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Vowels
The vowels of Classical Sanskrit with their word-initial Devanagari symbol, diacritical mark with the consonant प् (/p/), pronunciation (of the vowel alone and of /p/+vowel) in IPA, equivalent in IAST and (approximate) equivalents in English are listed below:
| Letter | प् | Pronunciation | Pronunciation with /p/ | IAST equiv. | English equivalent (GA unless stated otherwise) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| अ | प | /ɐ/ or /ə/ | /pɐ/ or /pə/ | a | short near-open central vowel or schwa: u in bunny or a in about |
| आ | पा | /ɑː/ | /pɑː/ | ā | long open back unrounded vowel: a in father (RP) |
| इ | पि | /i/ | /pi/ | i | short close front unrounded vowel: e in england |
| ई | पी | /iː/ | /piː/ | ī | long close front unrounded vowel: ee in feet |
| उ | पु | /u/ | /pu/ | u | short close back rounded vowel: oo in foot |
| ऊ | पू | /uː/ | /puː/ | ū | long close back rounded vowel: oo in cool |
| ऋ | पृ | /ɻ/ | /pɻ/ | ṛ | short retroflex approximant: r in run |
| ॠ | पॄ | /ɻː/ | /pɻː/ | ṝ | long retroflex approximant r in run |
| ऌ | पॢ | /ɭ/ | /pɭ/ | ḷ | short retroflex lateral approximant (no English equivalent) |
| ॡ | पॣ | /ɭː/ | /pɭː/ | ḹ | long retroflex lateral approximant |
| ए | पे | /eː/ | /peː/ | e | long close-mid front unrounded vowel: a in bane (some speakers) |
| ऐ | पै | /əi/ | /pəi/ | ai | a long diphthong: i in ice, i in kite (Canadian and Scottish English) |
| ओ | पो | /oː/ | /poː/ | o | long close-mid back rounded vowel: o in bone (some speakers) |
| औ | पौ | /əu/ | /pəu/ | au | a long diphthong: Similar to the ou in house (Canadian English) |
The long vowels are pronounced twice as long as their short counterparts. Also, there exists a third, extra-long length for most vowels, called pluti, which is used in various cases, but particularly in the vocative. The pluti is not accepted by all grammarians.
The vowels /e/ and /o/ continue as allophonic variants of Proto-Indo-Iranian /ai/, /au/ and are categorized as diphthongs by Sanskrit grammarians even though they are realized phonetically as simple long vowels. (See above).
Additional points:
- There are some additional signs traditionally listed in tables of the Devanagari script:
- The diacritic ं called anusvāra, (IAST: ṃ). It is used both to indicate the nasalization of the vowel in the syllable ([◌̃] and to represent the sound of a syllabic /n/ or /m/; e.g. पं /pəŋ/.
- The diacritic ः called visarga, represents /əh/ (IAST: ḥ); e.g. पः /pəh/.
- The diacritic ँ called chandrabindu, not traditionally included in Devanagari charts for Sanskrit, is used interchangeably with the anusvāra to indicate nasalization of the vowel, primarily in Vedic notation; e.g. पँ /pə̃/.
- If a lone consonant needs to be written without any following vowel, it is given a halanta/virāma diacritic below (प्).
- The vowel /aː/ in Sanskrit is realized as being more central and less back than the closest English approximation, which is /ɑː/. But the grammarians have classified it as a back vowel.[24]
- The ancient Sanskrit grammarians classified the vowel system as velars, retroflexes, palatals and plosives rather than as back, central and front vowels. Hence ए and ओ are classified respectively as palato-velar (a+i) and labio-velar (a+u) vowels respectively. But the grammarians have classified them as diphthongs and in prosody, each is given two mātrās. This does not necessarily mean that they are proper diphthongs, but neither excludes the possibility that they could have been proper diphthongs at a very ancient stage (see above). These vowels are pronounced as long /eː/ and /oː/ respectively by learned Sanskrit Brahmans and priests of today. Other than the «four» diphthongs, Sanskrit usually disallows any other diphthong—vowels in succession, where they occur, are converted to semivowels according to sandhi rules.
