Bengali script

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Image:Example.of.complex.text.rendering.svg This article contains Indic text.
Without rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes or other symbols instead of Indic characters; or irregular vowel positioning and a lack of conjuncts.
Bengali abugida
Type Abugida
Languages Bengali
Time period 11th Century to the present[1]
Parent systems Proto-Sinaitic
 → Phoenician
  → Aramaic
   → Brāhmī
    → Gupta script
     → Siddham
      → Eastern Nagari
       → Bengali abugida
ISO 15924 Beng
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
The Brahmic script and its descendants

Brahmi

The Bengali script (Bengali: বাংলা লিপি Bangla lipi) is a variant of the Eastern Nagari script also used for Assamese and Bishnupriya Manipuri. The Eastern Nagari script belongs to the Brahmic family of scripts, along with the Devanagari script and other written systems of the Indian subcontinent. It is an abugida system of writing, although it is less blocky and presents a more sinuous shaping than Devanagari. Both Eastern Nagari and Devanagari were derived from the ancient Nagari script. 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.

In this and other articles on Wikipedia dealing with the Bengali language, a Romanization scheme used by linguists specializing in Bengali phonology is included along with IPA transcription.

Contents

[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.

This table reflects the modernized Bengali script system, which eliminates three of the traditional vowels, rii, li, and lii, traditionally placed between ri and e.

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/rifôla kri /kri/
এ e কে ekar kê and ke /kæ/ and /ke/
ঐ oi (ai) কৈ oikar koi /koj/
ও o কো okar ko /ko/
ঔ ou (au) 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 /kɔ̃/

[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.

The "modern" Bengali alphabet eliminates some letters traditionally included in the table, particularly a second bo (ôntostho bô) that follows lo. This bo originally represented a v or w sound which merged with b (borgio bô) in Bengali and were represented with identical symbols occurring in two different places in the alphabet.

Consonants
Letter Name of Letter Transliteration IPA
ক kô k /k/
খ khô kh /kʰ/
গ gô g /g/
ঘ ghô gh /gʱ/
ঙ ungô, umô ņ /ŋ/
চ chô ch /tʃ/
ছ chhô chh /tʃʰ/
জ borgio jô
(burgijjô) 		j /dʒ/
ঝ jhô jh /dʒʱ/
ঞ ingô, niô n /n/
ট ţô ţ /ʈ/
ঠ ţhô ţh /ʈʰ/
ড đô đ /ɖ/
ঢ đhô đh /ɖʱ/
ণ murdhonno nô
(moddhennô) 		n /n/
ত tô t /t̪/
থ thô th /t̪ʰ/
দ dô d /d̪/
ধ dhô dh /d̪ʱ/
ন donto nô
(dontennô) 		n /n/
প pô p /p/
ফ fô f /f/
ব bô b /b/
ভ bhô bh /bʱ/
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

The Bengali script has ten digits corresponding to the Arabic numerals. Bengali digits have no horizontal headstroke or "matra". When writing large numbers, commas are used to separate the thousand, the "lakh" (i.e., the "hundred thousand" or 1/10th of a million), and the "koti" (i.e., the "hundred lakh" or 10 million) units. For example, the English number 17,557,345 will be written in traditional Bengali as ১,৭৫,৫৭,৩৪৫.

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
শুন্য এক দুই তিন চার পাঁচ ছয় সাত আট নয়
Assamese names xuinno ek dui tini sari pas sôy xat ath nô
শুন্য এক দুই তিনি চাৰি পাচ ছয় সাত আঠ ন

[edit] Bengali in Unicode

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

  0123456789ABCDEF
980 ঀঁংঃ঄অআইঈউঊঋঌ঍঎এ
990 ঐ঑঒ওঔকখগঘঙচছজঝঞট
9A0 ঠডঢণতথদধন঩পফবভময
9B0 র঱ল঳঴঵শষসহ঺঻়ঽাি
9C0 ীুূৃৄ৅৆েৈ৉৊োৌ্ৎ৏
9D0 ৐৑৒৓৔৕৖ৗ৘৙৚৛ড়ঢ়৞য়
9E0 ৠৡৢৣ৤৥০১২৩৪৫৬৭৮৯
9F0 ৰৱ৲৳৴৵৶৷৸৹৺৻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 Rabindranath Tagore (Thakur in Bengali) who is acknowledged as the single most important and defining figure of Bengali literature.

Bengali Text of Jôno Gôno Môno:

জনগণমন-অধিনায়ক জয় হে ভারত ভাগ্য বিধাতা!
পঞ্জাব সিন্ধু গুজরাট মরাঠা দ্রাবিড় উত্কল বঙ্গ
বিন্ধ্য হিমাচল যমুনা গঙ্গা উচ্ছল জলধি তরঙ্গ
তব শুভ নামে জাগে, তব শুভ আশিস মাগে,
গাহে তব জয় গাথা।
জনগণমঙ্গলদায়ক জয় হে ভারতভাগ্যবিধাতা!
জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় হে, জয় জয় জয়, জয় হে ॥

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!

[edit] References

  1. ^  Ancient Scripts

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

digital encoding and rendering


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