Bengali alphabet

From a classificatory point of view, the Bengali writing system is derived from the Brahmi script. 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 'measure'). The punctuation is all borrowed from 19th-century English, with the exception of one.

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. 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 অ ô (স্বর অ sbôr 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 in other Indic languages using a Brahmi-derived script – all of which ultimately derive from the Sanskrit inherent vowel अ a .
• 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 অ্যা ê is widespread and is found to be used in many contexts of , 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 এ e (স্বর এ sbôr e 'vocalic e'), অ ô, আ a (স্বর আ sbôr a 'vocalic a'), and the yôphôla (যফলা ) (the diacritic form of the consonant grapheme য yô ). Thus ক written with the vowel অ্যা is written as ক্যা .
• 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 : ই (হ্রস্ব ই hrôsbô i 'short i') and ঈ (দীর্ঘ ঈ dirghô i 'long i') are both pronounced ; and উ (হ্রস্ব উ 'short u') and ঊ (দীর্ঘ ঊ '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 ঋ ṛ (হ্রস্ব ঋ 'short ri') does not actually represent a vowel phoneme in Bengali, but instead represents the consonant-vowel combination রি . 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, ঌ ḷ (হ্রস্ব ঌ 'short li'), which represented the vocalic equivalent of a dental approximant in Sanskrit but actually represented the consonant-vowel combination লি 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 , 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 (হসন্ত hôsôntô) may be written underneath the consonant.
• Although there are only two diphthongs in the inventory of the script – ঐ oi (স্বর ঐ sbôr oi) and (ঔ ou (স্বর ঔ sbôr ou) – the Bengali phonemic inventory has many more diphthongs. Most diphthongs are represented by juxtaposing the graphemes of their constituent vowels, as in কেউ keu .
• There also used to be two long vowels – ৠ ṛṛi and ৡ ḷḷi – 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:

Consonants

Consonant letters are called ব্যঞ্জনবর্ণ bênjônbôrṇô 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).

• 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 ন and ণ, the letters are not called simply nô; instead, they are called দন্ত্য ন dôntyô nô ('dental nô') and মূর্ধন্য ণ murdhônyô nô ('retroflex nô'). What was once pronounced and written as a retroflex nasal ণ is now pronounced as an alveolar (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.
• The voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant phoneme can be written as শ (তালব্য শ talôbyô śô 'palatal śô'), ষ (মূর্ধন্য ষ murdhônyô ṣô 'retroflex ṣô') or স (দন্ত্য স dôntyô sô 'dental sô'). 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 য (অন্তঃস্থ য ôntôḥsthô yô 'semivocalic yô') or as জ (বর্গীয় জ bôrgiẏô jô 'plosive jô'). In many varieties of Bengali, are not distinct from this phoneme, but speakers who distinguish them may use the letters য and জ with contrast.
• Post-reform, the letter য় was introduced to distinguish it from য [note]:
  • The semivowel য় ẏô cannot occur at the beginning of a word. The name of য় is অন্তঃস্থ অ ôntôḥsthô ô 'semivocalic ẏ'. The pronunciation of য় ẏô varies between the glides and .
  • The name of য is অন্তঃস্থ য ôntôḥsthô yô ('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, য is represented as a distinct letter: ্য (যফলা yôphôla), 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 nasals ঞ ñô and ঙ ṅô 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 ড় ṛô and ঢ় ṛhô, 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. ড় and ঢ় were introduced to the inventory during the Vidyasagarian reform to indicate the retroflex flap in the pronunciation of ড ḍô and ঢ ḍhô 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.

