From a classificatory point of view, the Bengali writing system is derived from the Brahmi script.[10] It is written from left to right. It is an abugida, i.e., its vowel graphemes are mainly realised not as independent letters, but as diacritics modifying the inherent vowel in the base letter to which they are added. There are no distinct upper and lower case letter forms, which makes it a unicameral script. The script is characterised by many conjuncts, upstrokes, downstrokes, and other features that hang from a horizontal line running along the tops of the graphemes that links them together called matra (মাত্রা[ˈmat̪ɾaˑ] 'measure'). The punctuation is all borrowed from 19th-century English, with the exception of one.[10]
Characters
The Bangla alphabets for the first time were widely observed in the Anulia copper plate of Lakshmana Sena
The Bengali script has a total of 11 vowel graphemes, each of which is called a svaravana.[b] They represent six of the seven main vowel sounds of Bengali, along with two vowel diphthongs. All of them are used in both Bengali and Assamese languages.
The letter অô/ɔ/ (স্বর অsbôr ô 'vocalic ô') represents the default inherent vowel for the entire Bengali script. It is the first letter of the Bangla alphabet. Other Eastern Indo-Aryan languages – namely Assamese and Odia – have this value for the inherent vowel. This corresponds to /ə~ɐ~ʌ/ in other Indic languages using a Brahmi-derived script – all of which ultimately derive from the Sanskrit inherent vowel अa/ɐ/.
Even though the near-open front unrounded vowel/æ/ is one of the seven main vowel sounds in standard Bengali, no distinct vowel symbol has been allotted for it in the script since there is no /æ/ sound in Sanskrit—the primary written language when the script was conceived. The use of অ্যাê[c] is widespread and is found to be used in many contexts of /æ/, such as in loanwords like অ্যাসিড 'acid' and অ্যানিমে 'anime'. The sound is also orthographically realised by multiple means in modern Bengali orthography, usually using some combination of এe/e/ (স্বর এsbôr e 'vocalic e'), অô, আ[11]a/a/ (স্বর আsbôr a 'vocalic a'), and the yôphôla (যফলা[ˈdʒɔfɔlaˑ]) (the diacritic form of the consonant grapheme যyô/dʒɔ/). Thus ক/k/ written with the vowel অ্যা/æ/ is written as ক্যা/kæ/.
There are two graphemes for the vowel sound /i/, and two graphemes for the vowel sound /u/. The redundancy stems from the time when this script was used to write Sanskrit, which had contrastive short and long vowels. Bengali lost phonemic long vowels and merged short and long /i/ and /u/: ই (হ্রস্ব ইhrôsbô i 'short i') and ঈ (দীর্ঘ ঈdirghô i 'long i')[d] are both pronounced /i/; and উ (হ্রস্ব উ 'short u') and ঊ (দীর্ঘ ঊ 'long u')[e] are both pronounced /u/ in modern Bengali. The letters are preserved in the Bengali script with their traditional names, as they serve an etymological function in preserving the original Sanskrit spelling (e.g., in tatsama words).
The grapheme ঋṛ (হ্রস্ব ঋ 'short ri')[f] does not actually represent a vowel phoneme in Bengali, but instead represents the consonant-vowel combination রি/ri/. Nevertheless, it is included in the vowel section of the inventory of the Bengali script. This inconsistency is also a remnant from Sanskrit, where the grapheme represents the vocalic equivalent of a retroflex approximant (possibly an r-colored vowel). A similar (and now obsolete) grapheme, ঌḷ (হ্রস্ব ঌ 'short li'),[g] which represented the vocalic equivalent of a dental approximant in Sanskrit but actually represented the consonant-vowel combination লি/li/ in Bengali, was once included in the Bengali alphabet, but was eventually discarded from the inventory due to its extremely limited usage (even in Sanskrit).
When a vowel sound occurs syllable-initially or when it follows another vowel, it is written using a distinct letter. When a vowel sound follows a consonant (or a consonant cluster), it is written with a diacritic which, depending on the vowel, can appear above, below, before or after the consonant. These vowel marks cannot appear without a consonant and are called kar (কার 'vowel sign').
An exception to the above system is the vowel /ɔ/, which has no vowel mark but is considered inherent in every consonant letter. To denote the absence of the inherent vowel /ɔ/ following a consonant, a diacritic known as the virama (হসন্তhôsôntô) may be written underneath the consonant.
Although there are only two diphthongs in the inventory of the script – ঐoi/oi/ (স্বর ঐsbôr oi) and (ঔou/ou/ (স্বর ঔsbôr ou) – the Bengali phonemic inventory has many more diphthongs.[nb 1] Most diphthongs are represented by juxtaposing the graphemes of their constituent vowels, as in কেউkeu[keu̯~keo̯].[h]
There also used to be two long vowels – ৠṛṛi[i] and ৡḷḷi[j] – which were removed from the inventory during the Vidyasagarian reform of the script, due to peculiarity to Sanskrit.
