Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/137

Rh brings out থা and য় distinctly. As a result of accent being placed on the first syllables, the unaccented second syllables of many words, have undergone a natural phonetic decay, in the common speech of the people of Central Bengal, and thus the unaccented ই sound in the second syllables of করিব, করিয়া and করিলাম have become exiinct, and the forms করব, করে and করলাম have prevailed. As in Eastern Bengal the last syllables of আইল, আইস, etc., are accented, and the first portions must be uttered to come to the last syllables, almost no change takes place in those words; but when the first portions are accented, the two vowels আ and ই, coalesce and long এ, which is the combination of আ and ই takes the place of the first two letters; thus এল and এস take the place of আইল and আইস. In Manbhum and in some parts of Bankura, which are contiguous to the lands of the Dravidians, the last syllables are mostly accented; in the sentence তোমার বেটা বটেক্? (Is he your son?) the last syllables of all the three words are accented. Because of change of accents, বেটা is pronounced বেটা in Central Bengal. কুত্থ, the old Prākṛta or proto-Bengali form of কোথা still survives in Manbhum, partly because of the hilly accent, and partly because the accent is placed on the last syllable. It is notorious, that the last syllables of words are generally very much accented by the Dravidians. The final আ of foreign nouns are for this reason made into āi, as for example মণিমেখলা becomes মণিমেখলৈ. This is why the vulgar people in the South, pronounce the English words 'government,' 'and,' etc., as governmen-ta, an-d, as, etc. I have spoken before of the Dravidian element in Bengal; it is the excess of this element which I suppose to be the cause of Eastern Bengal peculiarity. In the Chittagong Division however, where the Mongolian influence is considerable, the first syllables are mostly accented vigorously, by almost duplicating