The Bengali letter ক is derived from the Siddhaṃ , and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, क. The inherent vowel of Bengali consonant letters is /ɔ/, so the bare letter ক will sometimes be transliterated as "kô" instead of "ka". Adding okar, the "o" vowel mark, কো, gives a reading of /ko/.

The Bengali letter ক (Ka)

Like all Indic consonants, ক can be modified by marks to indicate another (or no) vowel than its inherent "a".

ক in Bengali-using languages

ক is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese. It is also used with a nukta, ক়, for foreign borrowings of /q/.

Conjuncts with ক

Bengali ক exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures.[1]

  • ক্ + ষ [ʃ] gives us the irregular kʃa ligature. The conjunct functions as an independent letter in the Assamese orthography, with a different pronunciation than the Bengali ligature of ক্ + ষ.

  • ক্ + স [s] preserves the ক, but reduces the স, giving

  • ক্ + ক results in a stacked conjunct

  • ঙ্ [ŋ] + ক also gives a stacked conjuct with a somewhat irregular form

  • ক্ + র [ɾ] is a fully ligated (irregular) conjunct

See also

  • Ka (Indic), for a more general overview encompassing other Indic scripts

References

  1. ↑ "The Bengali Alphabet" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-09-28.
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