transliterations ←

chunk 91: PRONUNCIATION -------------------------------------

→ PRONUNCIATION OF VOWELS -------------------------------------

Pronunciation guide.
very rough guide to the pronunciation of Sanskrit letters
rough guide to the pronunciation of Sanskrit letters
correct pronunciation of Sanskrit letters
weird letters used only in this website
what does correct mean
about glides
Hiatus are two vowels in different syllables with no pause in between.
glottal stop
Diphthongs and monophthongs.
about slowdown




(pronunciationguide) (gu)

Pronunciation guide.mmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1774

very rough guide to the pronunciation of Sanskrit letters

rough guide to the pronunciation of Sanskrit letters

correct pronunciation of Sanskrit letters

different ways to spell Sanskrit in Roman letters

what does correct mean

192 letters. -- 37900pronuguide.bse 2 -- popularity 2

1 contents

1785 pronunciation of vowels




(veryroughguidetothepro) (very)

very rough guide to the pronunciation of Sanskrit lettersmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1775

Usually when Sanskrit is spelled with Roman letters, the consonants sound like in English and the vowels like in Spanish.

For instance, the Sanskrit word "dine" does not sound at all like the dine of english diner. The i letter is (roughly) an "ee" sound, and the e letter is roughly like the ay in "say". So dine is roughly "deenay".

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1774 Pronunciation guide.




(roughguidetothepronunc) (rou)

rough guide to the pronunciation of Sanskrit lettersmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1776

The following descriptions are inaccurate, but might do in a pinch.

Pronounce a like the U of "cut". So taptahema is roughly "tuptuhaymuh".

u U as oo

i I as ee

S and z stand for SH-like sounds. So ziva is "sheeva", SaT is "shat".

c stands for CH as in "church". So zocati = "shochati".

g like the g of "get" (never g of "giraffe")

Ignore the h in kh th Th gh ph bh etc. So phalam sounds like "palam".

v like english V or W (both work, but swastika is easier than svastika)

Gg Gk like English ng nk. So aGga "limb" sounds like "anger".

Jc Jj like nch nj. So paJca like "puncher", oraJj like "orange".

r as in Japanese or Spanish, never like in English.

Replace R and RR with "ri". So kRSNa is "krishna".

The other letters sound like in English.

For better advice, see correct pronunciation of Sanskrit letters .

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1774 Pronunciation guide.




(correctpronunciationof) (cor)

correct pronunciation of Sanskrit lettersmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1777

pronunciation of vowels

pronunciation of M and H

pronunciation of consonants

about the topdot letter

about the dotdot letter

weird letters used only in this website

common mispronunciations --

h plus echo

pronunciation of jJ

effects of hindI accent

208 letters. -- 37900pronuguide.bse 141 -- popularity 2

1774 Pronunciation guide.

1776 rough guide to the pronunciation of Sanskrit letters




(weirdlettersusedonlyin) (wei)

weird letters used only in this websitemmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1778

(1) Pronounce K either as a jihvAmUlIya sound or as an H sound ( aka visarga). But you must write it always as H ( dotdot letter).

(2) Pronounce F either as an upadhmAnIya sound or as an H sound ( aka visarga). But you must write it always as H ( dotdot letter).

(3) The underscore (_) and the coloncolon (::) mean hiatus. You won't see these symbols anywhere else but here; usually the hiatus is expressed as a space or a hyphen in Roman spelling. In inria reader you may use the underscore in words like tita_unA and pra_uga. In devanAgarI no such symbol is necessary because a sound like ta_u is expressed by a ta letter followed by an u letter. If what is at the left of :: is not a, or what is at the right of :: is not i and not u, then writing the letters together is fine. So auGa::ApaH may also be spelled auGaApaH.

(4) The rules in Sanskrit have weird signs such as % and ' and - and @. Just ignore them. But don't ignore the "::" in RRta::iddhAtoH, that shows a hiatus.

(5) the squiggle (~) after a letter means that the letter has a moondot on top, that is, that letter is nasalized. In written Sanskrit this sign is used only on top of l, when rule torli turns a n sound into a nasalized l~ sound. There are rules that nasalize other letters, but in those, the moondot symbols are ordinarily replaced with the topdot.

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3 next pages for chris

1777 correct pronunciation of Sanskrit letters




(whatdoescorrectmean) (whatd)

what does correct meanmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1779

What do we mean by "correct" pronunciation of Sanskrit?

I have read in many language-teaching books that there is no way to get the correct pronunciation of a language by following explanations or descriptions of the sound, and that instead you must lean on paying attention to what speakers say and try to imitate it as closely as possible. In other words, correct pronunciation is not determined by what grammarians say, but by the agreement of the majority of the speakers.

This definitely does NOT apply to Sanskrit. The correctness of a sound is mainly determined by (1) the descriptions of the ancient grammarians and (2) the veda recitation traditions.

Most of the time speakers use the correct pronunciation, but in a few cases the commonest pronunciation is one that contradicts the ancient descriptions.

For instance, the descriptions of ancient grammarians clearly say that the last sound of the word azvaH is the visarga sound, same sound as the English H of the word "hat". Yet, the majority of Sanskrit speakers nowadays will say azvahA, not azvaH.

