Ka (Bengali) Explained

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/.

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

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Bengali Alphabet. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20130928021705/http://tesseractindic.googlecode.com/files/wb069conjuncts.pdf. 2013-09-28.