Sylheti language#Writing system

{{See also|Names of Sylhet}}

Sylheti is eponymously named after Sylhet, referring to the dialect or language spoken of that area.Anne Kershen (2004). Strangers, Aliens and Asians: Huguenots, Jews and Bangladeshis in Spitalfields 1666-2000. p. 145. Routledge. Retrieved 10 September 2020. According to {{harvp|Grierson|1903}} the vernacular was called Sylhettia by the Europeans after the town of Sylhet."Sylhet Town, which is the headquarters of the District, being within six miles of the Jaintiapur Faiganaj lies within the area in which this dialect is spoken, and hence this form of speech is called Sylhettia by Europeans. For this reason, it is often wrongly said that the language of the whole Sylhet District is uniform, and the term Sylhettia is incorrectly applied to the dialect of the west of the District, as well as to that of the North-East. The term 'Sylhettia 'properly means the language of the town, and not of the District, of Sylhet." {{harvcol|Grierson|1903|p=221}} Though the speakers at that time referred to it as Jaintiapuri, Purba Srihattiya, or Ujania with the latter meaning "the language of the upper country"."As already stated, the dialect spoken in Sylhet Town and in the North and North-East of the District is that which Europeans called Sylhettia. Sylheti speakers did not use this title. They called it Jaintiapuri, Purba Srihattiya, or Ujania. The latter means the language of the upper country.{{harvcol|Grierson|1903|p=224}}

Sylheti is also spelt or known as Sylhetti (or Sileti), Sylheti Bangla and Siloti (also spelt in Syloti or Syloty).William Farwley (2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics: 4-Volume Set. p. 483. Oxford University Press, USA. Retrieved 9 September 2020.

Sylheti belongs to the Eastern Indo-Aryan languages, that evolved from Magadhi Prakrit.South Asian folklore: an encyclopedia : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, By Peter J. Claus, Sarah Diamond, Margaret Ann Mills, Routledge, 2003, p. 203 The lowlands around Sylhet were originally inhabited by ancient Khasi people (Austroasiatic);{{harvcol|Ludden|2003|p=5081}} and the earliest known Indo-Aryan settlements were made in the 6th century under Kamarupa king."copper plate inscriptions indicate that land around the Kushiara was more densely populated, because Kamarupa kings had granted large tracts of land to immigrant Brahmans and their supporting castes, to make this region part of Assam (Khanda Kamarupa)." {{harvcol|Ludden|2003|p=5081}}{{cite book |title= Studies in the geography of ancient and medieval India|last=Sircar |first=Dineshchandra |year=1971 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |page= 161 }}{{cite book |title= Indian Civilization and Culture |last=Chatterjee |first=Suhas |year=1998 |publisher=M.D. Publications Pvt. Ltd. |page= 432 }} Sylhet (Srihatta) then emerged as a center of lowland territorialism after the 10th century." Sylhet town (Srihatta) became a major centre of lowland territorialism after the 10th century CE" {{harvcol|Ludden|2003|p=5081}} The 11th century Bhatera grants from the Srihatta kings Kesavadeva and Isanadeva were written in Sanskrit.Rakhal Das Banerji (2003). Origin of the Bengali Script. p. 6.{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/details/epigrahiaindicav014768mbp/page/n365/|last=Gupta|first=K M|location=Sylhet|journal=Epigraphia Indica|title=49. The Bhatera Copper-plate Inscription of Govinda-Kesavadeva (C. 1049 A.D.).|pages=277–286|volume=XIX|editor=Hirananda Krishna Sastri|year=1927–1928}} Another notable copper plate inscription was found in the village of Paschimbhag in Rajnagar, Moulvibazar that was issued by King Srichandra during the 10th century.{{cite news |title=Paschimbhag Copperplate: History engraved |url=https://www.thedailystar.net/top-news/news/paschimbhag-copperplate-history-engraved-1939445 |work=The Daily Star |date=2 August 2020 |access-date=16 September 2020}}

The Muslim Conquest of Sylhet in 1303 CE extended the migratory movements of Muslims from western lands, who settled among the native population and greatly influenced the local language.{{cite book |author=Syed Hasan Imam Hussainy Chisti |editor=Sharif Uddin Ahmed |chapter=Arabic and Persian in Sylhet |title=Sylhet: History and Heritage |year=1999 |publisher=Bangladesh Itihas Samiti |isbn=984-31-0478-1 |pages=598–599}} Thus Sylheti derived a large number of words from Persian and Arabic,J. K. Mandal, Goutam Saha, Debatta Kandar, Arnab Kumar Maji (2018). Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing and Communication System: 13CS 2016, NEHU, Shillong, India. p. 452. Springer. Retrieved 9 September 2020. cultivating the Perso-Arabic influence on the vernacular.S. N. H. Rizvi (1970). East Pakistan District Gazetteers: Sylhet. p. 303. East Pakistan Government Press. Retrieved 9 September 2020. A script was developed in the region called Sylheti Nagri, which primarily focused on disseminating Sufi poetry, known as puthi.Surinder Singh (2008). Popular Literature and Pre-modern Societies in South Asia. p. 32. Pearson Education India. Retrieved 9 September 2020. Its earliest known work had been written during the 1600s, called Bhedsar by Syed Shah Husayn Alam.{{cite web|title=Bhédsār, 1st Edition"Bhédsār, 1st Edition"|url=https://eap.bl.uk/archive-file/EAP071-5-4|website=Endangered Archives Programme}} The literature was transcribed in the standard form of late Middle Bengali, it was similar to the Dobhashi idiom though phonologically was strongly influenced by Sylheti.Thibaut d'Hubert, Alexandre Papas (2018). Jāmī in Regional Contexts: The Reception of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī's Works in the Islamicate World, ca. 9th/15th-14th/20th Century. p. 667. BRILL. Retrieved 9 September 2020.Thibaut d'Hubert, ed. Kate Fleet, Gudrun Krämer, Denis Matringe, John Nawas, Everett Rowson. (2014), "Dobhāshī", in: Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE (Brill Online). Retrieved 9 September 2020. The script was read and taught culturally among households and was not institutionalised, as the Islamic dynasties who ruled over Bengal established Persian alongside Arabic as the official languages.Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu (2003). Culture and Learning in Islam. p. 115. UNESCO. Retrieved 9 September 2020. Printed texts of the script reached its peak during the late 19th century, however its use became obsolete by around the middle of the 20th century.[https://eap.bl.uk/project/EAP071 Archiving texts in the Sylhet Nagri script (EAP071)] British Library. Retrieved 9 September 2020.

