copper plate of
Lakshmana Sena 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. 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 ( '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 in other Indic languages using
a Brahmi-derived script – all of which ultimately derive from the Sanskrit inherent vowel . • Even though the
near-open front unrounded vowel 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 sound in Sanskrit—the primary written language when the script was conceived. The use of is widespread and is found to be used in many contexts of , such as in loanwords like 'acid' and '
anime'. The sound is also orthographically realised by multiple means in modern Bengali orthography, usually using some combination of ( 'vocalic e'), , ( 'vocalic a'), and the ( ) (the diacritic form of the consonant grapheme ). Thus written with the vowel is written as . • There are two graphemes for the vowel sound , and two graphemes for the vowel sound . 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 and : ( 'short i') and ( 'long i') are both pronounced ; and ( 'short u') and ( 'long u') are both pronounced 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 ( 'short ri') does not actually represent a vowel phoneme in Bengali, but instead represents the consonant-vowel combination . 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, ( 'short li'), which represented the vocalic equivalent of a
dental approximant in Sanskrit but actually represented the consonant-vowel combination 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 ( 'vowel sign'). • An exception to the above system is the vowel , which has no vowel mark but is considered inherent in every consonant letter. To denote the absence of the inherent vowel following a consonant, a diacritic known as the
virama ( ) may be written underneath the consonant. • Although there are only two diphthongs in the inventory of the script – ( ) and ( ( ) – the Bengali phonemic inventory has many more diphthongs. Most diphthongs are represented by juxtaposing the graphemes of their constituent vowels, as in . • There also used to be two long vowels – and – 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:
Notes Consonants Consonant letters are called in Bengali. The names of the letters are typically just the consonant sound plus the inherent vowel . 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 is itself , not ). • Some letters that have lost their distinctive pronunciation in modern Bengali are called by more elaborate names. For example, since the consonant phoneme is written as both and , the letters are not called simply ; instead, they are called ('dental ') and ('
retroflex '). What was once pronounced and written as a retroflex nasal is now pronounced as an alveolar (unless conjoined with another
retroflex consonant such as , , and ). • Although still named when taught, retroflex consonants do not exist in Bengali on the
phonemic scale, and are instead fronted to their post-alveolar and alveolar equivalents. • The
voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant phoneme can be written as ( 'palatal '), ( 'retroflex ') or ( 'dental '). These graphemes once represented the alveolo-palatal , the retroflex , and the alveolar in Sanskrit, respectively, but have all merged into the palato-alveolar (or , depending on dialect) in modern standard Bengali. • The
voiced palato-alveolar affricate can be written in two ways: as ( 'semivocalic ') or as ( 'plosive '). In many varieties of Bengali, are not distinct from this phoneme, but speakers who distinguish them may use the letters and with contrast. • Post-
reform, the letter was introduced to distinguish it from
note]: • The
semivowel cannot occur at the beginning of a word. The name of is 'semivocalic ẏ'. The pronunciation of varies between the glides and . • The name of is ('semivocalic y'), whose onset was originally pronounced as a glide but became an affricate in modern Bengali. It is found almost entirely at the beginning of words. • When present in the middle of words, in conjuncts, is represented as a distinct letter: ( ), which is mostly silent or semi-silent. The may either alter the pronunciation of the surrounding vowel, genimate the preceding consonant, or be completely silent. • Since the
nasals and cannot occur at the beginning of a word in Bengali, their names are actually pronounced (i.e.,
(n)ĩẏô) and (i.e.,
uṅô~
umô), respectively. • There is a difference in the pronunciation of and , 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. and were introduced to the inventory during the Vidyasagarian reform to indicate the
retroflex flap in the pronunciation of and 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 in modern Bengali.
