9.1 Discussion

The sounds of the sibilant (also known as fricative) group of the varṇmālā is relatively similar to English, with a few small notes. First, the retroflex ष is generally pronounced the same as श, that is in most varieties of Hindi they both make the sound of English sh. However, like nasal consonants, when combining with a other consonants the sibilants assimilate to the group of the consonant they precede. This process of assimilation is known as संधि sandhi, and while it isn’t necessary to master the rules of sandhi, it can be helpful for learners to be aware

There are a few pronunciation notes for learners to keep in mind. First, different varieties of Hindi may or may not distinguish between the three s sounds, so you might find alternate pronunciations of some words from region to region. One common example is the word for a type of loose trouser: शलवार śalvār is pronounced as सलवार salvār in some areas.

Second, in some words ह has an effect on the vowels around it. This effect occurs in two cases: when ह h falls between two short अ vowels, or when it is preceded by short अ and followed by उ. In the first case, both vowels change to a short unstressed e sound, and in the second case they both change to a short o sound, the ह is often barely articulated, as illustrated in the chart below. Note that this effect may be less pronounced in some varieties of Hindi but it is common in standard dialects. The chart below lays out several examples (click to hear):

Pattern 1: अ + ह् + अ

Pattern 2: अ + ह् + उ

We have discussed the presence of an inherent अ in all consonants, although it is usually omitted at the end of words. However, at times it is necessary to explicitly indicate there is no vowel on a consonant at all. For such instances the symbol used is known as हलंत halant, a diagonal line that occurs at the bottom of a consonant, e.g. द् d, क् k. Halant is one common way to combine two consonants. further discussion of consonant combination will take place in Part 10, but for now here are a few examples (click to hear):

As a final note on vowels, in some renditions of the varṇmālā you will often see the following characters listed with the vowels:

अं   अ:

The first, अं, represents the anusvār, which we have already discussed in Part 6. The second, which resembles a colon, is known as विसर्ग visarg, and is typically only found in a handful of words directly borrowed from Sanskrit where it functions as a. It is pronounced as a breathy huh sound at the end of words, for example the word नमः is read as namah.