over a letter thus 9 is sometimes employed. It is rather the sign of the nasality of the letter over which it is written, than the representative of any actual nasal sound. Thus in the rules of combination, when final n assimilates with 1, the mark placed over 1, though not pronounced, indicates the nasal origin of the . It is a kind of silent Anuswára.

8. The symbol Visarga, rejection,' (called so because often rejected,) usually written thus:, but more properly in the form of two small circles, is used to represent a weaker aspiration than the letter h, and that at the end of a word. It expresses an euphonic transition of final s and r into a kind of imperceptible breathing. But this symbol, although never the representative of h, but rather of a weak and almost imperceptible final aspirate, which, under certain circumstances, takes the place of final s and r, may nevertheless be conveniently transliterated by the English h at the end of a word, and that without danger of being confounded with, which can never occur as a final letter. At the same time it should be borne in mind that Visarga is less than h, and is in fact no consonant, but only a symbol for s and r whenever the usual consonantal sound of these letters is deadened at the end of a sentence or through the influence of a k, p or s commencing the next word. Observe, however, that all those inflections of nouns and persons of verbs, which as standing separate from other words are by some made to end in Visarga, may most conveniently be allowed to retain their final ₹ s; only bearing in mind that this s is liable at the end of a sentence, or when followed by certain consonants, to pass into an imperceptible breathing, as in the French les or the English isle, viscount; in all which cases it might be expressed by Visarga, thus: &c. So again, in French infinitives, such as aller, the final r is silent; and in many English words, such as bar, tar, the sound of r is very indistinct; and these also might be written in Sanskrit with Visarga, :, : &c.

a. An Ardha-visarga, ‘half-visarga,' or modification of the symbol Visarga, in the form of two semicircles X, is sometimes employed before k, kh and p, ph. Before the two former letters this symbol is properly called Jíhvá-múlíya, and the organ of its enunciation said to be the root of the tongue. Before p and ph its proper name is Upadhmáníya, and its organ of utterance is then the lips.

The following are other marks:

9. The Viráma or stop,' placed under a consonant (thus k),

indicates the absence of the inherent a, by help of which the consonant is pronounced.

10. The mark s, sometimes called Ardhákára, half the letter a, placed between two words, denotes the elision of an initial a after e or to final preceding. It corresponds to our apostrophe. Thus, sfa te 'pi for fa te api.

a. The half pause I is a stop or mark of punctuation, usually placed at the end of the first line of a couplet or stanza.

b. The whole pause is placed at the end of a couplet, and corresponds to a full stop.

c. The mark of repetition o indicates that a word or sentence has to be repeated.

PRONUNCIATION OF SANSKRIT VOWELS AS COMPARED WITH THOSE OF
OTHER LANGUAGES.

11. The vowels in Sanskrit are pronounced for the most part as in Italian or French, though occasional words in English may exemplify their sound.

a. Since a is inherent in every consonant, the student should be careful to acquire the correct pronunciation of this letter. There are many words in English which afford examples of its sound, such as vocal, cedar, zebra, organ. But in English the vowel u in such words as fun, bun, sun, frequently represents this obscure sound of a; and even the other vowels may occasionally be pronounced with this sound, as in her, sir, son.

b. The long vowel á is pronounced as a in the English last, bard, cart; şi as the i in pin, sin; í as the í in marine; ♬ u as the u in push;ú as the u in rude.

c. The vowel ri, peculiar to Sanskrit, is pronounced as the ri in merrily, where the i of ri is less perceptible than in the syllable ri, composed of the consonant r and the vowel i*. rí is pronounced as the ri in chagrin, being hardly distinguishable from the syllable ; e as the e in prey; o as in so; ai as ai in aisle ; au as au in the German baum or as ou in the English our. &lri andri do not differ in sound from the letter with the vowels ri and rí annexed, but the vowellri only occurs in one word, viz.

* There does not, however, seem to be much difference practically between the pronunciation of the vowel ri and the syllable fri, though grammarians assert that the i of the vowel is less distinctly enunciated.

klrip, to make;' and its long form is not found in any word in the language.

As to the Vaidik Ira, see 16. a.

d. Hence it appears that every simple vowel in Sanskṛit has a short and a long form, and that each vowel has one invariable sound; so that the beginner can never be in doubt what pronunciation to give it, as in English, or whether to pronounce it long or short, as in Latin.

e. Note, however, that Sanskrit possesses no short ĕ and ŏ in opposition to the long diphthongal sounds of e and o.

f. In comparing Sanskrit words with Greek and Latin, it will be found that the Sanskrita usually answers to the Greek ; sometimes to € (especially in vocative cases); and rarely to a. In Latin, the Sanskrita is represented by u as well as by a, e, and o. Again, the Sanskrit Tá is generally replaced by the Greek or w, rarely by a long alpha. In Latin it is represented by long a or even by long e. See Bopp's Comparative Grammar, Eastwick's translation, p. 4 &c.

g. Although for all practical purposes it is sufficient to regard vowels as either short or long, it should be borne in mind that native grammarians give eighteen different modifications of each of the vowels a, i, u, ri, and twelve of Iri, which are thus explained :-Each of the first four vowels is supposed to have three prosodial lengths, a short (hraswa), a long (dírgha), and a prolated (pluta); the long being equal to two, and the prolated to three short vowels. Each of these three modifications may be uttered with a high tone, or a low tone, or a tone between high and low; or in other words, may have the acute, or the grave, or the circumflex accent. This gives nine modifications to a, i, u, ṛi; and each of these again may be regarded either as nasal or non-nasal, according as it is pronounced with the nose and mouth, or with the mouth alone. Hence result eighteen varieties of every vowel, excepting lṛi, e, ai, o, au, which have only twelve, because the first does not possess the long and the last four have not the short prosodial time.

