North Central Bengali or Varendrī Bengali (, ) is a cluster of Bengali dialects and their varieties, it is also known as Uttaravaṅgīẏa or Udīcya, it is spoken in the Varendra region (primarily consisting of the Rajshahi Division, parts of the Gaibandha and Dinajpur districts in Bangladesh and the Malda division in India excluding Islampur). Varendri dialect was classified by many renowned Indian linguists like Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Sukumar Sen and others. NB Barendra refers to Varendri It is also spoken in adjoining villages in neighbouring Bihar and Jharkhand. Barendri dialect has some influences of neighbouring dialects of Maithili and other Bihari languages.
Classification Grammatically, the Varendri dialect is almost identical to the Rarhi dialect. According to linguists, in the past Rarhi and Varendri were a single dialect which was primarily known as the Rarhi or Gaudi dialect. Later, under the influence of the Eastern Bengali, it separated from Rarhi and became a distinct dialect of Bengali. Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah divided all Bengali dialects into two main groups: Prācya () and Pāścātya (). Within his Pāścātya grouping, he identified a subdivision termed "Northern" or "Udīcya", which broadly corresponds to what is described here as North Central Bengali but also including Far Northern Bengali dialects. This classification aligns with the combined dialect groups of "Varendra" and "Kāmarūpa" proposed by Suniti Kumar Chatterji, while the remaining area corresponds to Rāḍha dialects. In Shahidullah's classification, this northern zone is said to extend from Goalpara to Purnia, encompassing much of the historical regions of Kamarupa and Varendra., p. 62: "গোয়ালপাড়া হইতে পূর্ণিয়া পর্যন্ত। ইহা প্রাচীনকালে কামরূপ ও বরেন্দ্র নাম অভিহত হইত।" This area includes the modern divisions of Rangpur and Rajshahi in Bangladesh as well as Jalpaiguri and Malda in West Bengal. The Varendri dialect is also known as the "Rajshahi-Malda dialect". It is sometimes divided into Indian varieties, such as the "Maldahiya" or "Gaudi" dialects and Bangladeshi varieties known as the "Purbo Varendri" dialects.
Features Phonology Barendri Bengali is having 35 segmental phonemes out of which 7 are vowels and 28 are consonants like Standard Bengali. The letter sh (শ) is often pronounced as s (স) like Rarhi dialect. In some areas the letter 'j' sometimes changes into 'z' due to influences from neighbouring Vanga dialect.
Morphology Varendri Bengali has the affix '-der' for the genitive plural and oblique plural . It is commonly found in Rarhi dialect. The suffix '-ghor' or '-ghore', cognate with Eastern Bengali common plural affix '-gor' or '-go', is also found in Barendri dialect-speaking areas. Varendri Bengali has the Common Bengali plural affix "gulā" like Standard Bengali. Varendri Bengali agree in having -kē, -k as the proper affix for the dative like Rarhi dialect. The locative case is *tē, -t in Varendri and -tē in Rarhi dialect. Comparison A comparative chart of various Bengali varieties is given below: English language Barendri Bengali Rarhi Bengali Standard Bengali East Rarh West Rarh Sadhu Bengali Chalit Bengali I go Jai Jai Jai Jai Jai I have gone Geichi Gechi Gechi/Gelchi Giachi Giechi/Gechi I am going Jacchi Jacchi Jaicchi Jaitechi Jacchi I went Gelam/Genu Gelum/Genu Gelam/Genu Gelam/Genu Gelam I had gone Geichilam/Gechinu Gechilum/Gechinu Gechilam/Gelchilam Giachilam/Giechinu Giechilam/Gechilam I was going Jacchilam/Jacchinu Jacchilum/Jacchinu Jaicchilam/Jaicchinu Jaitechilam Jacchilam I will go Jabo Jabo Jabo Jaibo Jabo I shall have gone Gie thakbo Gie thakbo Gie thaikbo Gia thakibo Gie thakbo I will keep going Jeite thakbo Jeite thakbo Jeite thaikbo Jaite thakibo Jete thakbo
In popular culture Gambhira, a Bengali folk genre is originally evolved with this dialect. This dialect is famous in many Bengali dramas. A web series by Chorki named Shaaticup is created in this dialect.
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