The phonology of the verbal piece in colloquial Bengali.

In order to focus attention on correspondences between the grammatical and phonological levels of linguistic statement, the results of the present phonological analysis are presented within a grammatical framework set up in Part I, (Chapters 1-3). Part Two of the thesis includes Chapters 4-6. Chapter 4 gives relevant details about the Texts presented at different levels; Orthography, Roman transliteration and Phonetic transcription. Chapters 5 and 6 give a detailed description in general phonetic terras of the pronunciation of Bengali verbal forms. - Chapter 5 deals with the vowel articulations and Chapter 6 the consonantal articulations. Part Three includes Chapters 7 - 11. In Chapter 7 the elements of the Phonological analysis in terms of Phonematic units and Prosodic elements are stated. Two morphological abstractions are made for all verbal forms: viz. Stem and Ending, At the Phonological level syllables are named stem syllables and ending syllables. The structures of Endings are discussed in Chapter 8. Chapter 9 gives details about the V elements of structure. Chapter 10 gives a Phonological account of vowel harmony. Chapter 11 deals with the C elements of Phonological structure in the stem. Appendix 1 provides a list of verbal forms in Colloquial Bengali. Appendix 2 providesS4iext of recordings of the verbal forms listed in the end of Chapter 1, and those used for the Palatograms and the Kymograms. Appendix 3 gives a brief Bibliography. In making the phonetic abstractions Palatograms and Kymograms are provided in the thesis. More Palatograms and Kymograms are provided in the appendix 4. A grid and the records are provided in the pocket at the back of the thesis