Consonants
IAST and Devanagari notations are given, with approximate IPA values in square brackets.
| Labial Ōshtya | Labiodental Dantōshtya | Dental Dantya | Retroflex Mūrdhanya | Palatal Tālavya | Velar Kanthya | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop Sparśa | Unaspirated Alpaprāna | p प [p] | b ब [b] | t त [t̪] | d द [d̪] | ṭ ट [ʈ] | ḍ ड [ɖ] | c च [c͡ç] | j ज [ɟ͡ʝ] | k क [k] | g ग [ɡ] | ||
| Aspirated Mahāprāna | ph फ [pʰ] | bh भ [bʱ] | th थ [t̪ʰ] | dh ध [d̪ʱ] | ṭh ठ [ʈʰ] | ḍh ढ [ɖʱ] | ch छ [c͡çʰ] | jh झ [ɟ͡ʝʱ] | kh ख [kʰ] | gh घ [ɡʱ] | |||
| Nasal Anunāsika | m म [m] | n न [n̪] | ṇ ण [ɳ] | ñ ञ [ɲ] | ṅ ङ [ŋ] | ||||||||
| Semivowel Antastha | v व [ʋ] | y य [j] | |||||||||||
| Liquid Drava | l ल [l] | r र [r] | |||||||||||
| Fricative Ūshman | s स [s̪] | ṣ ष [ʂ] | ś श [ɕ] | ḥ ः [h] | h ह [ɦ] |
The table below shows the traditional listing of the Sanskrit consonants with the (nearest) equivalents in English (as pronounced in General American and Received Pronunciation) and Spanish. Each consonant shown below is deemed to be followed by the neutral vowel schwa (/ə/), and is named in the table as such.
Plosives—Sprshta
| UnaspiratedVoiceless Alpaprāna Śvāsa | AspiratedVoiceless Mahāprāna Śvāsa | UnaspiratedVoiced Alpaprāna Nāda | Aspirated Voiced Mahāprāna Nāda | Nasal Anunāsika Nāda | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Velar Kanthya | क /kə/; English: skip | ख /kʰə/; English: cat | ग /ɡə/; English: game | घ /ɡʱə/; somewhat similar to English: doghouse | ङ /ŋə/; English: ring |
| Palatal Tālavya | च /cə/; English: exchange | छ /cʰə/; English: church | ज /ɟə/; ≈English: jam | झ /ɟʱə/; somewhat similar to English: hedgehog | ञ /ɲə/; English: bench |
| Retroflex Mūrdhanya | ट /ʈə/; No English equivalent | ठ /ʈʰə/; No English equivalent | ड /ɖə/; No English equivalent | ढ /ɖʱə/; No English equivalent | ण /ɳə/; No English equivalent |
| Apico-Dental Dantya | त /t̪ə/; Spanish: tomate | थ /t̪ʰə/; Aspirated /t̪/ | द /d̪ə/; Spanish: donde | ध /d̪ʱə/; Aspirated /d̪/ | न /n̪ə/; English: name |
| Labial Ōshtya | प /pə/; English: spin | फ /pʰə/; English: pit | ब /bə/; English: bone | भ /bʱə/; somewhat similar to English: clubhouse | म /mə/; English: mine |
Non-Plosives/Sonorants
| Palatal Tālavya | Retroflex Mūrdhanya | Dental Dantya | Labial/ Glottal Ōshtya | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Approximant Antastha | य /jə/; English: you | र /rə/; English: trip | ल /l̪ə/; English: love | व (labio-dental) /ʋə/; English: vase |
| Sibilant/ Fricative Ūshman | श /ɕə/; English: ship | ष /ʂə/; Retroflex form of /ʃ/ | स /s̪ə/; English: same | ह (glottal) /ɦə/; English behind |