In 1903, Grierson reported that Sylheti was spoken only around Sylhet town of the then Sylhet district (now Sylhet Division and Karimganj district in Assam), and that among the Indo-Aryan speakers in the district, about 33 per cent spoke this language."In North-East and North Sylhet, especially in Jaintiapur and Karimganj, the language is more corrupt. Sylhet Town, which is the head-quarters of the District,

being within six miles of the Jaintiapur Pargana lies within the area in which this

dialect is spoken, and hence this form of speech is called Sylhettia by Europeans. E For this reason it is often wrongly said that the language of the whole Sylhet District is uniform, and the term Sylhettia is incorrectly applied to the dialect of the west of the District, as well as to that of the North-East. The term 'Sylhettia' properly means the language of the town, and not of the District, of Sylhet. It is estimated that of the 2,033,000 speakers of Bengali in Sylhet, 1,355,000 use ordinary Eastern Bengali. The rest speak Sylhettia." {{harvcol|Grierson|1903|p=221}}

The earliest appearance of a documentation of Sylheti vocabulary was in the Government Report on the History and Statistics of Sylhet District by T. Walton, B.C.S. in 1857, which contained a list of peculiar words used in Sylhet.{{harvcol|Grierson|1903|p=224}} Many terms that were listed here differ from modern Sylheti – highlighting its evolution. In 1868, another short glossary of local terms in various districts of the Dacca Division (which included Sylhet) were written up and compared to standard Bengali to allow ease in understanding local vernaculars.{{cite book|title=Principal Heads of the History and Statistics of the Dacca Division|chapter=Sylhet District|pages=323–325|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/principalheadsh00unkngoog/page/n336|year=1868|location=Calcutta|author=E M Lewis|publisher=Calcutta Central Press Company}} Despite being annexed to the Assam Province during colonial rule, Sylheti speakers felt a linguistic affinity with the rest of Bengal.{{cite book |author=Tanweer Fazal |year=2013 |title=Minority Nationalisms in South Asia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6bGMAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA54 |publisher=Routledge |pages=54–55 |isbn=978-1-317-96647-0}} Bengali literature had some influence from Sylheti, popular songwriters or poets such as Hason Raja or Shah Abdul Karim, significantly contributed to the literature.{{cite Banglapedia|article=Hasan Raja|author=Tasiqul Islam}}{{cite Banglapedia|article=Karim, Shah Abdul|author=Zakaria, Saymon}} Sylhet was reunited with Bengal following a referendum in 1947.Pradip Phanjoubam (2015). The Northeast Question: Conflicts and frontiers. p. 180. Routledge. Retrieved 12 September 2020.

According to Simard, Dopierala and Thaut, Sylheti is a "minoritised, politically unrecognised, and understudied language.""Sylheti is a minoritised, politically unrecognised, and understudied Eastern Indo-Aryan language with approximately 11 million speakers worldwide, with high speaker concentrations in the Surma and Barak river basins in north-eastern Bangladesh and south Assam, India, and in several diasporic communities around the world (especially UK, USA, and Middle East)." {{harvcol|Simard|Dopierala|Thaut|2020|p=1}} It is currently not officially recognised as a language in either Bangladesh or India."It is not officially recognised in Bangladesh, where it is simply referred to as a dialect of Bengali by the government (Faquire 2012); it has, equally, no legal status in India." {{harvcol|Simard|Dopierala|Thaut|2020|p=4}} Many native speakers consider it to be a slang or corrupt version of Standard Bengali and not an independent language;"Sylheti is often dismissed as 'slang' or as a corrupted version of Bengali, even by some of its own speakers, for whom it is not a language in its own right." {{harvcol|Simard|Dopierala|Thaut|2020|p=4}} and there is a reported language shift to Standard Bengali and a decrease in the number of native speakers since parents are not teaching it to their children."There is reported language shift in the Sylheti-speaking regions of Bangladesh and India, as well as in the diaspora with Bengali replacing Sylheti, as some parents do not speak Sylheti to their children, reducing the number of future Sylheti speakers." {{harvcol|Simard|Dopierala|Thaut|2020|p=5}} In Bangladesh, there is a diglossia where Sylheti is one among other low status regional dialects while Standard Bengali, the official language, has a high status.{{cite book | last =Hamid | first =Shahela | title =Language Use and Identity: The Sylheti Bangladeshis in Leeds | year =2011 | pages=26–28 | publisher =Peter Lang | isbn =9783039115594}}

In the Indian state of Assam where Assamese is the state language, Standard Bengali language serves as an additional official language in its Barak Valley districts; which host a majority Sylheti-speaking population.James N. Stanford, Dennis Richard Preston (2009). Variation in Indigenous Minority Languages. Disciplines. p. 441. Retrieved 20 September 2020.

In the United Kingdom, British schools have begun enlisting Sylheti in their syllabi.{{Cite web|date=22 June 2017|title=British schools enlist Sylheti in their syllabi|url=https://www.dhakatribune.com/opinion/heritage/2017/06/22/british-schools-enlist-sylheti-syllabi|access-date=9 June 2021|website=Dhaka Tribune}} BBC News has also broadcast online videos relating to COVID-19 in five major South Asian languages including Sylheti.{{Cite news|date=17 December 2020|title=Coronavirus vaccine Q&A in five South Asian languages|language=en-GB|work=BBC News|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-55279549|access-date=9 June 2021}}

{{harvp|Grierson|1903}} notes that the language of eastern Sylhet is not intelligible to Bengalis from the west, though he still classed it as Bengali,"The language spoken by the inhabitants of Eastern Sylhet is not intelligible to the natives of Central or Northern Bengal. It is, nevertheless, Bengali. There are some peculiarities of pronunciation which tend to render it unintelligible to strangers. The inflections also differ from those of regular Bengali, and in one or two instances assimilate to those of Assamese." {{harvcol|Grierson|1903|p=224}} grouping it under "Eastern Bengali"."The Cachar version in p. 234 may be taken as illustrating the typical Eastern Sylhet dialect also." {{cite book|author=George Grierson|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.76301/page/n229/mode/2up|title=Language Survey of India – Vol. V Pt 1|year=1903 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass }} {{harvp|Chatterji|1926}} too calls it a dialect of Bengali and places it in the eastern Vangiya group of Magadhi Prakrit and notes that all Bengali dialects were independent of each other and did not emanate from the literary Bengali called "sadhu bhasha"."Dialects are independent of literary speech: as such East Bengali dialects, North Bengali dialects (with which Assamese is to be associated) and West Bengali dialects are not only independent of one another, but also they are not, as it is popularly believed in Bengal, derived from literary Bengali, the "sadhu-bhasha", which is a composite speech on an early West Bengali basis."{{harvcol|Chatterji|1926|p=108}} Among the different eastern dialect groups, Sylheti and Chittagonian have phonetic and morphological properties that are alien to standard Bengali and other western dialects of Bengali,{{sfn|Chatterji|1926|p=[https://archive.org/details/OriginDevelopmentOfBengali/CHATTERJI_Origin-Development-of-Bengali_Vol-1/page/n233/mode/2up?q=sylhet 138]}} and these differences are such that Sylheti is more distant to standard Bengali than is Assamese."The Bengali dialects of the extreme east and south-east (Sylhet, Chittagong) are certainly more removed from Standard Bengali than is Assamese." {{harvcol|Chatterji|1926|p=108}}

Recent scholarship notes that these morpho-phonological and mutual intelligibility differences are significant enough that Sylheti could claim itself as a language on its own right."... because of significant morpho-phonological differences and a lack of mutual intelligibility, a strong argument can be made in favour of Sylheti claiming the status of a language in its own right." {{harvcol|Sen|2020|p=43}} Ethnologue groups Sylheti in Bengali–Assamese languages; whereas Glottolog gives further subgrouping and places it in the "Eastern Bengali" group alongside Hajong, separately from the Bengali dialects.{{Cite web|url=https://glottolog.org/resource/languoid/id/sylh1242|title=Glottolog 4.4 - Sylheti|website=glottolog.org}}

While modern sociolinguistics generally talks about varieties, rather than languages and dialects, there are still many disagreements about the status of language varieties outside the discipline. These can be for reasons of funding or recognition,{{Cite web|url=https://items.ssrc.org/sociolinguistic-frontiers/linguistics-and-the-state-how-funding-and-politics-shape-a-field/|title=Linguistics and the State: How Funding and Politics Shape a Field|first=Rodrigo|last=Ugarte}} or for reasons of identity.

