The current printed form of bengali alphabet first appeared in 1778 when charles wilkins developed printing in bengali. The bengali script has a total of 11 vowel graphemes, each of which is called a স্বরবর্ণ swôrôbôrnô 'vowel letter'. In bengali, they are called `banjonborna.
The bengali alphabet has 50 letters, of which 11 are vowels and 39 are consonants. Bengali alphabet has eight vowels, a semi vowel and two diphthongs. Below is a table showing the bengali alphabet and how it is pronounced in english, and finally examples of how those letters would sound if you place them in a word.
All of these are used in both bengali and assamese languages. The bengali script has fifty letters, of which 11 are vowels (sworoborno), and 39 are consonants (byanjonborno). বাংলা বর্ণমালায় 50টি অক্ষর রয়েছে, যার মধ্যে 11টি স্বরবর্ণ এবং. A few archaic letters were modernised during the 19th century.
Vowels and consonants are used as letters and also as diacritical marks.