Language/Bhojpuri/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Bhojpuri is an Indo-Iranian language spoken in North-East India where it has more than 51 million speakers (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and a valley in Nepal). It is also used by the Indian diaspora in Guyana, Suriname, Fiji, Mauritius and Trinidad and Tobago.

In today's lesson, we will learn its writing and sound system.

Feel free to edit this page to complete it.

As you complete your study of this topic, consider these connected lessons to continue your learning: Say Hello and Greetings in Bhojpuri, Bhojpuri.

Writing

Bhojpuri is written in the Kaithi script.

Kaithi has 35 consonant letters, each letter representing a consonant with an inherent vowel /a/. Other vowels are represented by a variety of diacritics around the consonant. There are also 10 letters representing separate vowels. Geminated consonants and long vowels are represented by different letters from their single counterparts.

Devanagari letter	Kaithi letter	ISO	IPA
क	𑂍	ka	ka
ख	𑂎	kha	kʰa
ग	𑂏	ga	ɡa
घ	𑂐	gha	ɡʱa
ङ	𑂑	ṅa	ŋa
च	𑂒	ca	t͡ʃa
छ	𑂓	cha	t͡ʃʰa
ज	𑂔	ja	d͡ʒa
झ	𑂕	jha	d͡ʒʱa
ञ	𑂖	ña	ɲa
ट	𑂗	ṭa	ʈa
ठ	𑂘	ṭha	ʈʰa
ड	𑂙	ḍa	ɖa
ड़	𑂚	ṛa	ɽa
ढ	𑂛	ḍha	ɖʱa
ढ़	𑂜	ṛha	ɽʱa
ण	𑂝	ṇa	ɳa
त	𑂞	ta	t̪a
थ	𑂟	tha	t̪ʰa
द	𑂠	da	d̪a
ध	𑂡	dha	d̪ʱa
न	𑂢	na	na
प	𑂣	pa	pa
फ	𑂤	pha	pʰa
ब	𑂥	ba	ba
भ	𑂦	bha	bʱa
म	𑂧	ma	ma
य	𑂨	ya	ja
र	𑂩	ra	ra
ल	𑂪	la	la
व	𑂫	va	ʋa
श	𑂬	śa	ʃa
ष	𑂭	ṣa	xa
स	𑂮	sa	sa
ह	𑂯	ha	ɦa

Devanagari letter	Kaithi letter	Devanagari diacritic	Kaithi diacritic	ISO	IPA
अ	𑂃	◌	◌	a	ʌ
आ	𑂄	ा	𑂰	ā	a
इ	𑂅	ि	𑂱	i	i
ई	𑂆	ी	𑂲	ī	iː
उ	𑂇	ु	𑂳	u	u
ऊ	𑂈	ू	𑂴	ū	uː
ए	𑂉	ॅ	𑂵	e	e
ऐ	𑂊	ै	𑂶	ai	æː
ओ	𑂋	ो	𑂷	o	o
औ	𑂌	ौ	𑂸	au	ɔː
अः	𑂃𑂂	ः	𑂂	aḥ	ah
अं	𑂃𑂀	ँा	𑂀𑂰	aṃ	ãː
		्	𑂹	(omit vowel)

Sound system

Bhojpuri syllables can begin and end in consonants. Consonant clusters occur in final positions only. It is also possible to have two vowels in a row.

Vowels

Bhojpuri has 6 vowel phonemes (sounds that differentiate word meaning).

	Central	Front	Back
Mid	ə	e	o
Close		i	u
Open	a, ā

• The only length contrast is between /a/ and /ā/.
• /ə/ = a in about
• There are two diphthongs: /ai/ and /au/.

Consonants

The Bhojpuri sound system contains 34 consonant phonemes. Most consonants can be geminated (doubled). There is a contrast between aspirated and unaspirated consonants. Aspirated consonants are produced with a strong puff of air. In the table below, aspirated consonants are marked with a raised [ʰ]. There is a contrast between apical and retroflex consonants, e.g. /t/ – /ʈ/, /d/ – /ɖ/. Apical consonants are produced with the tip of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth, while retroflex consonants are produced with the tongue rolled up so that its underside contacts the roof of the mouth.

		Dental	Bilabial	Palatal	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
Stops	voiceless unaspirated	t	p	c	ʈ	k
	voiceless aspirated	tʰ	pʰ	cʰ	ʈʰ	kʰ
	voiced unaspirated	d	b	j	ɖ	g
	voiced aspirated	dʰ	bʰ	jʰ	ɖʰ	gʰ
Fricatives	voiceless	s					h
Affricates	voiceless unaspirated			tʃ
	voiceless aspirated			tʃʰ
	voiced unaspirated			dʒ
	voiced aspirated			dʒʰ
Nasals	unaspirated	n	m			ŋ
	aspirated	nʰ	mʰ			ŋʰ
Laterals	unaspirated	l				...
	aspirated	lʰ
Flaps	unaspirated..	r			ɽ
	aspirated	rʰ			ɽʰ
Approximants	.		w	j

• /c/ has no equivalent in English
• /ʈ, ʈʰ, ɖ, ɖʰ, tʃʰ/ have no equivalents in English
• /ŋ/ = ng in song
• /tʃ/ = ch in chop
• /dʒ/ = j in job
• /j/ = y in yet
• /ɽ/ = r in hurt

Stress

Stress in Bhojpuri does not distinguish the meaning of words. The main stress usually falls on the penultimate syllable (a penultimate) in two-syllable words and on the antepenultimate syllable in longer words.

Sources

• https://www.mustgo.com/worldlanguages/bhojpuri/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhojpuri_language