Chapter 3 (About Bangla Character)

The Bengali alphabet or Bangla alphabet or "Bangali/Bengali script" (Bengali: বাাংলা
লললি Bangla lipi) is the writing system for the Bengali language and is the 5th most widely used
writing system in the world due to their large number of population. The script is somewhat
similar to Assamese with minor variation as Bengali script evolved from Kamarupi script or
ancient Assamese,[2] and is the basis for the other writing systems like Meithei and Bishnupriya
Manipuri. Historically, the script has also been used to write Sanskrit in the region of Bengal.
3.1 vowel
The Bengali script has a total of 11 vowel graphemes of 50 letters, each of which is called
"vowel letter". The vowel represent six of the seven main vowel sounds of Bengali, along with
two vowel diphthongs.
Fig : vowel of bangle alphabet
3.2 consonant
in bangla alphabet 39 letters are Consonant letters are called Banjonborno "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.
Fig consonant of bangle alphabet
There are also 10 vowel modifiers (i.e Kar) and 7 consonant modifiers (i.e Fala) and 10 digits in
Bangla character set. Besides these, there are more than about 253 compound character
composed of 2, 3, or 4 consonants ( 200 compound characters composed of 2 consonants, 51
compound characters composed of 3 consonants and 2 compound characters composed of 4
consonants) [7].
VOWEL আ ই ঈ উ ঊ ঋ এ ঐ ও ঔ
MODIFIRE াা লা া া া া ো ৈা োা ো
WHEN ATTACHED TO ক কা লক ক ক ক ক েক ৈক েকা েক

As a result, the total number of pattern to be recognized is more than 310. It is very difficult to
recognize a single character form the large number of characters. To get better performance of
the system we have employed a grouping concept. We defined a group as a class. There are
many similar features in the characters. However, some very distinct features have also been
seen in some characters that make them completely different from others [6]. These features
could help us in forming the classes. We have classes with ‘Matra’, left vertical line, right
vertical line, upper part, disjoint part, lower part and with their composites. Some classes are
shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Features of some class
3.3 Consonant conjuncts
Up to four consecutive consonants not separated by vowels can be orthographically represented

as a typographic ligature called a "consonant conjunct"
(Bengali: যক্তাক্ষর juktakkhôr or যক্তবর্ juktôbôrnô).
ণ 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, which is a combination of জ jô and ঞ nô, but it is not pronounced 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.
3.4 Punctuation marks
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.
3.5 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
০ ১ ২ ৩ ৪ ৫ ৬ ৭ ৮ ৯
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 (ককাটি 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.
summery
The Bengali script is an abugida, i.e. Its vowel graphemes are mainly realised not as
independent letters, but as diacritics attached to its consonant letters. It is written from left to
right and lacks distinct letter cases. It is recognisable, as are other Brahmic scripts, by a
distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters that links them together which is
known as মাত্রা matra. The Bengali script is however less blocky and presents a more sinuous
shape.

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The Bengali alphabet or Bangla alphabet or "Bangali/Bengali script" (Bengali: বাাংলা

Fig : vowel of bangle alphabet

WHEN ATTACHED TO ক কা লক ক ক ক ক েক ৈক েকা েক

Figure 2: Features of some class

3.3 Consonant conjuncts

Up to four consecutive consonants not separated by vowels can be orthographically represented

3.4 Punctuation marks

3.5 Digits and numerals

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