Bengali–Assamese script

Not to be confused with Meitei script, even though Meitei language popularly uses Bengali-Assamese script.

The Bengali–Assamese script (also Eastern Nagari script^[1]) is the fifth most widely used writing system in the world. It is the basis of the Bengali alphabet, Assamese alphabet and Tirhuta (a mix of Devanagari and Eastern Nagari). It is the official script for three official languages, which are Assamese language, Bengali language and Meitei language (constitutionally termed as "Manipuri").^[2][3]

The constitutional names as well as the native names (in Eastern Nagari and Latin transliterations) of the 3 official languages of the Indian Republic that use the Eastern Nagari writing system as their official scripts

Purbi Nagari Lipi (Eastern Nagari script) written in Assamese and Bengali

Besides its official usages, it is also used to write Kokborok (Tripuri) and Bishnupriya, Angika, Bodo, Karbi, Maithili and Mising to some extend.^[4] Modern Sylheti uses the alphabet, alongside Sylheti Nagari. It was originally used to write Sanskrit. Today, in Eastern India, the use of Eastern Nagari for Sanskrit continues.

Description

The Bengali—Asamese script wasn't created to write a certain language, but it was the main script in the eastern regions of Medieval India. The script was also used to write Sanskrit. In this region, Hindu epics (Mahabharata, Ramayana etc.) were written in older versions of the Eastern Nagari script in this region. After the medieval period, Pali succeeded Sanskrit as the new written language in the region. The vernacular dialects of Pali eventually evolved into Bengali, Assamese and other related languages. Sankardev used the script in the 15th and 16th centuries to compose his writings in Assamese. Madhava Kandali used it to write the Assamese Ramayana in the 14th century. It was also used by the later Ahom kings to write the Buranjis, the Ahom chronicles, in the Assamese language. There is a rich legacy of Eastern Indian literature written in this script, which is still occasionally used to write Sanskrit today.

Like Devanagari, Eastern Nagari also uses dozens of consonant clusters. They are represented by different and sometimes quite irregular characters. Thus, learning to read the script is complicated by the many characters and character combinations, numbering about 500. Efforts at standardizing the script for the Bengali language continue, but there isn't a uniform spelling for Bengali, as many people continue to use various archaic forms of letters. Among the regional variations within this script, only the Bengali and Assamese variations exist today in the formalized system.

It seems that the need to typeset Eastern Nagari on computers will influence greatly its standardization. Since around 2001, there is work to develop Unicode fonts, and it seems likely that it will split into two variants, traditional and modern.

Script

See the main article: Bengali alphabet

See the main article: Assamese alphabet

See the main article: Tirhuta

In this and other articles on Wikipedia dealing with the Assamese and Bengali languages, a Romanization scheme used by linguists specializing in Assamese and Bengali phonology is included along with IPA transcription.

Vowels

• Assamese Vowels
• Bengali Vowels
• Maithili Vowels

The script presently has 11 vowel letters, used to represent the seven vowel sounds of Bengali and eight vowel sounds of Assamese, along with a number of vowel diphthongs. All of these vowel letters are used in both Assamese and Bengali. Some of the vowels have different sounds depending on the word. There's a number of vowel distinctions who are preserved in the writing system but they are not pronounced as such in modern spoken Bengali or Assamese. For example, the script has two letters for the vowel sound [i] and two letters for the vowel sound [u]. This difference arised from the time when Eastern Nagari was used to write Sanskrit, a language that had a short [i] and a long [iː], and a short [u] and a long [uː]. These letters are preserved in the script with their traditional names of "short i" and "long i", etc., despite that they are no longer pronounced differently in ordinary speech.

Two additional modified Vowels, অ' and অ্যা, are not considered letters of the Eastern Nagari script, but are often used in Assamese and Bengali (respectively) to represent certain vowels when the intended pronunciation would otherwise be ambiguous. The latter vowel, which is used in Bengali, is used frequently to transcript texts originally written in other alphabets, most notably Latin.

