Sylheti language
Sylheti is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language, part of the Bengali-Assamese language group. It is spoken by an estimated 11 million people worldwide today, primarily in Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and the Barak Valley of Assam as well as northern parts of Tripura. Outside of these regions, there are substantial numbers of Sylheti speakers in Hojai, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland; as well as diaspora communities in the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Middle East.
Sylheti is generally identified as a dialect of the Bengali language though many consider it a distinct language. Phonologically Sylheti is distinguished from standard Bengali and other regional varieties by significant deaspiration and spirantization, leading to major restructuring of the consonant inventory and the development of tones. Though some claim that standard Bengali is not mutually intelligble with Sylheti, others claim the difference is relatively small. For many speakers, Sylheti forms the diglossic vernacular with standard Bengali forming the codified lect.
Classification
Colonial study in the 19th century considered Sylheti to be a dialect of Bengali. In his Linguistic Survey of India, published in 1903 from data collected throughout the second half of the 19th century, linguist George Abraham Grierson identified two variations of Sylheti and grouped them in Eastern Bengali. Grierson, notes that a third of speakers in Sylhet district spoke the Sylheti varieties and clarifies that the name derives from the Sylhet town, close to Jaintiapur paragana, and not from the district—with the natives calling it Jaintiapuri, Purba Srihattiya, or Ujania. Sylheti shares some linguistic properties with Bengali, properties also found in several other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, such as Assamese, Chittagonian, Bishnupriya Manipuri, and Dhakaiya Kutti. However, Sylheti's deaspirated consonants and lexical tone are not characteristic traits found in many Indo-Aryan languages, pronunciation differences that makes mutual intelligibility difficult between Sylheti and standard Bengali. A significant portion of Sylheti's vocabulary shares common Indo-Aryan roots with other South Asian languages, a common situation between many related languages.Sylheti's modern linguistic classification is debated as a language or as a dialect of Bengali. Lack of mutual intelligibility is a major factor in linguists debating Sylheti as a separate language from Bengali, in opposition to its official position as a dialect. This consideration by linguists is also due to linguistic properties such as phoneme inventory, allophony, inflectional morphology, and lexicon that differ from standard Bengali. Sylhet was part of British Assam and according to Grierson, Sylheti shares some features with Assamese, including a larger set of inflections than standard Bengali. Nevertheless, Grierson describes Sylheti as Bengali.
Geographical distribution
Sylheti is native to a region roughly including the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and the Barak Valley of Assam as well as northern parts of Tripura and the western edge of Manipur. There is also a significant population in the disctrict of Hojai, Assam since before Partition.in London, which is home to a large Sylheti diaspora
There are also significant Sylheti-speaking communities in the Middle East, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
A notable amount of Sylheti migration to Europe, North America, and the Middle East from the 20th century has made Sylheti one of the most spoken languages of the Bangladeshi diaspora.
Among the total 11 million Sylheti speakers, 76% are from Bangladesh, 22% are from India, and the rest 2% are from across the world.
History
The region of Sylhet became a part of Sultan Shamsuddin Firoz Shah's sultanate in Lakhnauti in 1303 during the Conquest of Sylhet led by the Sultan's commanders Sikandar Khan Ghazi and Syed Nasiruddin and aided by Shah Jalal and his disciples. The high influx of Middle Eastern and Central Asian settlers led to an influence from Arabic, the religious language, and Persian, the official court language, on the Bengali language as a whole.T Walton B.C.S. wrote the Government Report on the History and Statistics of Sylhet District in 1857 which contained a list of peculiar Sylheti vocabulary. This is most likely the earliest appearance of a Sylheti dictionary. Many terms listed here differ from modern Sylheti – highlighting the dialect's evolution. In 1868, another short glossary of local Sylheti terms were written up and compared to standard Bengali to allow ease in understanding the dialect.
In 1874, Sylhet became a part of Assam by the British rule thus leading to Assamese influence on the local Sylheti dialect and separation from mainland Bengal. In the 19th century, the British tea-planters in the area referred to the vernacular spoken in Surma and Barak Valleys as Sylheti. Local names included Ujaniyo and Srihottiyo. In the 20th century, Shibprosanna Lahiry wrote a book called Sylheti Bhasatattver Bhumika. After a number of political movements led by groups such as the Sylhet Peoples' Association and Sylhet-Bengal Reunion League, the demands of the mobilised public opinion demanding Sylhet's reincorporation into Bengal was met once and for all in 1947 following a referendum. It is very important to note that popular writers and poets of the Sylhet region that wrote in their native tongue, for example Hason Raja or Shah Abdul Karim, were not only renowned amongst Sylhetis but as prosperous contributors to the wider Bengali literature as a whole - greatly admired and celebrated by Bengali speakers as far as West Bengal.