The classification of Sylheti is contentious—Chalmers (1996) suggested that it was generally identified as a dialect of Bengali though there were efforts to recognise it as a language.{{harvcol|Rasinger|2007|pp=26, 27|ps=: "The linguistic classification of Sylheti is problematic and heavily debated. Chalmers reports that: Sylheti is generally defined as a dialect of Bengali, although attempts have been made to have it recognised as a language in its own right (Chalmers, 1996:4)"}}{{harvcol|Chung|2019|p=99}} Grierson had classified Sylheti as an Eastern Bengali dialect and had noted that it "possess all the peculiar characteristics of the extreme Eastern Bengali type." Anecdotal evidence suggests that Sylhetis, who could also speak in Standard Bengali, considered the two languages to be mutually intelligible."Bengalis interviewed in the course of this study reported that the differences between Standard Bengali and Sylheti are relatively small ... We have to consider though that these statements were made by people who originate from Sylhet and who speak both the local vernacular Sylheti and Standard Bengali."{{harvcol|Rasinger|2007|pp=26–27}}"Chalmers and Miah (1996) describe Sylheti as a distinct language that is 'mutually unintelligible to a Standard Bengali speaker' (p. 6), but anecdotal evidence from members of the London-Bengali community suggests that the differences are relatively small (Rasinger, 2007)" {{harvcol|McCarthy|Evans|Mahon|2013|p=346}} On the basis of the anecdotal evidence of mutual intelligibility, regionality and the fact that Sylheti is spoken by a predominantly rural community, {{harvp|Rasinger|2007}} concludes that Sylheti could be considered a dialect of Bengali."Intelligibility of Standard Bengali by Sylhetis, the geographically clearly clearly defined use of Sylheti and its usage by a predominantly rural population indicate that Sylheti may indeed be a dialect of Bengali." {{harvcol|Rasinger|2007|p=27}} Simard, Dopierala and Thaut have pointed out that the intelligibility could be an effect of prior exposure of Sylheti speakers to Standard Bengali,"The claim of mutual intelligibility by some speakers of both Sylheti and Bengali may be more an effect of the speakers' exposure to both languages; speakers of Sylheti who have never learned Bengali often report that they do not understand it to any functional degree." {{harvcol|Simard|Dopierala|Thaut|2020|p=5}} and that the academic consensus is that mutual intelligibility ranges from "unintelligible" to "hardly intelligible"."[T]he academic consensus on mutual intelligibility between Sylheti and Bengali ranges from 'unintelligible' to 'hardly intelligible' (Chalmers 1996)."{{harvcol|Simard|Dopierala|Thaut|2020|pp=4–5}} On the basis of phonology and phonetics, lexicon, grammatical structure and a lack of mutual intelligibility, some recent linguists claim that Sylheti is not merely a dialectal variation of Bengali but a language in its own right."The papers presented in this volume highlight some of the striking structural differences between Sylheti and standard Bengali, in phonetics and phonology, lexicon, and grammatical structure, and challenge the view that Sylheti is merely a dialectal variation of Bengali." {{harvcol|Simard|Dopierala|Thaut|2020|pp=8}}"Considering the unique linguistic properties such as phoneme inventory, allophony, and inflectional morphology in particular and lexicon in general, Sylheti is often regarded as a separate language

(Grierson 1928, Chatterjee 1939, Gordon 2005).{{harvcol|Gope|Mahanta|2014|p=10}}

Phonologically Sylheti is distinguished from Standard Bengali and other regional varieties by significant deaspiration and spirantisation,"One of the properties that distinguish Sylheti from SCB or other regional varieties is the significant application of obstruent weakening involving de-aspiration and spirantization." {{harvcol|Gope|Mahanta|2014|p=10}} leading to major restructuring of the consonant inventory"Consequently, the consonant inventory (especially the obstruents), of Sylheti exhibit a major reduction and restructuring compared to that of (Standard Colloquial Bengali)." {{harvcol|Gope|Mahanta|2014|p=10}} and the development of tones."Also noteworthy is the development of tones due to loss of the breathiness and aspiration contrast."{{harvcol|Mahanta|Gope|2018|p=81}}

As majority of the diaspora in the United Kingdom speak Sylheti, it created an environment that was somewhat uninfluenced by Standard Bengali, inevitably leading some to view Sylheti as a distinct language.Chalmers, R. (1996:6). Learning Sylheti. London: Centre for Bangladeshi Studies, Roehampton Institute. During the 1980s there were unsuccessful attempts to recognise Sylheti as a language in its own right by a small group in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which lacked support from the Sylheti community itself.Kershen, Anne J. (2019). A Question of Identity. Section: Language in Bangladesh.{{cite book |author=Anne J. Kershen |year=2005 |title=Strangers, Aliens and Asians: Huguenots, Jews and Bangladeshis in Spitalfields, 1660–2000|url=https://archive.org/details/strangersaliensa00kers |url-access=limited |publisher=Routledge |pages=[https://archive.org/details/strangersaliensa00kers/page/n161 148]–150|isbn=978-0-7146-5525-3}}

File:Halot-un-nabi-page1.gif]]

Halat-un-Nabi, a puthi written by Sadeq Ali is considered to be the most prominent literature in Sylheti Nagri.{{cite web|url=http://www.sylhetdiv.gov.bd/site/page/4399e863-0757-11e7-a6c5-286ed488c766/%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B7%E0%A6%BE%20%E0%A6%93%20%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B7%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%83%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF|title=ভাষা ও সংষ্কৃতি|language=bn|publisher=Bangladesh National Portal|date=13 September 2020|access-date=23 March 2022|archive-date=15 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210115150402/http://sylhetdiv.gov.bd/site/page/4399e863-0757-11e7-a6c5-286ed488c766/%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B7%E0%A6%BE%20%E0%A6%93%20%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B7%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%83%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF|url-status=dead}}

