Surjapuri is an Indo-Aryan language of the Bengali-Assamese branch, spoken in Eastern India, in the Kosi-Seemanchal region, including some eastern parts of Purnia division (Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, and Araria districts) of Bihar, parts of Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal and Goalpara Division of Assam in India, as well as parts of Thakurgaon district in Bangladesh and Jhapa district in Nepal. Among speakers in some regions, it is known as 'Deshi Bhasa'.[citation needed] It possesses similarities with Kamatapuri, Assamese, Bengali, Maithili, Urdu, and Hindi.[3]
| Surjapuri | |
|---|---|
| Deshi Bhasa | |
| গৌড়ীয় ভাষা | |
 'Surjapuri' in Bengali & Devanagari scripts | |
| Pronunciation | [surd͡ʒaˈpuɾi] [deʃi] [ɡou̯.ɽi.ɔ] |
| Native to | India, Nepal, Bangladesh |
| Region | Bihar, (Kosi-Seemanchal) and West Bengal (Islampur) |
| Ethnicity | Surjapuri |
Native speakers | 2,256,228 (2011 census)[1] |
| Devanagari, Bengali–Assamese, Kaithi (historical) | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sjp |
| Glottolog | surj1235 |
Geographical distribution
editSurjapuri is mainly spoken in some parts of Purnia division (Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, and Araria districts) of Bihar.[4] It is also spoken in West Bengal (some parts of Islampur subdivision of Uttar Dinajpur district and Jalpaiguri division in northern Bengal region), Bangladesh (Thakurgaon District) as well as in parts of eastern Nepal of Jhapa District and Morang District.
Related languages
editSurjapuri is associated with the Kamtapuri language (and its dialects Goalpariya, Rajbanshi and Koch Rajbangshi) spoken in North Bengal and Western Assam,[5] as well as with Assamese, Bengali, and Maithili.
Pronouns
edit| Singular | Plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | oblique | nominative | oblique | ||
| 1st person | mũi | mo- | hāmrā | hāmsā-, hāmcā- | |
| 2nd person | tũi | to- | tumrā, tomrā | tumsā-, tomsā- | |
| 3rd person | proximal | yāhāy | yahā- | emrā, erā | ismā-, isā- |
| distal | wahā̃y | wahā- | amrā, worā | usmā-, usā- | |
Surjapuri has the oblique plural suffixes: sā (hamsā-, tomsā-) and smā (ismā-, usmā-). They are also seen in Early Assamese as: sā (āmāsā-, tomāsā-) and sambā (esambā-, tesambā-) and their occurrences are similar.[9]
Phonology
editNotes
edit- ↑ "Statement 1: Abstract of speakers' strength of languages and mother tongues - 2011". www.censusindia.gov.in. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India. Retrieved 2018-07-07.
- 1 2 Toulmin 2006, p. 305.
- ↑ "What are the Surjapuri and Bajjika dialects, and why is the Bihar govt promoting them?". The Indian Express. 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2026-05-16.
- ↑ Kumāra, Braja Bihārī (1998). Small States Syndrome in India. p. 146. ISBN 9788170226918. Retrieved 16 February 2017.
- ↑ Hernández-Campoy, Juan Manuel; Conde-Silvestre, Juan Camilo, eds. (15 February 2012). The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9781118257265. Retrieved 5 March 2018.
- ↑ (Toulmin 2006, p. 184)
- ↑ (Bez 2012)
- ↑ Kakati 1941
- ↑ (Bez 2012)
- ↑ Srivastava & Perumalsamy 2021.
References
edit- Bez, Gitanjali (2012). Grammatical Categories in Madhav Kandali's Ramayana (Ph.D.). Gauhati University. hdl:10603/116370.
- Kakati, Banikanta (1941). Assamese: Its Formation and Development. Gauhati, Assam: Government of Assam.
- Srivastava, S P; Perumalsamy, P (2021), Surjapuri (PDF), archived from the original (PDF) on 3 Nov 2021, retrieved 15 May 2023
- Toulmin, Mathew W. S. (2006). Reconstructing linguistic history in a dialect continuum: The Kamta, Rajbanshi, and Northern Deshi Bangla subgroup of Indo-Aryan (Ph.D. thesis). The Australian National University. hdl:1885/45743.
External links
edit- "Word Formation in Surjapuri" (PDF). Language in India.
- "Case and Case-like Postposition in Surjapuri" (PDF). Language in India.
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