A character gram modeling approach towards Bengali Speech to text with regional dialects

Abstract

The Bengali language, spoken in various regions of south-Asia and also among the Bengali diaspora, exhibits rich diversity with regional dialects or variations that reflect the cultural, geographic, and historical influences of different regional/sociocultural communities. Based on phonology and pronunciation, Bengali is said to have 5 distinct major dialectal variations, such as Eastern Bengali Dialect, Manbhumi, Rangpuri, Varendri, and Rarhi. For the dialects present in Bangladesh, even finer stratification can be done based on the used vocabulary, pronunciation, phonology, syntax, and morphology.These regional Bengali dialects are found in regions such as Bangladesh in the regions of Chittagong, Sylhet, Rangpur, Rajshahi, Noakhali, Barishal, etc possess unique phonetic, lexical, and syntactic features that set them apart from standard Bengali and also unique from each other. However, research and resources dedicated to understanding and harnessing the potential of natural language processing of regional Bengali languages remain limited. To bridge this gap, this work aims to investigate and document the characteristics of regional Bengali languages through comprehensive data-driven linguistic analyses, including phonetic and morphological studies. We also aim to study the feasibility of developing computational models, including Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems, tailored to regional Bengali languages, which can facilitate applications like virtual voice command assistants and language processing tools. Our research findings will contribute to the understanding of regional Bengali languages, paving the way to foster the advancement of language technologies that can cater to the diverse linguistic needs of Bengali-speaking communities. Through this study, we intend to promote preservation of the regional dialects of the Bengali language, foster cultural inclusivity, and facilitate effective communication in the Bengali-speaking regions.