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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 Template:IPA 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 বালি b abash
[1] ভীরু bh clubhouse
d[2] দা d deal (dental), Indian the
[2] ধারা dh redhead (dental), Indian that
ɖ[2] ডুমুর American bird
ɖʱ[2] ঢো ḍh American birdhouse
d͡ʒ জ, য[3] বন j hedge
d͡ʒʱ ঝা jh hedgehog
ɡ g agate
ɡʱ বাঘা gh loghouse
ɦ হ, ঃ[4] হাবাঃ h behind
h head
k লম k scan
খ, ক্ষ শাখা, ক্ষমা kh can
l মালিনী l leaf
m মানুষ m much
n ন, ণ নীলা ,বা n not
ŋ ঙ, ং বাঙালি অং sing
p পাকা p span
[5] ph pin
r[6] র,‍‍ র্ক, (র্), ‍‍্র বিরাম, তর্ক, শ্র r American atom or ring (flapped or trilled)
ɽ ড়, ঢ় ড় দৃঢ় American larder
s সেলাম s sue
ʃ শ, ষ, স শা ষাময় ś shoe
t[2] ত, ৎ মাল উ t get (dental), Indian think
[2] থাবা th tub (dental), Indian thought
ʈ[2] American parts
ʈʰ[2] কাঠুরে ṭh American partake
t͡ʃ মুচি c catch
t͡ʃʰ ছাগল ch choose
Marginal consonants
β[1] ভিসা v very
j য়[7] য় y yes
ɸ[5] ফ্যা f find
w[8] ও, উ য়াদা, ইলিয়াম v will
z জ, য[3] জাকাত যিয়ারত z zip
ɳ[9] [10] বা American burn
Vowels
Monophthongs
IPA Bengali Examples ISO 15919 English Approximation
ɔ অ, প মর a off
a আ, পা ঙিনা ā Australian father, RP cut
æ[11] অ্যা, প্যা, এ, পে ত্যাখেলা ae/æ trap
i ই, পি, ঈ, পী দিদী i beat
u উ, পু, ঊ, পূ কুকূ u cool
e এ, পে মেদিনী ē Scottish may
o ও, পো, অ, প জন ঙ্কুর ō story
◌̃ ইঁদুর nasal vowel
([ã], [õ], etc.)
Semivowels
[7] য় খায় Similar to very
[7] ভা i happy
[8] যা হায়া ō Similar to look
[8] ঝা u too
Diphthongs
ii̯ িই নিই ii tea
iu̯ িউ বিউভোল iu ew
ei̯ েয় দেয় ēi RP bay
eu̯ েও ঢেও ēu Roughly like go in some dialects of English[12]
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 No English equivalent
oi̯ োই দোই ōi Similar to boy
oo̯ োও দোও ōō Indian no
ou̯ নৌকা ōu goal
ui̯ ুই, ূই ধুই ui No English equivalent
Suprasegmentals
IPA
ˈ primary stress
(placed before stressed syllable)[13]
ˌ secondary stress
(placed before stressed syllable)[13]
ː doubled consonant

Notes

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  1. ^ a b /bʱ/ is phonetically realised either as [] 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'.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Bengali contrasts dental [t] and [d] with apical postalveolar [ʈ] and [ɖ] (as well as aspirated variants). Both sets sound like /t/ and /d/ to most English speakers although the dental [t] and [d] are used in place of the English /θ/ and /ð/ for some speakers with th-stopping.
  3. ^ a b and may represent a voiced affricate // 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/.
  4. ^ /ɦ/ may be devoiced to [h] in word-initial or final positions, with [ɦ] occurring medially.
  5. ^ a b /pʰ/ is phonetically realised either as [] 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'.
  6. ^ The phonetic realisation of /r/ is usually an alveolar flap [ɾ] but may also be an alveolar approximant [ɹ] or alveolar trill [r] depending on the variety and speaker.
  7. ^ a b c /j/ occurs in some pronunciations of Bengali vowel clusters as a result of the semivowels /e̯ i̯/ undergoing fortitional merging, such as নয়ন [nɔjon].
  8. ^ a b c /w/ may occur as a fortitional allophone of the semivowels /o̯/ and /u̯/, especially in loan words e.g. ওয়াদা [wada] 'promise', উইলিয়াম [wiliam] 'William'.
  9. ^ https://archive.org/details/dli.calcutta.10258
  10. ^ Mainly occurs as an allophone of [n] in conjunct with other postalveolar (retroflex) consonants.
  11. ^ Usually pronounced as a near-open [æ] (Thompson 2020, p. 23) but may also be pronounced and transcribed in IPA as open-mid [ɛ] (Khan 2010, pp. 221–225).
  12. ^ These dialects include Southern England (including Received Pronunciation), English Midlands, Australian, New Zealand, the Southern American, Midland American, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Western Pennsylvania and younger Californian English. Other dialects of English, such as most other forms of American English, Northern England English, Welsh English, Scottish English and Irish English, have no close equiavalent vowel.
  13. ^ a b Primary stress usually occurs in word-initial positions with secondary stress occurring afterwards.

Bibliography

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  • Khan, Sameer ud Dowla (2010), "Bengali (Bangladeshi Standard)" (PDF), Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 40 (2): 221–225, doi:10.1017/S0025100310000071
  • Thompson, Hanne-Ruth (2020), Bengali: A Comprehensive Grammar (Routledge Comprehensive Grammars), 1 (1 ed.), Routledge, p. 23, ISBN 978-0415411394

See also

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