Bengali script

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Bengali abugida
Type:	Abugida
Languages:	Bengali, Assamese, Meitei
Time period:	~1200 CE to the present
Parent writing systems:	Proto-Sinaitic Phoenician Aramaic Brāhmī Gupta script Siddham Bengali abugida
ISO 15924 code:	`Beng`
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-based pronunciation key.

The Bengali script (Bengali: বাংলা লিপি Bangla lipi) is an Abugida system of writing belonging to the Brahmic family of scripts whose use is associated with the Bangla, Assamese, Bishnupriya Manipuri, Manipuri and Sylheti languages. While it is very similar to Devanagari, it is less blocky and presents a more sinuous shaping, and is derived from a precursor of that script called Nagari. The modern script was formalized in 1778 when it was first typeset by Charles Wilkins. In addition to differences in how the letters are pronounced in the different languages, there are some minor typographical differences between the version of the script used for Assamese and Bishnupriya Manipuri, and that used for Bengali and other languages. For example, the letter rô (Bengali র; Assamese ৰ; Bishnupriya Manipuri র/ৰ) and wô (Bengali not available; Assamese/Bishnupriya Manipuri ৱ) have distinct variations depending on the language being written.

The Bengali script was originally not associated with any particular language, but was prevalent as the main script in the eastern regions of Medieval India. The script was originally used to write Sanskrit, which for centuries was the only written language of the Indian Subcontinent. Epics of Hindu scripture, including the Mahabharata or Ramayana, were written in older versions of the Bengali script in this region. After the medieval period, the use of Sanskrit as the sole written language gave way to Pali, and eventually the vernacular languages we know now as Bengali and Assamese. Srimanta Sankardeva used it in the 15th and 16th centuries to compose his oeuvre in Assamese and Brajavali the language of the Bhakti poets. It was also used by the later Ahom kings to write the Buranjis, the Ahom chronicles, in the Assamese language. There is a rich legacy of Indian literature written in this script, which is still occasionally used to write Sanskrit today.

Clusters of consonants are represented by different and sometimes quite irregular characters; thus, learning to read the script is complicated by the sheer size of the full set of characters and character combinations, numbering about 500. While efforts at standardizing the script for the Bengali language continue in such notable centers as the Bangla Academies (unaffiliated) at Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Kolkata (West Bengal, India), it is still not quite uniform as yet, as many people continue to use various archaic forms of letters, resulting in concurrent forms for the same sounds. Among the various regional variations within this script, only the Assamese and Bengali variations exist today in the formalized system.

It seems likely that the standardization of the script will be greatly influenced by the need to typeset it on computers. The large alphabet can be represented, with a great deal of ingenuity, within the ASCII character set, omitting certain irregular conjuncts. Work has been underway since around 2001 to develop Unicode fonts, and it seems likely that it will split into two variants, traditional and modern.

1 Bengali symbols
2 Bengali in Unicode
3 Sample Text
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Bengali symbols

[edit] Vowels

The script presently has a total of 11 vowel letters, used to represent the seven main vowel sounds of Bengali, along with a number of vowel diphthongs. All of these are used in both Bengali and Assamese, the two main languages using the script. Some of the vowel letters have different sounds depending on the word, and a number of vowel distinctions preserved in the writing system are not pronounced as such in modern spoken Bengali or Assamese. For example, the Bengali script has two symbols for the vowel sound [i] and two symbols for the vowel sound [u]. This redundancy stems from the time when this script was used to write Sanskrit, a language that had a short [i] and a long [iː], and a short [u] and a long [uː]. These letters are preserved in the Bengali script with their traditional names of rhôshsho i (lit. 'short i') and dirgho i (lit. 'long i'), etc., despite the fact that they are no longer pronounced differently in ordinary speech.

Vowel signs can be used in conjunction with consonants to modify the pronunciation of the consonant (here exemplified by ক, kô). When no vowel is written, the vowel 'অ' (ô or o) is often assumed. To specifically denote the absence of a vowel, a hôshonto (্) may be written underneath the consonant.

