Bengali alphabet
বাংলা বর্ণমালা বা লিপি
Script typeAbugida
Period11th century to the present[1]
DirectionLeft-to-right 
Official scriptfor Bengali language and Meitei language[2][3]
RegionBengal
LanguagesBengali, Sanskrit, Kokborok, Kudmali, Hajong, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Meitei, Magahi[4]
Related scripts
Parent systemsEgyptian
Sister systemsAssamese and Tirhuta
ISO 15924
ISO 15924Beng (325), ​Bengali (Bangla)
Unicode
Unicode aliasBengali
Unicode rangeU+0980–U+09FF

The Bengali script or Bangla alphabet[a] is the standard writing system used to write the Bengali language, and has historically been used to write Sanskrit within Bengal.[6] An estimated 300 million people use this syllabic alphabet, which makes it the 5th most commonly used writing system in the world.[7][8] It is the sole national script of Bangladesh and one of the official scripts of India, specifically used in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura and the Barak Valley of Assam. The script is also used for the Meitei language in Manipur, defined by the Manipur Official Language Act.[9]

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 Bengali script can be divided into vowels and vowel diacritics, consonants and conjunct consonants, diacritical and other symbols, digits, and punctuation marks. Vowels and consonants are used as letters and also as diacritical marks.

Vowels

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 table below shows the vowels present in the modern (i.e., since the late 19th century) inventory of the Bengali abugida:

Bengali vowels
(স্বরবর্ণ sbôrôbôrṇô)
হ্রস্ব (short) দীর্ঘ (long)
স্বর
(vowel phoneme) 		কার
(vowel mark) 		স্বর
(vowel phoneme) 		কার
(vowel mark)
কন্ঠ্য
(Guttural) 		অ ô
/ɔ~o/[k] 		- আ a
/ɐ/[l] 		া
তালব্য
(Palatal) 		ই i
/i/ 		ি ঈ ī
/i/ 		ী
ওষ্ঠ্য
(Labial) 		উ u
/u/[m] 		ু ঊ ū
/u/ 		ূ
মূর্ধন্য
(retroflex) 		ঋ ṛ
/ri/ 		ৃ ৠ ṝ ৄ
দন্ত্য
(Dental) 		ঌ ḷ
/li/ 		ৢ ৡ ḹ ৣ
যুক্তস্বর (complex vowels)
কন্ঠ্যতালব্য
(Palato-guttural) 		এ e
/e/[n] 		ে ঐ oi
/oi/ 		ৈ
কন্ঠৌষ্ঠ্য
(Labioguttural) 		ও o
/o~w/[o][m] 		ো ঔ ou
/ou/ 		ৌ

Notes

  1. Bengali: বাংলা বর্ণমালা, romanized: Baṅla bôrṇômala, IPA: [ˈbaŋlaˑ ˈbɔɾnoˌmalaˑ]
  2. স্বরবর্ণ sbôrôbôrṇô [ˈʃɔɾoˌbɔɾnoˑ]; lit. 'vowel letter'
  3. ISO 15919: ayā
  4. ISO 15919: ī; originally /iː/
  5. ISO 15919: ū; originally /uː/
  6. ISO 15919: r̥
  7. ISO 15919: l̥
  8. ISO 15919: kē'u
  9. ISO 15919: r̥̄
  10. ISO 15919: l̥̄
  11. 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., অতি ôti [ˈot̪iˑ] 'much', বলছি bôlchi [ˈboltʃʰiˑ] '(I am) speaking'
    • if অ is the inherent vowel in a word-initial consonant cluster ending in rôphôla, e.g., প্রথম prôthôm [ˈpɾot̪ʰɔm] 'first'
    • if the next consonant cluster contains a yôphôla (which geminates the preceding consonant), e.g., অন্য ônyô [ˈonːoˑ] 'other', জন্য jônyô [ˈdʒɔnːoˑ] 'for'
  12. 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].
  13. Although 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'.
  14. 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]
  15. /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., নোংরা noṅra 'foul' is pronounced as either [ˈnoŋɾaˑ] or [ˈnʊŋɾaˑ].

Consonants

Consonant letters are called ব্যঞ্জনবর্ণ bênjônbôrṇô[a][b] in Bengali. The names of the letters are typically just the consonant sound plus the inherent vowel অ ô. 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).

