Help:IPA/Bengali

This is the pronunciation key for IPA transcriptions of Bengali on Wikipedia.

It provides a set of symbols to represent the pronunciation of Bengali in Wikipedia articles, and example words that illustrate the sounds that correspond to them. Integrity must be maintained between the key and the transcriptions that link here; do not change any symbol or value without establishing consensus on the talk page first.

For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA. For the distinction between [ ], / / and ⟨ ⟩, see IPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters.

Shortcuts

Charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Bengali pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see {{IPA-bn}} and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See Bengali phonology and Bengali alphabet for a more thorough look at the sounds of Bengali.

Consonants
IPA	Bengali	Examples	ISO 15919	English Approximation
b	ব	বালি	b	abash
bʱ^[1]	ভ	ভীরু	bh	clubhouse
d	দ	দাম	d	deal (dental), the (Th-stopping)
dʱ	ধ	ধারা	dh	redhead (dental)
ɖ	ড	ডুমুর	ḍ	American bird
ɖʱ	ঢ	ঢোল	ḍh	American birdhouse
dʒ	জ, য^[2]	জল যবন	j	hedge
dʒʱ	ঝ	ঝাউ	jh	hedgehog
ɡ	গ	গম	g	agate
ɡʱ	ঘ	বাঘা	gh	loghouse
ɦ	হ, ঃ^[3]	মহান বাঃ	h	behind
h	হ, ঃ^[3]	মহান বাঃ	h	head
k	ক	কলম	k	scan
kʰ	খ, ক্ষ	শাখা ক্ষমা	kh	can
l	ল	মালিনী	l	leaf
m	ম	মানুষ	m	much
n	ন, ণ, ঞ	নীলা বাণ	n	not
ŋ	ঙ, ং	বাঙালি অংশ	ṅ	sing
p	প	পাকা	p	span
pʰ^[4]	ফ	ফল	ph	pin
r^[5]	র,‍‍ র্ক, (র্), ‍‍্র	বিরাম, তর্ক, শ্রম	r	ring; flapped or trilled r
ɽ	ড়, ঢ়	বড় দৃঢ়	ṛ	American larder
s	স	সেলাম	s	sue
ʃ	শ, ষ, স	মশা ষাট সময়	ś	shoe
t	ত, ৎ	তমাল উৎস	t	get (dental), think (Th-stopping)
tʰ	থ	থাবা	th	tub (dental), thought (Th-stopping)
ʈ	ট	বট	ṭ	art (rhotic)
ʈʰ	ঠ	কাঠুরে	ṭh	artist (rhotic)
tʃ	চ	মুচি	c	catch
tʃʰ	ছ	ছাগল	ch	choose
Marginal consonants
β^[1]	ভ	ভিসা	v	very
j	য়^[6]	নয়ন	y	yes
ɸ^[4]	ফ	ফ্যান	f	find
w^[7]	ও, উ	ওয়াদা, উইলিয়াম	v	will
ɽʱ^[8]	ঢ়	ঢ়	ṛh	No English equivalent
z	জ, য^[2]	জাকাত যিয়ারত	z	zip

Vowels
Monophthongs
IPA	Bengali	Examples	ISO 15919	English Approximation
ɔ	অ, প	অমর	a	off
a	আ, পা	আঙিনা	ā	Australian father, RP cut
æ^[9]	অ্যা, প্যা, এ, পে	ত্যাগ খেলা	ae/æ	trap
i	ই, পি, ঈ, পী	দিন দীন	i	beat
u^[7]	উ, পু, ঊ, পূ	কুল কূল	u	boot
e	এ, পে	মেদিনী	ē	may (monophthongal)
o^[7]	ও, পো, অ, প	ওজন অঙ্কুর	ō	sole (monophthongal)
◌̃	ঁ	ইঁদুর	ঁ	nasal vowel ([ã], [õ], etc.)
Semivowels
e̯	য়	খায়	ẏ	Similar to very
i̯	ই	ভাই	i	happy
o̯	ও	যাও হাওয়া	ō	Similar to look
u̯	উ	ঝাউ	u	too
Diphthongs
ii̯	িই	নিই	ii	tea
iu̯	িউ	বিউভোল	iu	ew
ei̯	েয়	দেয়	ēi	bay (diphthongal)
eu̯	েও	ঢেও	ēu	No English equivalent
æe̯	্যায়	ন্যায়	aeẏ/æẏ	No English equivalent
ai̯	াই	পাই	āi	Buy
ae̯	ায়	পায়	āẏ	Similar to Hi
au̯	াউ	পাউ	āu	How
ao̯	াও	পাও	āō	Similar to How
ɔe̯	◌য়	নয়	aẏ	No English equivalent
ɔo̯	◌ও	নও	aō	No English equivalent
oi̯	োই	দোই	ōi	Similar to boy
oo̯	োও	দোও	ōō	no
ou̯	ৌ	নৌকা	ōu	go (diphthongal)
ui̯	ুই, ূই	ধুই	ui	No English equivalent

