bn-krrti

A straightforward Bangla keyboard for Linux. It's essentially an IBus table. It does not perform phonetic spelling.

krrti tries to follow a simple convention for writing consonant conjunctions, diacritics and alternate forms.

It's based on mni-mayek.

Language and script codes

Name	Code	Standard
Bengali	bn	ISO 639-1, ISO 639-2

Usage guide

General

Consonants are mapped to their Latin approximates in the lower case, e.g. k -> ক, g -> গ etc.

Aspirated letters are written by adding an h at the end of their unaspirated counterparts, e.g. kh -> খ, gh -> ঘ etc.

Retroflex letters (মূর্ধন্য) begin with a capital letter, but otherwise are similar to their dental (দন্ত্য) counterparts, e.g. T -> ট, Th -> ঠ etc.

Exception: র is mapped to r instead.

Certain alternate forms and allophones are mapped to the base letter followed by a :, e.g. t: -> ৎ, O: -> অ etc.

Vowels

Vowels in their diacritic forms are mapped to their lowercase Latin approximates. e.g. i -> ি, e -> ে etc.

Vowels in their independent forms are mapped to their uppercase Latin approximates, e.g. A -> আ, U -> উ etc. Long vowels are short vowels repeated, e.g. II -> ঈ.

Consonant conjunctions

The key differences with phonetic keyboards are that inherent vowels are omitted and consonant conjunctions are imperative (through explicit use of virama, ্, with a ;).

It follows the formula consonant + ্ + consonant = conjunct

i.e. স + ্ + ন = স্ন, ম + ্ + ল = ম্ল etc.

Diacritic forms of consonants are applied automatically, e.g.

‍‍্র (রফলা): প + ্ + র = প্র

‍‍র্ক (রেফ): র + ্ + ক = র্ক

Certain graphemes and letters that exist in their diacritic forms do not require ্ (same as vowels), e.g.

‍্য (যফলা): ল + ‍্য = ল‍্য

‍ঁ (চন্দ্রবিন্দু): ব + ‍ঁ = বঁ

‍‍্র (রফলা): প + ‍‍্র = প্র

The input sequence for these end in a :, e.g. y: -> ‍্য, r: -> ‍‍্র etc.

The ৃ (ঋ কার), of course, is a linquistic absurdity that follows no such convention and is mapped to rr. Hence, krrti -> কৃতি.

Please refer to the full table below.

Mappings

Latin	Bangla	Frequency
k	ক	2
kh	খ	2
g	গ	2
gh	ঘ	2
Ng	ঙ	2
ch	চ	2
chh	ছ	1
z	জ	1
j:	জ	1
jh	ঝ	1
ngg	ঞ	1
T	ট	1
Th	ঠ	1
D	ড	1
Dh	ঢ	1
N	ণ	1
t	ত	1
th	থ	1
d	দ	1
dh	ধ	1
n	ন	1
p	প	1
ph	ফ	1
f	ফ	1
b	ব	1
bh	ভ	1
m	ম	1
j	য	1
r	র	1
l	ল	1
sh	শ	1
Sh	ষ	1
s	স	1
h	হ	1
t:	ৎ	1
ng	ং	1
o	ো	1
O	ও	1
O:	অ	1
i	ি	1
ii	ী	2
I	ই	2
II	ঈ	2
a	া	2
A	আ	2
e	ে	2
E	এ	2
ou	ৌ	2
oi	ৈ	2
u	ু	2
uu	ূ	2
U	উ	2
UU	ঊ	2
rr	ৃ	2
rr:	ঋ	1
R:	ড়	1
Dh:	ঢ়	1
y	য়	2
y:	‍্য	1
r:	‍‍্র	1
b:	‍্ব	1
;	্	2
ng:	ঁ	2
::	ঃ	2
0	০	2
1	১	2
2	২	2
3	৩	2
4	৪	2
5	৫	2
6	৬	2
7	৭	2
8	৮	2
9	৯	2
.	৷	1
;;	;	1

Installation

Run the following:

./install.sh

Add input method

On Pop_OS 21.10 or Ubuntu 21.10 (Gnome)

1. Go to Settings -> Keyboard
2. Click on + and select Bangla (Bangladesh)
3. Select Bangla (krrti)

References

• Wikipedia article on Bengali alphabet
• Unicode code chart for Bangla