The British Bangladeshis living in England were mainly of Sylheti origin, and a fringe group started a campaign during the mid-1970s to mid-1980s to recognise Sylheti as a language in its own right. During the mid-1970s, when the first mother-tongue classes were established for Bangladeshis by community activists, the classes were given in standard Bengali rather than the Sylheti dialect which triggered the campaign. During the 1980s, a recognition campaign for Sylheti took place in the area of Spitalfields in the East End of London. One of the main organisations was the Bangladeshis' Educational Needs in Tower Hamlets. However this organisation collapsed in 1985 and with its demise, the pro-Sylheti campaign in the borough lost impetus. Nonetheless, Sylheti remains very widespread as a domestic language in working-class as well as upper-class Sylheti households in the United Kingdom.
Writing system
The language is primarily written in the Bengali script, however an alternative script was also founded in the Sylhet region known as Sylheti Nagri. Historically, Sylheti Nagri was commonly used by some low-class Muslims of the east of the Sylhet region and mostly limited to writing religious poetry. This written form was identical to those written in the Dobhashi dialect due to both lacking the use of tatsama and using Perso-Arabic vocabulary as a replacement. As per Dobhashi custom, many Sylheti Nagri texts were paginated from right to left. An endangered script, it has since seen a revival mostly by academics and linguists.Comparison with standard Bengali
A phrase in:- Standard Bengali: এক দেশের গালি আরেক দেশের বুলি æk desher gali arek desher buli.
- Sylheti: /এখ দেশর গাইল, আরখ দেশর মাত ex deshôr gail arôx deshôr mat.
Another example:
মেঘ megh in Standard Bengali means cloud .
Phonology
Sylheti is distinguished by its tonal characteristics and a wide range of fricative consonants corresponding to aspirated consonants in closely related languages and dialects such as Bengali; a lack of the breathy voiced stops; word-final stress; and a relatively large set of loanwords from other Bengali dialects and Assamese.Tone
Sylheti is a tonal language. The Indo-Aryan languages are not generally recognised for tone. There are two types of tonal contrasts in Sylheti: the emergence of high tone in the vowels following the loss of aspiration, and a level tone elsewhere.| Word | Transliteration | Tone | Meaning |
| at | level | intestine | |
| át | high | hand | |
| xali | level | ink | |
| xáli | high | empty | |
| guṛa | level | powder | |
| gúṛa | high | horse | |
| suri | level | theft | |
| súri | high | knife | |
| zal | level | net, web | |
| zál | high | punjent | |
| ṭik | level | tick | |
| ṭík | high | correct | |
| ḍal | level | branch | |
| ḍál | high | shield | |
| tal | level | palmyra, rhythm | |
| tál | high | plate | |
| dan | level | donation | |
| dán | high | paddy | |
| ful | level | bridge | |
| fúl | high | flower | |
| bala | level | bangle | |
| bála | high | good, welfare | |
| bat | level | arthritis | |
| bát | high | rice |
Recent study shows that there is a three way tonal system in Sylheti.
| No. | Word | IPA | Tone | Meaning | Word | IPA | Tone | Meaning | Word | IPA | Tone | Meaning |
| 1 | ɸáʈá | High | goat | ɸàʈà | Low | torn | ɸāʈā | Mid | grindstone | |||
| 2 | kúʈá | High | room | kùʈà | Low | taunting | kūʈā | Mid | stick | |||
| 3 | ɸáxá | High | fan | ɸàxà | Low | empty | ɸāxā | Mid | ripe |
It is considered that these tones arose when aspirated consonants lost their aspiration. Sylheti continues to have a long history of coexisting with other Tibeto-Burman languages such as various dialects of Kokborok, Reang which are tonal in nature. Even though there is no clear evidence of direct borrowing of lexical items from those tonal languages into Sylheti, there is still a possibility that the emergence of Sylheti tones is due to an areal feature as the indigenous speakers of Tibeto-Burman languages by and large use Sylheti as a common medium for interaction.
