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Bengali ()〔Laurie Bauer, 2007, ''The Linguistics Student’s Handbook'', Edinburgh〕 or Bangla (; '' '' ) is the language native to the region of Bengal, which comprises the present-day nation of Bangladesh and of the Indian states West Bengal, Tripura and southern Assam. It is written using the Bengali alphabet. Bengali is the national language in Bangladesh and second most spoken language in India.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://graduate.olivet.edu/news-events/news/second-most-spoken-languages-around-world )〕 With about 250 million native and about 300 million total speakers worldwide, it is the seventh most spoken language in the world by total number of native speakers and the eleventh most spoken language by total number of speakers.〔 The importance of this language to the countries of South Asia is illustrated by the history of the national anthems of Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, and the national song of India, all first composed in the Bengali language. Standard Bengali in Bangladesh and West Bengal are marked by some differences in usage, accent, and phonetics. Today, literary form and different dialects of Bengali constitute the primary language spoken in Bangladesh, and the second most commonly spoken language in India.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Languages of India )〕 With a rich literary tradition arising from the Bengali renaissance, the Bengali language binds together a culturally diverse region and is an important contributor to Bengali nationalism. The Bengali Language Movement ( ''Bhasha Andolôn'') was a movement in 1951–52 in what was then East Pakistan (today Bangladesh) that heavily linked Bengali identity with the Bengali language. On 21 February 1952, protesting students and activists sacrificed their lives at the Dhaka University campus for the right to read, write, and speak in their mother language of Bengali. In 1999, UNESCO declared February 21 as International Mother Language Day in recognition of the people who sacrificed their lives for their right to use the Bengali language, instead of the then-state-imposed Urdu. ==History== Along with other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, Bengali evolved circa 1000–1200 CE from eastern Middle Indo-Aryan languages such as Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, which developed from a dialect or group of dialects that were related to, but distinct from Vedic and Classical Sanskrit.〔Oberlies, Thomas ''Pali: A Grammar of the Language of the '', Walter de Gruyter, 2001.〕 The earliest recorded spoken languages in the region and the language of Gautama Buddha, evolved into Ardha Magadhi in the early part of the first millennium CE. Ardhamagadhi, as with all of the Prakrits of North India, began to give way to what are called Apabhraṃśa ("Corrupted grammar") languages just before the turn of the first millennium. The local Apabhraṃśa of the eastern subcontinent, Purbi Apabhraṃśa or Abahatta ("Meaningless Sounds"), eventually evolved into regional dialects, which in turn formed three groups of the Bengali–Assamese languages, the Bihari languages, and the Odia language. Some argue that the points of divergence occurred much earlier — going back to even 500, but the language was not static: different varieties coexisted and authors often wrote in multiple dialects in this period. For example, Ardhamagadhi is believed to have evolved into Abahatta around the 6th century, which competed with the ancestor of Bengali for some time.〔(Abahattha ) in 〕 Literary Bengali saw borrowings and influence from Classical Sanskrit during the Middle Bengali (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu era), and also during the Bengali renaissance. This was reflected in the preservation of spellings of borrowed words despite adaptation of their pronunciation to Bengali phonology. Major texts of Middle Bengali (1400–1800) include Chandidas' ''Shreekrishna Kirtana''. Middle Bengali was characterized by the elision of word-final ''ô'', the spread of compound verbs, and Persian influence. The modern literary form of Bengali was developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries based on the dialect spoken in the Nadia region, a west-central Bengali dialect. Bengali presents a strong case of diglossia, with the literary and standard form differing greatly from the colloquial speech of the regions that identify with the language.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=The Bengali Language at Cornell - Department of Asian Studies )〕 The modern Bengali vocabulary contains the vocabulary base from Magadhi Prakrit and Pali, also tatsamas and reborrowings from Sanskrit and other major borrowings from Persian, Arabic, Austroasiatic languages and other languages in contact with. Usually three periods are identified in the history of the Bengali language:〔 # Old Bengali (900/1000–1400)—texts include ''Charyapada'', devotional songs; emergence of pronouns ''āmi'', ''tumi'', etc.; verb inflections - -''ila'', - -''iba'', etc. The scripts and languages during this period were mainly influenced by the Kamarupi Prakrit as the entire region - Assam, Bengal and parts of Bihar - was part of the state of Kamarupa. # Middle Bengali (1400–1800)—major texts of the period include Chandidas' ''Shreekrishna Kirtana''; elision of word-final ''ô'' sound; spread of compound verbs; Persian influence. Some scholars further divide this period into early and late middle periods. # Modern Bengali (since 1800)—shortening of verbs and pronouns, among other changes (e.g. ''tahar'' → ''tar'' "his"/"her"; ''kôriyachilô'' → ''korechilo'' he/she had done). Until the 18th century, there was no attempt to document Bengali grammar. The first written Bengali dictionary/grammar, ''Vocabolario em idioma Bengalla, e Portuguez dividido em duas partes'', was written by the Portuguese missionary Manuel da Assumpção between 1734 and 1742, while he was serving in Bhawal Estate. Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, a British grammarian, wrote a modern Bengali grammar (''A Grammar of the Bengal Language (1778)'') that used Bengali types in print for the first time.〔 Ram Mohan Roy, the great Bengali reformer, also wrote a "Grammar of the Bengali Language" (1832).〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Rammohan Roy’s Goudiya Grammar )〕 During this period, the ''Chôlitôbhasha'' form of Bengali using simplified inflections and other changes, was emerging from ''Sadhubhasha'' (Proper form or original form of Bengali) as the form of choice for written Bengali. The Bengali Language Movement was a popular ethno-linguistic movement in the former East Bengal (today Bangladesh), which was a result of the strong linguistic consciousness of the Bengalis to gain and protect spoken and written Bengali's recognition as a state language of the then Dominion of Pakistan. On the day of 21 February 1952 several students and political activists were killed during protests near the campus of the University of Dhaka. The day has since been observed as Language Movement Day in Bangladesh and was proclaimed the International Mother Language Day by UNESCO on 17 November 1999, marking Bengali language the only language in the world to be also known for its language movements and people sacrificing their life for their mother language. There was a similar Bengali language movement in Assam, a protest against the decision of the Government of Assam to make Assamese the only official language of the state even though a significant proportion of the population were Bengali-speaking. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bengali language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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