Bengali alphabet

The Bengali script has a total of 9 vowel graphemes, each of which is called a স্বরবর্ণ swôrôbôrnô "vowel letter". The swôrôbôrnôs 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.

• "অ" ô (স্বর অ shôrô ô, "vocalic ô") /ɔ/ sounds as the default inherent vowel for the entire Bengali script. Bengali, Assamese and Odia which are Eastern languages have this value for the inherent vowel, while other languages using Brahmic scripts have a for their inherent vowel.
• 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 since there is no /æ/ sound in Sanskrit, the primary written language when the script was conceived. As a result, the sound is orthographically realised by multiple means in modern Bengali orthography, usually using some combination of "এ" e (স্বর এ shôrô e, "vocalic e") /e/, "অ", "আ" [6]a (স্বর আ shôrô a) /a/ and the যফলা jôphôla (diacritic form of the consonant grapheme য jô).
• 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, a language that had short and long vowels: "ই" i (হ্রস্ব ই rôshshô i, "short i") /i/ and "ঈ" ī (দীর্ঘ ঈ dirghô ī, "long ī") /iː/, and "উ" u (হ্রস্ব উ rôshshô u) /u/ and "ঊ" ū (দীর্ঘ ঊ dirghô ū) /uː/. The letters are preserved in the Bengali script with their traditional names despite the fact that they are no longer pronounced differently in ordinary speech. These graphemes serve an etymological function, however, in preserving the original Sanskrit spelling in tôtsômô Bengali words (words borrowed from Sanskrit).
• The grapheme called "ঋ" ṛ (or হ্রস্ব ঋ rôshshô ri, "short ri", as it used to be) does not really represent a vowel phoneme in Bengali but 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). Another grapheme called "ঌ" ḷ (or হ্রস্ব ঌ rôshshô li as it used to be) representing the vocalic equivalent of a dental approximant in Sanskrit but actually representing the consonant-vowel combination লি /li/ in Bengali instead of a vowel phoneme, was also included in the vowel section but unlike "ঋ", it was recently discarded from the inventory since its usage was extremely limited 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 কার kar.
• 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 called the হসন্ত hôsôntô (্) may be written underneath the consonant.
• Although there are only two diphthongs in the inventory of the script: "ঐ" oi (স্বর ঐ shôrô oi, "vocalic oi") /oi/ and "ঔ" ou (স্বর ঔ shôrô ou) /ou/, the Bengali phonetic system has, in fact, many diphthongs.[nb 1] Most diphthongs are represented by juxtaposing the graphemes of their forming vowels, as in কেউ keu /keu/.
• There also used to be two long vowels: "ৠ" ṝ (দীর্ঘ ৠ dirghô rri, "long rri") and "ৡ" ḹ (দীর্ঘ ৡ dirghô lli), 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 (since the late nineteenth century) inventory of the Bengali alphabet:

Consonant letters are called ব্যঞ্জনবর্ণ bænjônbôrnô "consonant letter" 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 (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 ন dôntyô nô ("dental nô") and মূর্ধন্য ণ murdhônyô nô ("retroflex nô"). 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 the spelling does not reflect the change.
• Although still named murdhônyô when they are being taught, retroflex consonants do not exist in Bengali and are instead fronted to their postalveolar and alveolar equivalents.[9]
• The voiceless palato-alveolar sibilant phoneme /ʃ/ can be written as শ, (তালব্য শ talôbyô shô, "palatal shô"), ষ (মূর্ধন্য ষ murdhônyô shô, "retroflex shô"), or স (দন্ত্য স dôntyô sô, "dental sô" voiceless alveolar fricative), depending on the word.
• The voiced palato-alveolar affricate phoneme /dʒ/ can be written in two ways, as য (অন্তঃস্থ য ôntôsthô jô) or জ (বর্গীয় জ bôrgiyô 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.
• Post-reform, the letter য় was introduced to distinguish it from য [note]:
  • The semivowel য় yô /e̯ɔ/ cannot occur at the beginning of a word .[lower-alpha 1] The name of য় is অন্তঃস্থ অ ôntôsthô ô ('semi-vowel y') [the y is silent in the pronunciation of its name]. The pronunciation of য় yô /e̯ɔ/ varies between ⟨w⟩ and ⟨j⟩ ['w' and 'y'].
  • The name of য is অন্তঃস্থ য ôntôsthô jô ('semi-vowel j'). 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 jôphôla) which is mostly silent or semi-silent (see below). Jôphôla may alter the pronunciation of the surrounding vowel or double the preceding consonant or be completely silent.
• Since the nasals ঞ ñô /ẽɔ/ and ঙ ngô /ŋɔ/ cannot occur at the beginning of a word in Bengali, their names are not ñô and ngô respectively but উঙ ungô (pronounced by some as উম umô or উঁঅ ũô) and ইঞ iñô (pronounced by some as নীয় niyô or ইঙ ingô) respectively.
• There is a difference in the pronunciation of ড় ṛô (ড-এ শূন্য ড় ḍô-e shunyô ṛô, "ṛô (as) ḍô with a zero (the figure is used analogous to the ring below diacritic as the Bengali equivalent of the Devanagari nuqta, which is again analogous to the underdot)") and ঢ় ṛhô (ঢ-এ শূন্য ঢ় ḍhô-e shunyô ṛhô) with that of র rô (sometimes called ব-এ শূন্য র bô-e shunyô rô for distinguishing purpose) - similar to other Indic languages. This is especially true in the parlance of western and southern part 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. Yet in ordinary speech these letters are pronounced the same as র in modern Bengali.