Vowel Table

Vowels	Vowel Diacritic symbol	Assamese	Bengali	BishnupriyaManipuri	MeiteiManipuri	Sylheti	Hajong	Rabha	Rajbongsi
অ	–	ô	ô/o	ô	ô/a	o	o	ô	ô
অʼ	ʼ	o	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
আ	া	a	a	a	a꞉	a	a	a	a
অ্যা/এ্যা	্যা	–	æ	–	–	–	–	–	–
অৗ	ৗ	–	–	–	–	–	â	â	–
ই	ি	i	i	i	i	i	i	i	i
ইʼ	িʼ	–	–	–	–	–	–	î	–
ঈ	ী	i	i	i	–	ī	–	–	(i)
উ	ু	u	u	u	u	u	u	u	u
উʼ	ুʼ	–	–	–	–	–	–	â	–
ঊ	ূ	u	u	u	–	ū	–	–	(u)
ঋ	ৃ	ri	ri	ri	–	ri	–	–	ri
ৠ	ৄ	rii	rii	–	–	–	–	–	–
ঌ	ৢ	li	li	–	–	–	–	–	–
ৡ	ৣ	lii	lii	–	–	–	–	–	–
এ	ে	ê	e/ê	e	e	ê	e	e	ê
এʼ	েʼ	e	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
ঐ	ৈ	ôi	ôi	ôi	ei	oi	oi	–	ôi
ও	ো	û	o	u	o/ô	–	ô	o	o
ঔ	ৌ	ôu	ôu	ôu	ou	ou	ôu	–	ôu

Vowel signs can be used in conjunction with consonants to modify the consonant's pronunciation (e.g. ক, kô). When there isn't a vowel diacritic symbol, the vowel "অ" (ô) is the default vowel for the consonant. For example, under this rule, the letter চ is pronounced cho. To note the absence of a vowel, a hôsôntô (্) may be written underneath the consonant, e.g. দ্ d.

Consonants

The names of the consonant letters in Eastern Nagari are typically just the consonant's main pronunciation plus the inherent vowel "অ" ô. Since the inherent vowel is not written, most letters' names look identical to the letter itself (e.g. the name of the letter "ঘ" is itself ঘ ghô, not gh). Some letters that have lost their distinctive pronunciation in Modern Assamese and Bengali are having the same pronunciation with other letters. For example, since the consonant phoneme /n/ is represented by the consonants ন, ণ, or ঞ (depending on the spelling of the particular word). These letters aren't called simply nô. Instead, they are called "dental nô", "cerebral nô" and niô. Similarly, the phoneme /ʃ/ in Bengali and /x/ in Assamese can be written as "palatal shô/xhô" শ , "cerebral shô/xhô" ষ, or "dental sô/xô" স, depending on the word.