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 (and not ) 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 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., ক্ক kkô, গ্ন gnô, গ্ল glô, ন্ন nnô, প্ন pnô, প্প ppô, ল্ল llô, etc.
• As the last member of a conjunct, ব bô can hang on the vertical line under the preceding consonants, taking the shape of ব bô (including বফলা bôphôla), e.g. গ্ব gbô, ণ্ব ṇbô, দ্ব dbô, ল্ব lbô, শ্ব śbô.
• The consonants can also be placed side-by-side, sharing their vertical line, e.g., দ্দ ddô, ন্দ ndô, ব্দ bdô, ব্জ bjô প্ট, pṭô, স্ট sṭô, শ্চ ścô, শ্ছ 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., দ্গ dgô, দ্ঘ dghô, ড্ড ḍḍô.
• As the last member of a conjunct, ব bô can appear immediately to the right of the preceding consonant, taking the shape of ব bô (including বফলা bôphôla), e.g., ধ্ব dhbô, ব্ব bbô, হ্ব 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 ঙ ṅô, চ cô, ড ḍô, and ব 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., ঙ্ক্ষ ṅkṣô, ঙ্খ ṅkhô, ঙ্ঘ ṅghô, ঙ্ম ṅmô, চ্চ ccô, চ্ছ cchô, চ্ঞ cñô, ড্ঢ ḍḍhô, ব্‍ব bbô.
• As the first member of a conjunct, ত tô is compressed and placed above the following consonant, with little or no change to the basic shape, e.g., ত্ন tnô, ত্ম tmô, ত্ব tbô.
• As the first member of a conjunct, ম mô is compressed and simplified to a curved shape. It is placed above or to the top-left of the following consonant, e.g., ম্ন mnô, ম্প mpô, ম্ফ mphô, ম্ব mbô, ম্ভ mbhô, ম্ম mmô, ম্ল mlô.
• As the first member of a conjunct, ষ 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., ষ্ক ṣkô, ষ্ট ṣṭô, ষ্ঠ ṣṭhô, ষ্প ṣpô, ষ্ফ ṣphô, ষ্ম ṣmô.
• As the first member of a conjunct, স sô is compressed and simplified to a ribbon shape. It is placed above or to the top-left of the following consonant, e.g., স্ক skô, স্খ skhô, স্ত stô, স্থ sthô, স্ন snô, স্প spô, স্ফ sphô, স্ব sbô, স্ম smô, স্ল 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, জ jô can lose its final down-stroke, e.g., জ্জ jjô, জ্ঞ jñô, জ্ব jbô.
• As the first member of a conjunct, ঞ ñô can lose its bottom half, e.g., ঞ্চ ñcô, ঞ্ছ ñchô, ঞ্জ ñjô, ঞ্ঝ ñjhô.
• As the last member of a conjunct, ঞ ñô can lose its left half (the এ part), e.g., জ্ঞ jñô.
• As first members of a conjunct, ণ ṇô and প pô can lose their respective down-strokes, e.g., ণ্ঠ ṇṭhô, ণ্ড ṇḍô, প্ত ptô, প্স psô.
• As first members of a conjunct, ত tô and ভ bhô can lose their final upward tails, e.g., ত্ত ttô, ত্থ tthô, ত্র trô, ভ্র bhrô.
• As the last member of a conjunct, থ thô can lose its final upstroke, taking the form of হ hô instead, e.g., ন্থ nthô স্থ, sthô, ম্থ mthô.
• As the last member of a conjunct, ম mô can lose its initial down-stroke, e.g., ক্ম kmô, গ্ম gmô, ঙ্ম ṅmô, ট্ম ṭmô, ণ্ম ṇmô, ত্ম tmô, দ্ম dmô, ন্ম nmô, ম্ম mmô, শ্ম śmô, ষ্ম ṣmô, স্ম smô.
• As the last member of a conjunct, স sô can lose its top half, e.g., ক্স ksô.
• As last members of a conjunct, ট ṭô, ড ḍô, and ঢ ḍhô can lose their respective matra, e.g., প্ট pṭô, ণ্ড ṇḍô, ণ্ট ṇṭô, ণ্ঢ ṇḍhô.
• As the last member of a conjunct ড ḍô can change its shape, e.g., ণ্ড 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 র rô or ত tô, ক kô takes on the same form as ত tô would with the addition of a curl to the right, e.g., ক্র krô, ক্ত ktô.
• When preceded by the abbreviated form of ঞ ñô, চ cô takes the shape of ব bô, e.g., ঞ্চ ñcô.
• When preceded by another ট ṭô, ট is reduced to a leftward curl, e.g., ট্ট ṭṭô.
• When preceded by ষ ṣô, ণ ṇô appears as two loops to the right, e.g., ষ্ণ ṣṇô.
• As the first member of a conjunct, or when at the end of a word and followed by no vowel, ত tô can appear as ৎ, e.g., ৎস tsô, ৎপ tpô, ৎক tkô, etc.
• When preceded by হ hô, ন nô appears as a curl to the right, e.g., হ্ন hnô.
• 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.

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

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.