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@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 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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