The consonant ligature ndrô (ন্দ্র) : ন (nô) in green, দ (dô) in blue and র (rô) in maroon.

Clusters of up to four consonants can be orthographically represented as a typographic ligature called a consonant conjunct (Bengali: যুক্তাক্ষর/যুক্তবর্ণ juktakkhôr/juktôbôrnô or more specifically যুক্তব্যঞ্জন). Typically, the first consonant in the conjunct is shown above and/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 shô in Bengali creates the conjunct শ্ল, which is not pronounced shlô but slô in Bengali. Many conjuncts represent Sanskrit sounds that were lost centuries before modern Bengali was ever spoken as in জ্ঞ. It is a combination of জ ǰô and ঞ ñô but it is not pronounced "ǰñô" or "jnô". Instead, it is pronounced ggô in modern Bengali. 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.

(Some graphemes may appear in a form other than the mentioned form due to the font used)

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 their vertical line: 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 (includes বফলা bôphôla): গ্ব gbô ণ্ব "ṇbô" দ্ব "dbô" ল্ব lbô শ্ব "shbô".
• The consonants can also be placed side-by-side, sharing their vertical line: দ্দ ddô ন্দ ndô ব্দ bdô ব্জ bǰô প্ট pṭô স্ট sṭô শ্চ shchô শ্ছ shchhô, etc.

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: 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 (includes বফলা bôphôla): ধ্ব "dhbô" ব্ব bbô হ্ব "hbô".

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 ngô চ chô 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: ঙ্ক্ষ "ngkṣô" ঙ্খ ngkhô ঙ্ঘ ngghô ঙ্ম ngmô চ্চ chchô চ্ছ chchhô চ্ঞ "chnô" 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: 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: ম্ন mnô ম্প mpô ম্ফ mfô 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: ষ্ক ṣkô ষ্ট ṣṭô ষ্ঠ ṣṭhô ষ্প ṣpô ষ্ফ ṣfô 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: স্ক skô স্খ skhô স্ত stô স্থ sthô স্ন snô স্প spô স্ফ sfô স্ব "sbô" স্ম "smô" স্ল slô.

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

• As the first member of a conjunct, জ ǰô can lose its final down-stroke: জ্জ ǰǰô জ্ঞ "ǰñô" জ্ব "jbô".
• As the first member of a conjunct, ঞ ñô can lose its bottom half: ঞ্চ ñchô ঞ্ছ ñchhô ঞ্জ ñǰô ঞ্ঝ ñǰhô.
• As the last member of a conjunct, ঞ ñô can lose its left half (the এ part): জ্ঞ "ǰñô".
• As the first member of a conjunct, ণ ṇô and প pô can lose their down-stroke: ণ্ঠ ṇṭhô ণ্ড ṇḍô প্ত ptô প্স psô.
• As the first member of a conjunct, ত tô and ভ bhô can lose their final upward tail: 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: ন্থ nthô স্থ sthô ম্থ mthô
• As the last member of a conjunct, ম mô can lose its initial down-stroke: ক্ম "kmô" গ্ম "gmô" ঙ্ম ngmô ট্ম "ṭmô" ণ্ম "ṇmô" ত্ম "tmô" দ্ম "dmô" ন্ম nmô ম্ম mmô শ্ম "shmô" ষ্ম ṣmô স্ম "smô".
• As the last member of a conjunct, স sô can lose its top half: ক্স ksô.
• As the last member of a conjunct ট ṭô, ড ḍô and ঢ ḍhô can lose their matra: প্ট pṭô ণ্ড ṇḍô ণ্ট ṇṭô ণ্ঢ ṇḍhô.
• As the last member of a conjunct ড ḍô can change its shape: ণ্ড ṇḍô

