Linguistic Survey Of India Vol V Part I Indo Aryan Family Eastern Group

g2 BENGALI.

The letters w. and n are both pronounced like «. All sibilants standing alone are
pronounced as sh, but the compound tr is pronounced as sr. Thus prasanna, pleased, is
pronounced proahonno, and the title $n, is pronounced Sri

As regards compound consonants,—

The compound/Sis pronounced gfa with shortening and nasalisation of the pre-
ceding vowel. Thus Ajtia, a command, is pronounced 3ggyd.

When the letter m or o forms the final member of a compound, it is not pro-
nounced, but the preceding member of the compound is pronounced as if it was doubled,
and the preceding vowel is shortened, if possible. The m or t? is, in such cases,
transliterated as a small * or * respectively, above the line. Thus 9*ara$, memory,
pronounced sfoAoron, and pad*a, the name of a river, is pronounced poddo. So, wrfpo,
nature, pronounced shotto; d°ara9 by means of, pronounced ddara. This rule does not
apply to the words purea, east, pronounced purbo or even jpwSiS, and kimv&$ pronounced

When the letter y forms the final member of a compound it is very faintly pro-
nounced, so as to be hardly, or not at all, audible. It is then transliterated as a
small * above the line. In compensation, tbe preceding member of the compound is
pronounced as if it were doubled, and the preceding vowel is, if possible, shortened in
pronunciation. Thusr^iya, a sentence, is pronounced bdkk*o; and yoyyata, fitness,
pronounced jogg'ota. As seen in the above examples, A is shortened to a, and 5 to 0.

The compound vya is pronounced be, as in the word ' bet, * but shorter. Thus,
vyaAti) a person, is pronounced ftlfttf, and vyatlta> elapsed, as be'tito, with the accent on
the first syllable, and a short penultimate.

The compound letter if ksh is pronounced kJf at the beginning of a word, and kkhf
in the middle of a word. Thus fahiti, the earth, is pronounced kh*iti; paMl, a bird,
is pronounced pokkh'i ; and chafahtt, the eye, is pronounced chokkh*u. As explained
above, the ' is hardly, or not at all, heard. The syllable ksha is pronounced H£ Thus
fofotf, loss, is pronounced kheti. The name of the Goddess LaMwil is pronounced
Lokkhi.

For the future, I shall transliterate f not by Mat but by kh*a> or klch**t a$ the
occasion demands. The compound tr is also transliterated AA'a, but there is little danger
of confusion arising from this fact. <rr M'a occurs rarely, and, in literary Bengali, only
in words derived from the Sanskrit root *Jt kVa, such as «Ttf$ kh'dti* fame;
dkWdta> named ; <*KJte prakWAto, famous.

Other vowels and consonants are pronounced, as usual in Indian languages.

It is believed that the following grammatical sketch will enable the reader to under-
Gr*mm*r. 'staad the interlinear translations of the Bengali specimen
which follow ;•—