Bengali consonants
(ব্যঞ্জনবর্ণ bênjônbôrṇô)
স্পর্শ
(Stop) 		অনুনাসিক
(Nasal) 		অন্তঃস্থ
(Approximant) 		ঊষ্ম
(Fricative)
বর্গীয় বর্ণ (Generic sounds)
Voicing → অঘোষ (Voiceless) ঘোষ (Voiced) অঘোষ (Voiceless) ঘোষ (Voiced)
Aspiration → অল্পপ্রাণ (Unaspirated) মহাপ্রাণ (Aspirated) অল্পপ্রাণ (Unaspirated) মহাপ্রাণ (Aspirated) অল্পপ্রাণ (Unaspirated) মহাপ্রাণ (Aspirated)
কন্ঠ্য
(Guttural)[f] 		ক kô
/kɔ/ 		খ khô
/kʰɔ/ 		গ gô
/ɡɔ/ 		ঘ ghô
/ɡʱɔ/ 		ঙ ṅô
/ŋɔ/ 		হ hô
/ɦɔ~hɔ/[g]
তালব্য
(Palatal)[h] 		চ cô
/tʃɔ~tɕɔ/ 		ছ chô
/tʃʰɔ~tɕʰɔ/ 		জ jô
/dʒɔ~dʑɔ/ 		ঝ jhô
/dʒʱɔ~dʑʱɔ/ 		ঞ ñô
/nɔ/[i] 		য yô
/dʒɔ~dzɔ~zɔ/[j] 		শ śô
/ʃɔ~ɕɔ~sɔ/[k]
মূর্ধন্য
(Retroflex)[l] 		ট ṭô
/ʈɔ/ 		ঠ ṭhô
/ʈʰɔ/ 		ড ḍô
/ɖɔ/ 		ঢ ḍhô
/ɖʱɔ/ 		ণ ṇô
/nɔ/[m] 		র rô
/ɾɔ/[n] 		ষ ṣô
/ɕɔ~ʃɔ~ʂɔ/[k]
দন্ত্য
(Dental) 		ত tô
/t̪ɔ/ 		থ thô
/t̪ʰɔ/ 		দ dô
/d̪ɔ/ 		ধ dhô
/d̪ʱɔ/ 		ন nô
/nɔ/ 		ল lô
/lɔ/ 		স sô
/sɔ~ɕɔ~ʃɔ/[k]
ওষ্ঠ্য
(Labial) 		প pô
/pɔ/ 		ফ phô
/pʰɔ/[o] 		ব bô
/bɔ/ 		ভ bhô
/bʱɔ/[p] 		ম mô
/mɔ/ 		ৱ wô
/wɔ/
Post-reform letters ড় ṛô
/ɽɔ/ 		ঢ় ṛhô
/ɽʱɔ~ɽ/[q] 		য় ẏô
/jɔ~e̯ɔ/

Notes

  1. Bengali pronunciation: [ˈbæɲdʒɔnˌbɔɾnoˑ]
  2. ISO 15919: byañjanabarṇa
  3. Unlike Sanskrit and other Indic languages, Bengali words cannot begin with any semivocalic phoneme.
  4. The "ẏ" is silent in the pronunciation of its name.
  5. This figure is used analogously to the ring below diacritic as the Bengali equivalent of the Devanagari nuqta, which is analogous to the underdot.
  6. 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').
  7. 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/.
  8. Palatal letters phonetically represent palato-alveolar sounds but in Eastern dialects they mostly are depalatalised or depalatalised and deaffricated.
  9. Original sound for ঞ was /ɲɔ/ but in modern Bengali, it represents /ẽɔ/ and in consonant conjuncts is pronounced /nɔ/ same as ন.
  10. 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.
  11. In 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.
  12. In modern texts, the name দন্ত্যমূলীয় ('alveolar') or পশ্চাদ্দন্তমূলীয় ('postalveolar') is used to describe more precisely letters previously described as "retroflex".
  13. 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.
  14. 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]
  15. Although ফ represents the aspirated form of the voiceless bilabial stop /pʰɔ/ it is pronounced either voiceless labial fricative /ɸɔ/ (in Eastern dialects) or voiceless labiodental fricative /fɔ/ in ordinary speech.
  16. Although ভ represents the aspirated form of the voiced bilabial stop /bʱɔ/ it is pronounced either voiced labial fricative /βɔ/ (in Eastern dialects) or voiced labiodental fricative /vɔ/ in ordinary speech.
  17. [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.

