Sylheti is a language on its own right.

[Tom-tom]

Why Sylhet division? There is no standardize Sylheti language spoken all over the division. It varies with region to region like any other part of Bangladesh. This is not only limited to Sylhet region. In my district(Tangail) there are variation on how people speak in northern part of the district and southern part. In Bangladesh, every 50 km, dialect change. Within Sylhet division, people of Sunamganj district(part of Sylhet division) do not speak in Sylheti dialect. Their dialect is more closer to Mymensingh. None of the famous literate from Sunamganj ever used Sylheti dialect in their literature, not Hason Raja, not Baul Samrat Shah Abdul Karim. I am sure there are also variation in Habiganj district. I have noticed Sylhet and Moulovi bazar have similar dialect which you claim to be a separate language. People from this two district constitute the bulk of the diaspora Sylheti. Whether Sylheti is a separate language or a dialect of Bengali is a non issue in Bangladesh. You are trying to create a fissure where there is none. I do not remember any prominent Sylheti from Bangladesh or even from diaspora ever agitated to recognize it as a separate language. It is only a topic for a fringe group of Sylheti in UK and USA who are extremely alienated from both their mother country and adopted country. You seems to be one of them.

As I am from the sunamganj area.
The bit in bold is true I think, as when I go to syhlet city I understand pure syhleti less.
Does that the pure syhleti bdesi American will put me a gas chamber?

 

[Homo Sapiens]

As I am from the sunamganj area.
The bit in bold is true I think, as when I go to syhlet city I understand pure syhleti less.
Does that the pure syhleti bdesi American will put me a gas chamber?

During my long stay in Sylhet city, I have personally came across many people from Sunamganj. Upon conversing them, it never sounded me anything like Sylheti dialect. It sounded more like my familiar Tangail-Mymensingh dialect.

 

[SylhetiBDeshiAmerican]

@SylhetiBDeshiAmerican

While I fully support Sylheti becoming one of the official languages in BD, I do not think any US style federal system is a good idea.

BD's better economic success in the region so far has come about because it is the only unitary state out of the 3 large S Asian countries. Look at all the countries in Asia like Korea and Taiwan that have become economically successfully and one of the main reasons is that they are homogenous and unitary states.

We just need to look over the border to India to see why federal system would be a very very bad move. I know BD is far more homogenous than India and even Pakistan, but it would get some of the same issues.

Sylhetis only want full recognition of Sylheti so that our language can be preserved within BD forever. There is no need for anything else as Sylhetis are fully part of BD in every way and even that useless FM Momen is Sylheti, although he is an embarrassment to Sylhetis and BD'shis in general whenever he opens his mouth.

india is federalism in theory only, but not in practice, bro India and United States has nothing in common.

As I am from the sunamganj area.
The bit in bold is true I think, as when I go to syhlet city I understand pure syhleti less.
Does that the pure syhleti bdesi American will put me a gas chamber?

you sound like you lack critical thinking abilities.

During my long stay in Sylhet city, I have personally came across many people from Sunamganj. Upon conversing them, it never sounded me anything like Sylheti dialect. It sounded more like my familiar Tangail-Mymensingh dialect. And unlike many khas Sylhetis, people from Sunamganj do not struggle to speak in a polished standard Bengali as well. This is my personal observation.

During my long stay in Sylhet city, I have personally came across many people from Sunamganj. Upon conversing them, it never sounded me anything like Sylheti dialect. It sounded more like my familiar Tangail-Mymensingh dialect. And unlike many khas Sylhetis, people from Sunamganj do not struggle to speak in a polished standard Bengali as well. This is my personal observation.

This is because GoB erroneously made it a dialed when Bangladesh was formed and and many many people were ashamed to speak in Sylheti I have met few Sylhetis who are ashamed to speak in Sylheti as well. This even highlights even more that Sylheti Language needs to get it recognizition to be practice and taught both written and oral form in Sylhet Division in Bangladesh. Many people parhaps from parts of the country also moved in, which is ok as it is part of the one country, if you really respect our language, what is your problem if Sylheti language recognized and protected and made co official language in Sylhet Bangladesh along with Bengali already is a official language. Bangladesheis from
other districts speak in various form and dialect of Bengali, only Sylheti is a separate language and not a dialect due it it’s historic origin and it’s written. US federalism would work best if it’s is implemented properly. Indian style and US has no comparison one is a beacon of hope for mankind and another one is majoritarian tyranny, racism, practices religious persecution and enable caste system bigotry. Anyway that is a whole another debate.

