Bangladesh: Information on the language spoken by the Chakma tribe of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT)

Identification of the precise language of the Chakmas could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB. However, the information below may be of general interest.

According to a paper presented in 1988 by Aditya Kumar Dewan of McGill's Centre for Developing Area Studies (CDAS), "the Chakma and Tanchagya speak a language which is very close to the regional local dialects of the Bengali inhabitants of Southern Chittagong which belongs to the Indo-Aryan family of languages" (2).

The World Directory of Minorities states that the Chakmas are

unique among the tribes [of the CHT] in having sacred Buddhist texts written in both their own language and in Pali, the language of Buddhist scriptures. Their ancestors are believed to have migrated west from Arakan in present-day Burma and their alphabet is related to early Burmese alphabets (MRG 1990, 297).

Encyclopedia of the Third World also states that the "tribals, racially distinct from the Bengali have facial features and language closer to those of the Burmese" (1992, 113).

For information on the languages spoken in Bangladesh, please consult the attachment from Ethnologue: Languages of the World.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Dewan, Aditya Kumar. 4-7 June 1988. "The Indigenous People of the Chittagong Hill Tracts: A Case of Violations of Human Rights in Bangladesh." Paper presented at the 23rd annual meeting of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association of the Learned Societies Conference, University of Windsor.

         Encyclopedia of the Third World. 1992. 4th ed. Vol. 1. Edited by George Thomas Kurian. New York: Facts on File.

Minority Rights Group (MRG). 1990. World Directory of Minorities. London: Longman.

Attachments

Dewan, Aditya Kumar. 4-7 June 1988. "The Indigenous People of the Chittagong Hill Tracts: A Case of Violations of Human Rights in Bangladesh." Paper presented at the 23rd annual meeting of the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association of the Learned Societies Conference, University of Windsor, pp. 1-2.

         Ethnologue: Languages of the World. 1992. 12th edition. Edited by Barbara F. Grimes. Dallas, Tex.: Summer Institute of Linguistics, Inc., pp. 503-07.

Minority Rights Group (MRG). 1990. World Directory of Minorities. London: Longman, p. 297.

Additional Sources Consulted

Bangladesh: A Country Study. 1989.

         Bangladesh: A Travel Survival Kit. 1991.

         Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Yearly. 1995.

Documentation, Immigration and Refugee Board (DIRB), Immigration and Refugee Board [Ottawa]. November 1995. Contextual Information Package: Bangladesh.

_____. November 1995. Human Rights Information Package: Bangladesh.

         The Europa World Year Book. Yearly. 1995.

         Human Rights in Developing Countries Yearbook 1995 [The Hague]. 1995. Yearly. "Bangladesh."

         The Languages of the World. 1986.

         New Encyclopedia Britannica. 1989.

Office of Asylum Affairs, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, United States. December 1994. Bangladesh: Comments on Country Conditions and Asylum Claims.

Refugees, Immigration and Asylum Section (RIAS), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia. July 1994. Country Profile: Bangladesh.

         World Minorities. 1977, 1978.