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

• As the first member of a conjunct, ঙ ngô can appear as a loop and curl: ঙ্ক ngkô ঙ্গ nggô.
• 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 ǰhô instead: গ্ধ gdhô দ্ধ ddhô ন্ধ ndhô ব্ধ bdhô.
• As the first member of a conjunct, র rô appears as a diagonal stroke (called রেফ ref) above the following member: 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: 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: জ্র ǰrô 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: ক্র krô ত্র trô ভ্র bhrô.
• As the last member of a conjunct, য jô appears as a wavy vertical line (called যফলা jôphôla) to the right of the previous member: ক্য "kyô" খ্য "khyô" গ্য "gyô" ঘ্য "ghyô" etc.
  • In some fonts, certain conjuncts with যফলা jôphôla appear using special fused forms: দ্য "dyô" ন্য "nyô" শ্য "shyô" ষ্য "ṣyô" স্য "syô" হ্য "hyô".

• 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: ক্র krô, ক্ত ktô.
• When preceded by the abbreviated form of ঞ ñô, চ chô takes the shape of ব bô: ঞ্চ ñchô
• When preceded by another ট ṭô, ট is reduced to a leftward curl: ট্ট ṭṭô.
• When preceded by ষ ṣô, ণ ṇô appears as two loops to the right: 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: ৎস "tsô" ৎপ tpô ৎক tkô etc.
• When preceded by হ hô, ন nô appears as a curl to the right: হ্ন "hnô".
• Certain combinations must be memorised: ক্ষ "kṣô" হ্ম "hmô".

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 shô, it takes on a variant form resembling the final tail of ও o: গু gu শু shu.
  • 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: 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: রু ru গ্রু gru ত্রু tru থ্রু thru দ্রু dru ধ্রু dhru ব্রু bru ভ্রু bhru শ্রু shru.
  • When following হ hô, it appears as an extra curl: 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 rū গ্রূ grū থ্রূ thrū দ্রূ drū ধ্রূ dhrū ভ্রূ bhrū শ্রূ shrū.
• ঋ ri
  • When following হ hô, it takes the variant shape of ঊ u: হৃ hri.
• Conjuncts of three consonants also exist, and follow the same rules as above: স sô + ত tô +র rô = স্ত্র strô, ম mô + প pô + র rô = ম্প্র mprô, জ ǰô + জ ǰô + ব bô = জ্জ্ব "ǰǰbô", 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.
• Also theoretically, 5-letter conjucts can be created, as র rô + স sô + ট tô + র rô + ঁ = র্স্ট্রঁ (pronounced rsṭrô but nasalised: rsṭrôñ). Here ঁ is a diacritic which nasalises the previous vowel. A theoretical 6-letter conjunct would be র্স্ট্রাঁ (rsṭrañ/rsṭra), with the addition of a (আ) to র্স্ট্রঁ, and a theoretical 7-letter conjunct would be like র্স্ট্র‍্যাঁ (rsṭrya/rsṭryañ) with the addition of য to র্স্ট্রাঁ.

These are mainly the Brahmi-Sanskrit diacritics, phones and punctuation marks present in languages with Sanskrit influence or Brahmi-derived scripts.

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 hazar), the hundred thousand or lakh (লাখ lakh or লক্ষ lôkkhô), and the ten million or hundred lakh or crore (কোটি koti) units. In other words, 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.

Bengali punctuation marks, apart from the downstroke দাড়ি dari (।), 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, as in পাটা pata "plank" and পাʼটা pa'ta "the leg". Sometimes, a hyphen is used for the same purpose (as in পা-টা, an alternative of পাʼটা).

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 western scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, etc.) 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.[12]