Consonant conjuncts

Clusters of up to four consonants can be orthographically represented as a typographic ligature, called a consonant conjunct (Bengali: যুক্তাক্ষর/যুক্তবর্ণ yuktakṣôr/yuktôbôrṇô, or more precisely, যুক্তব্যঞ্জন yuktôbêñjôn). 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 ল lô underneath শ śô 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, জ্ঞ jñô, which is a combination of জ jô and ঞ ñô, 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.

Approximated forms

Some consonants are written closer to one another simply to indicate that they are in a conjunct together.

Compressed forms

Some consonants are compressed (and often simplified) when appearing as the first member of a conjunct.

Abbreviated forms

Some consonants are abbreviated when appearing in conjuncts and lose part of their basic shape.

Variant forms

Some consonants have forms that are used regularly but only within conjuncts.

Exceptions

Certain compounds

When serving as a vowel mark, উ u, ঊ u, and ঋ ri take on many exceptional forms.

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.

সংশোধক বর্ণ sôngshodhôk bôrnô
Symbol/
Graphemes		 Name Function Romanisation IPA transcription
ৎ[nc 1] খণ্ড ত
khôndô tô		 Special character. Final unaspirated dental [t̪] t /t̪/
ং[nc 2] অনুস্বার
ônusshar		 Diacritic. Final velar nasal [ŋ] ṅ /ŋ/
ঃ[nc 2] বিসর্গ
bisôrgô		 Diacritic.
1. Doubles the next consonant sound without the vowel (spelling feature) in দুঃখ duḥkhô [ˈd̪uɦkʰoˑ] > [ˈd̪uʔkʰoˑ] > [ˈd̪uk̚kʰoˑ] 'sorrow'
2. Final -ḥ examples: এঃ eḥ, উঃ uḥ
3. Silent in spellings like আন্তঃনগর antôḥnôgôr [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]

ḥ /h/
‍ঁ চন্দ্রবিন্দু
côndrôbindu		 Diacritic. Vowel nasalisation ◌̃ / ṃ /◌̃/
‍্ হসন্ত
hôsôntô		 Diacritic. Suppresses the inherent vowel [ɔ] – –
‍ঽ অবগ্রহ
ôbôgrôhô		 Special character or sign. Used for prolonging vowel sounds
E.g., শোনঽঽঽ… śônôôô… 'listennn…' (This is where the default inherited vowel sound ô in ন nô is prolonged.)
E.g., কিঽঽঽ? kiii? 'whaaat?' (This is where the vowel sound i which is attached with the consonant ক kô 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 উ্য uyô; the French eu /ø~œ/ and the German umlaut ö /ø~œ/ as ও্য oyô or এ্য eyô. 		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 /ˈdʒiɦba/ > [ˈdʒiu̯bʱa].
Also used in transliterating Islam-related Arabic words
Note: Not all instances of ব bô used as the last member of a conjunct are bôphôla, e.g., in the words অম্বর ômbôr, লম্বা lômba, তিব্বত tibbôt, বাল্ব balb, 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

  1. 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.
  2. ঃ -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'.

Digits and numerals

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.

Bengali numerals
Hindu-Arabic numerals 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Bengali numerals ০ ১ ২ ৩ ৪ ৫ ৬ ৭ ৮ ৯

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

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]

Vowels

a ā i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ e ai o au
Bengali অ আ ই ঈ উ ঊ ঋ ৠ ঌ ৡ এ ঐ ও ঔ
Odia ଅ ଆ ଇ ଈ ଉ ଊ ଋ ୠ ଌ ୡ ଏ ଐ ଓ ଔ
Devanagari अ आ इ ई उ ऊ ऋ ॠ ऌ ॡ ए ऐ ओ औ
Siddham

