BENGALI Lang And Culture Presentation
BENGALI LANGUAGE AND CULTURE
A Resource Guide for
Public School Teachers in
New York City
1
Section 1
The World of Bengali
2
The Bengali Language
• Bengali or Bangla is an Indo-Aryan language d i d from derived f
Sanskrit
S ki
• It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day
Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal
• With nearly 230 million native speakers, Bengali p y spoken p languages g g in is one of the most ppopularly the world
3
The native geographic extent of
Bengali
West Bengal, g , India
Bangladesh
4
Section 2
Alphabets Writing
Alphabets,
Writing, and Grammar
5
Alphabets and Writing
This section is largely based on resources from “Omniglot”: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/bengali.htm
• Bengali language has a written history going back to 900 CE
• Bengali is written left left-to-right to right, top top-toto bottom of page (same as English)
• The h Bengali li alphabet l h b is i a syllabic ll bi alphabet l h b in which consonants all have an inherent vowel 6
Alphabets and Writing (cont’d)
• Vowels can be written as independent letters, or written above, below, before or after the consonant they y belong g to by y usingg a variety of diacritical marks
• When consonants occ occurr together in clusters, cl sters special conjunct letters are used.
7
Alphabets and Writing (cont’d)
Bengali Consonants (starts from left, reads to right)
8
Alphabets and Writing (cont’d)
Vowels and vowel diacritics with the 1st consonant:
9
Bengali Grammar
This section is largely borrowed from Bengali Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language
• Bengali nouns are not assigned gender, which l d to minimal leads i i l changing h i off adjectives. dj i
• However, nouns and pronouns are highly altered depending on their function in a sentence into four cases while verbs are heavily conjugated
• As a consequence, Bengali verbs do not change p g on the ggender of the nouns. form depending
10
A Resource Guide for
Public School Teachers in
New York City
1
Section 1
The World of Bengali
2
The Bengali Language
• Bengali or Bangla is an Indo-Aryan language d i d from derived f
Sanskrit
S ki
• It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day
Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal
• With nearly 230 million native speakers, Bengali p y spoken p languages g g in is one of the most ppopularly the world
3
The native geographic extent of
Bengali
West Bengal, g , India
Bangladesh
4
Section 2
Alphabets Writing
Alphabets,
Writing, and Grammar
5
Alphabets and Writing
This section is largely based on resources from “Omniglot”: http://www.omniglot.com/writing/bengali.htm
• Bengali language has a written history going back to 900 CE
• Bengali is written left left-to-right to right, top top-toto bottom of page (same as English)
• The h Bengali li alphabet l h b is i a syllabic ll bi alphabet l h b in which consonants all have an inherent vowel 6
Alphabets and Writing (cont’d)
• Vowels can be written as independent letters, or written above, below, before or after the consonant they y belong g to by y usingg a variety of diacritical marks
• When consonants occ occurr together in clusters, cl sters special conjunct letters are used.
7
Alphabets and Writing (cont’d)
Bengali Consonants (starts from left, reads to right)
8
Alphabets and Writing (cont’d)
Vowels and vowel diacritics with the 1st consonant:
9
Bengali Grammar
This section is largely borrowed from Bengali Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengali_language
• Bengali nouns are not assigned gender, which l d to minimal leads i i l changing h i off adjectives. dj i
• However, nouns and pronouns are highly altered depending on their function in a sentence into four cases while verbs are heavily conjugated
• As a consequence, Bengali verbs do not change p g on the ggender of the nouns. form depending
10