Suprasegmentals
IPA
ˈ	primary stress (placed before stressed syllable)^[10]
ˌ	secondary stress (placed before stressed syllable)^[10]
ː	doubled consonant

NotesEdit

^ ^a ^b /bʱ/ is phonetically realised either as [bʱ] or /β/ (phonetically [v~β]) depending on the speaker and variety. /β/ can additionally occur as an allophone of /bʱ/ in foreign loan words e.g. ভিসা [βisa] 'visa'.
^ ^a ^b ⟨জ⟩ and ⟨য⟩ may represent a voiced affricate /dʒ/ in Standard Bengali words of native origin, but they can also represent /z/ in foreign words and names (জাকাত [zakat] 'zakah charity', আজিজ [aziz] 'Aziz'). However, many speakers usually replace /z/ with /dʒ/. Additionally, some words that originally had /z/ are now pronounced with /dʑ/ in Standard Bengali (সবজি [ɕobdʑi] 'vegetable', from Persian sabzi).
^ /ɦ/ may be devoiced to [h] in word-initial or final positions, with [ɦ] occurring medially.
^ ^a ^b /pʰ/ is phonetically realised either as [pʰ] or /ɸ/ (phonetically [f~ɸ]) depending on the speaker and variety. /ɸ/ can additionally occur as an allophone of /pʰ/ in foreign loan words e.g. ফ্যান [ɸæn] 'fan'.
^ /r/ is phonetically an alveolar flap [ɾ], alveolar approximant [ɹ] or alveolar trill [r] depending on the variety and speaker.
^ The [j] phoneme occurs in some pronunciations of Bengali vowel clusters, such as নয়ন [nɔjon].
^ ^a ^b ^c When preceding a vowel in word-initial positions, /w/ may occur as an allophone of /o/ and /u/, especially in loan words e.g. ওয়াদা [wada] 'promise', উইলিয়াম [wiliam] 'William'.
^ [ɽʱ] only occurs in the individual pronunciation of the letter ঢ় [ɽʱɔ] and some Sanskrit loanwords but is usually pronounced as [ɽ] in ordinary speech.
^ Thompson, Hanne-Ruth (November 25, 2020). Bengali: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge Comprehensive Grammars), 1 (1 ed.). Routledge. p. 23. ISBN 978-0415411394.
^ ^a ^b Primary stress usually occurs in word-initial positions with secondary stress occurring afterwards.

BibliographyEdit

Khan, Sameer ud Dowla (2010), "Bengali (Bangladeshi Standard)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 40 (2): 221–225, doi:10.1017/S0025100310000071

[Voiced_bilabial_stop-1] /bʱ/ is phonetically realised either as [bʱ] or /β/ (phonetically [v~β]) depending on the speaker and variety. /β/ can additionally occur as an allophone of /bʱ/ in foreign loan words e.g. ভিসা [βisa] 'visa'.

[Voiced_alveolar_sibilant-2] ⟨জ⟩ and ⟨য⟩ may represent a voiced affricate /dʒ/ in Standard Bengali words of native origin, but they can also represent /z/ in foreign words and names (জাকাত [zakat] 'zakah charity', আজিজ [aziz] 'Aziz'). However, many speakers usually replace /z/ with /dʒ/. Additionally, some words that originally had /z/ are now pronounced with /dʑ/ in Standard Bengali (সবজি [ɕobdʑi] 'vegetable', from Persian sabzi).

[glottal_fricative-3] /ɦ/ may be devoiced to [h] in word-initial or final positions, with [ɦ] occurring medially.

[Voiceless_bilabial_stop-4] /pʰ/ is phonetically realised either as [pʰ] or /ɸ/ (phonetically [f~ɸ]) depending on the speaker and variety. /ɸ/ can additionally occur as an allophone of /pʰ/ in foreign loan words e.g. ফ্যান [ɸæn] 'fan'.

[rhotic_r-5] /r/ is phonetically an alveolar flap [ɾ], alveolar approximant [ɹ] or alveolar trill [r] depending on the variety and speaker.

[palatalapproximant-6] The [j] phoneme occurs in some pronunciations of Bengali vowel clusters, such as নয়ন [nɔjon].

[Voiced_labial–velar_approximant-7] When preceding a vowel in word-initial positions, /w/ may occur as an allophone of /o/ and /u/, especially in loan words e.g. ওয়াদা [wada] 'promise', উইলিয়াম [wiliam] 'William'.

[Mumured_retroflex_stop-8] [ɽʱ] only occurs in the individual pronunciation of the letter ঢ় [ɽʱɔ] and some Sanskrit loanwords but is usually pronounced as [ɽ] in ordinary speech.

[9] Thompson, Hanne-Ruth (November 25, 2020). Bengali: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge Comprehensive Grammars), 1 (1 ed.). Routledge. p. 23. ISBN 978-0415411394.

[Stress-10] Primary stress usually occurs in word-initial positions with secondary stress occurring afterwards.

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[5]

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