E M Lewis (1868). "Sylhet District". Principal Heads of the History and Statistics of the Dacca Division. Calcutta: Calcutta Central Press Company. pp. 323–325.
"Dialects are independent of literary speech: as such East Bengali dialects, North Bengali dialects (with which Assamese is to be associated) and West Bengali dialects are not only independent of one another, but also they are not, as it is popularly believed in Bengal, derived from literary Bengali, the "sadhu-bhasha", which is a composite speech on an early West Bengali basis."(Chatterji 1926:108) Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. Calcutta University Press.
"The Bengali dialects of the extreme east and south-east (Sylhet, Chittagong) are certainly more removed from Standard Bengali than is Assamese." (Chatterji 1926:108) Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1926). The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. Calcutta University Press.
(Rasinger 2007:26, 27): "The linguistic classification of Sylheti is problematic and heavily debated. Chalmers reports that: Sylheti is generally defined as a dialect of Bengali, although attempts have been made to have it recognised as a language in its own right (Chalmers, 1996:4)" Rasinger, Sebastian M. (2007). Bengali-English in East London: A Study in Urban Multilingualism. Peter Lang. ISBN978-3-03-911036-0.
"Bengalis interviewed in the course of this study reported that the differences between Standard Bengali and Sylheti are relatively small ... We have to consider though that these statements were made by people who originate from Sylhet and who speak both the local vernacular Sylheti and Standard Bengali."(Rasinger 2007:26–27) Rasinger, Sebastian M. (2007). Bengali-English in East London: A Study in Urban Multilingualism. Peter Lang. ISBN978-3-03-911036-0.
"Sylheti is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 11 million people in India and Bangladesh (Hammarström et al., 2017). Sylheti is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language, primarily spoken in the Sylhet division of Bangladesh, and in Barak valley, in Assam of the India and in the northern parts of the state of Tripura in India."(Mahanta & Gope 2018:81) Mahanta, Sakuntala; Gope, Amalesh (2018). "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness". Language Sciences. 69: 80–97. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010. S2CID149759441.
"Along the linguistic continuum of eastern Indic languages, Sylheti occupies an ambiguous position, where it is considered a distinct language by many and also as a dialect of Bengali or Bangla by some others." (Mahanta & Gope 2018:81) Mahanta, Sakuntala; Gope, Amalesh (2018). "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness". Language Sciences. 69: 80–97. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010. S2CID149759441.
"In Bangladesh, Sylheti functions as a diglossic "Low" variety and Bengali, the official language of Bangladesh, as the "High" variety. Bengali is the language of official administration and education in Bangladesh, and Sylheti is normative in informal contexts in Sylhet." (Lawson & Sachdev 2004:50) Lawson, Sarah; Sachdev, Itesh (2004). "Identity, Language Use and Attitudes: Some Sylheti-Bangladeshi Data from London, UK". Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 23 (1): 49–60. doi:10.1177/0261927X03261223. S2CID144496795.
"Chalmers and Miah (1996) describe Sylheti as a distinct language that is 'mutually unintelligible to a Standard Bengali speaker' (p. 6), but anecdotal evidence from members of the London-Bengali community suggests that the differences are relatively small (Rasinger, 2007)" (McCarthy, Evans & Mahon 2013:346) McCarthy, K. M.; Evans, B. G.; Mahon, M. (2013). "Acquiring a second language in an immigrant community: The production of Sylheti and English stops and vowels by London-Bengali speakers". Journal of Phonetics. 41 (5): 344–358. doi:10.1016/j.wocn.2013.03.006.
"Also noteworthy is the development of tones due to loss of the breathiness and aspiration contrast."(Mahanta & Gope 2018:81) Mahanta, Sakuntala; Gope, Amalesh (2018). "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness". Language Sciences. 69: 80–97. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010. S2CID149759441.
"Its phoneme inventory differs from the inventory in the Standard dialect of Bangla or its closest varieties (Khan, 2010)." (Mahanta & Gope 2018:81) Mahanta, Sakuntala; Gope, Amalesh (2018). "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness". Language Sciences. 69: 80–97. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010. S2CID149759441.
Das, Amrita Rani (2017). A Comparative Study of Bangla and Sylheti Grammar (Thesis). Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II. doi:10.6093/UNINA/FEDOA/11892. S2CID165942159.
