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This article argues that the failure of early twentieth-century novelistic, autobiographical and periodical literature to acknowledge or celebrate the novelty and social significance of the commercialisation of Bengali food reflected the deeply rooted caste and class prejudices underlying the dietary choices and literary styles of the Bengali bhadralok (educated middle class). As late as the 1970s, eminent Bengali littérateurs lamented the non-availability of ready-to-eat Bengali food, notwithstanding the fact that a chain of new public eateries called Pice hotels had been serving home-style Bengali food since the 1920s. The gastronomic revolution ushered in by these eateries was more or less ignored in contemporary print literature, with the notable exception of Bibhuti Bhushan Bandopadhyay's celebrated novel, Adarsha Hindu Hotel, written in 1940. The failure of Bengali writers to acknowledge the pioneering role of Pice hotels in offering a socially inclusive dining experience in Bengal contrasted with their effusive celebration of the new culinary experiments that created a cosmopolitan eating culture of public dining in the colonial city of Calcutta at the turn of the twentieth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bengali Dalit literature has been published for over a century but is yet to be appreciated by a larger mainstream readership. In this essay, I examine how the 'absence' of Bengali Dalit literature was constructed by several social, political and ideological factors that together obscured the cultural history of Bengali Dalits. Using literary texts—primarily autobiographies—written by Bengali Dalit authors as an entry point, this essay analyses the explicit and implicit mechanisms of Brahmanical oppression that have prevented Bengali Dalit writers from consolidating their distinct identity. Set against the critical debate regarding the subaltern's (in)ability to speak and/or be heard, this essay records Bengali Dalit literature's triumph over casteist endeavours to relegate it to the periphery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Physician-patient communication behavior (PPCB) is the primary process by which medical decision-making occurs and health outcome depends. Physician-patient communication differences may partly from the ethnic disparities. To examine this problem, this study aims to explore whether physician-patient communication differs by ethnicity during primary care medical consultations. Methods: The study was conducted among the Bengali and ethnic minority patients (N = 850) who visited a physician for medical consultations. Data were collected using a structured post-consultation questionnaire. T-test was conducted to compare the communication between the Bengali and ethnic minority patients. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to identify the factors associated with favorable communication behavior from the physicians. Results: Bengali patients received more supportive communication behaviors from the Bengali doctors than that of ethnic minority patients including physicians' cheerful greetings, encouraging patients to express health problems and asking questions, listening carefully, responding to questions and concerns, explaining to patients about medical examination procedures, medication, probable side effects, discussing treatment options, involved the patients in decisions, and spending adequate time. Results of linear regression showed that respondents' level of education, internet use, knowledge about the health issue, having a pre-organized plan about the content of medical consultation, information seeking about the health problem, visiting female doctors, and a quiet ambience of the doctor's room are significantly associated with a better PPCB score for the Bengali patients. In contrast, age, being the resident of an urban area, perception of affecting a minor health problem, having a pre-organized plan about the content of medical consultation, patients' involvement in physicians' decision-making about the treatment, and talking time resulted in better physician-patient communication for the ethnic minority patients. Conclusion: This study suggests that reducing disparity in the socio-economic status of the ethnic minority groups through development programs and educating healthcare providers on how to use patient-centered communication skills to engage with their patients is one solution to improve equity in the delivery of healthcare and ensure than patients are receiving high-quality treatment, no matter their race or ethnicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Social cognition deficits are common in clinical populations but there is a dearth of standardized social cognition assessment tools in India. Theory of mind (ToM) is an important aspect of social cognition which is often assessed with the revised reading the mind in eyes test (RMET-R). However, we do not have a statistically validated version of the test for the Indian population. Aim: This study aims to assess the acceptability, reliability, and validity of the Bengali version of the RMET-R. Materials and Methods: We administered the RMET-R to 23 patients with chronic schizophrenia (SCZ), 22 patients with bipolar disorder, and 104 healthy controls (HCs) to evaluate the reliability and validity of the instrument in the Indian (Bengali) population. Results: We obtained moderate internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.6) and test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.64, P < 0.001). Positive correlations were found between RMET-R and Wechsler picture arrangement (r = 0.60, P < 0.001), picture completion (r = 0.54, P < 0.001), and comprehension subtests (r = 0.48, P < 0.001). Patients with SCZ (M = 49.7, standard deviation [SD] = 16.5) scored significantly lower than HCs (M = 68.9, SD = 13.8) (P = 0.008; Cohen's d = 1.3) on the RMET-R. Thus this tool could discriminate patients who are reported to have Theory of Mind deficits from healthy controls. Conclusion: The Bengali version of the RMET-R is a reliable and valid tool for assessing first-order ToM insofar as the original RMET-R measures this construct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reflects on the meanings of money in the lives of two very different people from Kolkata. Mr Mukharji, a 60 year-old Bengali man, was a branch manager of a state bank who devoted his life to Tantrik Yoga. Mr. Kathotia, a