Bengali

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A language of Bangladesh

ISO 639-3
ben
Alternate Names
Bangala, Bangla-Bhasa
Autonym
বাংলা‎ (Bangla)
User Population

159,000,000 in Bangladesh, all users. L1 users: 130,000,000 in Bangladesh (2017). L2 users: 29,000,000 (2017). Total users in all countries: 272,674,940 (as L1: 233,672,060; as L2: 39,002,880).

Location

Widespread.

Language Maps
Language Status

1 (National). Statutory national language (1972, Constitution, Article 3), has been reinforced by the Bengali Language Introduction Act of 1987 to fully enact Article 3 of the Constitution, making the use of Bengali compulsory at all levels of state activities except in foreign affairs.

Classification
Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Outer Languages, Eastern, Bengali-Assamese
Dialects

Barisal, Noakhali, Khulna, Mymensingh. Reportedly similar to Assamese [asm]. Lexical similarity: 40% with Nepali [npi].

Typology

SOV; postpositions; noun head both initial and final; 3 genders: male, female, neuter; content q-word initial and final; clause constituents indicated by case-marking (5 cases) and word order; verb affixes mark person, number; definite article affix; tense; passives and voice; causatives; comparatives; non-tonal; 35 consonant and 5 vowel phonemes; stress on first syllable.

Language Use

Used by all. A few also use War-Jaintia [aml]. Also use Chittagonian [ctg].

Language Development

Taught in all primary and secondary schools. Taught in most tertiary schools. Fully developed. Bible: 1832–2016.

Language Resources
OLAC resources in and about Bengali
Writing

Bengali (Bangla) script [Beng], primary usage. Braille script [Brai]. Newa script [Newa], no longer in use.

Other Comments

Muslim.

Also spoken in:

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