[INDOLOGY] Sanskrit and letters with nukta

[Harry Spier]

Dear list members,
In fairness to the opposite view, I'm forwarding this off-line reply to the
list


Dear Harry, it depends WHICH AI do you use. Of course, ANY IA is faultless,
but some of them are more performant and exact than others. So I asked the
2 I use "Does sanskrit have nukta", and here are the answers:

*Gemini Ai studio / Gemini 2.0 Flash Experimental*

No, Sanskrit does not have the nukta ( नुक्ता ).

The nukta, a dot placed below a consonant, is a feature of the Persian
script and its derivatives, including Urdu and some other languages of the
Indian subcontinent. It's used to represent sounds that are not present in
the original script but were borrowed from Persian or Arabic.

While some Devanagari scripts used for writing languages other than
Sanskrit (like Hindi, Marathi, etc.) *do* use the nukta to represent
foreign sounds (like क़, ख़, ग़, ज़, फ़), it is *not part of the
traditional or standard Sanskrit writing system.* Sanskrit's phonology is
considered complete and distinct, and it doesn't require the nukta to
represent any of its sounds.


*Copilot*

No, Sanskrit does not traditionally use the nukta. The nukta is a
diacritical mark used in some modern scripts, like Devanagari, to represent
additional sounds not originally found in the script. These sounds often
come from Persian, Arabic, or other languages and are used in languages
such as Hindi and Urdu. However, classical Sanskrit does not incorporate
the nukta. If you're curious about more aspects of the Sanskrit script or
its linguistic features, feel free to ask!


Best regards
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Il giorno mar 4 feb 2025 alle ore 06:06 Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> ha scritto:

> Thank you Hans.  I just typed in "Does sanskrit have nukta"  and I think
> the google AI reply below shows the dangers of AI.  It says things that
> sound reasonable but are completely wrong.
> Yes, Sanskrit does use "nukta" (also sometimes called "anusvara") which is
> a small dot placed above a consonant to indicate a different
> pronunciation; essentially acting as a diacritic to differentiate between
> similar-looking consonants in the Devanagari script used to write Sanskrit.
>
> Key points about nukta in Sanskrit:
>
>    - *Function:*
>    It is used to distinguish between similar-sounding consonants, like
>    "ta" (त) and "tha" (थ) where the nukta above the "th" signifies a different
>    pronunciation.
>    - *Appearance:*
>    In Devanagari, nukta is represented as a small dot placed above the
>    consonant letter.
>
> Harry Spier
>
>
> On Mon, Feb 3, 2025 at 11:14 PM Hock, Hans Henrich <hhhock at illinois.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear Harry,
>>
>> This looks like a transfer from Hindi. What would be comparable in RV,
>> some other Vedic branches, and Pali is the character ळ, which seems to
>> indicate a similar lenition as in Hindi ढ़ but with a different phonetic
>> realization.
>>
>> I’m not aware of a nukta being used in Sanskrit
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>> Hans Henrich
>>
>>
>> On Feb 3, 2025, at 20:47, Harry Spier via INDOLOGY <
>> indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
>>
>> Dear list members,
>> I've noticed in some printed editions sanskrit *ढ* is sometimes printed
>> with a nukta as *ढ़* . Any explanation. Is this just a case of regional
>> pronounciation of the editor leaking into the sanskrit.
>>
>> As an aside when I typed "Nukta in sanskrit" into my google browser, its
>> AI overview replied "The nukta is a character in sanskrit".
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Harry Spier
>>
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