A Bangla phonetic encoding for better spelling suggesions

Abstract

We present a phonetic encoding for Bangla that can be used by spelling checkers to provide better suggestions for misspelled words. The encoding is based on the Soundex algorithm, modified to match Bangla phonetics. We start by analyzing Soundex encoding scheme when applied to Bangla. Next we propose a new encoding that handles the case of Bangla words, including those containing conjuncts. We conclude with a demonstration of a prototype spelling checker that uses this phonetic encoding to offer suggestions for a set of misspelled Bangla words.