পাতা:Vanga Sahitya Parichaya Part 1.djvu/৯২

84 INTRODUCTION. syllable at the end (the syllable which carries the rhyme) are emphasised. I do not deny that. But don't you also hear the initial accent in the verses you quote?” On discussing this point at some length and giving a careful attention to Mr. Anderson’s various arguments, I am inclined to support the view held by him that there is in both Bengali prose and poetry an initial accent, but whether this peculiarity is the survival of the non-Aryan way of accentuation in the language is apparently a matter of mere guess-work in the present state of our knowledge. The speculation is ingenious and interesting, but is hardly capable of precise proof. Still the faintest clues and least hopeful suggestions are worth examining. I have referred to this matter simply in order to draw the attention of the Bengali student to those syntactical forms and other peculiarities of our language which may possibly be helpful in throwing light on the much debated problem of the origin of Bengali. The present work I trust will supply ample materials for research in this unexplored field. Already European Orientalists have commenced a study of Indian Vernaculars from this point of view. I may mention in this connection the name of M. Jules Bloch of Paris who is studying the Dravidian, Bengali and Maratha languages from the point of view of their phonetic peculiarities. The Bengali Suffices and Verbs. Before the revival of Hinduism which I have called the Pauranic renaissance, the language of Bengal was loose Prakrit, traces of which will dominantly a rise of pitch. There may be also a stress on the vocalised syllable, but that again, is accidental. Take a word common to both languages. Take ‘signification.” In English this is pronounced fisäfoo"s", and the stress is on co wherever the word comes in a sentence. In French the same word is fiff officii" with a rise of the voice on the final syllable, which is even more audible if the word comes at the end of a phrase. There is, I think also the same stress, if not so strong, as on the penultimate in English. I suggest that the initial accent in Bengali is stronger when the word comes at the beginning of a vocal unit, e.g. take the sentence of": একটি বিষয়—ল"ক্ষ করিবার আছে। Are you not conscious of a change of tone and stress on the syllables marked P But alter the order and say বিষয়ট এই and will not the accentuation be altered P. ln Hindi the words would keep their own word-stress. As to the origin of this pecularity in French and Bengali I merely suggest that it may be a survival from some vanished Dravidian or Tibeto-Burman speech. Mr. R. W. Fraser, a good Dravidian scholar, tells me that an initial accent is common in the Dravidian languages. It would be interesting to see how a Madrasi pronounces words common to Bengali and Tamil. It may interest you to know that Welshmen pronounce English with an initial tonic accent. Irishmen, on the other hand, don't. what I venture to suggest is that though the vocabulary of Bengali has become highly Sanskritized, yet it retains its indigenous tone of voice. This must affect metre, and hence it is in metre that we may get some clue. The fact that verse is chanted gives quantity a chance of being heard.”