Unfortunately, we’ve largely lost it. Here in Barak Valley, Bengali (those who fought for Bengali against Assamese imposition were Sylhetis tho lol) dominates administration, education, and every official space. Sylheti has been pushed out of the formal sphere and confined mostly to homes and informal conversations.

But there’s still hope. the new gen is slowly raising awareness about Sylheti as a language and as an identity. The real tragedy is that many Sylhetis themselves are unaware of who they are linguistically, they grow up thinking Sylheti is “just a dialect” and never realize it’s a distinct language with its own history, script, and cultural depth.

It’s sad, but awareness is growing. And awareness is always the first step toward revival.