Consonants

k kh g gh ṅ c ch j jh ñ ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ t th d dh n p ph b bh m ẏ,y r l,ḷ w ś ṣ s h kṣ jñ
Bengali ক খ গ ঘ ঙ চ ছ জ ঝ ঞ ট ঠ ড ঢ ণ ত থ দ ধ ন প ফ ব ভ ম য,য় র ল,ল় ওয়,ৱ শ ষ স হ ক্ষ জ্ঞ
Odia କ ଖ ଗ ଘ ଙ ଚ ଛ ଜ ଝ ଞ ଟ ଠ ଡ ଢ ଣ ତ ଥ ଦ ଧ ନ ପ ଫ ବ ଭ ମ ଯ,ୟ ର ଲ,ଳ ୱ,ଵ ଶ ଷ ସ ହ କ୍ଷ ଜ୍ଞ
Devanagari क ख ग घ ङ च छ ज झ ञ ट ठ ड ढ ण त थ द ध न प फ ब भ म य र ल,ळ व श ष स ह क्ष ज्ञ
Siddham

Vowel diacritics

ka kā ki kī ku kū kṛ kṝ kḷ kḹ ke kai ko kau
Bengali ক কা কি কী কু কূ কৃ কৄ কৢ কৣ কে কৈ কো কৌ
Odia କ କା କି କୀ କୁ କୂ କୃ କୄ କୢ କୣ କେ କୈ କୋ କୌ
Devanagari क का कि की कु कू कृ कॄ कॢ कॣ के कै को कौ

Standardisation

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

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

সমস্ত

Sômôstô

[ˈʃɔmost̪oˑ

All

মানুষ

manuṣ

ˈmanuʃ

human

স্বাধীনভাবে

sbadhinbhabe

ˈʃad̪ʱinˌbʱabeˑ

free-manner-in

সমান

sôman

ˈʃoman

equal

মর্যাদা

môrjada

ˈmɔɾdʒad̪aˑ

dignity

এবং

ebôṅ

ˈeboŋ

and

অধিকার

ôdhikar

ˈod̪ʱikaɾ

right

নিয়ে

niẏe

ˈnie̯eˑ

taken

জন্মগ্রহণ

jônmôgrôhôṇ

ˈdʒɔnmoˌɡɾoɦon

birth-take

করে।

kôre.

ˈkɔɾeˑ ‖

do.

তাঁদের

Tãder

ˈt̪ãd̪eɾ

Their

বিবেক

bibek

ˈbibek

reason

এবং

ebôṅ

ˈeboŋ

and

বুদ্ধি

buddhi

ˈbud̪ːʱiˑ

intelligence

আছে;

ache;

ˈatʃʰeˑ ‖

exist;

সুতরাং

sutôraṅ

ˈʃut̪oɾaŋ

therefore

সকলেরই

sôkôleri

ˈʃɔkoˌleɾiˑ

everyone-indeed

একে

êke

ˈækeˑ

one

অপরের

ôpôrer

ˈɔpoɾeɾ

another's

প্রতি

prôti

ˈpɾot̪iˑ

towards

ভ্রাতৃত্বসুলভ

bhratṛtbôsulôbh

ˈbʱɾat̪ɾiˌt̪ːoʃulɔbʱ

brotherhood-ly

মনোভাব

mônobhab

ˈmonobʱab

attitude

নিয়ে

niẏe

ˈnie̯eˑ

taken

আচরণ

acôrôṇ

ˈatʃoɾɔn

conduct

করা

kôra

ˈkɔɾaˑ

do

উচিত।

ucit.

ˈutʃit̪ ‖]

should.

সমস্ত মানুষ স্বাধীনভাবে সমান মর্যাদা এবং অধিকার নিয়ে জন্মগ্রহণ করে। তাঁদের বিবেক এবং বুদ্ধি আছে; সুতরাং সকলেরই একে অপরের প্রতি ভ্রাতৃত্বসুলভ মনোভাব নিয়ে আচরণ করা উচিত।

Sômôstô manuṣ sbadhinbhabe sôman môrjada ebôṅ ôdhikar niẏe jônmôgrôhôṇ kôre. Tãder bibek ebôṅ buddhi ache; sutôraṅ sôkôleri êke ôpôrer prôti bhratṛtbôsulôbh mônobhab niẏe acôrôṇ kôra ucit.