Grammar
Sylheti grammar is the study of the morphology and syntax of Sylheti.Nouns
Case
When a definite article such as -gu/ţa or -guin/ţin is added, nouns are also inflected for number. Below are two tables which show the inflections of an animate noun, satrô, and an inanimate noun, zuta.All of the inflected nouns above have an indefinite article preceding their case markers. There are some basic rules to keep in mind about the cases, apart from the "default" nominative.
For the genitive case, the ending may change, though never with a definite article attached. A noun which ends in a consonant or the inherent vowel, ô, is inflected by adding -ôr to the end of the word. An example of this would be the genitive of gus "meat" being gustôr "of meat" or " meat's". A noun which ends in any vowel apart from the inherent vowel will just have a -ꠞ -r following it, as in the genitive of fua being fuar " boy's". The genitive ending is also applied to verbs, which is most commonly seen when using postpositions.
For the locative case, the marker also changes in a similar fashion to the genitive case, with consonants and the inherent vowel having their own ending, -ô, and all other vowels having another ending, -t. For example, silôţô "in Sylhet", dáxát "in Dhaka", etc.
Measure words
When counted, nouns must also be accompanied by the appropriate measure word. The noun's measure word must be used in between the numeral and the noun. Most nouns take the generic measure word gu/ţa/xán, although there are many more specific measure words, such as zôn, which is only used to count humans.| Sylheti | Literal translation | Meaning |
| Nôy-ţa ghoŗi | Nine-MW clock | Nine clocks |
| Xôy-ţa balish | How many-MW pillow | How many pillows |
| Ônex-zôn manush | Many-MW person | Many people |
| Sair-fas-zôn mashţôr | Four-five-MW teacher | Four or five teachers |
Measuring nouns in Sylheti without their corresponding measure words would typically be considered ungrammatical. However, omitting the noun and preserving the measure word is grammatical and not uncommon to hear. For example, Xáli êx-zôn táxbô. would be understood to mean "Only one person will remain.", since zôn can only be used to count humans.
Pronouns
Personal pronouns
Sylheti personal pronouns are somewhat similar to English pronouns, having different words for first, second, and third person, and also for singular and plural. Sylheti pronouns, like their English counterparts, do differentiate for gender. Sylheti has different third-person pronouns for proximity. The first are used for someone who is nearby, and the second are for those who are a little further away. The third are usually for those who are not present. In addition, each of the second- and third-person pronouns have different forms for the familiar and polite forms; the second person also has a "very familiar" form. It may be noted that the "very familiar" form is used when addressing particularly close friends or family as well as for addressing subordinates, or in abusive language. In the following tables, the abbreviations used are as follows: VF=very familiar, F=familiar, and P=polite ; H=here, T=there, E=elsewhere, and I=inanimate.The nominative case is used for pronouns that are the subject of the sentence, such as "I already did that" or "Will you please stop making that noise?"
The objective case is used for pronouns serving as the direct or indirect objects, such as "I told him to wash the dishes" or "The teacher gave me the homework assignment". The inanimate pronouns remain the same in the objective case.
The possessive case is used to show possession, such as "Where is your coat?" or "Let's go to our house". In addition, sentences such as "I have a book" or "I need money" also use the possessive.