 

[SylhetiBDeshiAmerican]

@SylhetiBDeshiAmerican

While I fully support Sylheti becoming one of the official languages in BD, I do not think any US style federal system is a good idea.

BD's better economic success in the region so far has come about because it is the only unitary state out of the 3 large S Asian countries. Look at all the countries in Asia like Korea and Taiwan that have become economically successfully and one of the main reasons is that they are homogenous and unitary states.

We just need to look over the border to India to see why federal system would be a very very bad move. I know BD is far more homogenous than India and even Pakistan, but it would get some of the same issues.

Sylhetis only want full recognition of Sylheti so that our language can be preserved within BD forever. There is no need for anything else as Sylhetis are fully part of BD in every way and even that useless FM Momen is Sylheti, although he is an embarrassment to Sylhetis and BD'shis in general whenever he opens his mouth.

Yes my main priority is to get Sylheti language recognized, government system can always be amended if situation deems it. But it is working great and I am so happy to see Bangladesh is marching ahead economically. This is not our most pressing issue right now.

 

[Tom-tom]

Ok here's the thing in the sunmanganj area near my village people speak bangla/ syhleti thats very easy for a native English speaker to mimic and to also get the pronunciation right.

Bear in mind that during colonial times the Indian perspective has been white washed, buried, neglected and deleted.

Could this factor of syhleti sailors stranded in London during colonial times have shaped the dialect or language, on their return?

Has my district been influenced by syhleti sailors that often found themselves stranded in London at a time?

I was born in the UK, so my English is more fluent, when it's pure syhleti I can't mimic it nor would an English speaker very easily. The same with dhaka bengali, though if people in dhaka talk slowly enough I can make out they are saying. With a bit accent less course.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Ok here's the thing in the sunmanganj area near my village people speak bangla/ syhleti thats very easy for a native English speaker to mimic and to also get the pronunciation right.

Bear in mind that during colonial times the Indian perspective has been white washed, buried, neglected and deleted.

Could this factor of syhleti sailors stranded in London during colonial times have shaped the dialect or language, on their return?

Has my district been influenced by syhleti sailors that often found themselves stranded in London at a time?

I was born in the UK, so my English is more fluent, when it's pure syhleti I can't mimic it nor would an English speaker very easily. The same with dhaka bengali, though if people in dhaka talk slowly enough I can make out they are saying. With a bit accent less course.

Imo Sylheti is old surving earlier form of Bengali along with Chittagonian. Before the arrival of British, people must have talked with these versions. Its evident from old puthi books. Earlier people had this distinct tongues with more Islamic infusion. During the British colonial period migrant Hindus changed the Bengali language with more English and Sankritisation. Also grammitical format is created copying English language. The language origininted sorrounding Kolkata region made popular and standardised. Slowly the other dialects started to die and their versions started to sound odd. I use this standard version. But I know this Bengali language is difficult and odd in many ways. Firstly BDs dont know how to infuse new words in this old format of Bengali. And exercising science and technology is difficult in this language. As most of BD people arent noble they stay away from noble version of Bengali and exercise in village versions. Thats why I think these guys should play with the native Sylheti tongue and lets see what they come up with. The dictionary, grammar, literature and subject wise books. If Bengali language used in BD can borrow some from them. Sylheti isnt that hard, it took me five days of reluctant try to understand it. Also the Assamese version sounds like broken version of Bengali. The ramification should be to create dent on the Bengali nutjobs on their fake chetona for vasha andolon. The Sylheti issue here is ultimately non issue as their cousins of Barak valley also did their part for Bengali against Assamese in 1960. If Sylheti was an issue these guys would fight there for Sylheti, instead of Bengali.

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

All this hullabaloo over sylhet and their language, some people here trying to bend facts to push their own motives. This talk of sylheti being this and being that is making me laugh as someone who is a Chittagong native.

Firstly sylheti is not the "unintelligible" language that you lot pretend it is, I have never been to sylhet but I can make sense of 80% of what is being said without any effort.

