Bengali language: Difference between revisions

Unlike in western scripts (Latin, Cyrillic, etc.) where the letter-forms stand on an invisible baseline, the Bengali letter-forms instead hang from a visible horizontal left-to-right headstroke called {{lang|bn|মাত্রা}} ''matra''. The presence and absence of this matra can be important. For example, the letter {{lang|bn|ত}} ''tô'' and the numeral {{lang|bn|৩}} "3" are distinguishable only by the presence or absence of the ''matra'', as is the case between the consonant cluster {{lang|bn|ত্র}} ''trô'' and the independent vowel {{lang|bn|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).