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Help:IPA/Sanskrit

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The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Vedic and Classical Sanskrit and Pali pronunciations in Wikipedia articles. For a guide to adding IPA characters to Wikipedia articles, see Template:IPA, and Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Pronunciation § Entering IPA characters.

See shiksha for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Sanskrit.

Key

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Consonants
IPA[1]Nagari[1]IAST[1] [2]English approximation
b बbabout
bʱ भbhclubhouse
ɕ शśsheep, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized)
d[3] दdwidth
dʱ[3] धdhredhead (but dental)
ɖ[3] डḍAmerican bird
ɖʱ[3] ढḍhAmerican birdhouse
dʑ जjjuice, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized)
dʑʱ झjhhedgehog
ɡ गgagain
ɡʱ घghloghouse
ɦ हhahead
j यyyak
k कkskin
kʰ खkhkin
l लlleaf
m मmmuch
n नntenth
ɲ ञñcanyon[4]
ɳ णṇAmerican burn[4]
ŋ ङṅsting[4]
p पpspan
pʰ फphpan
r[5] रrIndian roti
s सssoup
ʂ षṣAmerican worship
t[3] तtstable
tʰ[3] थthtable (but dental)
ʈ[3] टṭstable
ʈʰ[3] ठṭhtable
tɕ चcriches, pronounced more forward, toward the teeth (palatalized)
tɕʰ छchchew
ʋ वvbetween wine and vine
Vowels[4][6]
IPANagariIAST[2]English approximation
aː आ, पाābra
ɐ अ, पaabout
ɐi̯[7] ऐ, पैaihi
ɐu̯[8] औ, पौauReceived Pronunciation go
eː[9] ए, पेeScottish wait
i इ, पिisit
iː ई, पीīfeet
oː[10] ओ, पोostory
u उ, पुufull
uː ऊ, पूūfool
Syllabic Consonants
l̩[11] ऌ, पॢ ḷ bottle
l̩ː[12] ॡ, पॣ ḹ longer ḷ
r̩[13] ऋ, पृṛSimilar to rhotic bird
r̩ː[14] ॠ, पॄṝlonger ṛ
Vowel Diacritics
◌̃ ँ◌̃/m̐nasal vowel [ɐ̃], [ãː], [õː], etc.)[4]
h ः[15] ḥ head


Suprasegmentals
IPANagariIAST[2]English equivalent
ˈ◌ stress[16]
(placed before stressed syllable)

Notes

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  1. 1 2 3 Devanagari consonant letters such as क have the inherent vowel अ a. Thus, क is pronounced ka, even without any vowel sign added. But the IPA and IAST shown here have the consonant k only and do not include the vowel 'a'.
  2. 1 2 3 Comparison of IAST with ISO 15919 transliteration.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Sanskrit contrasts dental [t] and [d] with retroflex [ʈ] and [ɖ] (as well as aspirated variants). Both sets sound like /t/ and /d/ to most English speakers although the dental [t] and [d] are used in place of the English /θ/ and /ð/ for some speakers with th-stopping.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Vowels may occur nasalised as an allophone of the nasal consonants in certain positions: see anusvara and chandrabindu.
  5. ↑ /r/ may be phonetically realised as [ɽ], [ɾ] or [ɾ̪] in Classical Sanskrit.
  6. ↑ Sanskrit distinguishes between long and short vowels. Each monophthong has a long and short phoneme. The diphthongs, historically /ɐi, aːi, ɐu, aːu/, also have a difference in quality: [eː, ɐi, oː, ɐu]. Rarely, vowels may be extra-long.
  7. ↑ [aːi̯] in Vedic Sanskrit.
  8. ↑ [aːu̯] in Vedic Sanskrit.
  9. ↑ [ɐi̯] in Vedic Sanskrit.
  10. ↑ [ɐu̯] in Vedic Sanskrit.
  11. ↑ [lrĭ] for most modern speakers. [lĭ] in Bengali and Maithili regions.
  12. ↑ [lri] for most modern speakers. [li] in Bengali and Maithili regions.
  13. ↑ [ɻĭ] or [ɾɪ] for most modern speakers. [rŭ] for southern speakers.
  14. ↑ [ri] or [ɽiː] for most modern speakers. [ru] for southern speakers.
  15. ↑ Visarga, added after a vowel.
  16. ↑ In Classical Sanskrit, stress was predictable by syllable weight: counting from the end of a word, the second-last was stressed if heavy (having a long vowel or a coda consonant); if it was light, the third-last was stressed if heavy; otherwise, stress fell on the fourth-last syllable. Vedic Sanskrit, in contrast, possessed an unpredictable pitch accent.

References

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  • Zieba, Maciej; Stiehl, Ulrich (June 9, 2002). "The Original Pronunciation of Sanskrit" (PDF). Ulrich Stiehl. Retrieved 27 September 2011.

See also

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