Indefinite and negative pronouns
Bengali has no negative pronouns. These are typically represented by adding the negative particle to indefinite pronouns, which are themselves derived from their corresponding question words. Common indefinite pronouns are listed below.| Question word | Indefinite pronoun | Indefinite negative pronoun |
| ꠇꠦ/ꠇꠦꠉꠥ/ꠇꠤꠉꠥ | ꠇꠦꠃ | ꠇꠦꠃ ꠘꠣꠄ |
| ꠇꠣꠞ/ꠇꠦꠉꠥꠞ/ꠇꠤꠉꠞꠥ | ꠇꠦꠃꠞ/ꠇꠦꠃꠞꠞ | ꠇꠦꠃꠞ/ꠇꠦꠃꠞꠞ ꠘꠣꠄ |
| ꠇꠣꠞꠦ | ꠇꠦꠃꠞꠦ/ꠇꠦꠃꠞꠞꠦ | ꠇꠦꠃꠞꠦ/ꠇꠦꠃꠞꠞ ꠘꠣꠄ |
| ꠇꠥꠘ | ꠇꠥꠘꠥ/ꠇꠥꠘꠅ | ꠇꠥꠘꠥꠉꠥ ꠘꠣꠄ |
| ꠇꠤꠔꠣ | ꠇꠤꠍꠥ/ꠇꠥꠘꠔꠣ | ꠇꠤꠌ꠆ꠍꠥ/ꠇꠥꠘꠔꠣ ꠘꠣꠄ |
Relative pronouns
The relative pronoun ꠎꠦ and its different variants, as shown below, are commonly employed in complex sentences. The relative pronouns for animate objects change for number and honor, but those for inanimate objects stay the same.| Nominative | Genitive | Objective | |
| Singular | ꠎꠦ | ꠎꠣꠞ | ꠎꠣꠞꠦ |
| Singular | ꠎꠦꠁꠘ | ꠎꠦꠘ | ꠎꠦꠘꠞꠦ |
| Plural | ꠎꠣꠞꠣ | ꠎꠣꠞꠣꠞ | ꠎꠣꠞꠣꠞꠦ |
| Plural | ꠎꠦꠁꠘ-ꠔꠣꠁꠘ | ꠎꠦꠁꠘ-ꠔꠣꠘ | ꠎꠦꠁꠘ-ꠔꠣꠘꠞꠦ |
Adjectives
Adjectives do not inflect for case, gender, or number in Sylheti and are placed before the noun they modify.Some adjectives form their opposites by prefixing ꠅ- or ꠅꠘ- or ꠘꠤ-, for example, the opposite of ꠡꠝ꠆ꠜꠛ is ꠅꠡꠝ꠆ꠜꠛ, the opposite of ꠝꠣꠔꠞꠣ is ꠘꠤꠝꠣꠔꠞꠣ.
Demonstrative adjectives – this and that – correspond to ꠁ and ꠅꠃ respectively, with the definite article attached to the following noun. Thus, this book would translate to ꠁ ꠛꠁꠐꠣ, while those books would translate to ꠅꠃ ꠛꠁꠐꠣ.
Comparatives and superlatives
Sylheti adjectives form their comparative forms with ꠀꠞꠅ, and their superlative forms with ꠡꠛ ꠕꠣꠇꠤ. Comparisons are formed by using genitive form of the object of comparison, followed by the postposition ꠕꠣꠇꠤ/ꠕꠘꠦ/ꠌꠦ or the postposition ꠟꠣꠇꠣꠘ and then by ꠀꠞꠅ or ꠇꠝ. The word for "more" is optional, but the word for "less" is required, so in its absence "more" is inferred. Adjectives can be additionally modified by using ꠛꠣꠇ꠆ꠇꠣ/ꠛꠃꠔ/ꠅꠘꠦꠇ or ꠅꠘꠦꠇ ꠛꠦꠡꠤ, which are especially useful for comparing quantities.| Sylheti | Literal Translation | Meaning |
| ꠇꠞꠤꠝ ꠞꠢꠤꠝ ꠕꠘꠦ ꠟꠣꠝ꠆ꠛꠣ | Karim of Rahim than tall | Karim is taller than Rahim |
| ꠇꠞꠤꠝ ꠞꠢꠤꠝ ꠕꠣꠇꠤ ꠀꠞꠅ ꠟꠣꠝ꠆ꠛꠣ | Karim of Rahim than more tall | Karim is taller than Rahim |
| ꠇꠞꠤꠝ ꠞꠢꠤꠝ ꠕꠘꠦ ꠇꠝ ꠟꠣꠝ꠆ꠛꠣ | Karim of Rahim than less tall | Karim is shorter than Rahim |
| ꠇꠞꠤꠝ ꠞꠢꠤꠝꠞ ꠟꠣꠇꠣꠘ ꠟꠣꠝ꠆ꠛꠣ | Karim of Rahim like tall | Karim is as tall as Rahim |
| ꠇꠞꠤꠝ ꠞꠢꠤꠝ ꠕꠣꠇꠤ ꠛꠃꠔ ꠟꠣꠝ꠆ꠛꠣ | Karim of Rahim than much tall | Karim is much taller than Rahim |
Verbs
Sylheti verbs are highly inflected and are regular with only few exceptions. They consist of a stem and an ending; they are traditionally listed in Sylheti dictionaries in their "verbal noun" form, which is usually formed by adding -a to the stem: for instance, ꠇꠞꠣ is formed from the stem ꠇꠞ. The stem can end in either a vowel or a consonant. Verbs are conjugated for tense and person by changing the endings, which are largely the same for all verbs. However, the stem vowel can often change as part of the phenomenon known as "vowel harmony", whereby one vowel can be influenced by other vowels in the word to sound