[INDOLOGY] Grammatical question

Tue Apr 21 07:54:01 UTC 2020

Given that it originally was an m, my own practical solution to 
pronouncing the /anusvāra ṃ/ is to simply speak an m, but without 
letting the lips touch each other. This can be practised by putting two 
fingers between them – stopping before the teeth, of course – and then 
trying to say "/saṃyoga/" or "/saṃsāra/." You can think of the dot in /ṃ 
/as the finger in this case, but in my experience, two fingers are needed.

Now this is only one way to pronounce it, but it's simple and working 
(tested with students also). Most importantly, it prevents one from 
speaking an actual m in words like "/saṃskṛta/." I personally have the 
feeling that Pāṇini would have approved of it, but of course I do not 
have proof for this!

D Haas

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Am 21.04.2020 um 05:05 schrieb Harry Spier via INDOLOGY:
> The two articles by S.K. Chatterji both titled "The Pronounciation of 
> Sanskrit" but written 30 years apart address the pronounciation of 
> anusvara in different parts of India and also whats considered 
> "correct" pronounciation of sanskrit. I've attached one article and 
> given you a link to the second one on archive.ort
>
> Indian Linguistics 21:  pages 61-82
> I've attached this article
>
> K. B. Pathak Commemoration volume  pages 333 - 350
> https://archive.org/download/k.b.pathakcommemorationvolumes.k.belvalkar_272_w/K.B.%20Pathak%20Commemoration%20Volume%20-S.K.%20Belvalkar.pdf
>
> Harry Spier
>
>
>
> On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 10:51 PM Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY 
> <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>> wrote:
>
>     Dear George,
>
>          As per Pāṇini's rules, a word-final /m/ changes to /anusvāra
>     /before any consonant [/mo 'nusvāraḥ, hali/].  Then come option
>     rules.  Before /y/v/l/, an /anusvāra /can optionally change to
>     nasal versions of /y/v/l/.  Before the stops, it can optionally
>     change to a nasal homogeneous with the following stop
>     [/parasavarṇa/].  This leaves /r/ś/ṣ/s/h/, and before these it
>     remains /anusvāra/.  In some Vedic traditions, in this last
>     environment, it becomes /nāsikya /or /raṅga/.  Then there are
>     rules which change /n/ into an /anusvāra /in some environments. 
>     This is the general description according to Pāṇini.  Some other
>     grammars do allow an /m /occurring at the end of an occurrence
>     before a pause to change into /anusvāra/, reflecting some local
>     variation.  Of course, the actual pronunciation of an /anusvāra
>     /probably differed regionally as we notice today, and different
>     Vedic traditions have conventionally settled ways of its
>     pronunciation.  Also rules that are optional in Pāṇini don't
>     necessarily remain optional in various Vedic tradition.  In most
>     Vedic recitations I have heard, the change of an /anusvāra /into a
>     /parasavarṇa /nasal is almost done invariably.
>
>     Madhav
>
>     Madhav M. Deshpande
>     Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
>     University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
>     Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
>
>     [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
>
>
>     On Mon, Apr 20, 2020 at 6:59 PM George Hart via INDOLOGY
>     <indology at list.indology.info <mailto:indology at list.indology.info>>
>     wrote:
>
>         I’ve been enjoying the discussion on Indology. A friend had a
>         question about Sanskrit that I could not answer properly. It
>         involves the pronunciation of anusvāra before various
>         consonants. I believe that before y, r, l and v, it is
>         nasalized. Assuming that is correct, is it also nasalized
>         before ś, ṣ, s and h? Some people say samskṛta, with an m
>         sound, but I always assumed it was a nasal sound. I think the
>         nasal is put in the same phonetic category as the ś etc. —
>         i.e.in <http://i.e.in> aṃśa it is a palatal nasal, in saṃskṛta
>         it is a dental nasal, and in siṃha it is sort of a velar nasal
>         sound. The problem is, everyone seems to say simha (m sound),
>         not the nasal sound. What do the grammarians say? Is there a
>         correct pronunciation, or can one choose between the nasal and
>         the “m” before ś, ṣ, s and h? George Hart
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