Language profiles in Manchester
Select a language from the menu below to see its profile.
Bengali
Language | Bengali |
Language name transliterated | Bangla |
Language name original script | বাঙালি |
Distribution | Bangladesh, India |
Estimated number of speakers worldwide | 200m |
Language classification | Indo-European; Indo-Iranian; Eastern Indo-Aryan; Oriya-Gauda-Kamrupa; Gauda-Banga |
Related to which languages | Hindi, Urdu, Panjabi |
Distinctive features in sounds | Retroflex sounds (articulated by moving the tongue towards the back of the hard palate); aspirate sounds (require bursts of breath for pronunciation); many diphthongs (combining two vowels in a single syllable) and back vowels (tongue is located very far back in the mouth) |
Distinctive features in grammar | Words are inflected; the verb appears at the end of the sentence; location expressions (‘for’, ‘to’) follow the noun; ergative language |
Writing system | Eastern Nagari script – Bengali alphabet |
Status | Official language of Bangladesh, regional language in India |
Number of persons identifying as “main language” in England & Wales (Census 2011) | 221,403 |
Number of persons identifying as “main language” in Greater Manchester (Census 2011) | 16,946 |
Number of persons identifying as “main language” in City of Manchester (Census (Census 2011) | 3,114 |
Number of persons identifying as “main language” in Greater Manchester as percentage of total in England & Wales (Census 2011) | 8% |
Number of persons identifying as “main language” in City of Manchester as percentage of total in England & Wales (Census 2011) | 1% |
Proficiency in English, self-reported in City of Manchester (Census 2011)* | Can speak English very well (33%), Can speak English well (35%), Cannot speak English well (27%), Cannot speak English (5%) |
Distribution in City of Manchester (Census 2011) | Longsight (939), Rusholme (626), Ardwick (265), Burnage (161), Gorton South (153) |
Distribution in Greater Manchester (Census 2011) | Oldham (8,501), Tameside (2,116), Rochdale (2,006) |
First language of pupils in Manchester schools (2015) | 1,380 |
Distribution in City of Manchester schools (2015) | Birchfields Primary (188), St Agnes C.E. Primary (134), Levenshulme High School (106), Stanley Grove Primary Academy (100), St John’s C.E. Primary (83) |
Total interpreter requests in Manchester’s GP practices (2014/2015) | 632 |
Library loans (2012/2013) | 2,950 |
Library acquisitions (2012/2013) | 411 |
M-4 interpreter requests (2012/2013) | 910 |
Dialects of the language used in Manchester | Sylheti |
Other home language common among speakers | Urdu; Arabic as liturgical language |
Supplementary schools |
*Percentages rounded to nearest whole number