more harmonious. An example would be the verb "to write", with stem lex-: ꠟꠦꠈꠧ but also ꠟꠦꠈꠤ. If verbs are classified by stem vowel and if the stem ends in a consonant or vowel, there are nine basic classes in which most verbs can be placed; all verbs in a class will follow the same pattern. A prototype verb from each of these classes will be used to demonstrate conjugation for that class; bold will be used to indicate mutation of the stem vowel. Additionally, there are irregular verbs, such as ꠎꠣꠅꠀ that change the first consonant in their stem in certain conjugations.Like many other Indo-Aryan languages, nouns can be turned into verbs by combining them with select auxiliary verbs. In Sylheti, the most common such auxiliary verb is ꠇꠞꠣ ; thus, verbs such as joke are formed by combining the noun form of joke with to do to create ꠓꠋ ꠇꠞꠣ. When conjugating such verbs the noun part of such a verb is left untouched, so in the previous example, only ꠇꠞꠣ would be inflected or conjugated. Other auxiliary verbs include ꠖꠦꠅꠀ and ꠘꠦꠅꠀ, but the verb ꠇꠞꠣ enjoys significant usage because it can be combined with foreign verbs to form a native version of the verb, even if a direct translation exists. Most often this is done with English verbs: for example, "to vote''" is often referred to as ꠜꠥꠐ ꠖꠦꠅꠀ.
Copula
Sylheti is considered a zero copula language in some aspects.- In the simple present tense there is no verb connecting the subject to the predicative. There is one notable exception, however, which is when the predicative takes on the existential, locative, or possessive aspects; for such purposes, the incomplete verb ꠀꠍ- is used, which is conjugated according to the rules given below.
- In the past tense, the incomplete verb ꠀꠍ- is always used as the copula, regardless of the nature of the predicative.
- For the future tense and non-finite structures, the copula is supplied by the verb ‘ꠅꠅꠀ, with the only exception being the possessive predicative for which the verb ꠕꠣꠇꠣ is utilized.
| English | Sylheti | Notes |
| I am happy | ꠀꠝꠤ ꠈꠥꠡꠤ | No verb used to denote the copula |
| There is time | ꠡꠝꠄ ꠀꠍꠦ | ꠀꠍ- used to connect to an existential predicative |
| I am at home | ꠀꠝꠤ ꠛꠣꠠꠤꠔ ꠀꠍꠤ | ꠀꠍ- used to connect to a locative predicative |
| We were happy | ꠀꠝꠞꠣ ꠛꠦꠎꠣꠞ ꠀꠍꠟꠣꠝ | In the past tense, ꠀꠍ- is used as the copula |
| I will be at home | ꠀꠝꠤ ꠛꠣꠠꠤꠔ ꠕꠣꠇꠝꠥ | In the future tense, ꠕꠣꠇꠣ is used as the copula |
| He will have a car | ꠔꠣꠞ ꠄꠈꠣꠘ ꠉꠣꠠꠤ ꠕꠣꠇꠛ | In the future tense, ꠕꠣꠇꠣ is used to connect to a possessive predicative |
Negation
There are three sentence negators employed in Sylheti:- The zero verb copula is negated using the incomplete negator ꠘ-, which is conjugated as ꠘꠣꠄ, ꠘꠣꠁ, ꠘꠣ.
- Existential sentences that use the verb ꠀꠍ- are negated with ꠘꠣꠁ, which does not need to be conjugated.
- All other verbs are negated using the universal negative particle ꠘꠣꠄ. ꠘꠣꠄ is typically placed after the finite verb, but can also be placed at the end of the sentence, which negates the whole sentence. ꠘꠣꠄ can be used in all tenses except two: the present perfect and the past perfect.
