Pronunciation of Sanskrit terms

[Guest guest]

In response to a query from one of our members, all Sanskrit words used in

the 'Weekly Definitions' will be written in ITRANS format and the correct

(as far as possible!) pronunciation of the relevant characters is detailed

at my website - http://www.advaita.org.uk/sanskrit/itrans.htm For those

interested in pronouncing words correctly, it is strongly suggested that

they learn this way rather than looking for pronunciation of specific words.

Once the letter pronunciations have been learned, you will be able to

pronounce ALL Sanskrit words, since there are no exceptions as there are in

English.

 

Best wishes,

 

Dennis

[Guest guest]

Once the letter pronunciations have been learned, you will be able to

pronounce ALL Sanskrit words, since there are no exceptions as there are in

English.

 

Best wishes,

 

Dennis

 

Dear Dennis:

 

Thank you for providing the link to the ITRANS

resource on your site. I do have an additional

interest in knowing if there is a method to determine

what syllable should receive the accent. It seems to

me I recall someone once telling me there are no

rules on this and that it indeed varies from word to

word with no formula to follow. Is there a resource

available to determine this aspect of pronunciation?

 

Thanks for your assistance.

 

Joyce

[Guest guest]

> I do have an additional

> interest in knowing if there is a method to determine

> what syllable should receive the accent. It seems to

> me I recall someone once telling me there are no

> rules on this and that it indeed varies from word to

> word with no formula to follow. Is there a resource

> available to determine this aspect of pronunciation?

>

 

Dear Joyce,

 

Here is the extract from my 'Essential Guide to Sanskrit' in which I

(very briefly) talk about this:

 

Stressing certain syllables within words when they are spoken is not

so critical in Sanskrit as in English. The rule is straightforward and

depends upon whether a syllable is `light' (laghu) or `heavy' (guru).

Long (dIrgha) or combined (saMyukta) vowels are heavy, as are any

vowels immediately preceding a cluster of consonants, a visarga or an

anusvAra . Short vowels that are not one of the special cases just

mentioned are light. The general rule, then, is as follows:

If the penultimate syllable is heavy, then it is stressed, otherwise

the preceding syllable is stressed regardless. Usually all remaining

syllables in a word receive equal (lack of) stress. Thus: anusvÁra,

visárga, saMyúkta, pratyAhÁra but prAtipádika, mahéshvara, avágraha,

upániShat.

 

In scriptural texts or poetry, there are occasions where a syllable

must be specifically accented, irrespective of the above. This is

marked by a symbol called an udAtta, which looks like two short,

vertical lines above the relevant letter. It means `highly or acutely

accented' and is generated in ITRANS by the characters \`` immediately

after the relevant letter (i.e. `back-slash' followed by two

`left-hand' quotes – this is the character to the left of number `1'

on my computer keyboard). For example, it is the A in udAtta that

would naturally be stressed. If we wanted to accent the u for example,

it would be written: u\``dAtta

 

Best wishes,

 

Dennis

[Guest guest]

-

Dennis Waite

advaitin

Tuesday, January 02, 2007 4:29 AM

Re: Pronunciation of Sanskrit terms

 

 

Thank you for the extract from your article on pronunciation.

Now I am all set to go :-)

 

Joyce