[ˈʃɔmost̪oˑ ˈmanuʃ ˈʃad̪ʱinˌbʱabeˑ ˈʃoman ˈmɔɾdʒad̪aˑ ˈeboŋ ˈod̪ʱikaɾ ˈnie̯eˑ ˈdʒɔnmoˌɡɾoɦon ˈkɔɾeˑ ‖ ˈt̪ãd̪eɾ ˈbibek ˈeboŋ ˈbud̪ːʱiˑ ˈatʃʰeˑ ‖ ˈʃut̪oɾaŋ ˈʃɔkoˌleɾiˑ ˈækeˑ ˈɔpoɾeɾ ˈpɾot̪iˑ ˈbʱɾat̪ɾiˌt̪ːoʃulɔbʱ ˈmonobʱab ˈnie̯eˑ ˈatʃoɾɔn ˈkɔɾaˑ ˈutʃit̪ ‖]

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.

Unicode

Bengali script was added to the Unicode Standard in October 1991 with the release of version 1.0.

The Unicode block for Bengali is U+0980–U+09FF:

Bengali[1][2]
Official Unicode Consortium code chart (PDF)
  0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
U+098x ঀ ঁ ং ঃ অ আ ই ঈ উ ঊ ঋ ঌ এ
U+099x ঐ ও ঔ ক খ গ ঘ ঙ চ ছ জ ঝ ঞ ট
U+09Ax ঠ ড ঢ ণ ত থ দ ধ ন প ফ ব ভ ম য
U+09Bx র ল শ ষ স হ ় ঽ া ি
U+09Cx ী ু ূ ৃ ৄ ে ৈ ো ৌ ্ ৎ
U+09Dx ৗ ড় ঢ় য়
U+09Ex ৠ ৡ ৢ ৣ ০ ১ ২ ৩ ৪ ৫ ৬ ৭ ৮ ৯
U+09Fx ৰ ৱ ৲ ৳ ৴ ৵ ৶ ৷ ৸ ৹ ৺ ৻ ৼ ৽ ৾
Notes
1.^ As of Unicode version 17.0
2.^ Grey areas indicate non-assigned code points

See also

Notes

  1. 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).
  2. 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.

References

  1. "Ancient Scripts". Archived from the original on 16 November 2010.
  2. "GAZETTE TITLE: The Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021". manipurgovtpress.nic.in. Archived from the original on 6 March 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.
  3. "Manipuri language and alphabets". omniglot.com. Archived from the original on 27 January 2023.
  4. Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (26 July 2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. p. 549. ISBN 978-1-135-79710-2.
  5. 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. ISBN 978-0-521-78141-1.
  6. Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (26 July 2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Routledge. pp. 76–77. ISBN 978-1-135-79710-2. 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.
  7. "The World's 5 Most Commonly Used Writing Systems | Britannica". www.britannica.com.
  8. "Ancient Scripts: Bengali". 16 November 2010. Archived from the original on 16 November 2010.
  9. "The Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021". manipurgovtpress.nic.in. Manipur Government Press.
  10. "Bengali script | writing system | Britannica". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  11. Thompson, Hanne-Ruth (2020). Bengali: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge Comprehensive Grammars), 1 (1 ed.). Routledge. p. 23. ISBN 978-0-415-41139-4.
  12. Khan, Sameer ud Dowla (2010). "Bengali (Bangladeshi Standard)" (PDF). Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 40 (2): 222. doi:10.1017/S0025100310000071. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 March 2021.
  13. Khan (2010), p. 222.
  14. Mazumdar, Bijaychandra (2000). The history of the Bengali language (Repr. [d. Ausg.] Calcutta, 1920 ed.). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. p. 57. ISBN 81-206-1452-6. 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.
  15. 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. JSTOR 410622.
  16. Khan (2010), pp. 223–224.
  17. Amin, Mohammed. "বিসর্গবিধি ও উচ্চারণ" (in Bengali). Archived from the original on 14 November 2022.
  18. "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.
  19. See Chowdhury 1963
  20. "Learning International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration". Sanskrit 3 – Learning transliteration. Gabriel Pradiipaka & Andrés Muni. Archived from the original on 12 February 2007.
  21. "ITRANS – Indian Language Transliteration Package". Avinash Chopde. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013.
  22. "Annex-F: Roman Script Transliteration" (PDF). Indian Standard: Indian Script Code for Information Interchange — ISCII. Bureau of Indian Standards. 1 April 1999. p. 32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 July 2013.

Bibliography