- Verbs in the present perfect and the past perfect tenses are negated using the suffix -ꠘꠣ which can also refer to "no" in yes-no questions.
| English | Sylheti | Notes |
| I am not happy | ꠀꠝꠤ ꠈꠥꠡꠤ ꠘꠣꠄ | Incomplete negator ꠘ- conjugated for first-person |
| We don't have a car | ꠀꠝꠞꠣꠞ ꠉꠣꠠꠤ ꠘꠣꠁ | ꠘꠣꠁ used to negate ꠀꠍ-, which is completely replaced |
| I don't work | ꠀꠝꠤ ꠇꠣꠝ ꠇꠞꠤ ꠘꠣ | ꠘꠣ is used to negate all other finite verbs |
| I didn't help him | ꠀꠝꠤ ꠔꠣꠞꠦ ꠡꠣꠁꠎ꠆ꠏ ꠇꠞꠍꠤꠟꠣꠝ ꠘꠣ |
Person
Verbs are inflected for person and honour, but not for number. There are five forms: first person, second person, second person, third person, and second/third person. The same sample subject pronouns will be used for all the example conjugation paradigms: mui, ami, tui, tumi, he, tai and afne. These have the following plurals respectively: môra, amra, tura, tumra /tumi-tain, tara /tain-tain and afnara''.Comparison
A notable characteristic of spoken Sylheti is the correspondence of the and, pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative to the or of Bengali and voiceless glottal fricative to the /x/ of Assamese respectively.| Bengali | Assamese | Sylheti | IPA | Meaning |
| ঢাকা Dhaka | ঢাকা Dhaka | Daxa | /ɖáxa/ | Dhaka |
| একজন লোক Ēkjôn lōk | এজন লোক Ezôn lük | Ēxzôn manush | /exzɔn manuʃ/ | A person |
| একজন পুরুষ Ekjôn purush | এজন মানুহ Ezôn manuh | Exta beta | /exʈa beʈa/ | A man |
| কীসের Kisher | কিহৰ Kihôr | Kior | /kiɔ́ɾ/ | Informal of Whereof |
| কন্যা, মেয়ে Kônna, Meye | জী, ছোৱালী Zi, Süali | ,, Xôinna, Zí, Furi | /xɔinna/, /zí/, /ɸuɽi/ | Daughter |
| মানবজাতি Manôbjati | মানৱজাতি, মানুহৰ জাতি Manôwzati, Manuhôr zati | Mainshôr zat | /mainʃɔɾ zat̪/ | Mankind |
| অসমিয়া, অহমিয়া Ôshômiya, Ôhômiya | অসমীয়া Ôxômiya | Ôhômia | /ɔɦɔmia/ | Assamese people |
| আঙুল Angul | আঙুলি Anguli | Anguil | /aŋguil/ | Finger, toe |
| আংটি Angti | আঙুঠি Anguthi | Antí | /aŋʈi/ | Ring |
| আগুনপোড়া Agunpora | জুইত পোৰা, জুইত সেকা Zuit püra, Zuit xeka | Aguinfura | /aguinfuɽa/ | Baked, grilled |
| পাখি, চিড়িয়া Pakhi, Chiriya | চৰাই, পখী Sorai, Pokhi | , Fakya, Forinda | /ɸakia/, /ɸɔrinda/ | Bird |
| পরে, বাদে Pôre, Bade | পিছত, পৰত Pisot, Porot | , Fôre, Bade | /ɸɔɾe/, /bad̪e/ | Later |
| সকল, সমস্ত, সব Shôkôl, Shômôsto, Shômôsto, Shôb | সকলো, সব, চব Xôkôlü; Xôb; Sôb | ,,, Hôxôl, Hôkkôl, Shôb, Tamam | /ɦɔxɔl/, /ɦɔkkɔl/, /ʃɔb/ | All |
| সারা, পুরা Shara, Puro | গোটেই Gutei | , Asta, Hara | /ɦaɾa/ | Whole |
| সাত বিল Shat bil | সাত বিল Xat bil | Hat bil | /ɦat̪ bil/ | Seven wetlands |
| সাতকড়া Shatkôra | সাতকৰা Xatkôra | Hatxôra | /ɦat̪xɔɽa/ | Citrus macroptera fruit |
| সিলেটি Sileṭi | ছিলঠীয়া Silôṭhiya | Silôṭi | /silɔʈi/ | Sylheti |
