Northern Bengali, also known as Uttaravaṅgīẏa (Bengali: উত্তরবঙ্গীয়, romanized: uttôrbôṅgīẏô)^[1] or Udīcya (Bengali: উদীচ্য, romanized: udīchyô),^[2] is a nonstandard dialect cluster of Bengali spoken in northern parts of Bangladesh and West Bengal, as well adjacent areas of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, and Nepal.

Geographical distribution

Dr. Muhammad Shahidullah divided all Bengali dialects into two groups: Prācya (Bengali: প্রাচ্য, romanized: prachyô, lit. 'eastern') and Pāścātya (Bengali: পাশ্চাত্য, romanized: pashchatyô, lit. 'western'). Within his Pāścātya grouping, he created the division of "Northern" or "Udīcya", corresponding to the combined dialect groups of "Varendra" and "Kāmarūpa" proposed by Suniti Kumar Chatterji, with the remaining area corresponding to Rāḍha dialects. This Northern Bengali dialect is said to be spoken from Goalpara to Purnia, encompassing much of the historical regions of Kamarupa and Varendra.^[3] This area includes the modern divisions of Rangpur and Rajshahi in Bangladesh as well as Jalpaiguri and Malda in West Bengal.

Comparison