Consonants all have an inherent vowel which has two different pronunciations, the choice of which is not always easy to determine and which is sometimes not pronounced at all.

Status: official language in Bangladesh, and one of the official languages of India.

Script family: Proto-Sinaitic, Phoenician, Aramaic, Brāhmī, Gupta, Siddham, Gaudi, Bengali.

Writing direction: left to right in horizontal lines.

Type of writing system: Abugida / Syllabic Alphabet.

Some people prefer to call this alphabet the Eastern Nagari script or Eastern Neo-Brahmic script The differences between the two styles are not huge and involve mainly forms of pronouns and verb conjugations. The former is the traditional literary style based on Middle Bengali of the sixteenth century, while the later is a 20th century creation and is based on the speech of educated people in Calcutta. Language') and the other Chôlitôbhasha (চলিতভাষা 'current language'). A few archaic letters were modernised during the 19th century.īengali has two literary styles: one is called Shadhubhôsha (সাধুভাষা - 'elegant

The current printed form of Bengali alphabet first appeared in 1778 when Charles Wilkins developed printing in Bengali. It is also closely related to the Devanagari alphabet, from which it started to diverge in the 11th Century AD. The Bengali alphabet (বাংলা লিপি - Bangla lipi) is derived from the Brahmi alphabet. There are some differences in pronunciation and vocabulary between the Bengali of Bangladesh and the Bengali spoken in India. It is recognized as a secondary language in Karachi in Pakistan. It is also the de-facto national language.īengali is the official language of the India states of West Bengal, Tripura and Assam, and the second official language of Jharkhand state. Writing system: Brahmi and Bengali alphabetsīengali is the sole official language of Bangladesh, and is used in all courts, government offices and other institutions.Spoken in: Bangladesh, India, UAE, Pakistan, Myanmar, USA, UK and other countries.

Language family: Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Eastern Zone (Magadhan), Bengali–Assamese.

The bengali alphabet