The table below shows the vowels present in the modern (i.e., since the late 19th century) inventory of the Bengali abugida:
↑The underlying form of অ is /ɔ/. It is raised to [o] in the following contexts:
if অ is in the first syllable and there are high vowels (e.g. ই/i/ and উ/u/) in the following syllable, e.g., অতিôti[ˈot̪iˑ] 'much', বলছিbôlchi[ˈboltʃʰiˑ] '(I am) speaking'
if অ is the inherent vowel in a word-initial consonant cluster ending in rôphôla, e.g., প্রথমprôthôm[ˈpɾot̪ʰɔm] 'first'
if the next consonant cluster contains a yôphôla (which geminates the preceding consonant), e.g., অন্যônyô[ˈonːoˑ] 'other', জন্যjônyô[ˈdʒɔnːoˑ] 'for'
↑In onomatopoeias and polysyllabic words, /a/ (represented by আ), is phonetically realised as the vowel [ɐ].[12] In monosyllabic words, /a/ is realised as the more opened vowel [ä~äː].
12Although উ and ও represent the vowels /u/ and /o/ respectively, they may also represent the voiced labial–velar approximant /w/ which can occur as an allophone of their semivowel equivalents /u̯/ and /o̯/ under fortition (especially in loanwords), e.g., ওয়াদা[ˈwad̪aˑ~ˈo̯ad̪aˑ] 'promise', উইলিয়াম[ˈwiliam~ˈu̯ili̯am] 'William'.
↑Even though the near-open front unrounded vowel/æ/ is one of the seven main vowel sounds in the standard Bengali language, no distinct vowel symbol has been allotted for it in the script, though এ is used. /æ/ may also be transcribed in IPA and pronounced as an open-mid front unrounded vowel/ɛ/.[13]
↑/ʊ/ is the original pronunciation of the vowel ও, though a secondary pronunciation /o/ entered the Bengali phonology by Sanskrit influence. In modern Bengali, both the ancient and adopted pronunciation of ও can be heard in spoken, e.g., নোংরাnoṅra 'foul' is pronounced as either [ˈnoŋɾaˑ] or [ˈnʊŋɾaˑ].
The consonant ক (kô) along with the diacritic form of the vowels আ, ই, ঈ, উ, ঊ, ঋ, এ, ঐ, ও and ঔ
Consonants
Consonant letters are called ব্যঞ্জনবর্ণbênjônbôrṇô[a][b] in Bengali. The names of the letters are typically just the consonant sound plus the inherent vowel অô. Since the inherent vowel is assumed and not written, most letters' names look identical to the letter itself (e.g., the name of the letter ঘ is itself ghô, not gh).
Some letters that have lost their distinctive pronunciation in modern Bengali are called by more elaborate names. For example, since the consonant phoneme /n/ is written as both ন and ণ, the letters are not called simply nô; instead, they are called দন্ত্য নdôntyô nô ('dental nô') and মূর্ধন্য ণmurdhônyô nô ('retroflexnô'). What was once pronounced and written as a retroflex nasal ণ/ɳ/ is now pronounced as an alveolar /n/ (unless conjoined with another retroflex consonant such as ট, ঠ, ড and ঢ).
Although still named murdhônyô when taught, retroflex consonants do not exist in Bengali on the phonemic scale, and are instead fronted to their post-alveolar and alveolar equivalents.[14]
The voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant phoneme /ʃ/ can be written as শ (তালব্য শtalôbyô śô 'palatal śô'), ষ (মূর্ধন্য ষmurdhônyô ṣô 'retroflex ṣô') or স (দন্ত্য সdôntyô sô 'dental sô'). These graphemes once represented the alveolo-palatal /ɕ/, the retroflex /ʂ/, and the alveolar /s/ in Sanskrit, respectively, but have all merged into the palato-alveolar /ʃ/ (or /ɕ/, depending on dialect) in modern standard Bengali.
The voiced palato-alveolar affricate/dʒ/ can be written in two ways: as য (অন্তঃস্থ যôntôḥsthô yô 'semivocalic yô') or as জ (বর্গীয় জbôrgiẏô jô 'plosive jô'). In many varieties of Bengali, /z,dz/ are not distinct from this phoneme, but speakers who distinguish them may use the letters য and জ with contrast.[citation needed]
Post-reform, the letter য় was introduced to distinguish it from য [ note]:
The semivowelয়ẏô/e̯ɔ/ cannot occur at the beginning of a word.[c] The name of য় is অন্তঃস্থ অôntôḥsthô ô 'semivocalic ẏ'.[d] The pronunciation of য়ẏô/e̯ɔ/ varies between the glides /w/ and /j/.
The name of য is অন্তঃস্থ যôntôḥsthô yô ('semivocalic y'), whose onset was originally pronounced as a glide /j/ but became an affricate /dʒ/ in modern Bengali. It is found almost entirely at the beginning of words.[citation needed]
When present in the middle of words, in conjuncts, য is represented as a distinct letter: ্য (যফলাyôphôla), which is mostly silent or semi-silent. The yôphôla may either alter the pronunciation of the surrounding vowel, genimate the preceding consonant, or be completely silent.
Since the nasalsঞñô/e̯ɔ/ and ঙṅô/ŋɔ/ cannot occur at the beginning of a word in Bengali, their names are actually pronounced [ˈ(n)ĩjɔˑ] (i.e., (n)ĩẏô) and [ˈuŋɔˑ~ˈumɔˑ] (i.e., uṅô~umô), respectively.