Consonant Table

Consonant	Assamese	Bengali	BishnupriyaManipuri	MeiteiManipuri	Sylheti	Hajong	Maithili
ক	kô	kô	kô	kô	xo	ko	kô
খ	khô	khô	khô	khô	xo	kho	khô
গ	gô	gô	gô	gô	go	go	gô
ঘ	ghô	ghô	ghô	ghô	go	gho	ghô
ঙ	ungô	ngô	ngô	ngô	–	ngo	ngo
চ	sô	cô	cô	cô	so	co	cô
ছ	sô	chô	chô	–	so	so	-
𑒕	–	–	–	–	–	-	chô
জ	zô	jô	jô	jô	zo	jo	jô
ঝ	zhô	jhô	jhô	jhô	zo	jho	-
𑒗	–	–	–	–	–	–	jhô
ঞ	niô	nô	nô	–	–	–	niô
ট	tô	ţô	ţô	–	to	–	–
𑒙	–	–	–	–	–	–	ţô
ঠ	thô	ţhô	ţhô	–	to	–	ţhô
ড	dô	đô	đô	–	do	-	dô
ড়	rô	ŗô	ŗô	–	ŗo	–	–
ঢ	dhô	đhô	đhô	–	do	-	dô
ঢ়	rhô	ŗhô	ŗhô	–	ro	–	–
ণ	nô	nô	nô	–	no	-	-
ত	tô	tô	tô	tô	ṭo	to	tô
থ	thô	thô	thô	thô	ṭo	tho	thô
দ	dô	dô	dô	dô	ḍo	do	dô
ধ	dhô	dhô	dhô	dhô	ḍo	dho	dhô
ন	nô	nô	nô	nô	no	no	nô
প	pô	pô	pô	pô	fo	po	pô
ফ	fô	phô	fô	fô	fo	fo	-
𑒙	–	–	–	–	–	–	phô
ব	bô	bô	bô	bô	bo	bo	ra
ভ	bhô	bhô	bhô	bhô	bo	bho	bhô
ম	mô	mô	mô	mô	mo	mo	ma
য	zô	jô	jô	–	zo	-	ya
য়	yô	yô	yô	yô	–	yo	–
র	(wô)	rô	rô	rô	ro	wõ	va
ৰ	rô	(rô)	–	–	ro	ro	rô
ল	lô	lô	lô	lô	lo	–	–
𑒪	–	–	–	–	–	–	la
ৱ	wô	–	wô	wô	o	wo	–
শ	xô	şô	şô	–	–	-	shô
ষ	xô	şşô	şşô	–	–	-	sshô
স	xô	şô	sô	sô	şo	-	sô
হ	hô	hô	hô	hô	ho	ho	-
𑒯	–	–	–	–	–	-	hô

Digits

Eastern Nagari script has its own set of digits.

Digits

Western Arabic numerals	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
Bengali numerals	০	১	২	৩	৪	৫	৬	৭	৮	৯
Assamese names	xuinno	ek	dui	tini	sari	pãs	soy	xat	ath	no
	শূন্য	এক	দুই	তিনি	চাৰি	পাঁচ	ছয়	সাত	আঠ	ন
Bengali names	shunnô	æk	dui	tin	char	pãch	chhôy	shat	aţ	nôy
	শূন্য	এক	দুই	তিন	চার	পাঁচ	ছয়	সাত	আট	নয়
Meitei names (Manipuri names)	phul (phun)	amā	ani	ahum	mari	ma-ngā	taruk	taret	nipa꞉n	ma꞉pan
	ফুল (ফুন)	অমা	অনি	অহুম	মরি	মঙা	তরূক	তরেৎ	নীপান	মাপন
Sylheti names	shuinno	ex	dui	tin	sair	fas	soe	shat/hat	aŧ	noe
	শুইন্য়	এখ	দুই	তিন	ছাইর	ফাছ	ছ​য়	সাত/হাত	আট	নয়
Maithili names	shūnyô	ek	du	tin	chari	pãch	chhô:	sat	aţh	nôu
	শূন্য	এক	দু	তিন	চাৰি	পাঁচ	ছঃ	সাত	আঠ	নউ

See also

• Bengali–Arabic script

Notes

1. ". In fact, the term 'Eastern Nagari' seems to be the only designation which does not favour one or the other language." (Brandt 2014:25)
2. "GAZETTE TITLE: The Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021". manipurgovtpress.nic.in.
3. "Manipuri language and alphabets". omniglot.com. Retrieved 2023-01-28.
4. Prabhakara, M S Scripting a solution Archived 10 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine, The Hindu, 19 May 2005.

References

• Banerji, R D (1919). The Origin of the Bengali Script. University of Calcutta.
• Bora, Mahendra (1981). The Evolution of Assamese Script. Jorhat, Assam: Assam Sahitya Sabha.
• Brandt, Carmen (2014). "The identity politics of language and script in South Asia" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-16. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
• Verma, Thakur Prasad (1976). Development of Script in Ancient Kamrupa. Asam Sahitya Sabha.

Other websites

• Omniglot – Assamese Alphabet
• Omniglot – Bengali Alphabet
• [https://omniglot.com/writing/manipuri.htm Omniglot – Meitei Script (Manipuri Script)