The presence and influence of Shah Jalal and Shri Chaitanya dev is found in the Sylheti literature.{{cite book|first1=Munayem|last1=Mayenin|title=Larakoron My Sylheti Grammar|year=2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_HSHAwAAQBAJ&q=Sylheti+literature&pg=PA29|page=29|publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=9781470963231}} According to Syed Mostafa Kamal, (approximately 1650 AD) the Baul tradition was founded based on the combination of Chaitanyavad and Jaganmohani ideologies, that mystic literature influenced and seen in the Vaishnava Padavali. As a result, Sylhet is considered as the spiritual capital of mysticism and the fertile land of Baul music. A great number of poets enriched Sylheti literature. Among them, Hason Raja, Radha Raman, Syed Shah Noor, Shitalong Shaha, Durbin Shaha are noteworthy. The main theme of the Nagri literature are mainly religious, Islamic history, tradition, stories, Raga, Baul and mystic music. There have been 140 books have found, including 88 printed books in Sylheti Nagri script.{{cite web|url=http://www.sylhet.gov.bd/site/page/2b13c62e-0757-11e7-a6c5-286ed488c766/%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B7%E0%A6%BE%20%E0%A6%93%20%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%83%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF|title=ভাষা ও সংষ্কৃতি|language=bn|publisher=Bangladesh National Portal|date=14 September 2020|access-date=23 March 2022|archive-date=25 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125040729/http://sylhet.gov.bd/site/page/2b13c62e-0757-11e7-a6c5-286ed488c766/%E0%A6%AD%E0%A6%BE%E0%A6%B7%E0%A6%BE%20%E0%A6%93%20%E0%A6%B8%E0%A6%82%E0%A6%B8%E0%A7%8D%E0%A6%95%E0%A7%83%E0%A6%A4%E0%A6%BF|url-status=dead}}

{{Main|Sylheti Nagri}}

Sylheti currently does not have a standardised writing system. Historically in the Sylhet region, the Sylheti Nagri script was used alongside the Bengali script. Sylheti Nagri was however mostly limited to writing religious poetry. The script often avoided tatsama (Sanskrit-derived terms) and incorporated Perso-Arabic vocabulary. Additionally, Sylheti Nagri texts were traditionally paginated from right to left.{{cite Banglapedia|article=Sylheti Nagri}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RWlNDwAAQBAJ&q=sylheti+dobhashi&pg=PT254|title=In the Shade of the Golden Palace: Alaol and Middle Bengali Poetics in Arakan|last1=d'Hubert|first1 =Thibaut|date=May 2014|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190860356}} It is claimed by some that the orthography of the script equates with Sylheti, due to the fewer characters compared with the Bengali script as there are fewer phonemes found in Sylheti.David Kane (2021). Puthi-Pora. Blurb. p. 159. Retrieved 1 April 2021. An endangered script, it has since seen a revival mostly by academics and linguists.{{cite book|first=Anne J|last=Kershen|year=2017|title=Language, Labour and Migration|pages=23–30}}

Standard Bengali is the medium of instruction in Bangladesh.Robert Kirkpatrick (2015). English Language Education Policy in Asia. Springer. p. 30. Retrieved 23 September 2020. some may therefore write in Sylheti using the Bengali–Assamese script. In United Kingdom, publishers use Latin script for Sylheti and according to the Sylheti Translation and Research (STAR), Latin (Roman) script is the most used script for writing Sylheti.{{Cite web |title=Roman Script |url=http://www.sylheti.org.uk/roman-script |access-date=15 June 2022 |website=Sylheti Translation And Research |language=en-GB}} The New Testament in Sylheti was published in the Sylhet Nagri script along with versions in the Latin and in the Bengali–Assamese script, in 2014.{{Cite book|title=The New Testament in Sylheti|publisher=Bible League International (Ahle Kitab Society, Sylhet)|year=2014|isbn=978-9849119401}} STAR is developing a (three script) transliteration system {{as of|2025}}, transliterating the language's name, for example as Siloṭi in Latin script.

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Sylheti is the primary language of the Sylhet Division in north-eastern Bangladesh, with its concentration mostly in the districts of Sylhet, Moulvibazar, eastern Sunamganj and north-eastern Habiganj.{{harvcol|Simard|Dopierala|Thaut|2020|p=2}} Recent findings assert that the local dialect spoken in much of the Habiganj district differs quite significantly from Sylheti.{{cite news|title=সিলেটের মতো নয় হবিগঞ্জের ভাষা|trans-title=Habiganj's language is not like Sylhet's|url=https://www.banglanews24.com/index.php/visit-bangladesh/news/bd/509216.details|website=Banglanews24.com|date=11 August 2016|author=Alam, Mahbub|language=bn}}

Sylheti is also widely spoken in the southern Assam region of Barak Valley, India, which includes the districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj.Ohi Uddin Ahmed (2019). The Mahimal Community of Sylhet-Cachar Region: A Historical Study with Special Reference to the Regional Ecology. pp. 1–2. History Research Journal. Retrieved 19 September 2019. In addition, it is spoken in the northern parts of Tripura and Jiribam, Manipur. There is also a significant population of Sylheti speakers in Hojai district of Central Assam, Shillong in Meghalaya,{{cite news |last1=Dutta |first1=Amrita |date=13 June 2018 |title=Shillong: Impossible homeland |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/shillong-clashes-tribals-khasi-sikh-xenophobia-violence-impossible-homeland-5214845/ |work=Indian Express |access-date=9 January 2024}} and the state of Nagaland. A few numbers are also located in Kolkata, most of whom are migrants from Assam.

Outside the Indian subcontinent, the largest grouping of Sylheti speakers reside in the United Kingdom, of which 95 percent of British Bangladeshis have origins from the Sylhet region.Christina Julios (2012). Contemporary British Identity: English Language, Migrants and Public Discourse. Chapter 3: Ethnic Linguistic Minorities. Ashgate Publishing Limited. Retrieved on 2024-08-24. It is estimated there are around 400,000 Sylheti speakers in the UK.Comanaru, Ruxandra; D'Ardenne, Jo (2018). The Development of Research Programme to Translate and Test the Personal well-being Questions in Sylheti and Urdu. p. 16. Köln: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Retrieved 30 June 2020. The largest concentration live in east London boroughs, such as Tower Hamlets.{{cite news |author=Audrey Gillan |date=21 July 2002 |title=From Bangladesh to Brick Lane |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/jun/21/religion.bangladesh |location=London |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=1 July 2008}} There are also significant numbers of speakers in the United States, most are concentrated in New York City,[https://languagemap.nyc/Explore/Language/Sylheti Sylheti NYC Languages] Languages of New York City. Retrieved on 2024-08-24. and in Hamtramck, Michigan where majority of Bangladeshi Americans there are of Sylheti origin.Nazli Kibria (2011). Muslims in Motion. pp. 58–61. Retrieved 1 July 2020.Sook Wilkinson (2015). Asian Americans in Michigan. pp. 166–167. Wayne State University Press. Retrieved 14 September 2020. There are also small numbers located in Toronto, Canada.Harald Bauder (2012). Immigration and Settlement: 7, Experiences, and Opportunities. Canadian Scholars' Press. p. 239. Retrieved 17 September 2020.Gideon Bolt, A. Sule Özüekren, Deborah Phillips (2013). Linking Integration and Residential Segregation. p. 137. Routledge. Retrieved 17 September 2020. Significant Sylheti-speaking communities reside in the Middle East of which most are migrant workers,{{cite news|url=http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2016/09/07/kuwait-restricts-imports-male-bangladeshi-workers/|title=Kuwait restricts recruitment of male Bangladeshi workers |work=Dhaka Tribune|language=en-US|access-date=4 December 2017|date=7 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830163025/http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2016/09/07/kuwait-restricts-imports-male-bangladeshi-workers/|archive-date=30 August 2017|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|url=http://gulfmigration.eu/bahrain-foreign-population-by-country-of-citizenship-sex-and-migration-status-worker-family-dependent-selected-countries-january-2015/|title=Bahrain: Foreign population by country of citizenship, sex and migration status (worker/ family dependent) (selected countries, January 2015) – GLMM|date=20 October 2015|work=GLMM|access-date=4 December 2017|language=en-US|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216162345/http://gulfmigration.eu/bahrain-foreign-population-by-country-of-citizenship-sex-and-migration-status-worker-family-dependent-selected-countries-january-2015/|archive-date=16 December 2017|url-status=live}} and in many other countries throughout the world.

