Surjapuri language
{{Short description|Indo-Aryan language spoken in India}}
{{Infobox language
| name = Surjapuri
| altname = Sura, Deshi Bhasa
| nativename =
| imagecaption = 'Surjapuri' in Bengali & Devanagari scripts
| states = India, Nepal, Bangladesh
| region = Bihar, West Bengal
| speakers = 2,256,228
| date = 2011 census
| script = Devanagari, Bengali–Assamese, Kaithi (historical)
| familycolor = Indo-European
| fam2 = Indo-Iranian
| fam3 = Indo-Aryan
| fam4 = Eastern
| fam5 = Odia–Bengali–Assamese{{sfn|Toulmin|2006|p=305}}
| fam6 = Bengali–Assamese
| fam7 = Kamrupa{{sfn|Toulmin|2006|p=305}}
| fam8 = Kamta
| fam9 = Western Kamta
| iso3 = sjp
| glotto = surj1235
| glottorefname = Surjapuri
}}
Surjapuri is an Indo-Aryan language of the Bengali-Assamese branch, spoken in Eastern India including some eastern parts of Purnia division of Bihar, parts of Uttar Dinajpur district in West Bengal and Goalpara Division of Assam in India, as well as Jhapa district in Nepal and Thakurgaon district in Bangladesh. Among speakers in some regions, it is known as 'Deshi Bhasa'. It possesses similarities with Kamatapuri, Assamese, Bengali, and Maithili.
Geographical distribution
Surjapuri is mainly spoken in some parts of Purnia division (Kishanganj, Katihar, Purnia, and Araria districts) of Bihar.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nKqF_AgDd4gC&q=Mithila+India+state&pg=PA148 | title=Small States Syndrome in India | access-date=16 February 2017 | pages=146| isbn=9788170226918 | last1=Kumāra | first1=Braja Bihārī | year=1998 }} 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
Surjapuri is associated with the Kamtapuri language (and its dialects Goalpariya, Rajbanshi and Koch Rajbangshi) spoken in North Bengal and Western Assam,{{cite book |editor-last1=Hernández-Campoy |editor-first1=Juan Manuel |editor-last2=Conde-Silvestre |editor-first2=Juan Camilo |title=The Handbook of Historical Sociolinguistics |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zc77I8CMgTYC&pg=PA508 |date=15 February 2012 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781118257265 |access-date=5 March 2018}} as well as with Assamese, Bengali, and Maithili.
=Pronouns<ref>{{harv|Toulmin|2006|p=184}}</ref><ref>{{harvcol|Bez|2012}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kakati|1941}}</ref>=
| class="wikitable" |
| rowspan="2" colspan="2" |
! colspan="2" | Singular ! colspan="2" | Plural |
|---|
| nominative || oblique
! nominative || oblique |
| colspan="2" | 1st person
| mũi | mo- | hāmrā | hāmsā-, hāmcā- |
| colspan="2" | 2nd person
| tũi | to- | tumrā, tomrā | tumsā-, tomsā- |
| rowspan="2" | 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.{{harvcol|Bez|2012}}
Phonology
= Consonants =
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! colspan="2" | |
| colspan="2" |Nasal
|{{IPAlink|m}} |{{IPAlink|n}} | | |{{IPAlink|ŋ}} | |
|---|
| rowspan="4" |Stop/ Affricate !{{small|voiceless}} |{{IPAlink|p}} |{{IPAlink|t}} |{{IPAlink|ʈ}} |{{IPAlink|tʃ}} |{{IPAlink|k}} | |
| {{small|aspirated}}
|{{IPAlink|pʰ}} |{{IPAlink|tʰ}} |{{IPAlink|ʈʰ}} |{{IPAlink|tʃʰ}} |{{IPAlink|kʰ}} | |
| {{small|voiced}}
|{{IPAlink|b}} |{{IPAlink|d}} |{{IPAlink|ɖ}} |{{IPAlink|dʒ}} |{{IPAlink|ɡ}} | |
| {{small|breathy}}
|{{IPAlink|bʱ}} |{{IPAlink|dʱ}} |{{IPAlink|ɖʱ}} |{{IPAlink|dʒʱ}} |{{IPAlink|ɡʱ}} | |
| colspan="2" |Fricative
| |{{IPAlink|s}} | | | |{{IPAlink|h}} |
| colspan="2" |Tap
| |{{IPAlink|ɾ}} | | | | |
| colspan="2" |Lateral
| |{{IPAlink|l}} | | | | |
| colspan="2" |Approximant
|{{IPAlink|w}} | | |{{IPAlink|j}} | | |
= Vowels =
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
! !Back |
| align="center"
!High |{{IPAlink|i}} | |{{IPAlink|u}} |
| align="center"
! rowspan="2" |Mid |{{IPAlink|e}} |{{IPA link|ə}} |{{IPAlink|o}} |
| |
|{{IPA link|ɔ}} |
| align="center"
!Low |{{IPA link|æ}} | colspan="2" |{{IPAlink|ɑ}} |
- Nasalization is also phonemic.
- /i, e/ in medial and initial form are heard as [ɪ, ɛ].{{Sfn|Srivastava|Perumalsamy|2021}}
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite thesis |type=Ph.D. |first=Gitanjali |last=Bez |title=Grammatical Categories in Madhav Kandali's Ramayana |publisher=Gauhati University |year=2012|hdl=10603/116370 }}
- {{cite book |last=Kakati |first=Banikanta |author-link=Banikanta Kakati |year=1941 |title=Assamese: Its Formation and Development |url=https://archive.org/details/AssameseitsFormationAndDevelopment |publisher=Government of Assam |place=Gauhati, Assam}}
- {{citation |last1=Srivastava |first1=S P |last2=Perumalsamy |first2=P |title=Surjapuri |url=http://lsi.gov.in/MTSI_app/DraftReport/Bihar/12.%20SURJAPURI.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103171034/http://lsi.gov.in/MTSI_app/DraftReport/Bihar/12.%20SURJAPURI.pdf |archive-date=3 Nov 2021 |access-date=15 May 2023 |year=2021}}
- {{Cite thesis |last=Toulmin |first=Mathew W. S. |title=Reconstructing linguistic history in a dialect continuum: The Kamta, Rajbanshi, and Northern Deshi Bangla subgroup of Indo-Aryan |date=2006 |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=The Australian National University |url=https://digitalcollections.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/45743 |hdl=1885/45743 |hdl-access=free}}
{{refend}}
External links
- {{cite journal |title=Word Formation in Surjapuri |url=http://www.languageinindia.com/march2011/surjapuriwordformationfinal.pdf |journal=Language in India}}
- {{cite journal |url=http://www.languageinindia.com/jan2011/surajpurifinal.pdf |title=Case and Case-like Postposition in Surjapuri |journal=Language in India}}
{{Eastern Indo-Aryan languages}}
{{Languages of India}}
Category:Languages written in Devanagari
{{IndoAryan-lang-stub}}