A Bengali-Sylheti Rule-Based Dialect Translation System: Proposal and Preliminary System

Abstract

This paper proposes a preliminary architecture for text translation between two dialectal variants of Bengali-Sylheti and Chalita Bangla. The proposed system consists of a single main module—the dialect translation module, capable of translating a given word, or group of words in one of the dialects to the other. The outcome of this study is twofold—first, from the linguistic point of view, such a system will help in understanding and analyzing the dialectal differences and second, from a social viewpoint, it will be helpful to people interested in learning/speaking/communicating in either or both the dialects. The paper takes a tour through textual analysis, construction, and morphology of words, grammar, and ambiguity and finally, proposes a methodology for such an intended translation system.