There is a difference in the pronunciation of ড়ṛô[e] and ঢ়ṛhô, similar to other Indic languages. This is especially true in the parlance of the western and southern parts of Bengal, but lesser on the dialects of the eastern side of the Padma River.[citation needed]ড় and ঢ় were introduced to the inventory during the Vidyasagarian reform to indicate the retroflex flap in the pronunciation of ডḍô and ঢḍhô in the middle or end of a word. It is an allophonic development in some Indic languages not present in Sanskrit. In ordinary speech these letters are pronounced the same as র in modern Bengali.
↑Unlike Sanskrit and other Indic languages, Bengali words cannot begin with any semivocalic phoneme.
↑The "ẏ" is silent in the pronunciation of its name.
↑This figure is used analogously to the ring below diacritic as the Bengali equivalent of the Devanagarinuqta, which is analogous to the underdot.
↑Though in modern Bengali the letters ক, খ, গ, ঘ, ঙ are actually velar consonants and the letter হ is actually a glottal consonant, texts still use the Sanskrit name কন্ঠ্য ('guttural').
↑When used at the beginning or end of a word, হ is pronounced voiceless /hɔ/ but when used in the middle, it is sounded voiced as /ɦɔ/.
↑Palatal letters phonetically represent palato-alveolar sounds but in Eastern dialects they mostly are depalatalised or depalatalised and deaffricated.
↑Original sound for ঞ was /ɲɔ/ but in modern Bengali, it represents /ẽɔ/ and in consonant conjuncts is pronounced /nɔ/ same as ন.
↑In Sanskrit, য represented the voiced palatal approximant/j/. In Bengali, it developed two allophones: voiced palato-alveolar affricate/dʒɔ/ (same as জ) at the beginning of a word, and the palatal approximant in other cases. When reforming the script, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar introduced য়, representing /e̯ɔ/, to indicate the palatal approximant in the pronunciation of য in the middle or end of a word. In modern Bengali, য represents /dʒɔ/ and the near-open front unrounded vowel /æ/ as the diacritic jôphôla. It falls into voiced alveolar sibilant affricate/dzɔ/ in Eastern dialects and is also used to represent voiced alveolar sibilant/zɔ/ for Perso-Arabic loanwords.
123In Bengali, there are three letters for sibilants: শ, ষ, স. Originally all three had distinctive sounds. In modern Bengali, the most common sibilant varies between /ʃ~ɕ/ – originally represented by শ, but today, স and ষ in words are often pronounced as /ɕ~ʃ/. The other sibilant in Bengali is /s/, originally represented by স, but today, শ and ষ, in words, can sometimes be pronounced as /s/. Another sibilant was /ʂ/, originally represented by ষ. ষ is mostly pronounced as /ɕ~ʃ/, but in conjunction with apical alveolar consonants, the allophonic /ʂ/ sound can sometimes be found.
↑In modern texts, the name দন্ত্যমূলীয় ('alveolar') or পশ্চাদ্দন্তমূলীয় ('postalveolar') is used to describe more precisely letters previously described as "retroflex".
↑The original sound for ণ was /ɳɔ/ but in modern Bengali it is almost always pronounced /nɔ/, the same as ন. An exception is in conjuncts with other retroflex letters, where the original sound for ণ can occasionally be found.
↑The /r/ phoneme, represented by র, is pronounced either as a voiced alveolar tap [ɾ], voiced alveolar approximant [ɹ] or voiced alveolar trill [r]. Most speakers colloquially pronounce /r/ as a tap [ɾ], although the trill [r] may occur word-initially (but very rarely); with the tap [ɾ] occurring medially and finally. /r/ can also occur as an approximant [ɹ], especially in some eastern dialects and sometimes in conjuncts before consonants.[15][16]
↑[ɽʱ] is a non-word initial allophone of /ɖʱ/. It is distinct phonetically only in westernmost Bengali dialects (and in some conservative speech), and usually pronounced as either as [ɽ] or as the many phonetic realisations of /r/ in most dialects.
The consonant ligature ndrô (ন্দ্র): nô (ন) in green, dô (দ) in blue, and rô (র) in maroon.
Clusters of up to four consonants can be orthographically represented as a typographic ligature, called a consonant conjunct (Bengali: যুক্তাক্ষর/যুক্তবর্ণyuktakṣôr/yuktôbôrṇô, or more precisely, যুক্তব্যঞ্জনyuktôbêñjôn). Typically, the first consonant in the conjunct is shown above or to the left of the following consonants. Many consonants appear in an abbreviated or compressed form when serving as part of a conjunct. Others simply take exceptional forms in conjuncts, bearing little or no resemblance to the base character.
Often, consonant conjuncts are not actually pronounced as would be implied by the pronunciation of the individual components. For example, adding লlô underneath শśô in Bengali creates the conjunct শ্ল, which is pronounced /slɔ/ (and not /ʃlɔ/) in Bengali. Many conjuncts represent Sanskrit sounds that were lost centuries before modern Bengali was ever spoken; for instance, জ্ঞjñô, which is a combination of জjô and ঞñô, is pronounced ggô/gːɔ/ in modern Bengali (which does not permit the sequence /*dʒɲ/). Thus, as conjuncts often represent combinations of sounds that cannot be easily understood from the components, the following descriptions are concerned only with the construction of the conjunct, and not the resulting pronunciation.
Fused forms
Some consonants fuse in such a way that one stroke of the first consonant also serves as a stroke of the next.
The consonants can be placed on top of one another, sharing the same vertical line, e.g., ক্কkkô, গ্নgnô, গ্লglô, ন্নnnô, প্নpnô, প্পppô, ল্লllô, etc.
