Bengali alphabet

Bengali alphabet
বাংলা লিপি
Bengali alphabet; বাংলা লিপি
Script type	Abugida
Time period	11th century to the present
Region	Bengal
Languages	Bengali, Sanskrit, Khasi, Kudmali
Related scripts
Parent systems	Proto-Sinaitic script[a] Phoenician alphabet[a] Aramaic alphabet[a] Brahmi script Gupta script Siddham Gaudi script Bengali alphabet; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Sister systems	Assamese and Tirhuta
ISO 15924
ISO 15924	Beng, , Bengali (Bangla)
Unicode
Unicode alias	Template:ISO 15924 alias
Unicode range	U+0980–U+09FF
	[a] The Semitic origin of the Brahmic scripts is not universally agreed upon.
	This article contains phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

This article contains Bengali text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols.

Template:Culture of Bengal Template:Culture of Bangladesh

The Bangla alphabet or Bengali alphabet (Bengali: বাংলা বর্ণমালা, Bangla bôrṇômala) is the alphabet used to write the Bengali language based on the Bengali-Assamese script, and has historically been used to write Sanskrit within Bengal. It is one of the most widely adopted writing systems in the world (used by over 265 million people).^[4]

From a classificatory point of view, the Bengali writing system is an abugida, i.e. its vowel graphemes are mainly realised not as independent letters, but as diacritics modifying the vowel inherent in the base letter they are added to. Bengali writing system is written from left to right and use a single letter case, which make it a monocameral script, as opposed to bicameral ones like Latin alphabet. It is recognisable, as are other Brahmic scripts, by a distinctive horizontal line known as matra (মাত্রা) running along the tops of the letters that links them together. The Bengali writing system is however less blocky and presents a more sinuous shape than the Devanagari script.^[5]

↑ "Ancient Scripts". Archived from the original on 16 November 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2007.
↑ "ScriptSource - Khasi". scriptsource.org. Retrieved 21 September 2021.
↑ Daniels, Peter T. (2008). "Writing systems of major and minor languages". In Kachru, Braj B.; Kachru, Yamuna; Sridhar, S. N. (eds.). Languages in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 285–308. ISBN 978-0-521-78141-1.
↑ "Bengali alphabet". Archived from the original on 26 January 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2005.
↑ George Cardona and Danesh Jain (2003), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415772945

[1] "Ancient Scripts". Archived from the original on 16 November 2010. Retrieved 20 March 2007.

[2] "ScriptSource - Khasi". scriptsource.org. Retrieved 21 September 2021.

[3] Daniels, Peter T. (2008). "Writing systems of major and minor languages". In Kachru, Braj B.; Kachru, Yamuna; Sridhar, S. N. (eds.). Languages in South Asia. Cambridge University Press. pp. 285–308. ISBN 978-0-521-78141-1.

[4] "Bengali alphabet". Archived from the original on 26 January 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2005.

[georgec-5] George Cardona and Danesh Jain (2003), The Indo-Aryan Languages, Routledge, ISBN 978-0415772945

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