The "ashwaH" pronunciation was used in times of pAnini, but nowadays you won't hear it often. There are historical reasons for this change. But the "ashwahA" pronunciation is used and taught so much that if you say "ashwaH", most speakers will tell you that you are doing it wrong, and that "ashwahA" is the only right way. Only a few experts know that "ashwaH" is correct and that "ashwahA" does not agree with the descriptions of the ancients.

A similar thing happens with the vowel R. In correct Sanskrit you must say kRSNa, not kriSNa, but in practice most people who think they know Sanskrit will use the wrong version.

This is the complete opposite of what happens in English, where grammarians do not worry at all about the correct pronunciation of words, but only about their spelling. The good pronunciation is determined by the agreement of the speakers. When a English dictionary maker has to explain what is the correct pronunciation of "February", the only way is listening to what people say. If most of them say "Febry", then "Febry" is correct.

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1774 Pronunciation guide.

1791 wrong pronunciations of !R !RR !L




(@glide) (@gli)

about glidesmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ M+ C- 1780

A vowel sound is said to be a "glide" if the tongue or lips move while saying it. Instead of "glide", you may say, if you which, " diphthong", which sounds more hifalutin but means the same thing.

For instance, the English sound EYE is a glide, because the tongue starts at an "ah" position and then moves toward an "ih" or "eh" position.

In most dialects of English, the sounds of nEEd and fOOd are glides, as the organs move from start to end. You will mishear Sanskrit I U as if they were English EE OO, but, in fact, Sanskrit I U do not glide at all.

Also, e and o never glide in Sanskrit, though you will mishear them as if they were the English "ay" "ou" sounds of "say" and "doe".

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1786 /aN'' vowels

1792 /ec vowels




(@hiatus) (@hia)

hiatus are two vowels in different syllables with no pause in between.mmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ M- C+ 1781

Example in English --

"the idea" has four syllables, thee - eye - dee - uh. Here the sounds ee-eye and ee-uh are hiatuses.

"the idea of it" has six syllables, thee - eye - dee - uh - uv - it. Here the sounds uh-uv might be a third hiatus. But in many English dialects that is replaced with thee - eye - dee - ur - uv - it, adding an 'r' that avoids the hiatus.

Example in Sanskrit --

arjuna::uvAca has six syllables, a - rju - na - u - vA - ca. Here a-u is a hiatus.

The sound na::u is a na sound followed inmediately by an oo sound, in two separate syllables, and it is not the same as the sound of nau, which is like English "now", and is only one syllable. The two vowels a::u are said to be a hiatus, while the one vowel au is a diphthong.

The a + u hiatus sound may be written as a_u or a::u or even a'u or "aüaut;" . In inria reader it must be spelled a_u.

The hiatus is very uncommon inside a word, but happens in a few words like tita_u "sieve" and pra_uga "triangle" (likely from prayuga).

In Sanskrit the hiatus sounds happen mainly when a wordfinal s or y is dropped by some sandhi rule, like --

arjunas + uvAca →bhobhago arjunayuvAca →lopazzA arjuna::uvAca

vane + uSTras →ecoya vanayuSTras →lopazzA vana::uSTraH "the camel is in the wild"

Note that you won't ever find arjunayuvAca in print, even though you will hear it often and it is kosher to say (because rule lopazzA is optional).

Some people read aloud every a_i hiatus sound as ayi, no matter if doing so is kosher or not (it mostly is, except in rare cases like the vedic tita_unA).

I have heard other people chanting all a_i as avi. That sux.

Some read a_u as ayu or avu. ayu almost always rox, and avu almost always sux.

Some chanters will insert a glottal stop between the two vowels. This likely sux, as the old teachers never even mention such a sound, but it sounds neat somehow.

If we interpret rule lopazzA to be optional, then arjunayuvAca and sayicchati are grammatical. Otherwise, we can still use the lighter-effort y there.

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(@glottalstop) (@glot)

glottal stopmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C- 1782

A glottal stop is a "throat catch" sound. To learn about it, read --

wikipedia on glottal stop

and maybe watch --

youtube video on global stop

Some pro chanters say the glottal stop sound in the middle of every hiatus. I don't think the ancient grammarians ever mentioned that, but do it anyway if you feel like it.

200 letters. -- 37900pronuguide.bse 1159 -- popularity 1




(@diphthong) (@di)

Diphthongs and monophthongs.mmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1783

In phonetics, the word diphthong means a gliding vowel. For a clearer explanation --

wikipedia on diphthongs.

In correct Sanskrit, ai au do glide (they are diphthongs), and the other vowels don't (they are monophthongs).

Some Western grammarians use the word "diphthong" to mean ec, that is, the four vowels e o ai au. Event though e o are not diphthongs in the phonetics sense. That's a stupid thing to do, just call them ec, that's shorter.

All of e o ai au are long vowels.

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1589 rules that delete the @calling

1780 about glides

1781 @Hiatus are two vowels in different syllables with no @pause in between.




(@slowdown) (@sl)

about slowdownmmmmmmmmm glosses glosses ^ C+ 1784

Youtube videos have a gear icon under them. You can use it to set speed to 75 percent of normal.

Doing this helps students a lot when listening to Sanskrit that is being pronounced too fast, that is, at normal speed. Please set the speed to 75 whenever you have trouble hearing some letters.

Setting speed to 50 percent is mostly always useless, because the sound comes out too distorted.

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transliterations ←

chunk 91: PRONUNCIATION -------------------------------------

→ PRONUNCIATION OF VOWELS -------------------------------------