Sylheti shares most linguistic properties with Standard Bengali,(Chatterjee 1939, Gordon 2005){{Better source needed|reason=Just two authors and years. No book title, page etc. Extremely ambiguous|date=May 2020}} with a lexical similarity of 53.2%.Karim, M. A. (2013). Technical Challenges and Design Issues in Bangla Language Processing. IGI Global. pp.xiv. Retrieved 19 September 2020. {{Better source needed|reason= Not measured, very ambiguous, proper linguistic study on the matter is needed|date=May 2020}}

The phoneme inventory of Sylheti differs from both Standard Rarhi Bengali as well as the typical Bangladeshi Standard."Its phoneme inventory differs from the inventory in the Standard dialect of Bangla or its closest varieties (Khan, 2010)." {{harvcol|Mahanta|Gope|2018|p=81}} It is characterised by a loss of breathiness and aspiration contrasts, leading to a significant reduction in its phoneme inventory and to the development of tones. In particular, the following developments are seen:{{Cite book |last=Gope |first=Amalesh |title=The phonetics and phonology of Sylheti tonogenesis |publisher=Guwahati: Indian Institute of Technology |year=2016}}

• Both voiced and voiceless aspirated stops have become unaspirated ({{IPA|d̪ʱ}} → {{IPA|d̪}}; {{IPA|t̪ʰ}} → {{IPA|t̪}}).
• The voiceless labials have spirantised to homorganic fricatives ({{IPA|p}} → {{IPA|ɸ}}; {{IPA|pʰ}} → {{IPA|ɸ}}).
• The velar stops have become velar fricatives ({{IPA|k}} → {{IPA|x}}; {{IPA|kʰ}} → {{IPA|x}}), although {{IPA|[k]}} can be heard as an allophone of {{IPA|/x/}} when preceded by high vowels {{IPA|/i, u/}}.
• The post-alveolar affricates have spirantised to alveolar fricatives ({{IPA|tʃ}} → {{IPA|s}}; {{IPA|tʃʰ}} → {{IPA|s}}; {{IPA|dʒ}} → {{IPA|z}}; {{IPA|dʒʱ}} → {{IPA|z}}).
• Among the voiceless stops only the dental /{{IPA|t̪}}, {{IPA|d̪}}/ and retroflex /{{IPA|ʈ}}, {{IPA|ɖ}}/ stops have remained stops. In some analyses, the dental–retroflex distinction (/{{IPA|t̪}}, {{IPA|ʈ}}/) is replaced by highly unusual dental–alveolar one (/{{IPA|t̪}}, {{IPA|t̠}}/).

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Sylheti is tonal.{{sfn|Gope|Mahanta|2014|p=}}{{cite web | url=https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org/icphs-proceedings/ICPhS2015/Papers/ICPHS0630.pdf | title=An acoustic analysis of Sylheti phonemes | last1= Gope | first1 = Amalesh | last2 = Mahanta | first2 = Shakuntala | date=2015 | work=Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Phonetic Sciences}}{{cite journal | url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326537467 | title=Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness | last1= Gope | first1 = Amalesh | last2 = Mahanta | first2 = Shakuntala | date=20 July 2018 | journal=Language Sciences| volume=69 | pages=80–97 | doi=10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010 | s2cid=149759441 }} This is rare among the Indo-Aryan languages, but not unheard of, e.g. in Punjabi, Dogri, Chittagonian, Gawri (Kalam Kohistani), Torwali, some Eastern Bengali varieties, etc.{{Cite journal|last=Pal|first=Animesh K.|date=1965|title=Phonemes of a Dacca Dialect of Eastern Bengali and the Importance of Tone|journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society|volume=VII|pages=44–45|quote="The tonal element in Panjabi as well as in Eastern Bengali has been noticed in respect of various new ways of treating the voiced aspirates and 'h'."}}{{citation|last=Masica|first=Colin P.|title=The Indo-Aryan Languages|year=1991|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=102|quote="Glottalization is often connected with tone and in the East Bengali cases seem to be related to the evolution of tone from the voiced aspirates."}} There are two types of tonal contrasts in Sylheti: the emergence of high tone in the vowels following the loss of aspiration, and a level tone elsewhere.

A more recent study shows that there is a three-way tonal system in Sylheti words with two syllables or more. According to this analysis, words with aspiration in the final syllable historically gain a high tone across the word, whilst those with initial aspiration have this replaced by a low tone across the word. Those with no historical aspirated consonants retain a mid tone.{{cite conference |url=https://www.isca-speech.org/archive/pdfs/speechprosody_2020/raychoudhury20_speechprosody.pdf |title=The three way tonal system of Sylheti |last1=Raychoudhury |first1=Priti |last2=Mahanta |first2=Shakuntala |date=28 May 2020 |conference=10th International Conference on Speech Prosody 2020 |pages=503–507 |doi=10.21437/SpeechProsody.2020-103 |s2cid=219499647}}

It is considered that these tones arose when aspirated consonants lost their aspiration. Sylheti continues to have a long history of coexisting with tonal Tibeto-Burman languages including various dialects of Kokborok such as Reang. Even though there is no clear evidence of direct borrowing of lexical items from those languages into Sylheti, there is still a possibility that the emergence of Sylheti tones is due to external influence, as the indigenous speakers of Tibeto-Burman languages by and large use Sylheti as a common medium for interaction.

Sylheti grammar is the study of the morphology and syntax of Sylheti.{{cite thesis |s2cid= 165942159 |doi= 10.6093/UNINA/FEDOA/11892 |year= 2017 |last1= Das |first1= Amrita Rani |title= A Comparative Study of Bangla and Sylheti Grammar |publisher= Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II}}

When a definite article such as -gu/ţa (singular) or -guin/ţin (plural) is added, equivalent to using the measure word for the noun as an infix, nouns are also inflected for number. Below is a table of the case inflections for an animate noun, {{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠤꠇꠠꠣ}} {{Transliteration|syl|hikɽa}} ('student'), and an inanimate noun, {{Script|Sylo|ꠎꠥꠔꠣ}} {{Transliteration|syl|zuta}} ('shoe'), with the definite article employed.

Note how the case endings attach after the measure word.