Notes Consonant conjuncts Clusters of up to four consonants can be orthographically represented as a
typographic ligature, called a consonant conjunct ( , or more precisely, ). 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
lô underneath
śô in Bengali creates the conjunct , which is pronounced (and not ) in Bengali. Many conjuncts represent Sanskrit sounds that were lost centuries before modern Bengali was ever spoken; for instance,
jñô, which is a combination of
jô and
ñô, is pronounced
ggô in modern Bengali (which does not permit the sequence ). 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.,
kkô,
gnô,
glô,
nnô,
pnô,
ppô,
llô, etc. • As the last member of a conjunct,
bô can hang on the vertical line under the preceding consonants, taking the shape of
bô (including
bôphôla), e.g.
gbô,
ṇbô,
dbô,
lbô,
śbô. • The consonants can also be placed side-by-side, sharing their vertical line, e.g.,
ddô,
ndô,
bdô,
bjô ,
pṭô,
sṭô,
ścô,
śchô, 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.,
dgô,
dghô,
ḍḍô. • As the last member of a conjunct,
bô can appear immediately to the right of the preceding consonant, taking the shape of
bô (including
bôphôla), e.g.,
dhbô,
bbô,
hbô.
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
ṅô,
cô,
ḍô, and
bô are often compressed and placed at the top-left of the following consonant with little or no change to the basic shape, e.g.,
ṅkṣô,
ṅkhô,
ṅghô,
ṅmô,
ccô,
cchô,
cñô,
ḍḍhô,
bbô. • As the first member of a conjunct,
tô is compressed and placed above the following consonant, with little or no change to the basic shape, e.g.,
tnô,
tmô,
tbô. • As the first member of a conjunct,
mô is compressed and simplified to a curved shape. It is placed above or to the top-left of the following consonant, e.g.,
mnô,
mpô,
mphô,
mbô,
mbhô,
mmô,
mlô. • As the first member of a conjunct,
ṣô 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.,
ṣkô,
ṣṭô,
ṣṭhô,
ṣpô,
ṣphô,
ṣmô. • As the first member of a conjunct,
sô is compressed and simplified to a ribbon shape. It is placed above or to the top-left of the following consonant, e.g.,
skô,
skhô,
stô,
sthô,
snô,
spô,
sphô,
sbô,
smô,
slô.
Abbreviated forms Some consonants are abbreviated when appearing in conjuncts and lose part of their basic shape. • As the first member of a conjunct,
jô can lose its final down-stroke, e.g.,
jjô,
jñô,
jbô. • As the first member of a conjunct,
ñô can lose its bottom half, e.g.,
ñcô,
ñchô,
ñjô,
ñjhô. • As the last member of a conjunct,
ñô can lose its left half (the part), e.g.,
jñô. • As first members of a conjunct,
ṇô and
pô can lose their respective down-strokes, e.g.,
ṇṭhô,
ṇḍô,
ptô,
psô. • As first members of a conjunct,
tô and
bhô can lose their final upward tails, e.g.,
ttô,
tthô,
trô,
bhrô. • As the last member of a conjunct,
thô can lose its final upstroke, taking the form of
hô instead, e.g.,
nthô ,
sthô,
mthô. • As the last member of a conjunct,
mô can lose its initial down-stroke, e.g.,
kmô,
gmô,
ṅmô,
ṭmô,
ṇmô,
tmô,
dmô,
nmô,
mmô,
śmô,
ṣmô,
smô. • As the last member of a conjunct,
sô can lose its top half, e.g.,
ksô. • As last members of a conjunct,
ṭô,
ḍô, and
ḍhô can lose their respective
matra, e.g.,
pṭô,
ṇḍô,
ṇṭô,
ṇḍhô. • As the last member of a conjunct
ḍô can change its shape, e.g.,
ṇḍô.
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
rô or
tô,
kô takes on the same form as
tô would with the addition of a curl to the right, e.g.,
krô,
ktô. • When preceded by the abbreviated form of
ñô,
cô takes the shape of
bô, e.g.,
ñcô. • When preceded by another
ṭô, is reduced to a leftward curl, e.g.,
ṭṭô. • When preceded by
ṣô,
ṇô appears as two loops to the right, e.g.,
ṣṇô. • As the first member of a conjunct, or when at the end of a word and followed by no vowel,
tô can appear as , e.g.,
tsô,
tpô,
tkô, etc. • When preceded by
hô,
nô appears as a curl to the right, e.g.,
hnô. • Certain combinations must be memorised: (+)
kṣô, (+)
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.
Notes 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. 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 and 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 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). 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. == Comparison of Bengali script with ancestral and related scripts ==