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Bengali–Assamese script/Bengali alphabet

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Overview

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The Bengali alphabet consists of 11 vowels and 38 consonants. An additional vowel (অ্যা) and an additional consonant (জ়) are also used in the Bengali language and are listed here. Since the wikibook Bengali has already described the Bengali alphabet in three pages, this wikibook gives only a minute summary of the alphabet.

Vowels

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Vowel Diacritic IPA English equivalents Sample audio
inherent /ɔ/ or /o/ dawn or Scottish sole
অ্যা ্যা /æ/ cat
/a/ father
ি /i/ pin
/i/ pin
/u/ moon
/u/ moon
/ɹi/ return
/e/ or /æ/ bed or cap
/oi/ boy
/o/ Scottish sole
/ou/ boat

Consonants

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Consonant IPA English equivalents Sample audio
/k/ skip
/kʰ/ sinkhole
/ɡ/ garden
/ɡʱ/ big hole
/ŋ/ sing
/tʃ/ church
/tʃʰ/ atchoo
/dʒ/ gem
জ় /z/ zero
/dʒʱ/ hedghog
/n/ bench
/ʈ/ retroflex stick
/ʈʰ/ aspiration of the above
/ɖ/ retroflex desk
ড় /ɽ/ American larder
/ɖʱ/ aspiration of the above
ঢ় /ɽʱ/ Scottish warhead
/n/ bend
/t̪/ dental stick
/t̪ʰ/ aspiration of the above
/d̪/ dental 'desk
/d̪ʱ/ aspiration of the above
/n/ not
/p/ spin
/f/ friend
/b/ ball
/bʱ/ tab hall
/m/ mother
/dʒ/ gem
য় /e̯/ semivocalic e
/ɾ/ or /r/ American butter or ring
/l/ leaf
/ʃ/ or /s/ shoulder or stable
/ʃ/ or /s/ shoulder or stable
/ʃ/ or /s/ shoulder or stable
/ɦ/ behind
/t̪/ dental stick
/ŋ/ sing
/ɦ/ behind