**Vowels**
Letter	Name of letter	Vowel sign with [kɔ] (ক)	Name of vowel sign	Transliteration	IPA
অ	shôro ô	ক (none)	(none)	kô and ko	kɔ and ko
আ	shôro a	কা	akar	ka	ka
ই	rhôshsho i	কি	rhoshshikar	ki	ki
ঈ	dirgho i	কী	dirghikar	ki	ki
উ	rhôshsho u	কু	rhoshshukar	ku	ku
ঊ	dirgho u	কূ	dirghukar	ku	ku
ঋ	ri	কৃ	rikar	kri	kri
এ	e	কে	ekar	kê and ke	kæ and ke
ঐ	oi	কৈ	oikar	koi	koj
ও	o	কো	okar	ko	ko
ঔ	ou	কৌ	oukar	kou	kow

[edit] Modifiers

**Other modifier symbols**
Symbol with [kɔ] (ক)	Name	Function	Transliteration	IPA
ক্	hôshonto	Suppresses the inherent vowel	k	[k]
কৎ	khônđo tô	Final unaspirated dental [t̪] (ত)	kôt	[kɔt̪]
কং	ônushshôr	Final velar nasal	kôņ	[kɔŋ]
কঃ	bishôrgo	Final voiceless breath	kôh	[kɔh]
কঁ	chôndrobindu	Vowel nasalization	kôñ	[kɔ~]

[edit] Consonants

The names of the consonant letters in Bengali are typically just the consonant's main pronunciation plus the inherent vowel 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 ঘ ghô). Some letters that have lost their distinctive pronunciation in Modern Bengali are called by a more elaborate name. For example, since the consonant phoneme /n/ can be written ন, ণ, or ঞ (depending on the spelling of the particular word), these letters are not simply called nô; instead, they are called দন্ত্য ন donto nô ("dental n"), মূর্ধন্য ণ murdhonno nô ("cerebral n"), and ঞীয়/ইঙ niô/ingô. Similarly, the phoneme /ʃ/ can be written as শ talobbo shô ("palatal s"), ষ murdhonno shô ("cerebral s"), or স donto shô ("dental s"), depending on the word. Since the consonant ঙ /ŋ/ cannot occur at the beginning of a word in Bengali, its name is not ঙ ngô but উঙ ungô (pronounced by some as উম umô or উঁঅ ũô). Similarly, since semivowels ([j], [w], [e̯], [o̯]) cannot occur at the beginning of a Bengali word, the name for "semi-vowel e̯" য় is not অন্তঃস্থ য় ôntostho e̯ô but অন্তঃস্থ অ ôntostho ô.

**Consonants**
Letter	Name of Letter	Transliteration	IPA
ক	kô	k	k
খ	khô	kh	k^h
গ	gô	g	g
ঘ	ghô	gh	g^ɦ
ঙ	ungô, umô	ņ	ŋ
চ	chô	ch	tʃ
ছ	chhô	chh	tʃ^h
জ	borgio jô (burgijjô)	j	dʒ
ঝ	jhô	jh	dʒ^ɦ
ঞ	ingô, niô	n	n
ট	ţô	ţ	ʈ
ঠ	ţhô	ţh	ʈ^h
ড	đô	đ	ɖ
ঢ	đhô	đh	ɖ^ɦ
ণ	murdhonno nô (moddhennô)	n	n
ত	tô	t	t̪
থ	thô	th	t̪^h
দ	dô	d	d̪
ধ	dhô	dh	d̪^ɦ
ন	donto nô (dontennô)	n	n
প	pô	p	p
ফ	phô	ph	p^h
ব	bô	b	b
ভ	bhô	bh	b^ɦ
ম	mô	m	m
য	ôntostho jô (ontostejô)	j	dʒ
র	bôe shunno rô	r	ɾ
ল	lô	l	l
শ	talobbo shô (taleboshshô)	sh and s	ʃ/s
ষ	murdhonno shô	sh	ʃ
স	donto shô (donteshshô)	sh and s	ʃ/s
হ	hô	h	h
য়	ôntostho ô (ontosteô)	e and -	e̯/-
ড়	đôe shunno ŗô	ŗ	ɽ
ঢ়	đhôe shunno ŗô	ŗh	ɽ