Secondly Chattga or Chatgaiya (language of Chittagong) is very different from Bangla, in that we have loan words from English, Portuguese, Arabic, Punjabi, French and Farsi. The sentence structure and tenses are also completely different in Chatgaiya and even with all this... If anyone from any other part of Bangladesh really wanted to understand what was being said they can. We even had a Chatgaiya script (derived from Arabic) that is now lost.

Also what's all this talk of autonomy and secession, do you seriously think an independent sylhet will last 15 days without being annexed by India ?

Each and every part of the country contributes to the economy, no contribution is small. Chittagong is the most important region in Bangladesh, Dhaka is only relevant due to its capital status. I'm sure you all know that the principal port of Bangladesh is in Chittagong. So this begs the question do we the People of Chittagong really want to autonomy or do we feel suppressed?

Absolutely not, we the people of Chittagong are proud to be Bangladeshi and are proud of our contribution to the country.

Rambling on about how the GoB loots syhlet and doesn't invest anything back is horsecrap. This happens in every country the government can pay attention to which ever region they deem necessary. As the financial capital and the future center of the Bangladeshi economy Chittagong city deserves alot of attention but it doesn't get it's due but does that mean we are trying to secede or making accusations about how we are suppressed?

It is very harrowing to see that some Bangladeshis would rather let our tiny differences divide us, rather than celebrating our various dialects. And to this end they are not even ashamed to take help from "outsiders" who just want to bring our country down at every chance possible.

Here's some Chatgaiya videos for those curious :

 

[SylhetiBDeshiAmerican]

Imo Sylheti is old surving earlier form of Bengali along with Chittagonian. Before the arrival of British, people must have talked with these versions. Its evident from old puthi books. Earlier people had this distinct tongues with more Islamic infusion. During the British colonial period migrant Hindus changed the Bengali language with more English and Sankritisation. Also grammitical format is created copying English language. The language origininted sorrounding Kolkata region made popular and standardised. Slowly the other dialects started to die and their versions started to sound odd. I use this standard version. But I know this Bengali language is difficult and odd in many ways. Firstly BDs dont know how to infuse new words in this old format of Bengali. And exercising science and technology is difficult in this language. As most of BD people arent noble they stay away from noble version of Bengali and exercise in village versions. Thats why I think these guys should play with the native Sylheti tongue and lets see what they come up with. The dictionary, grammar, literature and subject wise books. If Bengali language used in BD can borrow some from them. Sylheti isnt that hard, it took me five days of reluctant try to understand it. Also the Assamese version sounds like broken version of Bengali. The ramification should be to create dent on the Bengali nutjobs on their fake chetona for vasha andolon. The Sylheti issue here is ultimately non issue as their cousins of Barak valley also did their part for Bengali against Assamese in 1960. If Sylheti was an issue these guys would fight there for Sylheti, instead of Bengali.

I slightly agree with your analogy at the beginning.

All this hullabaloo over sylhet and their language, some people here trying to bend facts to push their own motives. This talk of sylheti being this and being that is making me laugh as someone who is a Chittagong native.

Firstly sylheti is not the "unintelligible" language that you lot pretend it is, I have never been to sylhet but I can make sense of 80% of what is being said without any effort.

Secondly Chattga or Chatgaiya (language of Chittagong) is very different from Bangla, in that we have loan words from English, Portuguese, Arabic, Punjabi, French and Farsi. The sentence structure and tenses are also completely different in Chatgaiya and even with all this... If anyone from any other part of Bangladesh really wanted to understand what was being said they can. We even had a Chatgaiya script (derived from Arabic) that is now lost.

Also what's all this talk of autonomy and secession, do you seriously think an independent sylhet will last 15 days without being annexed by India ?

Each and every part of the country contributes to the economy, no contribution is small. Chittagong is the most important region in Bangladesh, Dhaka is only relevant due to its capital status. I'm sure you all know that the principal port of Bangladesh is in Chittagong. So this begs the question do we the People of Chittagong really want to autonomy or do we feel suppressed?

Absolutely not, we the people of Chittagong are proud to be Bangladeshi and are proud of our contribution to the country.