"There is reported language shift in the Sylheti-speaking regions of Bangladesh and India, as well as in the diaspora with Bengali replacing Sylheti, as some parents do not speak Sylheti to their children, reducing the number of future Sylheti speakers." (Simard, Dopierala & Thaut 2020:5) Simard, Candide; Dopierala, Sarah M; Thaut, E Marie (2020). "Introducing the Sylheti language and its speakers, and the SOAS Sylheti project"(PDF). Language Documentation and Description. 18: 1–22. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
"Sylheti is a minoritised, politically unrecognised, and understudied Eastern Indo-Aryan language with approximately 11 million speakers worldwide, with high speaker concentrations in the Surma and Barak river basins in north-eastern Bangladesh and south Assam, India, and in several diasporic communities around the world (especially UK, USA, and Middle East)." (Simard, Dopierala & Thaut 2020:1) Simard, Candide; Dopierala, Sarah M; Thaut, E Marie (2020). "Introducing the Sylheti language and its speakers, and the SOAS Sylheti project"(PDF). Language Documentation and Description. 18: 1–22. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
"... because of significant morpho-phonological differences and a lack of mutual intelligibility, a strong argument can be made in favour of Sylheti claiming the status of a language in its own right." (Sen 2020:43) Sen, Satarupa (2020). "Mapping of spirantization and deaspiration in Sylheti: An Optimality Theory analysis"(PDF). Language Documentation and Description. 18: 42–55. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
"The claim of mutual intelligibility by some speakers of both Sylheti and Bengali may be more an effect of the speakers' exposure to both languages; speakers of Sylheti who have never learned Bengali often report that they do not understand it to any functional degree." (Simard, Dopierala & Thaut 2020:5) Simard, Candide; Dopierala, Sarah M; Thaut, E Marie (2020). "Introducing the Sylheti language and its speakers, and the SOAS Sylheti project"(PDF). Language Documentation and Description. 18: 1–22. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
"The papers presented in this volume highlight some of the striking structural differences between Sylheti and standard Bengali, in phonetics and phonology, lexicon, and grammatical structure, and challenge the view that Sylheti is merely a dialectal variation of Bengali." (Simard, Dopierala & Thaut 2020:8) Simard, Candide; Dopierala, Sarah M; Thaut, E Marie (2020). "Introducing the Sylheti language and its speakers, and the SOAS Sylheti project"(PDF). Language Documentation and Description. 18: 1–22. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
"Considering the unique linguistic properties such as phoneme inventory, allophony, and inflectional morphology in particular and lexicon in general, Sylheti is often regarded as a separate language
(Grierson 1928, Chatterjee 1939, Gordon 2005).(Gope & Mahanta 2014:10) Gope, Amalesh; Mahanta, Sakuntala (2014). Lexical Tones in Sylheti(PDF). 4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014). Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
"One of the properties that distinguish Sylheti from SCB or other regional varieties is the significant application of obstruent weakening involving de-aspiration and spirantization." (Gope & Mahanta 2014:10) Gope, Amalesh; Mahanta, Sakuntala (2014). Lexical Tones in Sylheti(PDF). 4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014). Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
"Consequently, the consonant inventory (especially the obstruents), of Sylheti exhibit a major reduction and restructuring compared to that of (Standard Colloquial Bengali)." (Gope & Mahanta 2014:10) Gope, Amalesh; Mahanta, Sakuntala (2014). Lexical Tones in Sylheti(PDF). 4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014). Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
Gope & Mahanta 2014. Gope, Amalesh; Mahanta, Sakuntala (2014). Lexical Tones in Sylheti(PDF). 4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014). Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
jstor.org
(Ludden 2003:5081) Ludden, David (2003). "Investing in Nature around Sylhet: An Excursion into Geographical History". Economic and Political Weekly. 38 (48): 5080–5088. JSTOR4414346.
"copper plate inscriptions indicate that land around the Kushiara was more densely populated, because Kamarupa kings had granted large tracts of land to immigrant Brahmans and their supporting castes, to make this region part of Assam (Khanda Kamarupa)." (Ludden 2003:5081) Ludden, David (2003). "Investing in Nature around Sylhet: An Excursion into Geographical History". Economic and Political Weekly. 38 (48): 5080–5088. JSTOR4414346.
" Sylhet town (Srihatta) became a major centre of lowland territorialism after the 10th century CE" (Ludden 2003:5081) Ludden, David (2003). "Investing in Nature around Sylhet: An Excursion into Geographical History". Economic and Political Weekly. 38 (48): 5080–5088. JSTOR4414346.
"Sylheti is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by about 11 million people in India and Bangladesh (Hammarström et al., 2017). Sylheti is an Eastern Indo-Aryan language, primarily spoken in the Sylhet division of Bangladesh, and in Barak valley, in Assam of the India and in the northern parts of the state of Tripura in India."(Mahanta & Gope 2018:81) Mahanta, Sakuntala; Gope, Amalesh (2018). "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness". Language Sciences. 69: 80–97. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010. S2CID149759441.
"Along the linguistic continuum of eastern Indic languages, Sylheti occupies an ambiguous position, where it is considered a distinct language by many and also as a dialect of Bengali or Bangla by some others." (Mahanta & Gope 2018:81) Mahanta, Sakuntala; Gope, Amalesh (2018). "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness". Language Sciences. 69: 80–97. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010. S2CID149759441.
"In Bangladesh, Sylheti functions as a diglossic "Low" variety and Bengali, the official language of Bangladesh, as the "High" variety. Bengali is the language of official administration and education in Bangladesh, and Sylheti is normative in informal contexts in Sylhet." (Lawson & Sachdev 2004:50) Lawson, Sarah; Sachdev, Itesh (2004). "Identity, Language Use and Attitudes: Some Sylheti-Bangladeshi Data from London, UK". Journal of Language and Social Psychology. 23 (1): 49–60. doi:10.1177/0261927X03261223. S2CID144496795.