As the last member of a conjunct, বbô can hang on the vertical line under the preceding consonants, taking the shape of বbô (including বফলাbôphôla), e.g. গ্বgbô, ণ্বṇbô, দ্বdbô, ল্বlbô, শ্বśbô.
The consonants can also be placed side-by-side, sharing their vertical line, e.g., দ্দddô, ন্দndô, ব্দbdô, ব্জbjôপ্ট, pṭô, স্টsṭô, শ্চścô, শ্ছśchô, etc.
Approximated forms
Some consonants are written closer to one another simply to indicate that they are in a conjunct together.
The consonants can be placed side-by-side, appearing unaltered, e.g., দ্গdgô, দ্ঘdghô, ড্ডḍḍô.
As the last member of a conjunct, বbô can appear immediately to the right of the preceding consonant, taking the shape of বbô (including বফলাbôphôla), e.g., ধ্বdhbô, ব্বbbô, হ্বhbô.
Compressed forms
Some consonants are compressed (and often simplified) when appearing as the first member of a conjunct.
As the first member of a conjunct, the consonants ঙṅô, চcô, ডḍô, and বbô are often compressed and placed at the top-left of the following consonant with little or no change to the basic shape, e.g., ঙ্ক্ষṅkṣô, ঙ্খṅkhô, ঙ্ঘṅghô, ঙ্মṅmô, চ্চccô, চ্ছcchô, চ্ঞcñô, ড্ঢḍḍhô, ব্বbbô.
As the first member of a conjunct, তtô is compressed and placed above the following consonant, with little or no change to the basic shape, e.g., ত্নtnô, ত্মtmô, ত্বtbô.
As the first member of a conjunct, মmô is compressed and simplified to a curved shape. It is placed above or to the top-left of the following consonant, e.g., ম্নmnô, ম্পmpô, ম্ফmphô, ম্বmbô, ম্ভmbhô, ম্মmmô, ম্লmlô.
As the first member of a conjunct, ষṣô is compressed and simplified to an oval shape with a diagonal stroke through it. It is placed to the top-left of the following consonants, e.g., ষ্কṣkô, ষ্টṣṭô, ষ্ঠṣṭhô, ষ্পṣpô, ষ্ফṣphô, ষ্মṣmô.
As the first member of a conjunct, সsô is compressed and simplified to a ribbon shape. It is placed above or to the top-left of the following consonant, e.g., স্কskô, স্খskhô, স্তstô, স্থsthô, স্নsnô, স্পspô, স্ফsphô, স্বsbô, স্মsmô, স্লslô.
Abbreviated forms
Some consonants are abbreviated when appearing in conjuncts and lose part of their basic shape.
As the first member of a conjunct, জjô can lose its final down-stroke, e.g., জ্জjjô, জ্ঞjñô, জ্বjbô.
As the first member of a conjunct, ঞñô can lose its bottom half, e.g., ঞ্চñcô, ঞ্ছñchô, ঞ্জñjô, ঞ্ঝñjhô.
As the last member of a conjunct, ঞñô can lose its left half (the এ part), e.g., জ্ঞjñô.
As first members of a conjunct, ণṇô and পpô can lose their respective down-strokes, e.g., ণ্ঠṇṭhô, ণ্ডṇḍô, প্তptô, প্সpsô.
As first members of a conjunct, তtô and ভbhô can lose their final upward tails, e.g., ত্তttô, ত্থtthô, ত্রtrô, ভ্রbhrô.
As the last member of a conjunct, থthô can lose its final upstroke, taking the form of হhô instead, e.g., ন্থnthôস্থ, sthô, ম্থmthô.
As the last member of a conjunct, মmô can lose its initial down-stroke, e.g., ক্মkmô, গ্মgmô, ঙ্মṅmô, ট্মṭmô, ণ্মṇmô, ত্মtmô, দ্মdmô, ন্মnmô, ম্মmmô, শ্মśmô, ষ্মṣmô, স্মsmô.
As the last member of a conjunct, সsô can lose its top half, e.g., ক্সksô.
As last members of a conjunct, টṭô, ডḍô, and ঢḍhô can lose their respective matra, e.g., প্টpṭô, ণ্ডṇḍô, ণ্টṇṭô, ণ্ঢṇḍhô.
As the last member of a conjunct ডḍô can change its shape, e.g., ণ্ডṇḍô.
Variant forms
Some consonants have forms that are used regularly but only within conjuncts.
As the first member of a conjunct, ঙ ṅô can appear as a loop and curl, e.g., ঙ্ক ṅkô, ঙ্গ ṅgô.
As the last member of a conjunct, the curled top of ধ dhô is replaced by a straight downstroke to the right, taking the form of ঝ jhô instead, e.g., গ্ধ gdhô, দ্ধ ddhô, ন্ধ ndhô, ব্ধ bdhô.
As the first member of a conjunct, র rô appears as a diagonal stroke (called রেফ reph) above the following member, e.g., র্ক rkô, র্খ rkhô, র্গ rgô, র্ঘ rghô, etc.
As the last member of a conjunct, র rô appears as a wavy horizontal line (called রফলা rôphôla) under the previous member, e.g., খ্র khrô, গ্র grô, ঘ্র ghrô, ব্র brô, etc.
