Bangla/Bengali geminates: Contributions to phonology, phonetics, and pedagogy
Date
2025
Authors
Ghosh, Sajib
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Abstract
While linguistic literature on geminates is growing, Bangla geminates remain underexplored, despite their high productivity in Bangla. This dissertation, therefore, investigates the phonology and phonetics of Bangla geminates and introduces a geminate pronunciation learning tool for heritage and/or L2 Bangla learners. In presenting a comprehensive phonological description of all the derived geminates in Bangla, the dissertation identifies a category of geminates that does not align with the cross-linguistically established categories: namely, lexical, assimilated, and concatenated. The dissertation offers phonological explanation and theoretical framework for this previously unexplored category, proposing the name “extended geminate” to distinguish it from other categories. Given the productivity and functional load of geminates in Bangla, the dissertation also explores their impact on Bangla’s rhythmic structure, based on phonetic analysis. The study proposes that Bangla rhythm is linked to pitch-based “rhythmic phrases,” and that geminates directly contribute to an increased number of these phrases. Finally, considering the recent growth in the number of heritage Bangla speakers in predominantly English-speaking contexts and challenges dominant English heritage Bangla learners face in acquiring accurate geminate pronunciation, this dissertation presents a pronunciation learning tool, designed specifically for learners seeking to improve their Bangla pronunciation. The tool focuses on geminates and is informed by the phonological and phonetic insights gained from the preceding studies.
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Keywords
Geminate, Phonology, Phonetics, Rhythm, Geminate Typology, Bangla, Bengali, Pronunciation, Heritage Language Learning, Macro-Rhythm