Literary Cultures in History: Reconstructions from South Asia

Guide to Pronunciation

guide to pronunciation Sounds marked with diacritics in the book that have more of an orthographic than a phonetic significance in South Asia (e.g., Persian } or /, which are pronounced as English z and t respectively) are ignored in this guide. Conversely , some distinctions made in pronunciation but rarely represented in orthography are merely noted here. INDIC “Indic” is a theoretical construct devised here to function as the baseline language. Vowels a like u in “but” a like a in “father” i like i in “bit” i like ee in “beet” u like oo in “look” u like oo in “pool” , like ri in “rig” (in the north), likeroo in “root” (in the south), but slightly trilled e like a in “gate” ai like i in “high” o like o in “rote” au like ou in “house” xxi Consonants k like k in “skate” kh like k in “Kate” g like g in “gate” gh like gh in “big house” ñ like n in “sing” c like ch in “eschew” ch like chh in “much help” j like j in “judge” jh like dgh in “budge her” ñ like n in “cinch” before c, ch, j, jh t, d like English t and d, but with the tongue curved back so as to touch the front of the hard palate > like English l, but with the tongue curved back so as to touch the front of the hard palate th, dh as t and d, but with aspiration n like English n but with the tongue curved back (as in American English “corn”) t, d like English t and d, but with the tip of the tongue touching the teeth (like the d in “breadth”) th, dh as t and d, but with aspiration n like n in “nose” p like p in “spin” ph like p in “pin” b like b in “bin” bh like bh in “club house” m like m in “mother” y like y in “yellow” r like r in “drama” l like l in “love” v produced with the slightest contact between the upper teeth and the lower lip; closer to the w in “wile” than the v in “vile” 4 like sh in “shove” 3 as 4, but with the tongue curled slightly back s like s in “so” h like h in “hope” m a nasalization of the vowel that precedes it h an aspiration of the vowel that precedes it (thus, devah is pronounced “deva[ha]”) xxii guide to pronunciation BANGLA As in Indic, with the following distinctions: Vowels a like aw in “awe”; as Indic o when preceding an i or a u, or when following a final conjunct consonant; thus Partha is pronounced “Partho.” Modern Bangla does not distinguish between long and short i and u in pronunciation ; both are pronounced as the long vowel. Consonants v as b s as Indic 4 in most cases, but like the s in “stair” when followed immediately by a dental consonant or r; like thes in “scare” or “spare” when initial in a word and followed by a velar or a bilabial, respectively. 3 as Indic 4 Consonant clusters comprising dissimilar consonants behave predictably but variously. The k3 cluster, for example, is pronounced “kh” when initial in a word and “kkh” when internal. Thus, Lak3mi is pronounced “Lokkhi” (note also that the m is lost altogether), and k3atriya “khotrio.” m represents the velar nasal GUJARATI As in Indic, with the following distinctions: Vowels Additional low-front vowels and “murmured” vowels exist in speech but are not represented in the orthography. a not pronounced in final position, though often preserved in transliteration ; thus, dharma is pronounced “dharm” Additionally, vowels pronounced with nasality are represented thus: õ, etc. guide to pronunciation xxiii HINDI As in Indic, with the following distinctions: Vowels a not pronounced in final position, though often preserved in transliteration ; thus, dharma is pronounced “dharm” ai like a in “sad” au like au in “caught” Additionally, vowels pronounced with nasality are represented thus: õ, etc. Consonants Hindi has several consonants not present in the standard Indic repertoire. These are: r as d, but with the tip of the tongue flapping the roof of the mouth quickly (distinguish this from Indic vocalic r, transliterated as ,) rh as r, but with aspiration f like f in “fast,” but tends to be replaced by the Indic sound ph z like z in “zoo,” but tends to...