In some fonts, certain conjuncts with রফলা rôphôla appear using the compressed (and often simplified) form of the previous consonant, e.g., জ্র jrô, ট্র ṭrô, ঠ্র ṭhrô, ড্র ḍrô, ম্র mrô, স্র srô.
In some fonts, certain conjuncts with রফলা rôphôla appear using the abbreviated form of the previous consonant, e.g., ক্র krô, ত্র trô, ভ্র bhrô.
As the last member of a conjunct, য yô appears as a wavy vertical line (called যফলা yôphôla) to the right of the previous member, e.g., ক্য kyô, খ্য khyô, গ্য gyô, ঘ্য ghyô, etc.
In some fonts, certain conjuncts with যফলা yôphôla appear using special fused forms, e.g., দ্য dyô, ন্য nyô, শ্য śyô, ষ্য ṣyô, স্য syô, হ্য hyô.
Exceptions
When followed by রrô or তtô, কkô takes on the same form as তtô would with the addition of a curl to the right, e.g., ক্রkrô, ক্তktô.
When preceded by the abbreviated form of ঞñô, চcô takes the shape of বbô, e.g., ঞ্চñcô.
When preceded by another টṭô, ট is reduced to a leftward curl, e.g., ট্টṭṭô.
When preceded by ষṣô, ণṇô appears as two loops to the right, e.g., ষ্ণṣṇô.
As the first member of a conjunct, or when at the end of a word and followed by no vowel, তtô can appear as ৎ, e.g., ৎসtsô, ৎপtpô, ৎকtkô, etc.
When preceded by হhô, নnô appears as a curl to the right, e.g., হ্নhnô.
Certain combinations must be memorised: ক্ষ (ক+ষ) kṣô, হ্ম (হ+ম) hmô.
Certain compounds
When serving as a vowel mark, উ u, ঊ u, and ঋ ri take on many exceptional forms.
উ u
When following গ gô or শ śô, it takes on a variant form resembling the final tail of ও o, e.g., গু gu, শু śu.
When following a ত tô that is already part of a conjunct with প pô, ন nô or স sô, it is fused with the ত to resemble ও o, e.g., ন্তু ntu, স্তু stu, প্তু ptu.
When following র rô, and in many fonts also following the variant রফলা rôphôla, it appears as an upward curl to the right of the preceding consonant as opposed to a downward loop below, e.g., রু ru, গ্রু gru, ত্রু tru, থ্রু thru, দ্রু dru, ধ্রু dhru, ব্রু bru, ভ্রু bhru, শ্রু śru.
When following হ hô, it appears as an extra curl, e.g., হু hu.
ঊ u
When following র rô, and in many fonts also following the variant রফলা rôphôla, it appears as a downstroke to the right of the preceding consonant as opposed to a downward hook below: রূ ru, গ্রূ gru, থ্রূ thru, দ্রূ dru, ধ্রূ dhru, ভ্রূ bhru, শ্রূ śru.
ঋ ri
When following হ hô, it takes the variant shape of ঊ u, e.g., হৃ hri.
Conjuncts of three consonants also exist, and follow the same rules as above, e.g., স sô + ত tô + র rô = স্ত্র strô; ম mô + প pô + র rô = ম্প্র mprô; জ jô + জ jô + ব bô = জ্জ্ব jjbô; ক্ষ kṣô + ম mô = ক্ষ্ম kṣmô.
Theoretically, four-consonant conjuncts can also be created (as in র rô + স sô + ট ṭô + র rô = র্স্ট্র rsṭrô), but they are not found in native words.
Theoretically, five-letter conjuncts can be created, e.g., র rô + স sô + ট tô + র rô + ঁ = র্স্ট্রঁ rsṭrôñ. Here ঁ is a diacritic which nasalises the previous vowel.
Additionally, a theoretical six-letter conjunct would be র্স্ট্রাঁ rsṭrañ (আ a + র্স্ট্রঁ rsṭrôñ), and a theoretical seven-letter conjunct would be র্স্ট্র্যাঁ rsṭryañ (য yô + র্স্ট্রাঁ rsṭrañ).
Diacritics and other symbols
These are mainly the Brahmi-Sanskrit diacritics, phones and punctuation marks present in languages with Sanskrit influence or Brahmi-derived scripts.
Diacritic. 1. Doubles the next consonant sound without the vowel (spelling feature) in দুঃখduḥkhô[ˈd̪uɦkʰoˑ]>[ˈd̪uʔkʰoˑ]>[ˈd̪uk̚kʰoˑ] 'sorrow' 2. Final -ḥ examples: এঃeḥ, উঃuḥ 3. Silent in spellings like আন্তঃনগরantôḥnôgôr[ˈant̪ɔɦˌnoɡɔɾ]>[ˈant̪ɔˌnoɡɔɾ] 'intercity' 4. Also used as an abbreviation, e.g., কিঃমিঃ (similar to 'km' in English, for the word কিলোমিটার 'kilometre'), ডাঃ (similar to 'Dr.' in English, for ডাক্তার 'doctor'.
However, in modern Bengali, using বিসর্গ bisôrgô for making abbreviations is considered grammatically wrong and the full stop is used for making abbreviations, e.g., as in কি.মি. 'km', ডা. 'Dr.'.[17][18]
Special character or sign. Used for prolonging vowel sounds E.g., শোনঽঽঽ…śônôôô… 'listennn…' (This is where the default inherited vowel sound ô in নnô is prolonged.) E.g., কিঽঽঽ?kiii? 'whaaat?' (This is where the vowel sound i which is attached with the consonant কkô is prolonged.)
