Sigrid Undset

This article is devoted to the phonology of the Sanskrit , which accompanies the more general and total article on the language sanskrite .

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Note: in the text, the Sanskrit (in italic) and its Phonologie (between oblique bars) is written in the Transcription of the Indian languages (in italic), while the Phonétique is in International Phonetic Alphabet (API, between hooks). The tables use also the API one for phonology, in order to summarize at the same time the approximate realization of the Phonème S.

Religious importance of this discipline

The Phonologie of the Sanskrit is particularly well-known, grace, in particular, with Pāṇini and its commentators, who practiced a phonological description then detailed Phonétique of the language (it is notable that description of the Phonème S that Pāṇini in its Aṣṭâdhyāyī proposes some is purely phonological; it is not interested in the Articulatory phonetics , discipline treated however in other texts, especially religious), and, in addition, with the respect religious of the pronunciation of the crowned texts, like with the writings used to note them: the Indian culture is before very oral; the sound thus has there an important value with the eyes of the Indiens, and the religious texts do not make exception; the effective formula , first direction of Brahman , which then comes from there to indicate the supreme Principle of the Hindouisme, only can the being correctly marked. Many religious texts explain the importance of an exact pronunciation and the annoying consequences that an error of diction can involve in the recitation of a prayer, of a formula. In the same way, to correctly pronounce a formula, it is to be certain which it will function: an animated being of bad intentions (as a demon) can thus obtain magic capacities by means of the effective formulas. For this reason the teaching of the four Veda , purely oral examination, is made in a systematic way by the training of whole sentences then Syllabe by syllable then by inversions of syllables according to an increasingly complex whole of permutations; moreover, the training of Veda remained a long time esoteric and reserved with the Caste of the brāhmaṇa (Brahmane S); they could be recited only in front of others brāhmaṇa or kṣatriya, members of the second caste, that of the warrior-aristocrats. Of kind, already before the phonological study of Pāṇini, the priests studied closely the phonetics of the crowned language; the study of the revealed texts (those which one indicates by the term of smṛti , “revelation”) was done according to six approaches or vedāṅga , “members of the Veda ”, among which the phonetic approach, or śikṣā , gave rise to an important analytical literature, that one indicates under the name of Prātiśākhya . (As an indication, the other approaches are: the Metric , chanda , the Grammar, vyākaraṇa , the etymology, nirukta , ceremonies, kalpa , and the Astronomy, jyotiṣa .)

It is as notable as a god, Śiva, are supposed being the creator of the phonemes Sanskrits and than also a mystic of the phoneme developed, allotting to each one of them a deep sense as well as a precise capacity; it is on this mystic that the Mantra rest. In fact, such an importance given to the sounds of the crowned language largely influenced the writing: although a long time reticent to note their crowned texts, the Indians created several semi-spelling-books, all heirs to the same model, the brāhmī, noting the texts with a very high degree of accuracy.

Principal characteristics of phonology sanskrite

Vowels

The pure Voyelle S of the Indo-European (i.e. *e and *o ) are affected overall by a phenomenon of Neutralization: whereas the vocalic Quantité (short vowels ~ long) is preserved, the stamps *e and *o are confused in /a/ (undoubtedly realized or). The Diphtongue S with first short element are monophtonguées ( *ei and *oi gives /ai/ then /e ː/while *eu and *ou leads to /au/ then /o ː/). The diphthongs with first long element become simple diphthongs: *ēi and *ōi gives /ai/, *ēu and *ōu becomes /au/. The Sanskrit however kept them liquid S vocalized of the Indo-European, i.e. *r and *l vowels, remained/ṛ/and/ḷ/. Lastly, the opposition between the two Indo-European phonemes *r and *l is neutralized with the profit of /r/ alone.

The vowels bear the name of varṇa , will akṣara or will svara .

Each pair gives the traditional transcription (clarified in the article Devanâgarî) and that in International Phonetic Alphabet. The joints indicated are those which traditional grammar allots to the vowels, which are comparison with the consonants. The terms are given as an indication: they can vary from one author to the autre.

