Consonant cluster In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...

s in

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

are very common word-initially due to a long history of borrowing from English and

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

, two languages with a large cluster inventory. A smaller number of words with word-final clusters have also been borrowed from English and Persian. A handful of words from non-standard dialects of Bengali include native clusters. Bangla consonant conjuncts

Syllable-initial clusters

Native Bengali (তদ্ভব ''tôdbhôbo'') words do not allow initial

consonant cluster In linguistics, a consonant cluster, consonant sequence or consonant compound, is a group of consonants which have no intervening vowel. In English, for example, the groups and are consonant clusters in the word ''splits''. In the education fie ...

s; the maximum syllabic structure is CVC (i.e. one vowel flanked by a consonant on each side). Many speakers of Bengali restrict their phonology to this pattern, even when using Sanskrit or English borrowings, such as গেরাম ''geram'' (CV.CVC) for গ্রাম ''gram'' (CCVC) "village" or ইস্কুল ''iskul'' (VC.CVC) for স্কুল ''skul'' (CCVC) "school". Sanskrit (তৎসম ''tôtshômo'') words borrowed into Bengali, however, possess a wide range of clusters, expanding the maximum syllable structure to CCCVC. Some of these clusters, such as the ''mr'' in মৃত্যু ''mrittu'' "death" or the ''sp'' in স্পষ্ট ''spôshṭo'' "clear", have become extremely common, and can be considered legal consonant clusters in Bengali. English and other foreign (বিদেশী ''bideshi'') borrowings add even more cluster types into the Bengali inventory, further increasing the syllable capacity to CCCVCCCC, as commonly used loanwords such as ট্রেন ''ṭren'' "train" and গ্লাস ''glash'' "glass" are now even included in leading Bengali dictionaries.

Syllable-final clusters

Final consonant clusters are rare in Bengali. Most final consonant clusters were borrowed into Bengali from English, as in লিফ্‌ট ''lifṭ'' "lift, elevator" and ব্যাংক ''bêngk'' "bank". However, final clusters do exist in some native Bengali words, although rarely in standard pronunciation. One example of a final cluster in a standard Bengali word would be গঞ্জ ''gônj'', which is found in names of hundreds of cities and towns across Bengal, including নবাবগঞ্জ ''Nôbabgônj'' and মানিকগঞ্জ ''Manikgônj''. Some nonstandard varieties of Bengali make use of final clusters quite often. For example, in some Purbo (eastern) dialects, final consonant clusters consisting of a nasal and its corresponding oral stop are common, as in চান্দ ''chand'' "moon". The Standard Bengali equivalent of ''chand'' would be চাঁদ ''chãd'', with a nasalized vowel instead of the final cluster.

Notes

References

* {{Bengali language topics Bengali language Phonotactics Phonetics Phonology