-
–
্য
যফলা yôphôla
Diacritic. Used with two types of pronunciation in modern Bengali depending on the location of the consonant it is used with within a syllable E.g., when the consonant it is used with is syllable-initial, it acts as the vowel /æ/, and thus, ত্যাগ is pronounced /t̪æɡ/ E.g., when the consonant with which it is used l is syllable-final, it doubles the consonant, and thus, মুখ্য is pronounced /ˈmukʰːɔ/ Notably used in transliterating English words with /æ/, e.g. ব্ল্যাক 'black', and sometimes as a diacritic to indicate non-Bengali vowels of various kinds in transliterated foreign words, e.g. the schwa indicated by a yôphôla; the French u/y/ and the German umlaut ü/y~ʏ/ as উ্যuyô; the French eu/ø~œ/ and the German umlaut ö/ø~œ/ as ও্যoyô or এ্যeyô.
ê / yô
/æ/ or /ː/
্র
রফলা rôphôla
Diacritic. [r] pronounced following a consonant phoneme.
r
/r/
র্ক
রেফ reph
Diacritic. [ɾ] pronounced preceding a consonant phoneme.
r
/r/
্ব
বফলা bôphôla
Diacritic. Used in spellings only, if they were adopted from Sanskrit and has two different pronunciations depending on the location of the consonant with which it is used. E.g., when the consonant with which it is used is syllable-initial, it remains silent, and thus, স্বাধীন is pronounced /ˈʃad̪ʱin/ (and not /*ˈʃbad̪ʱin/ or *ˈʃʋad̪ʱin/). E.g., when the consonant with which it is used is syllable-final, it doubles the consonant, and thus, বিদ্বান is pronounced /ˈbid̪ːan/ and বিশ্ব is pronounced /ˈbiʃːɔ/. However, certain Sanskrit sandhis (i.e., phonetic fusions) such as ঋগ্বেদ, দিগ্বিজয়, উদ্বেগ, and উদ্বৃত্ত are pronounced /ˈriɡbed̪/, /ˈd̪iɡbidʒɔe̯/, /ˈud̪beɡ/, and /ˈud̪brittɔ/, respectively, while usage with the consonant হ defies phonological rules, e.g., আহ্বান /ˈaɦban/>[ˈau̯bʱan], জিহ্বা {{IPA|/ˈdʒiɦba/ > [ˈdʒiu̯bʱa]. Also used in transliterating Islam-related Arabic words Note: Not all instances of বbô used as the last member of a conjunct are bôphôla, e.g., in the words অম্বরômbôr, লম্বাlômba, তিব্বতtibbôt, বাল্বbalb, etc.
-
/ː/
৺
ঈশ্বর iśbôr
Sign. Represents the name of the deity and also written before the name of a deceased person.
–
–
ঀ
আঞ্জী/সিদ্ধিরস্তু añji/siddhirôstu
Sign. Used at the beginning of texts as an invocation.
–
–
Notes
↑ৎ (khôndô tô 'part-tô') is always used syllable-finally and always pronounced as /t̪/. It is predominantly found in loan words from Sanskrit such as ভবিষ্যৎ bhôbiṣyôt 'future', সত্যজিৎ sôtyôjit (a proper name), etc. It is also found in some onomatopoeic words (such as থপাৎ thôpat 'sound of something heavy that fell', মড়াৎ môrat 'sound of something breaking', etc.), as the first member of some consonant conjuncts (such as ৎস tsô, ৎপ tpô, ৎক tkô, etc.), and in some recent foreign loanwords (e.g., নাৎসি natsi 'Nazi', জুজুৎসু jujutsu 'Jujutsu', ৎসুনামি tsunami 'Tsunami', etc.) which contain the same conjuncts. It is an overproduction inconsistency, as the sound /t̪/ is realised by both ত and ৎ. This creates confusion among inexperienced writers of Bengali. There is no simple way of telling which symbol should be used. Usually, the contexts where ৎ is used need to be memorised, as they are less frequent. In the native Bengali words, syllable-final ত tô/t̪ɔ/ is pronounced /t̪/, as in নাতনি /ˈnat̪ni/ 'grand-daughter', করাত /ˈkɔrat̪/ 'saw', etc.
12ঃ-ḥ and ং-ṅ are also often used as abbreviation marks in Bengali, with ং-ṅ used when the next sound following the abbreviation would be a nasal sound, and ঃ-ḥ otherwise. For example, ডঃ dôḥ stands for ডক্টর dôktôr 'doctor', and নং nôṅ stands for নম্বর nômbôr 'number'. Some abbreviations have no marking at all, as in ঢাবি ḍhabi for ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয় Ḍhaka Biśbôbidyalôẏ 'University of Dhaka'. The full stop can also be used when writing out English letters as initials, such as ই.ইউ. i.iu 'EU'.
The Bengali script has ten numerical digits (graphemes or symbols indicating the numbers from 0 to 9). Bengali numerals have no horizontal headstroke or মাত্রা matra.