Remarks

Of all these vowels, only/ə/and its long alternative are regarded as vocalic truths phonemes; /e/, /ai/, /o/ and /au/ are the “diphthongs” (see 2); I, U, ṛ, ḷ and their long alternative are the vocalic shape of the consonants /y/, /v/, /r/ and /l/, known as “sounding” (consonants being able to play the part of vowels or consonants according to the environment; one also says, in a less rigorous way, “semivowels”), in front of another consonant or at the end of the mot.
traditional grammar considers that /e/ and /o/ are diphthongs. It is true only historically (indeed, the texts hittite S quoting some terms Indo-Aryan S transmitted to us a term aika , “one”, with dipthongue passed to eka in Sanskrit) or phonologiquement; in the facts, these phonemes are carried out like long monophtongues, respectively resulting from /ai/ and /au/; in the same way, if /ai/ and /au/ result from/āi/and/āu/, they are marked like diphthongs with first element briefs.
/ṛ/and/ḷ/(which can also be long) in the beginning were really pronounced like a /r/ and a /l/ vowels, following the example theirs English bottle = or is equivalent Croatian črn =. Nowadays, the most current pronunciation is /ri/ and /li/ with a /i/ very short, is and; this pronunciation, is confirmed besides by certain manuscripts, in which /ri/ or /li/ replace/ṛ/and/ḷ/. Those two vowels, only/ṛ/is current,/ḷ/being attested only in the radical kḷp- “to be appropriate”; /ṝ/is very rare (it meets only by will of rational symmetry in the nominal inflection). /ḹ/is not attested, but is sometimes listed by the grammairiens by preoccupation with a symmetry.
All the vowels can be nasalized, that this Nasalisation is complete or not; one uses in theory in Sanskrit two different symbols to mark these two types of nasalisations, transcribed by ṃ subsequent ( will anusvāra , “after the vowel”; this symbol notes also a nasal consonant; to see low) for the incomplete nasalisation (i.e. a vowel nasalized and followed of nasal, like sometimes in the southernmost pronunciation of French, where long can be worth and year to be carried out) and by m̐ subsequent ( anunāsika , “with the nose”) for the complete nasalisation (as in French in the Parisian pronunciation, where long is worth). In practice these two types of nasalisations are frequently confused, which tends to show that the distinction east is artificial, and one transcribes most of the time the nasalisation by means of will anusvāra. The symbol of will anusvāra being as used to indicate the presence of a nasal consonant in front of another consonant, one considers as it marks the nasalisation of the vowels only in front of sounding /l/, /r/, /v/ and /y/ like front the fricative ones (/s/,/ś/,/ṣ/and /h/). Elsewhere, it represents a full nasal consonant whose joint corresponds to the following consonant: thus, aṃr or iṃs is worth respectively and while aṃb and iṃd is carried out and (see with devanāgarī for the details on the notation by means of will anusvāra). At the end of the word, will anusvāra it represents simply a /m/; with final, saṃskṛtaṃ is read or, more commonly.
the Sanskrit as pronounced by the Indians is often influenced by their maternal own language. Thus, a speaker of hindī will tend to to centralize /a/ briefs as while a speaker of bangālī will return them like Of the same Des., the oppositions of quantity of the Sanskrit are sometimes carried out by the speakers of languages néo-Indians like oppositions of quality (tended long vowels, loose short vowels, as in English, German or Dutch; thus, in Hindi,/ī/is carried out and /i/ is worth; in the same way: /ū/~ = ~). Certain old descriptions phonetic, however, explain clearly why /a/ was indeed carried out like a neutral vowel or, which is consolidated by the origin of the phoneme /a/ Sanskrit: it comes indeed from the Neutralization of the vowels of the Indo-European *e and *o . It is as probable as in Sanskrit, such as formerly marked, the oppositions of quantity related to only the quantity; in this respect, it should be known that the term for “simple vowel”, short or long, is will samānākṣara , that is to say “homogeneous phoneme”, that it is necessary to include/understand: “phoneme not changing a stamp”, in opposition to the diphthongs, will sandhyakṣara , “phoneme of connection” (true and false diphthongs can be indicated by this only term besides), i.e.: “phoneme utilizing a second stamp related to the first”. It is probable that it should be also understood that the short and long vowels are will samānākṣara because the stamp remains identical whatever the quantity. In conclusion, of all the vowels, only the Phoneme S/ə/and/ā/seem, as of Antiquity, to have known an opposition of quantity and quality: /a/ ~/ā/= ~.

Consonants

The Sanskrit completely preserved - it is the Indo-European Langue to have only made it - the sound Consonne S Aspirée S of the Indo-European and enriched stock available by new orders, commes the Rétroflexe S, the aspired deaf persons and others Fricative S that it * S Indo-European. those Ci can come, inter alia possibilities, of the old occlusive Indo-European palatals, the Sanskrit being a language '' satem ''. In addition, it is probably in contact with the Adstrat dravidien that a complete order of rétroflexes appeared in the phonological system.

