Ya is a consonant of Indic abugidas. In modern Indic scripts, Ya is derived from the early "Ashoka" Brahmi letter after having gone through the Gupta letter.
Āryabhaṭa numeration
used Devanagari letters for numbers, very similar to the Greek numerals, even after the invention of Indian numerals. The values of the different forms of य are:
य = 30
यि = 3,000
यु = 300,000
यृ = 30,000,000
यॢ = 3
ये = 3
यै = 3
यो = 3
यौ = 3
Historic Ya
There are three different general early historic scripts - Brahmi and its variants, Kharoṣṭhī, and Tocharian, the so-calledslanting Brahmi. Ya as found in standard Brahmi, was a simple geometric shape, with variations toward more flowing forms by the Gupta. The Tocharian Ya did not have an alterante Fremdzeichen form. The third form of ya, in Kharoshthi was probably derived from Aramaic separately from the Brahmi letter.
Brahmi Ya
The Brahmi letter, Ya, is probably derived from the Aramaic Yodh, and is thus related to the modern LatinI and J and Greek Iota. Several identifiable styles of writing the Brahmi Ya can be found, most associated with a specific set of inscriptions from an artifact or diverse records from an historic period. As the earliest and most geometric style of Brahmi, the letters found on the Edicts of Ashoka and other records from around that time are normally the reference form for Brahmi letters, with vowel marks not attested until later forms of Brahmi back-formed to match the geometric writing style.
The Tocharian letter is derived from the Brahmi, but does not have an alternate Fremdzeichen form.
Ya
Yā
Yi
Yī
Yu
Yū
Yr
Yr̄
Ye
Yai
Yo
Yau
Yä
Kharoṣṭhī Ya
The Kharoṣṭhī letter is generally accepted as being derived from the Aramaic Yodh, and is thus related to I, J and Iota, in addition to the Brahmi Ya.
Devanagari Ya
Ya is a consonant of the Devanagari abugida. It ultimately arose from the Brahmi letter, after having gone through the Gupta letter. Letters that derive from it are the Gujarati letter ય, and the Modi letter ?.
Devanagari-using Languages
In all languages, य is pronounced as or when appropriate. Like all Indic scripts, Devanagari uses vowel marks attached to the base consonant to override the inherent /ə/ vowel:
Ya
Yā
Yi
Yī
Yu
Yū
Yr
Yr̄
Yl
Yl̄
Ye
Yai
Yo
Yau
Y
य
या
यि
यी
यु
यू
यृ
यॄ
यॢ
यॣ
ये
यै
यो
यौ
य्
Conjuncts with य
Devanagari exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts. In modern Devanagari texts, most conjuncts are formed by reducing the letter shape to fit tightly to the following letter, usually by dropping a character's vertical stem, sometimes referred to as a "half form". Some conjunct clusters are always represented by a true ligature, instead of a shape that can be broken into constituent independent letters. Vertically stacked conjuncts are ubiquitous in older texts, while only a few are still used routinely in modern Devanagari texts. The use of ligatures and vertical conjuncts may vary across languages using the Devanagari script, with Marathi in particular preferring the use of half forms where texts in other languages would show ligatures and vertical stacks.
Ligature conjuncts of य
True ligatures are quite rare in Indic scripts. The most common ligated conjuncts in Devanagari are in the form of a slight mutation to fit in context or as a consistent variant form appended to the adjacent characters. Those variants include Na and the Repha and Rakar forms of Ra. Nepali and Marathi texts use the "eyelash" Ra half form for an initial "R" instead of repha.
र্ + य gives us the ligature rya:
य্ + न gives us the ligature yna:
य্ + र gives us the ligature yra:
छ্ + य gives us the ligature cʰya:
ढ্ + य gives us the ligature ḍʱya:
ड্ + य gives us the ligature ḍya:
द্ + द্ + य gives us the ligature ddya:
द্ + व্ + य gives us the ligature dvya:
द্ + य gives us the ligature dya:
ङ্ + य gives us the ligature ŋya:
ष্ + ठ্ + य gives us the ligature ṣṭʰya:
ठ্ + य gives us the ligature ṭʰya:
Stacked conjuncts of य
Vertically stacked ligatures are the most common conjunct forms found in Devanagari text. Although the constituent characters may need to be stretched and moved slightly in order to stack neatly, stacked conjuncts can be broken down into recognizable base letters, or a letter and an otherwise standard ligature.
The Bengali script য is derived from the Siddhaṃ, and is marked by a similar horizontal head line, but less geometric shape, than its Devanagari counterpart, य. The inherent vowel of Bengali consonant letters is /ɔ/, so the bare letter য will sometimes be transliterated as "yo" instead of "ya". Adding okar, the "o" vowel mark, gives a reading of /yo/. Like all Indic consonants, য can be modified by marks to indicate another vowel than its inherent "a".
ya
yā
yi
yī
yu
yū
yr
yr̄
ye
yai
yo
yau
y
য
যা
যি
যী
যু
যূ
যৃ
যৄ
যে
যৈ
যো
যৌ
য্
য in Bengali-using languages
য is used as a basic consonant character in all of the major Bengali script orthographies, including Bengali and Assamese.