Marwari man, was a wholesale paper dealer, with an interest in stamp and coin collecting. After first developing a theoretical framework on the sociology of money, the authors go on to describe their encounters with these two people, their different ethnic belongings, their social and working lives and what matters to them in life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the influence of religion on contraceptive method mix in the context of son preference among Bengali-speaking population of eastern India (i.e., West Bengal and Tripura) and Bangladesh. In spite of cultural similarity and parallel programmatic approach to family planning in these two distinct geopolitical spaces, differential use of contraception is evident. Using National Family Health Survey (2005-2006) and Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey (2007) and by employing sequential logit model, the paper finds evidence of latent son preference in adoption of modern contraception in Bengali-speaking Hindu and Muslim communities of eastern India. However, such practice is observed only among Hindus in Bangladesh. The paper further argues that although diffusion of the culture of son preference cuts across religious groups among Bengali-speaking community in eastern India, religious identity dominates over region in Bangladesh, encouraging minority Hindus to adopt a distinct pattern of contraceptive behavior with reference to sons. Such finding calls for further research in understanding the pros and cons of behavioral diffusion in majority-minority population mix in similar tradition and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Autism is characterised by atypical social-communicative behaviour and restricted range of interests and repetitive behaviours. These features exist in a continuum in the general population. Behavioural measures validated across cultures and languages are required to quantify the dimensional traits of autism in these social and non-social domains. Bengali is the seventh most spoken language in the world. However, there is a serious dearth of data on standard measures of autism-related social and visual cognition in Bengali. Methods: Bengali translations of two measures related to social-communicative functioning (the Children's Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) and a facial emotion recognition test with stimuli taken from the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces database), one measure of visual perceptual disembedding (the Embedded Figures Test), and a questionnaire measure (the Children's Empathy Quotient) were tested in 25 children with autism spectrum conditions (ASC) and 26 control children (mean age = 10.7 years) in Kolkata, India. Group differences were analysed by t test and multiple regression (after accounting for potential effects of gender, IQ, and age). Results: Behavioural and trait measures were associated with group differences in the expected directions: ASC children scored lower on the Children's Empathy Quotient and the RMET, as well as on facial emotion recognition, but were faster and more accurate on the Embedded Figures Test. Distributional properties of these measures within groups are similar to those reported in Western countries. Conclusions: These results provide an empirical demonstration of cross-cultural generalisability and applicability of these standard behavioural and trait measures related to autism, in a major world language. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim To develop a translated and culturally adapted Bengali version of the WHO Fracture Risk Assessment Tool ( FRAX®) and to test its feasibility, content validity and reliability. Method The English FRAX was translated and culturally adapted for use in Bangladeshi populations following established forward-backward translation methods and being extensively field-tested. The final version was interviewer-administered to 130 consecutive osteoporotic patients between 40 and 90 years of age. For test-retest reliability, the questionnaire was re-administered after 14 days in 60 odd serial-numbered patients. Results To better match with the Bengali culture, several adaptations were made to the FRAX items, including replacements and additions for tobacco, prednisolone and alcohol use. The response rate of the pre-final Bengali version of FRAX was 100% and all patients could understand the questions. Test-retest reliability ( Pearson's r) in osteoporotic patients was > 0.93 for all items. Conclusion The culturally adapted Bengali version of the FRAX appears to be an acceptable and reliable instrument. Further studies are needed to confirm the ability of the tool to accurately predict the 10-year probability of hip and major osteoporotic fractures in the Bengali population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ossification of the medial end of clavicle has been extensively studied for estimation of age Variations in skeletal morphometry and maturation have been attributed to racial/ethnic differences. This study was designed to investigate the correlation of clavicular length with age in adolescent age group and to derive a mathematical model to determine age from length of clavicle in Indian Bengali population. The following regression equation was obtained Age in adolescents = 1.65* left clavicle length -4.11 Sex-specific regression equations were also obtained from the present investigation It is concluded that age of an adolescent subject can be estimated from length of clavicle (left in this study) measured by digital x-ray using this population specific regression equation with reasonable accuracy and objectivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is an examination of four Bengali folktales, which are woven around the marriage of a newborn male child to a girl who has just reached puberty, the exile of the couple and the bringing up of the child-husband by the pubescent girl, and their subsequent return home where they carry out their "normal" roles as man and wife. It seeks to answer whether the tales bear any relevance to the daily lives of the Bengali people and their impossible and forbidden wishes. It proceeds in four parts: the first briefly recounts the tale of Mālañcamālā suggests its proximity to the "reverse Oedipus" (Indian) tale discussed by RAMANUJAN (I984, 237-42); the second summarizes three variant tales (Rūpbān, Nūr Bānu, and Madanamañjarī) as belonging to the same type; the third part is