A Descriptive Study of the Modern Bengali Script Investigating Forms and Functions of Characters used in the Modern Bengali Script

This book presents a descriptive study on modern Bengali script based on empirical data and information obtained from a large corpus of modern Bengali written text documents. In a systematic manner it presents a detailed account on formal and functional aspects of Bengali orthographic symbols with a focus on Bengali spelling system and punctuation marks used in written texts. The book describes, in a systematic manner, orthographic symbols and signs used in Bengali writing; their shapes, sizes, designs, and patterns of use; modes of formation and changes of the shapes due to linguistic and extra-linguistic factors; and frequency of use of various characters in the texts. With a clinical insight, the author probes into the texture of script and analyzes data, information and examples from an empirical perspective never attempted before. It can be used as an informative text-cum-reference book by Bengali language learners, teachers, language researchers, language technologists, speech technologists, and linguists working in descriptive and applied Bengali linguistics.