Numbers larger than 9 are written in Bengali using a positional base 10 numeral system (the decimal system). A period or dot is used to denote the decimal separator, which separates the integral and the fractional parts of a decimal number. When writing large numbers with many digits, commas are used as delimiters to group digits, indicating the thousand (হাজার hajar), the hundred thousand or lakh (লাখ lakh or লক্ষ lôkṣô), and the ten million or hundred lakh or crore (কোটি koṭi) units. I.e., leftwards from the decimal separator, the first grouping consists of three digits, and the subsequent groupings always consist of two digits.
For example, the English number 17,557,345 will be written in traditional Bengali as ১,৭৫,৫৭,৩৪৫.
Punctuation marks
Bengali punctuation marks, apart from the downstroke দাড়ি daṛi (।), the Bengali equivalent of a full stop, have been adopted from western scripts and their usage is similar: Commas, semicolons, colons, quotation marks, etc. are the same as in English. Capital letters are absent in the Bengali script so proper names are unmarked.
An apostrophe, known in Bengali as ঊর্ধ্বকমা urdhbôkôma 'upper comma', is sometimes used to distinguish between homographs, e.g., পাটা paṭa 'plank', পাʼটা pa'ṭa 'the leg'. Alternatively a hyphen is used for the same purpose, e.g., পা-টা pa-ṭa.
Characteristics of the Bengali text
An example of handwritten Bengali script. Part of a poem written by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1926 in Hungary.
Bengali text is written and read horizontally, from left to right. The consonant graphemes and the full form of vowel graphemes fit into an imaginary rectangle of uniform size (uniform width and height). The size of a consonant conjunct, regardless of its complexity, is deliberately maintained the same as that of a single consonant grapheme, so that diacritic vowel forms can be attached to it without any distortion. In a typical Bengali text, orthographic words, words as they are written, can be seen as being separated from each other by an even spacing. Graphemes within a word are also evenly spaced, but that spacing is much narrower than the spacing between words.
Unlike in purely alphabetic scripts – like Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic – for which the letter-forms stand on an invisible baseline, the Bengali letter-forms instead hang from a visible horizontal left-to-right headstroke called মাত্রা matra. The presence and absence of this matra can be important. For example, the letter ত tô and the numeral ৩ (3) are distinguishable only by the presence or absence of the matra, as is the case between the consonant cluster ত্র trô and the independent vowel এ e. The letter-forms also employ the concepts of letter-width and letter-height (the vertical space between the visible matra and an invisible baseline).
Grapheme
Percentage
আ
11.32
এ
8.96
র
7.01
অ
6.63
ব
4.44
ক
4.15
ল
4.14
ত
3.83
ম
2.78
According to Bengali linguist Munier Chowdhury, there are about nine graphemes that are the most frequent in Bengali texts, shown with its percentage of appearance in the adjacent table.[19]
Comparison of Bengali script with ancestral and related scripts
In the Bengali abugida, clusters of consonants are represented by different and sometimes quite irregular forms; thus, learning to read is complicated by the sheer size of the full set of letters and letter combinations, numbering about 350. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar introduced punctuation marks in Bengali language and wrote a book named Barnaparichay to standardize Bengali alphabets. While efforts at standardising the alphabet for the Bengali language continue in such notable centres as the Bangla Academy at Dhaka (Bangladesh) and the Pôshchimbônggô Bangla Akademi at Kolkata (West Bengal, India), it is still not quite uniform yet, as many people continue to use various archaic forms of letters, resulting in concurrent forms for the same sounds.
Romanisation of Bengali is the representation of the Bengali language in the Latin script. There are various ways of Romanization systems of Bengali, created in recent years but failed to represent the true Bengali phonetic sound. While different standards for romanisation have been proposed for Bengali, they have not been adopted with the degree of uniformity seen in languages such as Japanese or Sanskrit.[nb 2] The Bengali alphabet has often been included with the group of Brahmic scripts for romanisation in which the true phonetic value of Bengali is never represented. Some of them are the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration or "IAST system",[20] "Indian languages Transliteration" or ITRANS (uses upper case alphabets suited for ASCII keyboards),[21] and the extension of IAST intended for non-Sanskrit languages of the Indian region called the National Library at Kolkata romanisation.[22]
Sample texts
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
All human free-manner-in equal dignity and right taken birth-take do. Their reason and intelligence exist; therefore everyone-indeed one another's towards brotherhood-ly attitude taken conduct do should.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience. Therefore, they should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
↑Different Bengali linguists give different numbers of Bengali diphthongs in their works depending on methodology, e.g. 25 (Chatterji 1939: 40), 31 (Hai 1964), 45 (Ashraf and Ashraf 1966: 49), 28 (Kostic and Das 1972:6–7) and 17 (Sarkar 1987).
↑In Japanese, there is some debate as to whether to accent certain distinctions, such as Tōhoku vs Tohoku. Sanskrit is well-standardized because the speaking community is relatively small, and sound change is not a large concern.
↑"GAZETTE TITLE: The Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021". manipurgovtpress.nic.in. Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023. "Manipuri Language" means Meeteilon written in Meetei Mayek and spoken by the majority of Manipur population: Provided that the concurrent use of Bengali Script and Meetei Mayek shall be allowed in addition to English language, for a period up to 10 (ten) years from the date of commencement of this Act.
↑Daniels, Peter T. (2008). "Writing systems of major and minor languages". In Kachru, Braj B.; Kachru, Yamuna; Sridhar, S. N. (eds.). Languages in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp.285–308. ISBN978-0-521-78141-1.
