Sylheti is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by an estimated 11 million people, primarily in Sylhet Division of Bangladesh, Barak Valley of Assam, and northern parts of Tripura in India."Sylheti is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 11 million people in India and Bangladesh (Hammarström et al., 2017). Sylheti is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language, primarily spoken in the Sylhet division of Bangladesh, and in Barak valley, in Assam of the India and in the northern parts of the state of Tripura in India." In addition, there are substantial numbers of Sylheti speakers in the Indian states of Meghalaya, Manipur, and Nagaland, as well as among diaspora communities across the globe—from Britain and North America to various parts of the Middle East.
It is variously perceived as either a dialect of Bengali or a language in its own right. While many linguists consider it an independent language,"Along the linguistic continuum of eastern Indic languages, Sylheti occupies an ambiguous position, where it is considered a distinct language by many and also as a dialect of Bengali or Bangla by some others." "At the geographical extremes, Chittagonian, Sylheti, Mal Paharia, and Rohingya are so unintelligible to speakers of other dialects that they are almost universally considered by linguists to be separate languages on their own." for many native speakers Sylheti forms the diglossic vernacular, with standard Bengali forming the codified lect."In Bangladesh, Sylheti functions as a diglossic "Low" variety and Bengali, the official language of Bangladesh, as the "High" variety. Bengali is the language of official administration and education in Bangladesh, and Sylheti is normative in informal contexts in Sylhet." Some incorrectly consider it as a "corrupt" form of Bengali, and there is a reported language shift from Sylheti to Standard Bengali in Bangladesh, India and the diaspora; though Sylheti has more vitality than Standard Bengali among the diaspora in the United Kingdom."In the context of the UK, Sylheti has more vitality than Bangla on the basis of its demography."
Name
Sylheti is eponymously named after Sylhet, referring to the dialect or language spoken of that area.Anne Kershen (2004). Strangers, Aliens and Asians: Huguenots, Jews and Bangladeshis in Spitalfields 1666-2000. p. 145. Routledge. Retrieved 10 September 2020. According to the vernacular was called Sylhettia by the Europeans after the town of Sylhet."Sylhet Town, which is the headquarters of the District, being within six miles of the Jaintiapur Faiganaj lies within the area in which this dialect is spoken, and hence this form of speech is called Sylhettia by Europeans. For this reason, it is often wrongly said that the language of the whole Sylhet District is uniform, and the term Sylhettia is incorrectly applied to the dialect of the west of the District, as well as to that of the North-East. The term 'Sylhettia 'properly means the language of the town, and not of the District, of Sylhet." Though the speakers at that time referred to it as Jaintiapuri, Purba Srihattiya, or Ujania with the latter meaning "the language of the upper country"."As already stated, the dialect spoken in Sylhet Town and in the North and North-East of the District is that which Europeans called Sylhettia. Sylheti speakers did not use this title. They called it Jaintiapuri, Purba Srihattiya, or Ujania. The latter means the language of the upper country.
Sylheti is also spelt or known as Sylhetti (or Sileti), Sylheti Bangla and Siloti (also spelt in Syloti or Syloty).William Farwley (2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: 4-Volume Set. p. 483. Oxford University Press, USA. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
History Sylheti belongs to the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages that evolved from Magadhi Prakrit.South Asian folklore: an encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, By Peter J. Claus, Sarah Diamond, Margaret Ann Mills, Routledge, 2003, p. 203 The lowlands around Sylhet were originally inhabited by ancient Khasi people (Austroasiatic); and the earliest known Indo-Aryan settlements were founded in the 6th century under the Kingdom of Kamarupa."copper plate inscriptions indicate that land around the Kushiara was more densely populated, because Kamarupa kings had granted large tracts of land to immigrant Brahmans and their supporting castes, to make this region part of Assam (Khanda Kamarupa)." The Sylheti language was known as the language of the ancient Surma Valley and the Barak Valley in the sixth century CE, so it is assumed that this language is nearly 15 centuries old. |SOAS Sylhet (Srihatta) then emerged as a center of lowland territorialism after the 10th century." Sylhet town (Srihatta) became a major centre of lowland territorialism after the 10th century CE" The 11th century Bhatera grants from the Srihatta kings Kesavadeva and Isanadeva were written in Sanskrit.Rakhal Das Banerji (2003). Origin of the Bengali Script. p. 6. Another notable copper plate inscription was found in the village of Paschimbhag in Rajnagar, Moulvibazar that was issued by King Srichandra during the 10th century.