PRONUNCIATION OF SANSKRIT CONSONANTS AS COMPARED WITH THOSE OF

OTHER LANGUAGES.

In the first arrangement of the alphabet most of the consonants are distributed under the five heads of gutturals, palatals, cerebrals, dentals, and labials, according to the organ principally employed in pronouncing them, whether the throat, the palate, the top of the palate, the teeth, or the lips. This classification of letters is more fully explained at No. 18.

These con

12. ka, ga, ◄ cha, ja, ☎ ta, ₹ da, a pa, ◄ ba. sonants are pronounced as in English, but has always the sound of g in gun, give, never of g in gin. Observe; cha is a simple consonantal sound, and not an aspirate: it is pronounced as ch in

church, and is a modification or softening of ka, just as ja is of ga, the organ of utterance being in the palate, a little in advance of the throat. Hence, in Sanskrit and its cognate languages, the palatals ch and j are often exchanged with the gutturals k and g. See note, p. 13. Observe, that d often passes into in Greek.

13. ◄ kha, ◄ gha, chha, jha, tha, dha, ➡ pha, × bha. These are the aspirated forms of the preceding consonants. In pronouncing them the sound of h must be distinctly added to the unaspirated consonantal sound. Thus is pronounced like kh in ink-horn, not like the Greek x; as th in ant-hill, not as in think; as ph in uphill, not as in physic. When, however, they are rapidly enunciated they are hardly distinguishable from their respective unaspirated equivalents.

a. The Sanskrit th generally becomes 7 in Greek, and dh becomes , while chh generally passes into σK. Again, Sanskrit bh generally passes into and f, or sometimes in Latin into b.

b. With a view to the comparison of Sanskrit words with Greek and Latin, it is important to remember that the aspirates of the different classes are easily interchangeable in different languages; thus dh and bh in Sanskrit may become ƒ (or ph) in Latin; gh in Sanskrit may become in Greek &c.

14. ta, tha, da, dha. The sound of these cerebral letters is in practice hardly to be distinguished from the sound of the corresponding dental consonants. Properly, however, the cerebrals should be uttered with a duller and deeper intonation, produced by turning back the tip of the tongue towards the palate, or top of the head (cerebrum). Thus a Hindú would distinguish the pronunciation of the t and d in the English words trust and drip from that of the same letters in the words tun and din. He would write the former with the cerebral t and d, द्रस्त, ड्रिप ; and the latter with the dental, तुन्, दिन

a. In Bengal the cerebral da and dha have nearly the sound of a dull r. Thus fas: vidalah, a cat,' is pronounced virálah. In all corruptions of Sanskrit (especially in Prákṛit) the cerebral letters often take the place of dentals. In Sanskrit the cerebrals are rarely found at the beginning of words.

15. na, na, na, na, ♬ ma. Each of the five classes of consonants in Sanskrit has its own nasal sound, represented by a separate nasal letter. In English and most other languages the same fivefold division of nasal sounds might be made, though we have only one nasal letter to express the guttural, palatal, cerebral,

C

and dental nasal sounds. The truth is, that in all languages the nasal letters take their sound from the organ employed in uttering the consonant that follows them. Thus in English it will be found that guttural, palatal, cerebral, dental, and labial nasals are followed by consonants of the same classes, as in ink, sing, inch, intrust, ant, imp. If such words existed in Sanskrit, the distinction of nasal sounds would be represented by distinct letters; thus,, fax, इच, इराद्रस्त, आन्त, इम्म्. Compare 6.

a. The guttural nasal is rarely found by itself at the end of a word in Sanskrit, never at the beginning. In the nominative cases, &c. it probably has the sound of ng in sing, where the sound of g is almost imperceptible. The palatal is only found in conjunction with palatal consonants, as in nch, nj,chn, and jn. This last may be pronounced like ny, or like gn in the French campagne. In Bengal, however, it always has the sound of gy: thus TTIT is pronounced rágyá. The cerebral nasal n is found at the beginning of words and before vowels, as well as in conjunction with cerebral consonants. It is then pronounced, as the other cerebrals, by turning the tip of the tongue towards the palate. The dental and labial nasals na and ma are pronounced with the same organs as the class of letters to which they belong. [See 21.]

16. ya, ra, la, va, are pronounced as in English. Their relationship to the vowels i, ri, lri, u, respectively, should never be forgotten. See No. 22. a. When is the last member of a conjunct consonant it is pronounced like w, as dwára; but not

after r, as sarva.

a. The character Ira is peculiar to the Vedas. It is a form of the semivowel 1, and represents a liquid sound formed by curving back the tongue against the roof of the mouth.

sa is a palatal sibilant, sha is a cerebral, and is a pronunciation is hardly to The dental sa is pro

b. The semivowels are so soft and vowel-like in their nature that they readily flow into each other. Hence and r are sometimes exchangeable. 17. π śa, ■ sha, ♬ sa, ha. Of these, and is pronounced as an aspirated s. more strongly aspirated sibilant, but its be distinguished from that of the palatal. nounced as the common English s. The same three sibilants exist in English, though represented by one character, as in the words sure, session, sun. ha is pronounced as in English, and is guttural.

a. The guttural origin of ha is proved by its passing into k at the end of Sanskrit words, and into X, K, and c, in Greek and Latin; as, tu, kapdía,

cor.

b. Note that sa, although a palatal, might be called half a guttural. It is certainly guttural in its origin, as all the palatals are. This is well illustrated by