Impact of Arabic on Bengali Language and Culture

This paper is a sociolinguistic study of the impact of Arabic language on Bengali language and culture beginning from the earliest contact of the Arab traders by sea routes with the Chittagong bay area and inland areas like Sonargaon and Dhaka; the coming of Muslim saints from the 7th century onward and later as conquerors from Western and Central Asia. The essay covers: 1) Survey of historical contact of Arabic with Bengali with focus on influence of Muslim missionaries and sufis notably Shah Muhammad Sultan Rumi in Mymensingh (11th century), Shaikh Jalaluddin Tabrizi in Pandua (12th century), Shah Jalal in Sylhet (14th century); Muslim rule of the region (1204-1764); British rule (1764-1947); period of East Pakistan (1947-71); and, Bangladesh (since 1971); 2) Muslim Bengali literature beginning with Shah Muhammad Saghir (14th century), translation of Islamic and Perso-Arabic literature , emergence of Dobhashi literature and Baul poems of Lalon Shah and others; 3) Linguistic impact of Arabic language on the phonology, morphology, syntax and selected semantic domains of Bengali language; 4) Influence on Bengali life and culture in general; 5) Concluding remarks on current trends in the field.