Rambling on about how the GoB loots syhlet and doesn't invest anything back is horsecrap. This happens in every country the government can pay attention to which ever region they deem necessary. As the financial capital and the future center of the Bangladeshi economy Chittagong city deserves alot of attention but it doesn't get it's due but does that mean we are trying to secede or making accusations about how we are suppressed?

It is very harrowing to see that some Bangladeshis would rather let our tiny differences divide us, rather than celebrating our various dialects. And to this end they are not even ashamed to take help from "outsiders" who just want to bring our country down at every chance possible.

Here's some Chatgaiya videos for those curious :

Like I mentioned in my previous posts, please read carefully my post to understand our only goal is to get Sylheti language recognized as a fully fledged language in Sylhet Division in Bangladesh so kids can learn it along with Bengali. I value diversity and Cherish plurality within one strong national identity of Bangladesh, if you are letting your emotion control you rather than your rationality and logic, then I cannot repeated what I have and several others have stated in above posts.


Now I totally agree with your second point, Chittagong needs a lot more investment, way more than other parts of Bangladesh. I am Sylheti Bangladeshi origin even I want Chittagong to be commercial Capital of Bangladesh, Chittagong is the strategic division of Bangladesh and GoB Bangladesh need to spend money in upgrading the city so it can thrive on commerce, real estate, finance and link Southeast Asia and Australia and act as a transportation hub as well. Chittagong needs modernization is more important than Dhaka yes I agree.


Lastly no Sylheti is not a dialect, but a language with its own rights, please kindly read my above posts to understand. I have many friends from Other division of Bangladesh, they have no clue when we speak in pure Sylheti, I think Chittagongian should also be recognized as a language if people demands it, all language are to be Cherished and protected and practiced in both written and oral form and be taught as well. Chittagongian is actually language all other parts of BD speak more variations of Bengali Dialect. Strong national identity and diversity and tolerance and multiculturalism is the key here. Obviously majority of Bangladeshi people are Muslim that is also the glue.Bengali would also be taught in Chittagong and Sylhet like it is now, as it will continue to remain the lingua Franca of the country.

 

[DalalErMaNodi]

I slightly agree with your analogy at the beginning.



Like I mentioned in my previous posts, please read carefully my post to understand our only goal is to get Sylheti language recognized as a fully fledged language in Sylhet Division in Bangladesh so kids can learn it along with Bengali. I value diversity and Cherish plurality within one strong national identity of Bangladesh, if you are letting your emotion control you rather than your rationality and logic, then I cannot repeated what I have and several others have stated in above posts.


Now I totally agree with your second point, Chittagong needs a lot more investment, way more than other parts of Bangladesh. I am Sylheti Bangladeshi origin even I want Chittagong to be commercial Capital of Bangladesh, Chittagong is the strategic division of Bangladesh and GoB Bangladesh need to spend money in upgrading the city so it can thrive on commerce, real estate, finance and link Southeast Asia and Australia and act as a transportation hub as well. Chittagong needs modernization is more important than Dhaka yes I agree.


Lastly no Sylheti is not a dialect, but a language with its own rights, please kindly read my above posts to understand. I have many friends from Other division of Bangladesh, they have no clue when we speak in pure Sylheti, I think Chittagongian should also be recognized as a language if people demands it, all language are to be Cherished and protected and practiced in both written and oral form and be taught as well. Chittagongian is actually language all other parts of BD speak more variations of Bengali Dialect. Strong national identity and diversity and tolerance and multiculturalism is the key here. Obviously majority of Bangladeshi people are Muslim that is also the glue.Bengali would also be taught in Chittagong and Sylhet like it is now, as it will continue to remain the lingua Franca of the country.

Man nobody absolutely nobody is stopping people from teaching kids syhleti in schools in Syhlet. The problem here though is that Bangladeshi kids have piss poor English as it is if I'm dead honest and adding another language to that burden isn't the wise thing to do in my opinion.... Not to mention our glorious education system where kids who don't know ABCD can get medical degrees as long as they have BAL links.

If you really really want Syhleti to be recognized then arguing and deliberating over it on pdf will not be fruitful. PDF Bangladesh section is full of foreign trolls trying real hard to get any excuse to pass snide remarks and posts like these which create discourse in the normally homogeneous Bangladeshi society is what trolls dream of.

