There are three cases in Bangla where you have to pay special attention to pronunciation.
Words with o ending
| Words without o ending
|
So how does the "suborNo" phonetic method determine whether the inherent vowel should be pronounced or not?
It does this determination based on the pattern of the last 3 letters in a word. The current Glossary on the site has about 16,700 words. Of these, about 9,540 or 57% end in consonants. For example, there are 43 words that end in খ.
Rather than looking at each word to determine if there is a pronounceable "o" at the end, words are categorized by the last 3 letters in the word. By analysing the word endings, I was able to determine a set of rules by which Bangla words can be identified - whether they carry a pronounceable "o" when transliterated to Phonetic English.
For words ending in খ, these rules are:
As you would expect, going through 16,700 words is time consuming. A learner should also not have to figure this out by themselves. These patterns are stored in the suborNo software and are applied whenever you put in a Bangla word and ask for its English Phonetic representation.
The easiest way is to use the Pronunciation Wizard page on the site.
Instead of the "Pronunciation Wizard" you will get similar results using Bulk Transliterate as the same software routine is used in deriving the "o" at the end of a word. The Bulk Transliterate does not show you the syllable breakdown.
যুক্ত Jukto means joined and অক্ষর okShor means letter of the alphabet, hence the formidable sounding যুক্তাক্ষর.
In Learn the Bangla Alphabet, there is a chapter on Compound Consonants.
Here are a few examples of words with Compound Consonants. I have shown the Phonetic representation with the syllables marked.
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English | Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | উত্তর | ut‧to‧r | North | 2 | কিন্তু | kin‧tu | but | ||
3 | চেষ্টা করা | cheSh‧Ta ko‧ra | try | 4 | জন্মানো | jon‧ma‧nO | born | ||
5 | ঠান্ডা | Than‧Da | cold | 6 | দক্ষিণ | dok‧ShiN | South | ||
7 | দর্কার হওয়া | dor‧kar ho‧O‧ya | need | 8 | পরিষ্কার | po‧riSh‧kar | clean | ||
9 | প্রতি | pro‧ti | to | 10 | বন্ধ | bon‧dho | closed | ||
11 | বাচ্চা | bach‧cha | child | 12 | বিক্রি করা | bik‧ri ko‧ra | sell | ||
13 | রক্ত | rok‧to | blood | 14 | সপ্তাহ | sop‧taho | week | ||
15 | সূর্য | sUr‧Jo | sun | 16 | স্ত্রী | strI | wife |
You will see from the above list, that the words are pronounced as if the Consonants were pronounced separately and in sequence.
There are two notable exceptions in fully pronouncing the individual consonants in a Compound Consonant. They are Consonant+bo and Consonant+jo. We will look at these exceptions next.
The alternate mapping was put in because, in Compound Consonants, Consonant+'ব' is sometimes pronounced as Consonant+bo and sometimes as Consonant+wo. Similarly, Consonant+'য' is sometimes pronounced as Consonant+Jo and sometimes as Consonant+Yo.
The pronunciation rules are not arbitrary. It goes back to the way the equivalent words were pronounced in Sanskrit, from which Bangla is derived. These rules are shown below.
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | আনন্দোচ্ছ্বাস | anon‧dOch‧chhwas | mirth |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | জ্বালা | jwa‧la | to light; burning sensation |
2 | জ্বর | jwo‧r | fever |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | দায়িত্ব | da‧yit‧wo | responsibility |
2 | রাজত্ব | ra‧jot‧wo | power; reign |
3 | মহত্ত্ব | mo‧hot‧two | excellence |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | দ্বৈত্ব | dwOIt‧wo | dual |
2 | দ্বন্দ | dwon‧do | conflicts |
3 | দ্বিমুখী | dwi‧mu‧khI | bidirectional; twosided |
4 | দ্বিতীয়ত | dwi‧tI‧yo‧to | secondly |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ধ্বনি | dhwo‧ni | sound |
2 | হর্ষধ্বনি | hor‧Shodh‧wo‧ni | acclamation |
3 | ধ্বংস | dhwong‧so | destruction |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | স্বভাব | swo‧bhab | habit |
2 | স্বাগত জানানো | swa‧go‧to ja‧na‧nO | welcoming |
3 | স্বাদ | swad | taste |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | শ্বশুর | shwo‧shur | father-in-law |
2 | বিশ্বাস করা | bish‧was ko‧ra | trust |
3 | বিশ্বাসঘাতক | bish‧wa‧so‧gha‧to‧k | traitor |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | লম্বা | lom‧ba | long |
2 | কম্বল | kom‧bo‧l | blanket |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | আতিশয্য | ati‧shoJ‧Jo | excess |
2 | সাহায্য | sa‧haJ‧Jo | aid; help |
3 | শয্যা | shoJ‧Ja | bed |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | কদর্য | ko‧dor‧Jo | repugnant |
2 | সূর্য | sUr‧Jo | sun |
3 | ধৈর্য্য | dhOIr‧JJo | patience |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | সহ্য | soh‧Jo | to tolerate |
2 | বাহ্য | bah‧Jo | external; visible |
3 | হ্যালো | hYa‧lO | hello |
4 | হ্যাঁ | hYan^ | yes |
Num | Bangla Word | Phonetic | English |
---|---|---|---|
1 | বাক্য | bak‧Yo | word |
2 | খ্যাতি | khYa‧ti | renown; reputation |
3 | খ্যাপা | khYa‧pa | lunatic |
The easiest way is to use the Pronunciation Wizard page on the site. The Wizard can show you the pronunciation of one or more words at a time.
Now try this out for any word you come across where you want to verify the pronunciation.