The Muslim Conquest of Sylhet in 1303 CE extended the migratory movements of Muslims from western lands, who settled among the native population and greatly influenced the local language. Thus Sylheti derived a large number of words from Persian and Arabic,J. K. Mandal, Goutam Saha, Debatta Kandar, Arnab Kumar Maji (2018). Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing and Communication System: 13CS 2016, NEHU, Shillong, India. p. 452. Springer. Retrieved 9 September 2020. indicating the Perso-Arabic influence on the vernacular. A script was developed in the region called Sylheti Nagri, which primarily focused on disseminating Sufi poetry, known as puthi.Surinder Singh (2008). Popular Literature and Pre-modern Societies in South Asia. p. 32. Pearson Education India. Retrieved 9 September 2020. Its earliest known work had been written during the 1600s, called Bhedsar by Syed Shah Husayn Alam. The literature was transcribed in the standard form of late Middle Bengali, it was similar to the Dobhashi idiom though phonologically was strongly influenced by Sylheti.Thibaut d'Hubert, Alexandre Papas (2018). Jāmī in Regional Contexts: The Reception of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī's Works in the Islamicate World, ca. 9th/15th-14th/20th Century. p. 667. BRILL. Retrieved 9 September 2020.Thibaut d'Hubert, ed. Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. (2014), "Dobhāshī", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE (Brill Online). Retrieved 9 September 2020. The script was read and taught culturally among households and was not institutionalised, as the Islamic dynasties who ruled over Bengal established Persian alongside Arabic as the official languages.Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu (2003). Culture and Learning in Islam. p. 115. UNESCO. Retrieved 9 September 2020. Printed texts of the script reached its peak during the late 19th century, however its use became obsolete by around the middle of the 20th century.Archiving texts in the Sylhet Nagri script (EAP071) British Library. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
In 1903, Grierson reported that Sylheti was spoken only around Sylhet town of the then Sylhet district (now Sylhet Division and Karimganj district in Assam), and that among the Indo-Aryan speakers in the district, about 33 per cent spoke this language."In North-East and North Sylhet, especially in Jaintiapur and Karimganj, the language is more corrupt. Sylhet Town, which is the head-quarters of the District, being within six miles of the Jaintiapur Pargana lies within the area in which this dialect is spoken, and hence this form of speech is called Sylhettia by Europeans. E For this reason it is often wrongly said that the language of the whole Sylhet District is uniform, and the term Sylhettia is incorrectly applied to the dialect of the west of the District, as well as to that of the North-East. The term 'Sylhettia' properly means the language of the town, and not of the District, of Sylhet. It is estimated that of the 2,033,000 speakers of Bengali in Sylhet, 1,355,000 use ordinary Eastern Bengali. The rest speak Sylhettia."
The earliest appearance of a documentation of Sylheti vocabulary was in the Government Report on the History and Statistics of Sylhet District by T. Walton, B.C.S. in 1857, which contained a list of peculiar words used in Sylhet. Many terms that were listed here differ from modern Sylheti – highlighting its evolution. In 1868, another short glossary of local terms in various districts of the Dacca Division (which included Sylhet) were written up and compared to standard Bengali to allow ease in understanding local vernaculars. Despite being annexed to the Assam Province during colonial rule, Sylheti speakers felt a linguistic affinity with the rest of Bengal. Bengali literature had some influence from Sylheti, popular songwriters or poets such as Hason Raja or Shah Abdul Karim, significantly contributed to the literature. Sylhet was reunited with Bengal following a referendum in 1947.Pradip Phanjoubam (2015). The Northeast Question: Conflicts and frontiers. p. 180. Routledge. Retrieved 12 September 2020.
Status According to Simard, Dopierala and Thaut, Sylheti is a "minoritised, politically unrecognised, and understudied language.""Sylheti is a minoritised, politically unrecognised, and understudied Eastern Indo-Aryan language with approximately 11 million speakers worldwide, with high speaker concentrations in the Surma and Barak river basins in north-eastern Bangladesh and south Assam, India, and in several diasporic communities around the world (especially UK, USA, and Middle East)." It is currently not officially recognised as a language in either Bangladesh or India."It is not officially recognised in Bangladesh, where it is simply referred to as a dialect of Bengali by the government (Faquire 2012); it has, equally, no legal status in India." Many native speakers consider it to be a slang or corrupt version of Standard Bengali and not an independent language;"Sylheti is often dismissed as 'slang' or as a corrupted version of Bengali, even by some of its own speakers, for whom it is not a language in its own right." and there is a reported language shift to Standard Bengali and a decrease in the number of native speakers since parents are not teaching it to their children."There is reported language shift in the Sylheti-speaking regions of Bangladesh and India, as well as in the diaspora with Bengali replacing Sylheti, as some parents do not speak Sylheti to their children, reducing the number of future Sylheti speakers." In Bangladesh, there is a diglossia where Sylheti is one among other low status regional dialects while Standard Bengali, the official language, has a high status.
In the Indian state of Assam where Assamese is the state language, Standard Bengali language serves as an additional official language in its Barak Valley districts, which host a majority Sylheti-speaking population.James N. Stanford, Dennis Richard Preston (2009). Variation in Indigenous Minority Languages. Disciplines. p. 441. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
In the United Kingdom, British schools have begun enlisting Sylheti in their syllabi. BBC News has also broadcast online videos relating to COVID-19 in five major South Asian languages including Sylheti.
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