For the genitive case, the ending may change depending on the last phoneme of the noun. A noun (without an article) which ends either in a consonant or in the inherent vowel, {{Script|Sylo|ꠅ}} ô, is inflected by adding {{Script|Sylo|–ꠞ}} -ôr to the end of the word (and deleting the inherent vowel if applicable). An example of this would be the genitive of {{Script|Sylo|ꠉꠥꠍ}} gus 'meat' being {{Script|Sylo|ꠉꠥꠍꠞ}} gusôr 'of meat' or '(the) meat's'. A noun which ends in any vowel apart from the inherent vowel will just have a {{Script|Sylo|-ꠞ}} -r following it, as in the genitive of {{Script|Sylo|ꠙꠥꠀ}} fua being {{Script|Sylo|ꠙꠥꠀꠞ}} fuar '(the) boy's'. The genitive ending is also applied to verbs (in their verbal noun forms), which is most commonly seen when using postpositions (for example: {{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠤꠇꠘꠞ ꠟꠣꠉꠤ}} hiknôr lagi, 'for learning').

For the locative case, only applicable to inanimate nouns, the case marker also changes in a similar fashion to the genitive case, with consonants and the inherent vowel having their own ending, {{Script|Sylo|-ꠅ}} -ô, and all other vowels having another ending, {{Script|Sylo|-ꠔ}} -t. For example, {{Script|Sylo|ꠍꠤꠟꠐꠅ}} silôţô 'in Sylhet', {{Script|Sylo|ꠑꠣꠇꠣꠔ}} dáxát 'in Dhaka'.

The subject of a transitive verb in Sylheti is marked with the case marker -{{Script|Sylo|  ꠦ}} -e after consonant endings, and -{{Script|Sylo|ꠄ}} -e after vowel endings and after the generic definite article ending -{{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣ}} -ta. Thus:

{{fs interlinear|lang=syl

|{{Script|Sylo|ꠙꠥꠘꠝꠦ}} {{Script|Sylo|ꠜꠣꠔ}} {{Script|Sylo|ꠈꠞ}}

|Punom-e bát xár

|Punom-NOM rice eat-PRES.CONT.

|Punom is eating rice.}}

On the other hand, the subject of an intransitive verb, or of the verb {{Script|Sylo|ꠎꠣꠃꠣ}} zaua 'to go', takes no case marker in its nominative case.

{{fs interlinear|lang=syl

|{{Script|Sylo|ꠝꠤꠘꠣ }} {{Script|Sylo|ꠈꠥꠛ}} {{Script|Sylo|ꠌꠣꠟꠣꠇ}}

|Mina xub salax

|Mina-(NOM) very clever

|Mina is very clever.}}

This feature of Sylheti is closer to Assamese than to Standard Bengali. This marked nominative case has been called an ergative case, and has also led to Sylheti being classified as an ergative–absolutive language. The particular system of split ergativity that Sylheti uses appears to be a retention of the system that emerged from Magadhi Prakrit.{{cite web |last1=Saikia |first1=Pori |title=Children’s Acquisition of Assamese Split Ergativity (PhD Thesis) |url=https://repository.essex.ac.uk/37397/1/AcquisitionOfAssameseSplitErgativity_SaikiaPori_2022.pdf |website=University of Essex Repository |publisher=University of Essex |access-date=26 April 2025 |ref=Saikia |date=2022}} However, in Sylheti, this marked nominative is only exhibited by nouns, and not by pronouns.

When counted, nouns must also be accompanied by the appropriate measure word. The noun's measure word (MW) must be used in between the numeral and the noun. Most nouns take the generic measure word gu/ţa/xán, although there are many more specific measure words, such as zôn, which is only used to count humans.

Measuring nouns in Sylheti without their corresponding measure words (e.g. aţ mekur instead of aţ-gu mekur 'eight cats') would typically be considered ungrammatical. However, omitting the noun and preserving the measure word is grammatical and not uncommon to hear. For example, Xáli êx-zôn táxbô. (lit. 'Only one-MW will remain.') would be understood to mean 'Only one person will remain.', since zôn can only be used to count humans.

Sylheti personal pronouns are somewhat similar to English pronouns, having different words for first, second, and third person, and also for singular and plural (unlike for verbs, below). Sylheti pronouns, like their English counterparts, do differentiate for gender. Sylheti has different third-person pronouns for proximity. The first are used for someone who is nearby, and the second are for those who are a little further away. The third are usually for those who are not present. In addition, each of the second- and third-person pronouns have different forms for the familiar and polite forms; the second person also has a "very familiar" form (sometimes called "despective"). It may be noted that the "very familiar" form is used when addressing particularly close friends or family as well as for addressing subordinates, or in abusive language. In the following tables, the abbreviations used are as follows: VF=very familiar, F=familiar, and P=polite (honor); H=here, T=there, E=elsewhere (proximity), and I=inanimate.

The nominative case is used for pronouns that are the subject of the sentence, such as "I already did that" or "Will you please stop making that noise?"

| {{Script|Sylo|}} (itain, these)

|-

! rowspan="3" | {{abbr|T|there}}

! {{abbr|F|familiar}}

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠦ}} (he, he), {{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠁ}} (tai, she)

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠞꠣ}} (tara, they)

|-

! {{abbr|P|polite (honor)}}

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠁꠘ}} (tain, he/she)

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠞꠣ}}/{{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠁꠘ-ꠔꠣꠁꠘ}} (tara/tain-tain, they)

|-

! {{abbr|I|inanimate}}

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠅꠉꠥ}}/{{Script|Sylo|ꠅꠇꠐꠣ}} (ôgu/ôxţa, it/that)

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠅꠉꠥꠁꠘ}} (ôguin, those)

|-

! rowspan="4" | {{abbr|E|elsewhere (proximity)}}

! {{abbr|F|familiar}}

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠦ}} (he, he), {{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠁ}} (tai, she)

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠞꠣ}} (tara, they)

|-

! {{abbr|P|polite (honor)}}

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠁꠘ}} (tain, he/she)

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠞꠣ}}/{{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠁꠘ-ꠔꠣꠁꠘ}} (tara/tain-tain, they)

|-

! {{abbr|I|inanimate}}

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠉꠥ}}/{{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠇꠐꠣ}} (hôgu/hôxţa, it/that)

| {{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠉꠥꠁꠘ}} (hôguin, those)

|-

! {{abbr|I|inanimate}} {{abbr|P|polite (honor)}}

| {{Script|Sylo|}} (hita, it/that)

| {{Script|Sylo|}} (hitain, those)

|-

|}

The objective case is used for pronouns serving as the direct or indirect objects, such as "I told him to wash the dishes" or "The teacher gave me the homework assignment". The inanimate pronouns remain the same in the objective case.

The possessive case is used to show possession, such as "Where is your coat?" or "Let's go to our house". In addition, sentences such as "I have a book" ({{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠝꠣꠞ ꠄꠇꠐꠣ ꠛꠁ ꠀꠍꠦ}}) or "I need money" ({{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠝꠣꠞ ꠐꠦꠇꠣ ꠖꠞꠇꠣꠞ}}) also use the possessive (the literal translation of the Bengali versions of these sentences would be "There is my book" and "There is my need for money" respectively).

Bengali has no negative pronouns (such as no one, nothing, none). These are typically represented by adding the negative particle {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠣꠄ}} (nae) to indefinite pronouns, which are themselves derived from their corresponding question words. Common indefinite pronouns are listed below.

The relative pronoun {{Script|Sylo|ꠎꠦ}} (ze) and its different variants, as shown below, are commonly employed in complex sentences. The relative pronouns for animate objects change for number and honour, but those for inanimate objects stay the same.

Adjectives do not inflect for case, gender, or number in Sylheti and are placed before the noun they modify.