↑Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (26 July 2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. pp.76–77. ISBN978-1-135-79710-2. Although in modern usage Sanskrit is most commonly written or printed in Nagari, in theory it can be represented by virtually any of the main Brāhmī based scripts, and in practice it often is. Thus scripts such as Gujarati, Bangla, and Oriya, as well as the major south Indian scripts, traditionally have been and often still are used in their proper territories for writing Sanskrit.
↑Mazumdar, Bijaychandra (2000). The history of the Bengali language (Repr. [d. Ausg.] Calcutta, 1920ed.). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. p.57. ISBN81-206-1452-6. yet it is to be noted as a fact, that the cerebral letters are not so much cerebral as they are dental in our speech. If we carefully notice our pronunciation of the letters of the ট class we will see that we articulate ট and ড, for example, almost like English T and D without turning up the tip of the tongue much away from the region of the teeth.
↑Ferguson, Charles A.; Chowdhury, Munier (1960). "The Phonemes of Bengali". Language. 36 (1). Charles A. Ferguson and Munier Chowdhury: 22–59. doi:10.2307/410622. JSTOR410622.
↑Amin, Mohammed. "বিসর্গবিধি ও উচ্চারণ" (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
↑"সহজ বাংলা বানানের নিয়ম"[Simple Bengali Spelling Rules]. The Daily Janakantha (in Bengali). 4 May 2019. ৪১. বিসর্গ (ঃ ) ব্যবহার: বিসর্গ একটি বাংলা বর্ণ এটি কোনো চিহ্ন নয়। বর্ণ হিসেবে ব্যবহার করতে হবে। বিসর্গ (ঃ) হলো অঘোষ 'হ্'-এর উচ্চারণে প্রাপ্ত ধ্বনি। 'হ'-এর উচ্চারণ ঘোষ কিন্তু বিসর্গ (ঃ)-এর উচ্চারণ অঘোষ। বাংলায় ভাষায় বিস্ময়াদি প্রকাশে বিসর্গ (ঃ )-এর উচ্চারণ প্রকাশ পায়। যেমন- আঃ, উঃ, ওঃ, ছিঃ, বাঃ । পদের শেষে বিসর্গ (ঃ) ব্যবহার হবে না। যেমন ধর্মত, কার্যত, আইনত, ন্যায়ত, করত, বস্তুত, ক্রমশ, প্রায়শ ইত্যাদি। পদমধ্যস্থে বিসর্গ ব্যবহার হবে। যেমন অতঃপর, দুঃখ, স্বতঃস্ফূর্ত, অন্তঃস্থল, পুনঃপুন, পুনঃপ্রকাশ, পুনঃপরীক্ষা, পুনঃপ্রবেশ, পুনঃপ্রতিষ্ঠা ইত্যাদি। অর্ধ শব্দকে পূর্ণতা দানে অর্থাৎ পূর্ণ শব্দকে সংক্ষিপ্ত রূপে প্রকাশে বিসর্গ ব্যবহার করা হলেও আধুনিক বানানে ডট ( . ) ব্যবহার করা হচ্ছে। যেমন- ডাক্তার>ডা. (ডাঃ), ডক্টর>ড. (ডঃ), লিমিটেড> লি. (লিঃ) ইত্যাদি। বিসর্গ যেহেতু বাংলা বর্ণ এবং এর নিজস্ব ব্যবহার বিধি আছে— তাই এ ধরনের বানানে (ডাক্তার>ডা., ডক্টর>ড., লিমিটেড> লি.) বিসর্গ ব্যবহার বর্জন করা হয়েছে। কারণ বিসর্গ যতিচিহ্ন নয়। [সতর্কীকরণ: বিসর্গ (ঃ)-এর স্থলে কোলন (: ) কোনোভাবেই ব্যবহার করা যাবে না। যেমন- অত:পর, দু:খ ইত্যাদি। কারণ কোলন (: ) কোনো বর্ণ নয়, চিহ্ন। যতিচিহ্ন হিসেবে বিসর্গ (ঃ) ব্যবহার যাবে না। যেমন- নামঃ রেজা, থানাঃ লাকসাম, জেলাঃ কুমিল্লা, ১ঃ৯ ইত্যাদি।]. Archived from the original on 14 November 2022. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
Ashraf, Syed Ali; Ashraf, Asia (1966), "Bengali Diphthongs", in Dil A. S. (ed.), Shahidullah Presentation Volume, Lahore: Linguistic Research Group of Pakistan, pp.47–52
Chatterji, Suniti Kumar (1939), Vasha-prakash Bangala Vyakaran (A Grammar of the Bengali Language), kolkata: University of Rabindra Bharaty (RBUDDE)
Chowdhury, Munier (1963), "Shahitto, shônkhatôtto o bhashatôtto (Literature, statistics and linguistics)", Bangla Academy Potrika, 6 (4), Dhaka: 65–76
Kostic, Djordje; Das, Rhea S. (1972), A Short Outline of Bengali Phonetics, Calcutta: Statistical Publishing Company
Hai, Muhammad Abdul (1964), Dhvani Vijnan O Bangla Dhvani-tattwa (Phonetics and Bengali Phonology), Dhaka: Bangla Academy
Salomon, Richard (1998). Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages. New York: Oxford University Press.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