Conjuncts with য
Bengali য exhibits conjunct ligatures, as is common in Indic scripts, with a tendency towards stacked ligatures.
Bengali Ya-phala
The letter য has a special form when used as the last letter of a conjunct called "Ya phala". This reduced form of য is appended to the right of the preceding letter or conjunct, with vowel signs falling outside of the ya-phala as in most conjuncts. The use of a reduced Ya-phala is similar to the Ra-phala and Va-phala forms, which attach to the bottom of a letter or conjunct. Unlike these other reduced consonant forms, ya-phala can be appended to the independent A vowel character. In representing Bengali text on computer systems, the Zero-width joiner is used to suppress formation of ya-phala in certain contexts, as Hasant + Ya is realized as ya-phala by default.
ভ্ + য gives us the ligature bʰya:
ব্ + য gives us the ligature bya:
চ্ + য gives us the ligature cya:
ঢ্ + য gives us the ligature ḍʱya:
ড্ + য gives us the ligature ḍya:
ধ্ + য gives us the ligature dʱya:
দ্ + র্ + য gives us the ligature drya, with ra phala in addition to ya phala:
দ্ + য gives us the ligature dya:
গ্ + ধ্ + য gives us the ligature gdʱya:
ঘ্ + য gives us the ligature ɡʱya:
গ্ + ন্ + য gives us the ligature gnya:
গ্ + র্ + য gives us the ligature grya, with ra phala in addition to ya phala:
গ্ + য gives us the ligature gya:
জ্ + য gives us the ligature jya:
খ্ + য gives us the ligature kʰya:
ক্ + শ্ + ম্ + য gives us the ligature kʃmya:
ক্ + শ্ + য gives us the ligature kʃya:
ক্ + য gives us the ligature kya:
ল্ + ক্ + য gives us the ligature lkya:
ল্ + য gives us the ligature lya:
ম্ + য gives us the ligature mya:
ন্ + ধ্ + য gives us the ligature ndʱya:
ন্ + দ্ + য gives us the ligature ndya:
ঙ্ + ঘ্ + য gives us the ligature ŋɡʱya:
ঙ্ + গ্ + য gives us the ligature ŋgya:
ঙ্ + ক্ + য gives us the ligature ŋkya:
ণ্ + ড্ + য gives us the ligature ṇḍya:
ণ্ + ঠ্ + য gives us the ligature ṇṭʰya:
ণ্ + য gives us the ligature ṇya:
ন্ + ত্ + র্ + য gives us the ligature ntrya, with ra phala in addition to ya phala:
ন্ + ত্ + য gives us the ligature ntya:
ন্ + য gives us the ligature nya:
প্ + র্ + য gives us the ligature prya, with ra phala in addition to ya phala
প্ + য gives us the ligature pya:
র্ + ব্ + য gives us the ligature rbya, with the repha prefix in addition to ya phala:
র্ + চ্ + য gives us the ligature rcya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + ঢ্ + য gives us the ligature rḍʱya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + ঘ্ + য gives us the ligature rɡʱya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + হ্ + য gives us the ligature rhya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + জ্ + য gives us the ligature rjya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + খ্ + য gives us the ligature rkʰya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + ক্ + য gives us the ligature rkya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + ম্ + য gives us the ligature rmya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + ণ্ + য gives us the ligature rṇya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + শ্ + য gives us the ligature rʃya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + ষ্ + য gives us the ligature rṣya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + থ্ + য gives us the ligature rtʰya, with repha and ya phala:
র্ + ত্ + য gives us the ligature rtya, with repha and ya phala:
শ্ + য gives us the ligature ʃya:
ষ্ + ঠ্ + য gives us the ligature ṣṭʰya:
ষ্ + ট্ + য gives us the ligature ṣṭya:
ষ্ + য gives us the ligature ṣya:
স্ + থ্ + য gives us the ligature stʰya:
স্ + ত্ + য gives us the ligature stya:
স্ + য gives us the ligature sya:
থ্ + য gives us the ligature tʰya:
ত্ + ম্ + য gives us the ligature tmya:
ত্ + র্ + য gives us the ligature trya, with the ra phala and ya phala suffixes
ট্ + য gives us the ligature ṭya:
ত্ + ত্ + য gives us the ligature ttya:
ত্ + য gives us the ligature tya:
য্ + য gives us the ligature yya:
Other conjuncts of য
Ya-phala is almost universal, and its suppression generally only happens in order to express a repha on য instead.
র্ + য gives us the ligature rya, with the repha prefix:
