Chittagonian language
| Chittagonian | |
|---|---|
| Chittagong Bangla | |
| চাঁটগাঁইয়া Chatgaiya | |
 |
|
| Native to | Bangladesh, Burma |
|
Native speakers
|
13 million (2006) to 16 million (2007) |
|
Indo-European
|
|
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | |
| Glottolog | chit1275 |
Chittagonian or Chittagong Bangla (চাঁটগাঁইয়া Chatgaiya), also Chatgaya, is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the people of Chittagong in Bangladesh and in much of the southeast of the country. It is closely related to Bengali and is often considered to be a non-standard dialect of Bengali, although it is not mutually intelligible with it. It is estimated (2009) that Chittagonian has 13 million speakers, principally in Bangladesh.
Chittagonian is a member of the Bengali-Assamese sub-branch of the Eastern group of Indo-Aryan languages, a branch of the wider and more vast Indo-European language family. Its sister languages include Sylheti, Rohingya and Bengali. Like other Bengali-Assamese languages, it is derived from Pali, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European.
Chittagonian is spoken in southeastern Bangladesh throughout Chittagong Division but mainly in Chittagong District and Cox's Bazar District. It has (2009) an estimated 13 million speakers in Bangladesh and also in countries where many Chittagonians have migrated like Burma, where they call themselves Rohingya. It has no official status and is not taught at any level in schools. It is mistakenly regarded by many Bangladeshis, including most Chittagonians, to be a crude form of Bengali as all educated Chittagonians are schooled in Bengali.
Essentially, Chittagonian has no standard form and is rather a continuum of different dialects, varying with location from north to south and also by religion between Muslims (professed by most Chittagonians) and Hindus. Variation in use between Muslims and Hindus is strictly in terms of vocabulary, whereas by location, grammar is slightly varied as well as vocabulary.
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