a Freudian unpacking of the tales as aesthetic phantasies manifesting an Oedipus complex among the Bengali males; and the fourth examines the notion of the wife-mother through the critical lenses of Gririndrasekhar Bose's "wish to be female" and the "Oedipus mother," and Sudhir Kakar's "maternal-feminine." The article ends with a self-reflexive afterword that attempts to recuperate traces of feminist agency embedded in the tales, and the play of "gender performativity," by means of which patriarchal norms are continuously redeployed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aims: Dysarthria affects linguistic domains such as respiration, phonation, articulation, resonance and prosody due to upper motor neuron, lower motor neuron, cerebellar or extrapyramidal tract lesions. Although Bengali is one of the major languages globally, dysarthric Bengali speech has not been subjected to neurolinguistic analysis. We attempted such an analysis with the goal of identifying the speech defects in native Bengali speakers in various types of dysarthria encountered in neurological disorders. Settings and Design: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted with 66 dysarthric subjects, predominantly middle-aged males, attending the Neuromedicine OPD of a tertiary care teaching hospital in Kolkata. Materials and Methods: After neurological examination, an instrument comprising commonly used Bengali words and a text block covering all Bengali vowels and consonants were used to carry out perceptual analysis of dysarthric speech. From recorded speech, 24 parameters pertaining to five linguistic domains were assessed. The Kruskal-Wallis analysis of variance, Chi-square test and Fisher's exact test were used for analysis. Results: The dysarthria types were spastic (15 subjects), flaccid (10), mixed (12), hypokinetic (12), hyperkinetic (9) and ataxic (8). Of the 24 parameters assessed, 15 were found to occur in one or more types with a prevalence of at least 25%. Imprecise consonant was the most frequently occurring defect in most dysarthrias. The spectrum of defects in each type was identified. Some parameters were capable of distinguishing between types. Conclusions: This perceptual analysis has defined linguistic defects likely to be encountered in dysarthric Bengali speech in neurological disorders. The speech distortion can be described and distinguished by a limited number of parameters. This may be of importance to the speech therapist and neurologist in planning rehabilitation and further management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine how age of immersion and proficiency in a 2nd language influence speech movement variability and speaking rate in both a 1st language and a 2nd language. Method: A group of 21 Bengali-English bilingual speakers participated. Lip and jaw movements were recorded. For all 21 speakers, lip movement variability was assessed based on productions of Bengali (L1; 1st language) and English (L2; 2nd language) sentences. For analyses related to the influence of L2 proficiency on speech production processes, participants were sorted into low- (n = 7) and high-proficiency (n = 7) groups. Lip movement variability and speech rate were evaluated for both of these groups across L1 and L2 sentences. Results: Surprisingly, adult bilingual speakers produced equally consistent speech movement patterns in their production of L1 and L2. When groups were sorted according to proficiency, highly proficient speakers were marginally more variable in their L1. In addition, there were some phoneme-specific effects, most markedly that segments not shared by both languages were treated differently in production. Consistent with previous studies, movement durations were longer for less proficient speakers in both L1 and L2. Interpretation: In contrast to those of child learners, the speech motor systems of adult L2 speakers show a high degree of consistency. Such lack of variability presumably contributes to protracted difficulties with acquiring nativelike pronunciation in L2. The proficiency results suggest bidirectional interactions across L1 and L2, which is consistent with hypotheses regarding interference and the sharing of phonological space. A slower speech rate in less proficient speakers implies that there are increased task demands on speech production processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports about the development of a Named Entity Recognition (NER) system in Bengali using a tagged Bengali news corpus and the subsequent transliteration of the recognized Bengali Named Entities (NEs) into English. Three different models of the NER have been developed. A semi-supervised learning method has been adopted to develop the first two models, one without linguistic features (Model A) and the other with linguistic features (Model B). The third one (Model C) is based on statistical Hidden Markov Model. A modified joint-source channel model has been used along with a number of alternatives to generate the English transliterations of Bengali NEs and vice-versa. The transliteration models learn the mappings from the bilingual training sets optionally guided by linguistic knowledge in the form of conjuncts and diphthongs in Bengali and their representations in English. The NER system has demonstrated the highest average Recall, Precision and F-Score values of 89.62%, 78.67% and 83.79% respectively in Model C. Evaluation of the proposed transliteration models demonstrated that the modified joint source-channel model performs best in terms of evaluation metrics for person and location names for both Bengali to English (B2E) transliteration and English to Bengali transliteration (E2B). The use of the linguistic knowledge during training of the transliteration models improves performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unsupervised morphological analysis is the task of segmenting words into prefixes, suffixes and stems without prior knowledge of language-specific morphotactics and morpho-phonological rules. This paper introduces a simple, yet highly effective algorithm for unsupervised morphological learning for Bengali, an Indo–Aryan language that is highly inflectional in nature. When evaluated on a set of 4,110 human-segmented Bengali words, our algorithm achieves an F-score of 83%, substantially outperforming Linguistica, one of the most widely-used unsupervised morphological parsers, by about 23%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]