Bengali: A Comprehensive Grammar

801 Pages·2010·13.344 MB·English

by  Hanne-Ruth Thompson

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s A Comprehensive Grammar
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www.routledge.com
Hanne - Ruth Thompson
Bengali Language
an informa business
Bengali
A Comprehensive Grammar
Bengali: A Comprehensive Grammar is a complete reference guide to Bengali
grammar.
It presents a fresh, accessible and thorough description of the language,
concentrating on the real patterns of use in modern Bengali. The book moves
from the sounds and script through morphology and word classes to a detailed
analysis of sentence structures and semantic features such as aspect, tense,
negation and reduplication.
The Grammar is an essential reference source for the learner and user of Bengali,
irrespective of level. It is ideal for use in schools, colleges, universities and adult
classes of all types. With clear and simple explanations this book will remain the
standard reference work for years to come for both learners and linguists alike.
The volume is organised to promote a thorough understanding of Bengali
grammar. It offers a stimulating analysis of the complexities of the language,
and provides full and clear explanations. Throughout, the emphasis is on
Bengali as used by present-day native speakers.
An extensive index and numbered paragraphs provide readers with easy access
to the information they require.
Features include:
• detailed treatment of the common grammatical structures and parts of
speech
• extensive exemplification
• particular attention to areas of confusion and difficulty
• Bengali-English parallels highlighted throughout the book.
Hanne-Ruth Thompson teaches Bengali at the School of Oriental and African
Studies in London. Previous publications include Essential Everyday Bengali:
A Grammar and Glossary of Colloquial Bengali with Examples Throughout
(1999).
Routledge Comprehensive Grammars
Comprehensive Grammars are available for the following languages:
Bengali
Cantonese
Catalan
Danish
Dutch
Greek
Indonesian
Japanese
Modern Welsh
Modern Written Arabic
Slovene
Swedish
Ukrainian
Bengali
A Comprehensive Grammar
Hanne-Ruth Thompson
First edition published 2010
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2010 Hanne-Ruth Thompson
Typeset in Sabon and Gill
by Graphicraft Limited, Hong Kong
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-41137-0 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-41139-4 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-203-88073-9 (ebk)
ahŸcxò g†hS Mhfu xhi - ahmhfk yqfwC BhXh/
Shamsur Rahman
I go with a glass of amazement in my hand –
you have given me language.
To the children of Bangladesh

Contents
Acknowledgements xvii
Glossary xviii
Abbreviations and Glosses xxiii
PART 1 PERIPHERIES 1
Chapter 1 Introduction 3
1.1 Aims and organisation of the book 3
1.2 Bangla grammar terms 5
1.3 Bangla and its speakers 8
1.4 History (language and literature) 9
1.5 The Bangla lexicon 13
1.6 Sadhu bhasha 15
Chapter 2 Script and sound 19
2.1 The Bangla Alphabet 19
2.2 Spellings and sounds 21
2.3 Phonemes 23
2.4 Sounds and phonemes 24
2.5 Vowels 31
2.6 The inherent vowel 36
2.7 Syllable structure 40
2.8 Consonants – use and occurrence 42
2.9 Conjuncts 46
2.10 Jophola 52
2.11 Other symbols 53
2.12 Punctuation 57
2.13 Sounds and spellings 60 vii
Contents Chapter 3 Morphological features 62
3.1 Duplication 62
3.2 Vowel harmony and vowel mutation 64
3.3 Prefixes and suffixes 66
3.4 Verbal patterns 73
3.5 Adjective derivations 77
3.6 Noun derivations 82
3.7 Word classes overview 85
PART 2 WORD CLASSES 89
Chapter 4 Nouns 91
4.1 Types of nouns 91
4.2 Formation of nouns 92
4.3 Gender 92
4.4 Bare nouns 95
4.5 The classifiers – overview 97
4.6 Noun paradigms 98
4.7 The classifiers – one-by-one 101
4.8 Plural formation 107
4.9 Definite – indefinite 112
4.10 Animate – inanimate 113
4.11 Ordinary – honorific 113
4.12 Count – non-count 114
4.13 Case 115
4.14 Multiple noun attachments 121
Chapter 5 Pronouns 123
5.1 Pronouns – overview 123
5.2 Types of pronouns 125
Chapter 6 Verbs 142
6.1 Verb morphology 142
6.2 Verb classes 142
6.3 Vowel mutation 143
6.4 Verb forms 145
6.5 Conjugation tables overview 147
6.6 Conjugation charts 148
6.7 Other verb endings 158
viii 6.8 Extended o-kar verbs 159
6.9 Non-finite verb forms 161 Contents
6.10 Imperatives 165
6.11 Negation 168
6.12 Incomplete verbs, verbal fragments and
isolated verb forms 170
6.13 Periphrastic tenses 171
Chapter 7 Adjectives 174
7.1 Types of adjectives 174
7.2 Attributive uses 175
7.3 Predicative uses 177
7.4 Verbal adjectives 178
7.5 Comparison of adjectives 179
7.6 Quantifiers 188
7.7 Amounts 198
7.8 Distributive adjectives 201
Chapter 8 Adverbs 203
8.1 Formation of adverbs 204
8.2 Uses of adverbs 205
8.3 Types of adverbs 207
8.4 Order of adverbs 226
Chapter 9 Postpositions 228
9.1 Common postpositions – overview 229
9.2 Case use 229
9.3 Postpositions one by one 230
9.4 Other uses 255
9.5 khC `Ufk and other places 258
Chapter 10 Conjunctions 261
10.1 Coordinating conjunctions 261
10.2 Subordinating conjunctions 266
10.3 Correlative conjunctions 267
10.4 o, ahr and ebL 269
Chapter 11 Interrogatives 271
11.1 Basic question words – overview 271
11.2 `k who 271 ix