With the finale, the Sanskrit has a complete system of 25 plosives, namely five modes of articulation (a pair of oral the oral deaf persons and a pair sound ones differing by the aspiration, nasal) for each of the five joints (velar, palatal, rétroflexe, dental, bilabial). It has an incomplete play of three fricative devoized (palatal, rétroflexe, alveolar) to which is added fricative a glottal voiced. There exist also four continuous others that fricative and two homorganic consonants.

Remarques

the most current pronunciation of the visarga ḥ tends to repeat the preceding vowel after an expiry. /-a ḥ/is thus carried out. In Sanskrit vedic, ḥ has two fricative allophones, one labial in front of /p/ or /p ʰ/(known as upadhmaniya ), the other velar one (known as jihvamuliya ) in front of /k/ or /k ʰ/.
Them (denti) - alveolar are généralements marked like apicodentals for the plosives /t HT D dh/and apico alvéoalires for nasal /n/.
Into vedic, the transcription ḷ is the side spirante rétroflexe, an allophone of/ḍ/in intervocalic position. Although, from its position, it cannot be confused with the vocalized consonant, he is then current to note the vocalization of a consonant by a circle subscribes (r̥, l̥), to distinguish from the point subscribes indicating the articulation rétroflexe (ṭ, ḍ, ṇ, ṣ, ḷ).

Influence on the alphabetical order

Whereas the vowels are not really classified in a precise continuation, the consonants are it; this provision, quite different from the system Levantine, is phonological: occlusive succeed the semivowels and assimiliées then the fricative ones. The occlusive ones are classified by orders, initially the emitted phonemes of the bottom of the throat until those which require the action of the lips, while thus going up along the gosier. Within each order, the consonants follow the same provision: occlusive deaf person, aspired, sound, sound deaf person aspired, nasal. This Indian classification of origin sanskrite was essential on the various writings of the South Asia and the South-eastern, concerning same the languages without filiation with the Sanskrit. It is found, mutatis-mutandis , in that of the Syllabaire S kana Japanese.

The alphabetical order in traditional transcription is as follows: ā I ī U ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ E have O with the ṃ ḥ K KH G gh ṅ C CH J jh ñ ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ T HT D dh N p pH B bh m there R L v has ś ṣ S h.

Stressing

The such Indo-European , the Sanskrit of the origins used a Pitch and not a tonic Accent. It was also the Latin case in , Greek, Latvian Lituanien and , at least in the Indo-European Langues for which it is possible to restore the accent. The accent vedic made it possible to oppose minimal pairs: thus súkṛta , “well done” ~ sukṛtá , “benefit” (the accent is generally noted by acute on the intonée vowel). All the words were not necessarily accentuated; the verb, for example, is often dull; all depends in fact on its mode, its time and its place in the sentence.

This accent, noted with precision in the old texts vedic, seems to have disappeared at the time of Patañjali; it notable that the languages current néo-Indians do not have, except for the pañjābī, is kept besides any trace of such an accent. They either did not develop a tonic accent, whereas Latin, the Greek, and the Baltic languages transformed, while being popularized, their accent thus. In pañjābī, however, the development of let us tons is secondary: those undoubtedly do not come from the Sanskrit itself and are probably more recent.

The pitch was simply to consist of a rise in the voice on one of the Syllabes of the mot. Pāṇini describes in details a system which one cannot ensure that it corresponds to that of the origins, using three registers and of the modulations; it either always does not correspond to those used nowadays, which are very variable and depend on the texts recited as well as schools of recitation. It as should be known as all the recitations of Veda are not intonées.

the intonée syllable is named udātta (“high”); it is marked in transcription by an acute accent and comes to a conclusion about a high register; all the others tonèmes result from the udātta;
the dull syllables are known as anudātta (“nonhigh”) and come to a conclusion about an average register; the transcription does not note them; the anudātta is not marked;
the syllable which follows the udātta , is called svarita (“resonant”); it is modulated haut→moyen; the transcription marks the syllable svarita by a grave accent.

the complete operation of the vedic stressing according to Pāṇini is detailed in the article vedic Accentuation .

See too

Sanskrit
the Grammar of the Sanskrit:

Phonology
Articulatory phonetics
Indo-European Language

External bonds

Introduction practices with the Sanskrit page 9 to 21

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