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Devana:gari: Sounds and Letters: Pronunciation and Examples

1. Vowels

2. Consonants

2.1. Hindi Extended Consonants

1. Nasal Consonants and Nasalization in Devana:gari:

Devana:gari: has five nasal consonants (ङ, ञ, ण, न and म). Each of these nasal consonants represents a class (वर्ग) of all the total five classes of plosive consonants. Besides having a specific nasal consonant for each class of plosive consonants, Devana:gari: also has two types of vowel nasalization processes.

a. Nasalization through anuswa:ra (ं)
b. Nasalization through anuna:sika (ँ)

(a) The trend of using full nasal consonants of क, च and ट classes (i.e., ङ, ञ and ण) in script has been minimized in due course of time. The same trend has been noticed in the use of the half letters of all the five nasal consonants. Instead of writing half consonants of each class in script, people prefer using single diacritic mark: a dot above the letter that once preceded nasal half consonants. In between, there may exist a short or long vowel, if the preceding letter on which the diacritic sits is a consonant. The dot is called anuswa:ra (ं). It is the environment of the anuswa:ra in a morpheme or word through which the exact homorganic half nasal consonant may be recovered in many cases (e.g., गंगा = गङ्गा /gaŋga:/, गंजा = गञ्जा /gaɲja:/, गंडक = गण्डक /gaɳɖak/, गंदा = गन्दा /ganda:/ and चंपा = चम्पा /campa:/). It is important to remember that no as such any extra effort is required in the articulation of these half nasals. The correct articulation of these nasal consonants depend on the correct articulation of the plosives that follow these nasals in a morpheme or word. Below are the rules that may provide some leads in the proper use and articulation of the two diacritics.
1. anuswa:ra (ं) may better be used when in morphemes or words long vowels precedes a nasal sound and the nasal sound is followed by a voiced plosive. In articulation, the long vowel is not or not so nasalized as an anuna:sika and retains a homorganic nasal counterpart of the class of voiced plosive that follows (e.g., बांध /ba:ndʰ/, गेंद /ge:nd/, चांद /ca:nd/, सांझ /sa:ɲjʰ/, सींग /si:ŋg/, मांज /ma:ɲj/, गैंडा /gaeɳɖa:/, आंधी /a:ndʰi:/, टांगा /ʈa:ŋga:/, तोंद /to:nd/, गोंद /go:nd/ etc).
2. anuswa:ra (ं) may also better be used when in morphemes or words short vowels precedes a nasal sound and the nasal sound is followed by an obstruent (i.e., plosive, affricate or fricative). In articulation, the short vowel is again not or not so nasalized as an anuna:sika and retains a homorganic nasal counterpart of the obstruent that follows (e.g., डंक /ɖaŋk/, अंग /aŋg/, गंदा /ganda:/, गंजा /gaɲja:/, चंपा /campa:/, लंबा /lamba:/, मंच /maɲc/, लंच /laɲc/, अंडा /aɳɖa:/, खंड /kʰaɳɖ/ etc).

(b) anuna:sika (ँ) is known mainly for vowel nasalization. The homorganic nasal consonants do not exist in the articulation of anuna:sika, but only the nasalized vowel. The nasalized vowel is manifested by the diacritic (ँ) on the letter which immediately precedes the vowel.
1. anuna:sika (ँ) may better be used when in morphemes or words long vowels precedes a nasal sound and the nasal sound is followed by a voiceless plosive. In articulation, normally the full length of the long vowel is nasalized and it does not retain a homorganic nasal counterpart of the class of voiceless plosive that follows (e.g., आँख /ã:kʰ/ साँप /sã:p/, काँच /kã:c/, काँप /kã:p/, साँस /sã:s/, माँस /mã:s/, बेँत /bẽ:t/, टाँका /ʈã:ka:/, आँटा /ã:ʈa:/, काँटा /kã:ʈa:/, भेँट /bʰẽ:ʈ/ etc).
It is possible that people may come up with exceptions to the above mentioned leads. The reasons are many and needs elaboration. It is also because anuswa:ra and anuna:sika involve not only phonological but inflectional, derivational as well as orthographic aspects. We will come across the elaboration of these aspects latter on.

2. Devana:gari: ra, besides its full form (र), has two Subscript Forms (◌̗, ◌̭)and a Superscript Form (◌͑).

(a) Subscript form:

1. (◌̗) : It is a variant of full form. it combines with preceding half consonants or halant form (vowel suppressed form) apart from the retroflex class of consonants. Examples: (क्रम, क्रय, क्रिया, ग्रह, द्रव्य, प्रजा, प्रथा, प्राण, प्रिय, भ्रात:).
2. (◌̭) : It is also a variant of full form. it combines with preceding half consonants or halant form of retroflex class of consonants. Examples: (ट्रेन, ट्रक, ट्राम, ड्राम, ड्राफ्ट, ट्रैक, ट्रौली, फैक्ट्री, ड्रॉ).

(b) Superscript form:

1. (◌͑): It is the half form or halant form of ra. It combines with immediately following consonants. Examples:(कार्य, मार्ग, कर्म, पर्वत, पूर्व, गर्व, पर्व, गर्त, अर्थ, दर्द).