| ভালো করে খান। Bhalo kôre khan. | ভালকৈ খাওক। Bhalkoi khaük. | Bala xôri/tike xaukka. | /bála xɔɾi xaukka/, /bála ʈike xaukka/ | Bon appetit |
| স্ত্রী, পত্নী, বউ Stri, Pôtni, Bôu | স্ত্রী, ঘৈণী, পত্নী Stri, Ghôini, Pôtni | Bôu | /bɔu/ | Wife |
| স্বামী, বর, জামাই Shami, Bôr, Jamai | গিৰিয়েক, পতি, স্বামী Giriyêk, Pôti, Swami | Hai, Zamai | /zamai/ | Husband |
| জামাই Jamai | জোঁৱাই Züai | Damand | /damand/ | Son-in-law |
| শ্বশুর Shôshur | শহুৰ Xôhur | Hôur | /ɦɔúɾ/ | Father-in-law |
| শাশুড়ি Shashuṛi | শাহু Xahu | Hoṛi | /ɦɔɽi/ | Mother-in-law |
| শালা Shala | খুলশালা Khulxala | Hala | /ɦala/ | Brother-in-law |
| শালী Shali | খুলশালী Khulxali | Hali | /ɦali/ | Sister-in-law |
| শেখা Shekha | শিকা Xika | Hika | /ɦika/ | Learn |
| সরিষা Shôrisha | সৰিয়হ Xôriôh | Hôirô | /ɦɔiɾɔ/ | Mustard |
| শিয়াল Shiyal | শিয়াল Xiyal | Hial | /ɦial/ | Fox, Jackal |
| বিড়াল Biral, Beral | মেকুৰী, বিৰালী Mekuri, Birali | , Mekur, Bilai | /mekuɾ/, /bilai/ | Cat |
| শুঁটকি Shuṭki | শুকটি, শুকান মাছ Xukôti, Xukan mas | , Huṭki, Hukôin | /ɦuʈki/, /ɦukoin/ | Sundried Fish |
| আপনার নাম কী? Apnar nam ki? | আপোনাৰ নাম কি? Apünar nam ki? | Afnar nam kita? | /aɸnaɾ nam kit̪a/ | What's your name? |
| ডাক্তার আসার পূর্বে রোগী মারা গেল। Daktar ashar purbe rogi mara gelo | ডাক্তৰ অহাৰ আগতেই ৰোগী মৰি গ’ল। Daktor ohar agotei rügi mori gól | Daxtôr awar ageu bemari môri gelo. | /ɖaxt̪ɔɾ awaɾ age bemaɾi mɔɾi gelo/ | Before the doctor came, the patient had died. |
| বহুদিন দেখিনি। Bôhudin dekhini. | বহুদিন দেখা নাই। Bôhudin dekha nai. | Bakka din dexsi na. | /bakka d̪in d̪exsi na/ | Long time, no see. |
| আপনি কি ভালো আছেন? Apni ki bhalo achhen? | আপুনি ভালে আছে নে? Apuni bhale asê nê? | Afne bala asôin ni? | /aɸne bála asoin ni/ | How are you? |
| আমি তোমাকে ভালোবাসি। Ami tomake bhalobashi. | মই তোমাক ভাল পাওঁ। Moi tümak bhal paü. | Ami tumare bala fai. | /ami t̪umare bála ɸai/ | I love you. |
| আমি ভুলে গিয়েছি। Ami bhule giyechhi. | মই পাহৰি গৈছোঁ। Môi pahôri goisü. | Ami faûri lisi. | /ami ɸaʊɾi lisi/ | I have forgotten. |
| মাংসের ঝোলটা আমার খুব ভালো লেগেছে। Mangsher jholṭa amar khub bhalo legeche. | মাংসৰ তৰকাৰীখন মোৰ খুব ভাল লাগিছে। Mangxôr tôrkarikhôn mür khub bhal lagise. | Gustôr salônṭa amar bakka bala lagse. | /gust̪ɔɾ salɔnʈa amaɾ bakka bála lagse/ | I liked the meat curry. |
| শিলচর কোনদিকে? Shilcôr kondike? | শিলচৰ কোনফালে? Xilsôr künphale? | Hilcôr kunbae/kunbaidi/kunmuka? | /ɦil͡tʃɔɾ kunbae, kunbaed̪i, kunmuká/ | Which way to Silchar? |
| এটা কী? Eṭa ki? | এইটো কি? Eitü ki? | Igu/Ikṭa/Iṭa kita? | /igu, ikʈa, iʈa kit̪a/ | What is this? |
| সেটা কী? Sheṭa ki? | সেইটো কি? Xeitü ki? | Higu/Hikṭa/Hiṭa kita? | /ɦigu, ɦikʈa, ɦiʈa kit̪a/ | What is that? |
| শেষ Shesh | শেষ Xex | Hesh | /ɦeʃ/ | End, finish |