Nasal consonants and Nasalization

          Nasal consonants and Nasalization

     Anuswar

     When a nasal consonant is combined with a homogeneous consonant or with य, र, ल, व, श, ष, स, ह it is represented by a dot over the preceeding vowel or a syllable (consonant + vowel). This sign is called 'Anuswar'.

     Anuswar is pronounced in accordance with the place of articulation of the following consonant and thus becomes the nasal sound of the corresponding

consonant.

        अंगूर      मंजन      पंखा      संतरा     ठंडा

        अंबर       संबंध      गंभीर     बंदर      लंबा

The following illustrations will help you to learn further

       1. Anuswar followed by क class letters (क, ख, ग, घ) is pronounced

           as velar nasal ङ

           अंक    पंख     गंगा     कंघा

2. Anuswar followed by च class letters (च, छ, ज, झ) is pronounced

    as palatal nasal ञ

           चंचल     पंछी    मंजन    झंझट

3. Anuswar followed by ट class letters (ट, ठ, ड, ढ) is pronounced 

     as  retroflex nasal ण

            घंटा      कंठ     डंडा 

4. Anuswar followed by त class letters (त, थ, द, ध) is pronounced 

    as dental nasal न

        संत     पंथ      गंदा    कंधा

5. Anuswar followed by प class letters (प, फ, ब, भ) is pronounced 

    as bilabial nasal म

       कंपन      गुंफन      अंबा     खंभा

       Now let's see how Anuswar is pronounced when combined with the rest of consonants (य, र, ल, व, श, ष, स, ह). It is pronounced as per the place of articulation of the particular consonant, such as

       with य and श becomes palatal nasal ञ

            संयोग   संयम    संशय

      with र, ल and becomes dental nasal न

           संरचना     संलग्न    संसद

       with व becomes bilabial nasal म

         संवाद      संवत

      with ह  becomes velar nasal ङ

         सिंह संहार

          A nasal consonant combined with another nasal consonant is not represented by Anuswar. It retains its original form, such as

         जन्म, सम्मान, वाङ्मय, भिन्न, अन्न, अण्णामले, अम्मा, सन्नाटा

Anunasik

          Anunasik (nasalization) is a quality of a vowel. While pronouncing a nasalized vowel, the air passes through the mouth as well as nostrils.

       In Hindi, all the vowels can be nasalized. It is represented by a Chandrabindu (अँ) placed above the head line of the letter.

         ऊँट   हँस    आँसू   उँगली

But with a vowel sign (matra) (  eg. कि, की के,कै,को, कौ  ) attached above the head line, it is reduced to a dot.

            में       मैं       हैं।

          होंठ      भौंह      नींद     सिंचाई    औंधा

                Anunasik and Anuswar are two distinctive linguistic entities. Hence the students are cautioned not to confuse between these two. See the pair -

          हंस - goose;         हँस laugh