If the people of syhlet really want it, then GoB is obliged to recognise syhleti as an official language alongside Bangla. However this will require actual movements on the ground and honestly I don't think there will ever be any concerted effort in this regard by the masses, bear in mind this is Bangladesh and people are trying to earn a honest days living and somehow educate their kids.

That's said you are free to write to the concerned authorities and start a petition but further discussion on this topic on this forum will only end in Bangladeshis arguing and bad-mouthing other Bangladeshis and honestly this is exactly what our enemies want.

 

[SylhetiBDeshiAmerican]

Man nobody absolutely nobody is stopping people from teaching kids syhleti in schools in Syhlet. The problem here though is that Bangladeshi kids have piss poor English as it is if I'm dead honest and adding another language to that burden isn't the wise thing to do in my opinion.... Not to mention our glorious education system where kids who don't know ABCD can get medical degrees as long as they have BAL links.

If you really really want Syhleti to be recognized then arguing and deliberating over it on pdf will not be fruitful. PDF Bangladesh section is full of foreign trolls trying real hard to get any excuse to pass snide remarks and posts like these which create discourse in the normally homogeneous Bangladeshi society is what trolls dream of.

If the people of syhlet really want it, then GoB is obliged to recognise syhleti as an official language alongside Bangla. However this will require actual movements on the ground and honestly I don't think there will ever be any concerted effort in this regard by the masses, bear in mind this is Bangladesh and people are trying to earn a honest days living and somehow educate their kids.

That's said you are free to write to the concerned authorities and start a petition but further discussion on this topic on this forum will only end in Bangladeshis arguing and bad-mouthing other Bangladeshis and honestly this is exactly what our enemies want.

I agree with you, we need to becareful of our ill wishhers. It can be resolved internally. I was just trying to raise awareness. We need to me mindful yes.

 

[VikingRaider]

Technically you are correct but in practice BD is a union as Sylhet chose to join BD by referendum rather than a natural formation in 1947.

Sylhet is a very unique division in BD with a separate language, culture, geography etc.

But actually Sylhet joined Pakistan in 1947 , not in Bangladesh as there was no Bangladesh that time . And pakistan was a federal state .

But after freedom fight in 1971 when Bangladesh was formed , it was an unitary state from the beginning !So does the word union still apply for Sylhet?

 

[Old School]

But actually Sylhet joined Pakistan in 1947 , not in Bangladesh as there was no Bangladesh that time . And pakistan was a federal state .

But after freedom fight in 1971 when Bangladesh was formed , it was an unitary state from the beginning !So does the word union still apply for Sylhet?

PAKISTAN was not a Federal state in 1947. It was then a Dominion. We became a republic with unitary government system in 1956. The federal government system was adopted in 1973.

 

[VikingRaider]

PAKISTAN was not a Federal state in 1947. It was then a Dominion. We became a republic with unitary government system in 1956. The federal government system was adopted in 1973.

Okay thank you for letting me know . Then the matter made even stronger. In an unitary state the word union should not exist , at least not after when you have second generation , I mean firstly choosing Pakistan and then automatically be part of Bangladesh , it was not choice but it was by default . Because the choice was made in 1947 to join Pakistan instead of India . Bangladesh was not dominion , but it was part of Pakistan dominion later got separated !

 

[Old School]

Okay thank you for letting me know . Then the matter made even stronger. In an unitary state the word union should not exist , at least not after when you have second generation , I mean firstly choosing Pakistan and then automatically be part of Bangladesh , it was not choice but it was by default , as the choice was made in 1947 to join Pakistan instead of India .

Why are you still promoting this propaganda thread ? There is no Bengali people besides Sylhetis in PDF ? Did you already kick out all the non Sylhetis from PDF because they didn't believe in the 'husband-wife theory' of BAL ?

 

[VikingRaider]

Why are you still promoting this propaganda thread ? There is no Bengali people besides Sylhetis in PDF ? Did you already kick out all the non Sylhetis from PDF because they don't believe in in 'husband-wife theory' of BAL ?

I honestly believe @UKBengali is one of the most patriot Bangladeshi in this forum .TBH I have high respect for him. That's why I have asked him a question .

You saw that I did not even talk to trouble makers who are trying to push the matter, I am safely ignoring them in every other threads.