Some adjectives form their opposites by prefixing {{Script|Sylo|ꠛꠦ-}} be-, or sometimes {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠤ-}} ni-; for example, the opposite of {{Script|Sylo|ꠞꠥꠎꠉꠣꠞ}} (ruzgar, 'earning') is {{Script|Sylo|ꠛꠦꠞꠥꠎꠉꠣꠞ}} (beruzgar, 'not earning, idle, mendicant'), the opposite of {{Script|Sylo|ꠇꠣꠝꠣ}} (xama, 'of use') is {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠤꠇꠣꠝꠣ}} (nixama, 'useless, of no use').

Demonstrative adjectives – 'this' and 'that' – correspond to {{Script|Sylo|ꠁ, ꠅ/ꠅꠃ}} i, ô/ôu and {{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠤ, ꠢ/ꠢꠃ}} hi, hô/hou, with the definite article attached to the following noun. Thus, 'this book' would translate to {{Script|Sylo|ꠁ/ꠅꠃ ꠛꠁꠈꠣꠘ}} i boi-xan, while 'those books' would translate to {{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠃ ꠛꠁ-ꠉꠤꠍꠤꠘ/ꠛꠁ-ꠉꠥꠘ/ꠛꠁ-ꠀꠁꠘ}} hi boi-gisin/boi-gun/boi-ain.

Sylheti adjectives form their comparative forms with {{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠞꠅ}} (arô, 'more'), and their superlative forms with {{Script|Sylo|ꠡꠛ ꠕꠣꠇꠤ}} (shôb táki, 'than all'). Comparisons are formed by using genitive form of the object of comparison, followed by the postposition {{Script|Sylo|ꠕꠣꠇꠤ/ꠕꠘꠤ}} (táki/tóni, 'than') or the postposition {{Script|Sylo|ꠟꠣꠇꠣꠘ}} (laxan, 'like') and then by {{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠞꠅ}} (arô, 'more') or {{Script|Sylo|ꠇꠝ}} (xôm, 'less'). The word for 'more' is optional, but the word for 'less' is required, so in its absence 'more' is inferred. Adjectives can be additionally modified by using {{Script|Sylo|ꠛꠟꠘ/ꠛꠣꠇ꠆ꠇꠣ/ꠛꠃꠔ}} (bolon/bakka/bout, 'much') or {{Script|Sylo|ꠛꠃꠔ}} (bout, 'much'), which are especially useful for comparing quantities.

Sylheti verbs are highly inflected and are regular with only few exceptions. They consist of a stem and an ending; they are traditionally listed in Sylheti dictionaries in their "verbal noun" form, which is usually formed by adding -a, - ni, -na to the stem: for instance, {{Script|Sylo|ꠈꠣꠘꠤ}} (xani, to eat) is formed from the stem {{Script|Sylo|ꠈꠣ}} and similarly {{Script|Sylo|ꠇꠞꠣ/ ꠇꠞꠘꠣ}} (xôra/ xôrna, to do) is formed from the stem {{Script|Sylo|ꠇꠞ}}. The stem can end in either a vowel or a consonant. Verbs are conjugated for tense and person by changing the endings, which are largely the same for all verbs. However, the stem vowel can often change as part of the phenomenon known as vowel harmony, whereby one vowel can be influenced by other vowels in the word to sound more harmonious. An example would be the verb to write, with stem lex-: {{Script|Sylo|ꠟꠦꠈꠅ}} (lexô, 'you all write') but also {{Script|Sylo|ꠟꠦꠈꠤ}} (lekí, 'we write'). If verbs are classified by stem vowel and if the stem ends in a consonant or vowel, there are nine basic classes in which most verbs can be placed; all verbs in a class will follow the same pattern. A prototype verb from each of these classes will be used to demonstrate conjugation for that class; bold will be used to indicate mutation of the stem vowel. Additionally, there are irregular verbs, such as {{Script|Sylo|ꠎꠣꠘꠤ}} (zani, to go) that change the first consonant in their stem in certain conjugations.

Like many other Indo-Aryan languages (such as Standard Bengali or Assamese), nouns can be turned into verbs by combining them with select auxiliary verbs. In Sylheti, the most common such auxiliary verb is {{Script|Sylo|ꠇꠞꠣ}} (xôra, 'to do'); thus, verbs such as joke are formed by combining the noun form of joke ({{Script|Sylo|ꠓꠋ}}) with to do ({{Script|Sylo|ꠇꠞꠣ}}) to create {{Script|Sylo|ꠓꠋ ꠇꠞꠣ}}. When conjugating such verbs the noun part of such a verb is left untouched, so in the previous example, only {{Script|Sylo|ꠇꠞꠣ}} would be inflected or conjugated (e.g.: I will make a joke becomes {{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠝꠤ ꠓꠋ ꠇꠞꠝꠥ}}; see more on tenses below). Other auxiliary verbs include {{Script|Sylo|ꠖꠦꠘꠤ}} and {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠦꠘꠤ}}, but the verb {{Script|Sylo|ꠇꠞꠘꠣ}} enjoys significant usage because it can be combined with foreign verbs to form a native version of the verb, even if a direct translation exists. Most often this is done with English verbs: for example, to vote is often referred to as {{Script|Sylo|ꠜꠥꠐ ꠖꠦꠘꠤ}} ({{Transliteration|syl|búţ deni}}, where {{Transliteration|syl|búţ}} is the transliteration of vote).

Sylheti is considered a zero copula language in some aspects.

• In the simple present tense there is no verb connecting the subject to the predicative (the "zero verb" copula). There is one notable exception, however, which is when the predicative takes on the existential, locative, or possessive aspects; for such purposes, the incomplete verb {{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠍ-}} (as) is used, which is conjugated according to the rules given below.
• In the past tense, the incomplete verb {{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠍ-}} is always used as the copula, regardless of the nature of the predicative.
• For the future tense and non-finite structures, the copula is supplied by the verb {{Script|Sylo|‘ꠅꠅꠀ}} (ówa), with the only exception being the possessive predicative for which the verb {{Script|Sylo|ꠕꠣꠇꠣ}} (táxa, 'to remain') is utilised.

The following table demonstrates the rules above with some examples.

There are three sentence negators employed in Sylheti:

• The zero verb copula is negated using the incomplete negator {{Script|Sylo|ꠘ-}}, which is conjugated as {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠣꠄ}} (1), {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠣꠁ}} (2), {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠣ}} (3).
• Existential sentences that use the verb {{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠍ-}} are negated with {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠣꠁ}} (nai), which does not need to be conjugated.
• All other verbs (with the exceptions of the ones listed above) are negated using the universal negative particle {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠣꠄ}} (nae). {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠣꠄ}} is typically placed after the finite verb (see examples below), but can also be placed at the end of the sentence, which negates the whole sentence. {{Script|Sylo|ꠘꠣꠄ}} can be used in all tenses except two: the present perfect and the past perfect.
• Verbs in the present perfect and the past perfect tenses are negated using the suffix {{Script|Sylo|-ꠘꠣ}} (na) which can also refer to "no" in yes–no questions.

