The first Bengali grammar published in the Bengali language was Reverend James Keith’s “Grammar of the Bengal Language” (18–20)*, but among Bengalis, Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the very first to compose a grammar of the Bengali language. Following Ram Mohan, many learned linguists and grammarians tirelessly worked and contributed to the creation of modern Bengali grammar. It is through the study of Bengali grammar that we can truly understand the structure, nature, and purity of the Bengali language.
We must remember that human beings learned to speak language orally, through word of mouth. Later, grammar analysed this spoken structure and provided explanations. Therefore, grammar is not the science of learning to speak a language, but rather the discipline that analyses the characteristics of a particular language from its origin to its present-day usage and prescribes a generally accepted form. Grammar discovers the internal order of language. “When a nation wishes to standardise its language and eliminate various forms of disorder within it, enthusiasm for grammar emerges among its people.”
Such enthusiasm was seen in ancient Greece, old India, and eighteenth-century England. Grammarians searched diligently to identify various rules and principles. They declared certain usages as incorrect. Others accepted the grammarian’s discipline. Thus, language began to take on a stable and well-ordered form. As the human mind matured, it imposed greater discipline on both life and language.
The etymological meaning of the word ‘grammar’ is “special analysis.” Grammar attempts to describe or analyse language, but what exactly does it describe? It shows how sounds are pronounced, how words are formed, how they are transformed, and how they are arranged in sentences. If we analyse all these, we can properly understand which features are intrinsic to the language and which represent deviations. This principle applies equally in the case of Bengali grammar.
Grammar’s subject matter is the analysis of the customary usages that have become established in a language through long usage. Language expresses the feelings of the mind, and grammar assists in expressing those feelings accurately. Language, passed down orally among the masses, flows like a river, undergoing various forms and transformations.
Grammar formulates rules regarding the basic tendencies, general characteristics, and pronunciation methods of a language, and thus maps out the path for its pure application. Grammar was created based on language. The nature, character, and mannerisms of a language find their form in grammar. One can gain an understanding of various aspects of a language through grammar. Language existed first; grammar followed in its wake. When language use generates particular patterns, these patterns become the subject of grammar. The rules of grammar help keep language pure.
Hence, grammar is often called the ‘constitution of language’. Just as a constitution or code of laws contains the legal framework of a state, grammar contains the laws of language. Just as a country or organisation is governed by rules and regulations, knowledge of the constitution or laws of language — that is, grammar — enables its correct and harmonious use.
Language is the spontaneous expression of the heart and mind, and grammar is its system of rules and discipline. When one learns, understands, or writes a language, it becomes clear that everything — from the alphabet to sentence construction — is governed by certain rules and regulations. Although these rules exist even in one’s mother tongue, they often go unnoticed. This is true for Bengali as it is our mother tongue. In reality, language is not merely a random collection of sounds uttered from the mouth.
Rather, among the sounds that emerge from the mouth, there is a clear and orderly system and meaning. For example, the sentence, “I read the book ‘Advanced Pure Language Education’” is meaningful and correctly formed. But if it is written or spoken as “The book language-education I advanced read pure,” it lacks clear meaning, and no rule or order of expression can be detected within it.
This is because the rules of sentence formation in Bengali have not been followed. Therefore, grammar analyses the components and materials of any language, discovers its rules and regulations, and thereby reveals the internal order of that language. The unveiling of this internal beauty and order, and the creation of a coherent and well-organised description, is what grammar is all about.
The rules and order of one language differ from those of another. Hence, each language’s grammar has its own distinctive characteristics. The names of grammar also vary by language — for example, ‘Bangla Grammar’ for Bengali and ‘English Grammar’ for English.
Sources and References:
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Manoel da Assumpção composed the earliest Bengali grammar. His grammar, ‘Vocabulario Em idioma Bengalla, E Portuez: Dividido em duas partes’, was a bilingual Bengali-Portuguese vocabulary in two parts, published in 1743. Since Bengali script was not yet developed for printing, the book was printed in Roman letters. It contains a small introduction to the Bengali language spoken in the Bhawal region of Dhaka at the time.
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English scholar Nathaniel Brassey Halhed published A Grammar of the Bengal Language in 1778 from Hooghly, written in English.
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Among Bengalis, Raja Ram Mohan Roy (1772–1833) wrote his grammar in English in 1826. After his death, the Bengali translation titled Gouriyo Byakaran was published in 1833.
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Dr Humayun Azad, Koto Nodi Sorobar (The Biography of Bengali Language).
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Jyotibhushan Chakraborty, Bangla Bhashar Byakaran (Bengali Grammar), Janan Publishers, Kolkata.