Today our topic of discussion is – Bengali Loanwords Portuguese
Bengali Loanwords Portuguese
The historical background
We know that the 15th century proved to be a period of exploration by Europeans. Looking for spices, in 1498, Vasco da Gama sailed from Lisbon to Indian sub-continent over the sea. He sailed via the Cape of Good Hope which landed with three ships at the port of Calicut, in the state of Kerala, South India in 1498.
It was the first footstep of the Portuguese in southern India. By the mid 16″ century, missionaries and merchants had established a maritime presence all along the Indian Ocean. With permission from the Muslim rulers of Bengal, Sultan Mahmud Shah, the Portuguese established themselves in Chittagong, which they called ‘Porto Grande’, or the Great Port.
Chittagong, the second largest city and main port of Bangladesh, was home to the trading port of the Portuguese. Actually, the advent of the Portuguese in Indian sub-continent, however, was a matter of historical significance.
They established direct communication and sea trade between Europe and the east. They introduced naval power in Indian Ocean and brought Roman Catholicism to India. They initiated the policy of carrying on trade with territorial bases and fortifications, which was followed by other Europeans.
The Portuguese and their descendants in Bengal became known as ‘Firingi”, the term came via Persian which means ‘Foreigner’. There are many numerous Portuguese loanwords in the Bengali language, including many common household terms.
They brought many exotic fruits, flower and plants. They introduced Chili, Guava, Pineapple, Papaya etc to the Bengal. As a result, the Portuguese name of those fruits took place in Bengali vocabulary After Persian, some words of Portuguese language entered into Bengali language because of the entrance of Portuguese speaking Firingis” in the occasion of trading in Bengal and then their living in Hoogli,
Dhaka and Chittagong areas from 16 century. The influence of Portuguese language became less at the mid 18 century. There are around hundred Portuguese words in Bengali’ (Chatterjee, 1999: 15).
Linguistic analysis of Portuguese loanwords
At this stage of our study we will be discussing Portuguese loanwords exist in Bengali language from linguistic point of view.
Phonological analysis
Following processes are accountable for the sound change of Portuguese words while taking those as loan. These are-
1. Dissimilation
2. Substitution
3. Final consonant elision
4. Final vowel elision
Processes are explained below:
Dissimilation: This is the opposite process of assimilation. In this process one of two similar sounds is changed. Example of dissimilation is rare though, we get few from Portuguese loanwords. Such as-
Substitution: We know that when one class of sounds is replaced for another class of sounds, the process of substitution occurs. The following examples from Portuguese will clarify the situation.
If Portuguese words have lateral approximant sound, which is //, the sound turns into trill sound /r/in Bengali. On the other hand, if the Portuguese words have fricative sound /s/, the sound will turn into plosive // in Bengali. For instance-
The fricative sound /f) in Portuguese turned into plosive sound /p/ in Bengali. For
example –
Final consonant clision: In this process the final consonant of the word is deleted. Such
as-
Final vowel elision: In this process the final consonant of the word is deleted. Such as-
We, therefore, found that dissimilation, substitution, final consonant elision and final vowel elision are the processes responsible for the sound change in Portuguese loanwords.
Morphological analysis
Though not in most cases, Portuguese elements in Bengali went through two morphological processes. These are –
1. Compounding
2. Hybridization
Compounding:
In few cases we get some Portuguese words in Bengali which are made
by adding another word from a different language. Those are the words called
compounded words. For example –
Hybridization: There are very few hybrid words as well in Bengali which are made by adding native Bengali words along with Portuguese. Such as-
Morphological nature: From the perspective of nature and characteristics, Bengali language received the words of Portuguese in the form of noun. If we go through the Portuguese elements which came in Bengali vocabulary, we will find those all are noun. For example –
At the end of this sub-chapter we can say, there are basically two processes which responsible for morphological changing in the case of Portuguese loanwords; one is compounding and the other is hybridization. We also found that as grammatical categories there is only one class of word which is noun.
Semantic analysis
The meaning of Portuguese loanwords in Bengali vocabulary retained intact while borrowing in almost all cases. For example-
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