Verbs are inflected for person and honour, but not for number. There are five forms: first person, second person (very familiar), second person (familiar), third person (familiar), and second/third person (polite). The same sample subject pronouns will be used for all the example conjugation paradigms: {{Transliteration|syl|mui}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠝꠥꠁ}}), {{Transliteration|syl|ami}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠝꠤ}}), {{Transliteration|syl|tui}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠥꠁ}}), {{Transliteration|syl|tumi}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠥꠝꠤ}}), {{Transliteration|syl|he}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠢꠦ}}), {{Transliteration|syl|tai}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠁ}}) and {{Transliteration|syl|afne}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠙꠘꠦ}}). These have the following plurals respectively: {{Transliteration|syl|môra}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠝꠞꠣ}}), {{Transliteration|syl|amra}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠝꠞꠣ}}), {{Transliteration|syl|tura}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠥꠞꠣ}}), {{Transliteration|syl|tumra}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠥꠝꠞꠣ}})/{{Transliteration|syl|tumi-tain}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠥꠝꠤ-ꠔꠣꠁꠘ}}), {{Transliteration|syl|tara}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠞꠣ}})/{{Transliteration|syl|tain-tain}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠔꠣꠁꠘ-ꠔꠣꠁꠘ}}) and {{Transliteration|syl|afnara}} ({{Script|Sylo|ꠀꠙꠘꠣꠞꠣ}}).

{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2020}}

A notable characteristic of spoken Sylheti is the correspondence of the {{IPA|/x/}} and {{IPA|/ɦ/}}, pronounced as a voiceless velar fricative to the {{IPA|/k/}} or {{IPA link|/kʰ/}} of Bengali and voiceless glottal fricative to the /x/ of Assamese respectively.

A phrase in:

• Standard Bengali: {{lang|bn|এক দেশের গালি আরেক দেশের বুলি}} {{Transliteration|bn|æk desher gali arek desher buli}}.
• Sylheti: {{Script|Sylo|ꠄꠇ ꠖꠦꠡꠞ ꠉꠣꠁꠟ ꠀꠞꠇ ꠖꠦꠡꠞ ꠝꠣꠔ}} ex deshôr gail arôx deshôr mát.

which literally means 'one land's obscenity is another land's language', and can be roughly translated to convey that a similar word in one language can mean something very different in another.

Another example:

• {{Lang|bn|মেঘ}} {{Transliteration|bn|megh}} in Standard Bengali means 'cloud'.
• {{Lang|bn|মেঘ}} {{Transliteration|bn|mêg(h)}} in Eastern Bengali means 'rain' or 'cloud'.
• {{Script|Sylo|ꠝꠦꠊ}}/মেঘ megh in Sylheti means 'rain'.
• In Pali, मेघ megha means both 'rain' and 'cloud'.

• Bengali–Assamese languages
• Languages of India
• Languages of Bangladesh
• Tibeto-Burman languages
• Barman language
• Meitei language

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last=Chatterji |first=Suniti Kumar |title=The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language |year=1926 |url=https://archive.org/details/OriginDevelopmentOfBengali/CHATTERJI_Origin-Development-of-Bengali_Vol-1 |publisher=Calcutta University Press }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Chung |first1=Chin-Wan |title=An alternative account of English consonant cluster adaptations in Bengali dialects |journal=The Linguistic Association of Korea Journal |date=2019 |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=99–123 |doi=10.24303/lakdoi.2019.27.3.99|doi-access=free |publisher=Calcutta University Press}}
• {{cite thesis|url=https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/14086/1/437597.pdf|title=A Study of Language Maintenance and Shift in the Sylheti Community in Leeds|first=Shahela|last=Hamid|type=PhD|publisher=University of York|date=June 2005|access-date=17 July 2021}}
• {{cite conference |last2=Mahanta |first2=Sakuntala |last1=Gope |first1=Amalesh |year=2014 |title=Lexical Tones in Sylheti |url=https://www.isca-speech.org/archive/tal_2014/papers/tl14_010.pdf |conference=4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014) |access-date=27 June 2020 |archive-date=15 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210815121216/https://www.isca-speech.org/archive/tal_2014/papers/tl14_010.pdf |url-status=dead }}
• {{cite book |editor-last=Grierson |editor-first=G A |year=1903 |title=Linguistic Survey of India: Indo-Aryan Family Eastern Group |url=https://dsal.uchicago.edu/books/lsi/lsi.php?volume=5-1&pages=463#page/1/mode/1up |volume=V |access-date=27 June 2020 }}
• {{cite news|url=https://www.thedailystar.net/supplements/amar-ekushey-2018/amago-bhasha-1537534|title=Amago Bhasha: In celebration of our ethnic and linguistic diversity|website=Dhaka Tribune|first=Sameer Ud Dowla|last=Khan|date=21 February 2018|access-date=19 October 2020}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Lawson |first1=Sarah |last2=Sachdev |first2=Itesh |s2cid=144496795 |year=2004 |title=Identity, Language Use and Attitudes: Some Sylheti-Bangladeshi Data from London, UK |journal=Journal of Language and Social Psychology |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=49–60 |doi=10.1177/0261927X03261223 }}
• {{cite journal |last=Ludden |first=David |title=Investing in Nature around Sylhet: An Excursion into Geographical History |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=38 |number=48 |year=2003 |pages=5080–5088 |jstor=4414346}}
• {{cite journal |last1=Mahanta |first1=Sakuntala |last2=Gope |first2=Amalesh |year=2018 |title=Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness |journal=Language Sciences |volume=69 |pages=80–97 |doi=10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010 |s2cid=149759441 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=McCarthy |first1=K. M. |last2=Evans |first2=B. G. |last3=Mahon |first3=M. |year=2013 |title=Acquiring a second language in an immigrant community: The production of Sylheti and English stops and vowels by London-Bengali speakers |journal=Journal of Phonetics |volume=41 |issue=5 |pages=344–358 |doi=10.1016/j.wocn.2013.03.006}}
• {{cite book |last=Rasinger |first=Sebastian M. |year=2007 |title=Bengali-English in East London: A Study in Urban Multilingualism |publisher=Peter Lang |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4ieH2nBSbjkC |isbn=978-3-03-911036-0 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Sen |first1=Satarupa |year=2020 |title=Mapping of spirantization and deaspiration in Sylheti: An Optimality Theory analysis |url=http://www.elpublishing.org/docs/1/18/ldd18_03.pdf |journal=Language Documentation and Description |volume=18 |pages=42–55 |access-date=16 October 2020 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Simard |first1=Candide |last2=Dopierala |first2=Sarah M |last3=Thaut |first3=E Marie |year=2020 |title=Introducing the Sylheti language and its speakers, and the SOAS Sylheti project |url=http://www.elpublishing.org/docs/1/18/ldd18_01.pdf |journal=Language Documentation and Description |volume=18 |pages=1–22 |access-date=16 October 2020 }}

{{refend}}

{{InterWiki|code=syl|Sylheti}}

{{wikivoyage|Sylheti phrasebook}}

{{Indo-Aryan languages}}

{{Languages of India}}

{{Languages of Bangladesh}}

{{Sylhet}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Bengali dialects

Category:Eastern Indo-Aryan languages

Category:Languages of Bangladesh

Category:Languages of Assam

Category:Sylheti language

Category:Tonal languages in non-tonal families