IPA Chart of Bengali Speech Sounds
Consonants
| Place | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | | | n | | ɲ | ŋ | |
| Stop | p | | t | t̪ | | ʈ | k | ʔ |
| Fricative | | f | θ | s | ʃ | | x | h |
| Affricate | | | | tʃ | | ɖʒ | | |
| Approximant | | | | | | j | w | |
| Lateral | | | | l | | | | |
| Trill | | | | r | | | | |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|
| i | ɪ | u |
| e | ɛ | ɔ |
| æ | | |
| a | | |
Notes:
* Allophony: Some sounds have allophones, meaning they are pronounced slightly differently depending on their environment. For example, the alveolar stop /t/ can be aspirated [tʰ] in some contexts.
* Stress: Bengali is a stress-timed language, meaning that the stress on syllables can change the meaning of a word. However, stress is not consistently marked in the IPA chart.
* Tonal: Bengali is a tonal language, meaning that the pitch of a syllable can change the meaning of a word. However, tone is not represented on the IPA chart.
* Syllabic Consonants: In certain contexts, consonants like /l/ and /r/ can be syllabic, functioning as the nucleus of a syllable.
IPA Symbols Used:
* p: voiceless bilabial stop
* m: voiced bilabial nasal
* f: voiceless labiodental fricative
* t: voiceless alveolar stop
* t̪: voiceless dental stop
* n: voiced alveolar nasal
* θ: voiceless dental fricative
* s: voiceless alveolar fricative
* ʃ: voiceless post-alveolar fricative
* tʃ: voiceless post-alveolar affricate
* k: voiceless velar stop
* ŋ: voiced velar nasal
* x: voiceless velar fricative
* h: voiceless glottal fricative
* ʔ: voiceless glottal stop
* j: voiced palatal approximant
* w: voiced velar approximant
* l: voiced alveolar lateral approximant
* r: voiced alveolar trill
* i: high front unrounded vowel
* ɪ: near-high front unrounded vowel
* e: mid-front unrounded vowel
* ɛ: near-mid front unrounded vowel
* æ: near-front unrounded vowel
* a: low front unrounded vowel
* u: high back rounded vowel
* ɔ: mid-back rounded vowel
This IPA chart is a simplified representation of the sounds of Bengali. The actual pronunciation of these sounds can vary depending on the dialect and individual speaker.