About Us
WHAT IS SYLHETI?
Sylheti is a distinct Eastern-Indo-Aryan language, spoken by a minority in north-eastern Bangladesh and south Assam, India, and approximately 500,000 speakers in the UK. This language is minoritised in all territories where it is spoken, being relgegated to the status of "home language" under more dominant state languages, as well as being erroneously claimed to be a "dialect" of Bengali, despite its significant differences.
Map of Sylheti speaking regions in Bangladesh, and India
It is currently maily an oral language. However, it has had its own writing system, Siloti Nagri, from the 15th centurly, which after the independance of Bangladesh in 1971 was forced into disuse (including the distruction of Sylheti printing presses that existed at the time). The Sylheti Language Society aims to teach and valorise both Sylheti language and the historic Siloti Nagri secript - which is experiencing a revival!
An example of a Siloti Nagri manuscript
We want Sylheti to be discussed as the real language it is, not "improper Bengali". This including it's many unique features that set it apart from other Indo-Aryan languages, as well as the broader Indo-European family. For instance, unlike most Indo-Aryan languages (but common in languages of East Asia) Sylheti has phonemic tone, where the pitch of a syllable can be as contastive as different vowels or consonants in distinguishing words. For istance, ꠜꠣꠔ bát "rice" (with a high tone) contrasting with ꠛꠣꠔ bat, meaning "arthritus" (with a low tone). Although this feature is uncommon with Indo-European languages, it is however, common in neighbouring languages, for example Tibeto-Burman languages. This is thought to have influenced the emergence of tones in Sylheti, amoung many other features that show Tibeto-Burman influence.
OUR AIMS
- to develope effective teaching materials, that don't yet exist for Sylheti
- to teach Sylheti to SOAS students
- to teach Sylheti to members of the Sylheti community, heritage speakers, and anyone who wants to learn
- to remove the stigma around Sylheti, and remove harmful misconceptions of being a "dialect"
- to teach and revitalise the Sylheti Nagri script
We practice teaching to members of the society, and also provide lessons to community members, heratiage language speakers, and anyone who wants to learn. Members are encouraged to each eventually teach (or co-teach) a lesson (but attendance to just learn and experience the Sylheti language is fine!).
As a society we commit ourselves to decolonial teaching, recognising Sylheti as a transnational language (not just of Bangladesh), defined not in relation to Benglai, but as a language in its own right.
If you are a Sylheti speaker and would like the opportunity to teach we would love to facilitate, we will provide training and lesson resources so please do not worry if you do not have teaching experience. We will be able to provide you with financial compensation, as well as transferable teaching skills that would look great on a CV.
ꠖꠦꠈꠣ ꠅꠁꠛꠅ, dexa oibo!
See you soon
Please see our whatsapp group description for online and inperson teaching groups.
All our links and whatsapp group here!