"Also noteworthy is the development of tones due to loss of the breathiness and aspiration contrast."(Mahanta & Gope 2018:81) Mahanta, Sakuntala; Gope, Amalesh (2018). "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness". Language Sciences. 69: 80–97. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010. S2CID149759441.
"Its phoneme inventory differs from the inventory in the Standard dialect of Bangla or its closest varieties (Khan, 2010)." (Mahanta & Gope 2018:81) Mahanta, Sakuntala; Gope, Amalesh (2018). "Tonal polarity in Sylheti in the context of noun faithfulness". Language Sciences. 69: 80–97. doi:10.1016/j.langsci.2018.06.010. S2CID149759441.
Das, Amrita Rani (2017). A Comparative Study of Bangla and Sylheti Grammar (Thesis). Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II. doi:10.6093/UNINA/FEDOA/11892. S2CID165942159.
"Roman Script". Sylheti Translation And Research. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
thedailystar.net
"At the geographical extremes, Chittagonian, Sylheti, Mal Paharia, and Rohingya are so unintelligible to speakers of other dialects that they are almost universally considered by linguists to be separate languages on their own." (Khan 2018) Khan, Sameer Ud Dowla (21 February 2018). "Amago Bhasha: In celebration of our ethnic and linguistic diversity". Dhaka Tribune. Retrieved 19 October 2020.
"Sylhet Town, which is the headquarters of the District, being within six miles of the Jaintiapur Faiganaj lies within the area in which this dialect is spoken, and hence this form of speech is called Sylhettia by Europeans. For this reason, it is often wrongly said that the language of the whole Sylhet District is uniform, and the term Sylhettia is incorrectly applied to the dialect of the west of the District, as well as to that of the North-East. The term 'Sylhettia 'properly means the language of the town, and not of the District, of Sylhet." (Grierson 1903:221) Grierson, G A, ed. (1903). Linguistic Survey of India: Indo-Aryan Family Eastern Group. Vol. V. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
"As already stated, the dialect spoken in Sylhet Town and in the North and North-East of the District is that which Europeans called Sylhettia. Sylheti speakers did not use this title. They called it Jaintiapuri, Purba Srihattiya, or Ujania. The latter means the language of the upper country.(Grierson 1903:224) Grierson, G A, ed. (1903). Linguistic Survey of India: Indo-Aryan Family Eastern Group. Vol. V. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
"In North-East and North Sylhet, especially in Jaintiapur and Karimganj, the language is more corrupt. Sylhet Town, which is the head-quarters of the District,
being within six miles of the Jaintiapur Pargana lies within the area in which this
dialect is spoken, and hence this form of speech is called Sylhettia by Europeans. E For this reason it is often wrongly said that the language of the whole Sylhet District is uniform, and the term Sylhettia is incorrectly applied to the dialect of the west of the District, as well as to that of the North-East. The term 'Sylhettia' properly means the language of the town, and not of the District, of Sylhet. It is estimated that of the 2,033,000 speakers of Bengali in Sylhet, 1,355,000 use ordinary Eastern Bengali. The rest speak Sylhettia." (Grierson 1903:221) Grierson, G A, ed. (1903). Linguistic Survey of India: Indo-Aryan Family Eastern Group. Vol. V. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
"The language spoken by the inhabitants of Eastern Sylhet is not intelligible to the natives of Central or Northern Bengal. It is, nevertheless, Bengali. There are some peculiarities of pronunciation which tend to render it unintelligible to strangers. The inflections also differ from those of regular Bengali, and in one or two instances assimilate to those of Assamese." (Grierson 1903:224) Grierson, G A, ed. (1903). Linguistic Survey of India: Indo-Aryan Family Eastern Group. Vol. V. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
"Sylheti". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 6 June 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2024.
"Considering the unique linguistic properties such as phoneme inventory, allophony, and inflectional morphology in particular and lexicon in general, Sylheti is often regarded as a separate language
(Grierson 1928, Chatterjee 1939, Gordon 2005).(Gope & Mahanta 2014:10) Gope, Amalesh; Mahanta, Sakuntala (2014). Lexical Tones in Sylheti(PDF). 4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014). Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
"One of the properties that distinguish Sylheti from SCB or other regional varieties is the significant application of obstruent weakening involving de-aspiration and spirantization." (Gope & Mahanta 2014:10) Gope, Amalesh; Mahanta, Sakuntala (2014). Lexical Tones in Sylheti(PDF). 4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014). Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
"Consequently, the consonant inventory (especially the obstruents), of Sylheti exhibit a major reduction and restructuring compared to that of (Standard Colloquial Bengali)." (Gope & Mahanta 2014:10) Gope, Amalesh; Mahanta, Sakuntala (2014). Lexical Tones in Sylheti(PDF). 4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014). Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.
Gope & Mahanta 2014. Gope, Amalesh; Mahanta, Sakuntala (2014). Lexical Tones in Sylheti(PDF). 4th International Symposium on Tonal Aspects of Languages (TAL-2014). Archived from the original(PDF) on 15 August 2021. Retrieved 27 June 2020.