[edit] Digits

**Digits**
Arabic numerals	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Bengali numerals	০	১	২	৩	৪	৫	৬	৭	৮	৯
Bengali names	shunno	êk	dui	tin	char	pañch	chhôe	shat	aţ	nôe
Bengali names	শুন্য	এক	দুই	তিন	চার	পাঁচ	ছয়	সাত	আট	নয়
Assamese names	xuinno	ek	dui	tini	sari	pas	sôy	xat	ath	nô
Assamese names	শুন্য	এক	দুই	তিনি	চাৰি	পাচ	ছয়	সাত	আঠ	ন

[edit] Bengali in Unicode

The Unicode range for Bengali is U+0980 ... U+09FF.

980

ঀ

ঁ

ং

ঃ

঄

অ

আ

ই

ঈ

উ

ঊ

ঋ

ঌ

঍

঎

এ

990

ঐ

঑

঒

ও

ঔ

ক

খ

গ

ঘ

ঙ

চ

ছ

জ

ঝ

ঞ

ট

9A0

ঠ

ড

ঢ

ণ

ত

থ

দ

ধ

ন

঩

প

ফ

ব

ভ

ম

য

9B0

র

঱

ল

঳

঴

঵

শ

ষ

স

হ

঺

঻

়

ঽ

া

ি

9C0

ী

ু

ূ

ৃ

ৄ

৅

৆

ে

ৈ

৉

৊

ো

ৌ

্

ৎ

৏

9D0

৐

৑

৒

৓

৔

৕

৖

ৗ

৘

৙

৚

৛

ড়

ঢ়

৞

য়

9E0

ৠ

ৡ

ৢ

ৣ

৤

৥

০

১

২

৩

৪

৫

৬

৭

৮

৯

9F0

ৰ

ৱ

৲

৳

৴

৵

৶

৷

৸

৹

৺

৻

ৼ

৽

৾

৿

[edit] Sample Text

The following is a sample text of script. The selection is a Bengali song, highly Sanskritized in pronunciation and vocabulary. The song was later adopted as the national anthem of India. It was written by a man who is acknowledged as the single most important and defining figure of Bengali literature, the Nobel Laureate and philosopher-saint poet Rabindranath Tagore (Thakur in Bengali).

Bengali Text of Jôno Gôno Môno:

জনগণমন-অধিনায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!
পঞ্জাব সিন্ধু গুজরাট মরাঠা দ্রাবিড় উত্কল বঙ্গ
বিন্ধ্য হিমাচল যমুনা গঙ্গা উচ্ছলজলধিতরঙ্গ
তব শুভ নামে জাগে, তব শুভ আশিস মাগে,
গাহে তব জয়গাথা।
জনগণমঙ্গলদায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!
জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় জয় জয়, জয় হে॥

জনগণমন-অধিনায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!

In Romanization:

Jônogônomono-odhinaeoko jôeô he Bharotobhaggobidhata!
Pônjabo Shindhu Gujoraţo Môraţha Drabiŗo Utkôlo Bônggo,
Bindho Himachôlo Jomuna Gôngga Uchchhôlojôlodhitoronggo,
Tôbo shubho name jage, tôbo shubho ashish mage,
Gahe tôbo jôeogatha.
Jônogônomonggolodaeoko jôeô he Bharotobhaggobidhata!
Jôeo he, jôeo he, jôeo he, jôeo jôeo jôeo, jôeo he!
Jônogônomono-odhinaeoko jôeô he Bharotobhaggobidhata!