Pakistan was adopted stating Bengali and Urdu as the official languages of the state following the Bengali language movement from 1947 to 1952.
After independence, Bengali became the sole official language of Bangladesh, and all English-medium universities, schools and colleges were converted to Bengali instruction in order to spread mass education.
Literature
editNumbering system
editThe South Asian numbering system is preferred for digit grouping. When written in words, or when spoken, numbers less than 100,000/100 000 are expressed just as they are in Standard English. Numbers including and beyond 100,000 / 100 000 are expressed in a subset of the South Asian numbering system.
Thus, the following scale is used:
| In digits | In words (long and short scales) | In words (South Asian system) |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | ten | |
| 100 | one hundred | |
| 1,000 | one thousand | |
| 10,000 | ten thousand | |
| 100,000 | one hundred thousand | one lakh |
| 1,000,000 | one million | ten lakh |
| 10,000,000 | ten million | one crore |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Burhanuddin Khan Jahangir (2002). Nationalism, fundamentalism, and democracy in Bangladesh. International Centre for Bengal Studies. p. 109.
- ^ "The Two Men: Formative Stage". The Journal of the Institute of BangladeStudies. 30. Rajshahi: Institute of Bangladesh Studies: 10. 2007.
- ^ Lambert, James. 2018. A multitude of 'lishes': The nomenclature of hybridity. English World-wide, 39(1): 22. doi:10.1075/eww.38.3.04lam.
- ^ "Towards creating an indigenous legal corpus in Bangla". The Daily Star. 19 February 2019. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ "Bangladesh bans 'Banglish' to protect local tongue". The Express Tribune. Agence France-Presse. 17 February 2012. Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
- ^ [1] Shishir Bhattacharja, 2010 Benglish Verbs: a Case of Code-Mixing in Bengali PACLIC 24 Proceedings
- ^ [2] Kundu ; Subhash Chandra, 2012 Automatic detection of English words in Benglish text: A statistical approach 2012 4th International Conference on Intelligent Human Computer Interaction (IHCI)
- ^ [3] Hunting Elusive English in Hinglish and Benglish Text: Unfolding Challenges and Remedies, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC)