67 
1886.] F. E. Pargiter— Notes on the Chittagong Dialect. 
^ is almost invariably pronounced like s ; thus “ I am ” is 
pronounced asi. 
^ and ^ are often corrupted to ; thus for “ get up ” ; SIlf% 
for SIl^ “ earth ” ; for “ the court-yard in a house.” 
^ at the beginning of a word is very often pronounced like Tp, /, 
—thus for 'sdTti' “ I can.” 
^ is often ^^I’onounced like ^ or ^—thus for 
‘‘ I threw ” ; and for “ throw.” 
*T sometimes and 31 generally, at the beginning of a word, are pro¬ 
nounced like ^ h —thus “ all ” becomes hakal ; C*^T?r “ a noise ” 
becomes hiir. 
^ in combination is almost always distinctly pronounced as y —thus 
“ kargya.” When the vowels 'SI and immediately precede the 
phala, they are pronounced as if the vowel ^ came in between, and this 
is especially the case when the ^ in combination is followed by the vowel 
«i|—thus 5lTC^J “ he measured,” is pronounced maipye ; 3^1 evidence 
saikhya ; ‘^TC3TJ “ he came ” aisye. Similarly “ in the presence 
of,” ” before,” is pronounced samaikhye. 
Corruption op Words. 
The chief peculiarity of the dialect spoken in Chittagong is the 
extent to which the words are shortened by corruption. The chief ways 
in which this occurs are these—• 
(1) A single consonant, especially a hard one, occurring between 
two vowels is often elided, and the vowels open one on the other without 
blending; the elision is almost invariable if the second vowel be ^ 
or ^—thus; “call” becomes and ^Tf^5“come” 
become and ^1^6 ; ^^1 “ a bamboo hedge around a tank ” becomes 
“ to see ” becomes “all” becomes 
and then “ he binds ” becomes “father-in-law ” 
becomes “ I ate ” becomes “ sit down ” 
becomes “ having opened ” becomes and *^1^ ; 
“ draw out ” becomes 
But SI in such a position is often changed to anuswar; thus 
“ I ” become “ thou ” becomes ; ’^ISIT^ “tobacco ” becomes 
and ^1^^ ; “ my ” becomes ; and “ thy ” C'lt^r. 
(2) A compound consonant preceded by a long vowel in the middle 
of a word is generally reduced to a single one, all except the last being 
omitted or being replaced by anuswar thus “ dry ” becomes 
1511 . 
(3) Final ^ is often dropped, especially in the locative affix r.^ in 
nouns, and in the infinitive of verbs—thus “at home” becomes 
“ to say ” becomes 
