Sanskrit, first spoken thousands of years ago in what is now modern
India is far from a
dead language. Even
today,
prayers are
chanted by
people from many
religions in
Sanskrit, and all types of
media, from
books to
movies and
plays are still
written in this
language that was once considered the
language of the
gods themselves. I certainly can't
teach the
entirity of the
Sanskrit language over the
web, nor would I
want to; this
language, so steeped in
philosophy and
religion, induces the
learner to
profound personal insights through the language itself, and is much better
learned one-on-one.
However, I would like to put as
much information on this
subject up here as I can, so that
interested folks can at least
see how the
language functions.
I will use the Harvard-Kyoto system of phonological transliteration. Learning this system will give you a good introduction to the phonology of Sanskrit, and also the Sanskrit alphabet, which is ordered vowels first, then consonants from the back of the mouth on forward, and then semivowels. Each node in this series will hardlink back to the Harvard-Kyoto system node for easy reference. The system goes as follows:
a A i I u U R RR lR e ai o au M H
k kh g gh G c ch j jh J
T Th D Dh N t th d dh n
p ph b bh m y r l v z S s h
Vowels:
a=a, sounds like 'u' in "but"
A=long a, sounds like 'a' in "father"
i=i, sounds like 'i' in "bit"
I=long i, sounds like 'ee' in "greet"
u=u, sounds like 'u' in "push"
U=long u, sounds like 'oo' in "pool"
R=vowel r, sounds like 'ri' in "rig"
RR=long vowel r, sounds R held for twice as long.
lR=vowel l, sounds kinda like 'lur' in "slurp"
e=e, sounds like 'ai' in "aim"
ai=diphthong ai, sounds like 'i' in "high"
o=o, sounds like 'o' in "note"
au=diphthong au, like 'ow' in "how"
M=velar m, sounds like 'n' in "Jean", pronounced like a French person.
-known as an anusvara
H=puff of air after a vowel, followed by a short repetition of that vowel. 'aH' sounds like "aha",
with the accent on the first syllable
-known as a visarga
Consonants:
For the most part, all are identical to what you'd think they'd be. A consonant followed by an 'h' is an
aspirated version of the consonant, i.e. 't' sounds like the 't' in "cat", where 'th' sounds like the
't' in "torn"
New or tricky consonants are:
G=velar nasal, sounds like the 'ng' in "long"
c=palatal fricative, sounds like 'ch' in "chat"
ch=aspirated palatal fricative, sounds like c above with more air released at the end.
J=palatal nasal, sounds like 'n' in "cinch"
T=alveolar stop, sounds like first 't' in "start"
D=alveolar stop, sounds like first 'd' in "dart"
N=alveolar nasal, sounds like 'n' in "tint"
v=cross between a 'v' and a 'w', takes some getting used to
z=palatal sibilant, sounds like 'sh' in "shove"
S=alveolar sibilant, sounds like z with tongue-tip farther back in the mouth
This should be enough to get started! Refer back to this node, or the Harvard-Kyoto node if you get mixed up about the sounds.
Other Sanskrit Grammar nodes:
Sanskrit Grammar: Noun Overview
Sanskrit Grammar: Noun Cases