Letters
editThe letter order of Devanagari, like nearly all Brahmic scripts, is based on phonetic principles that consider both the manner and place of articulation of the consonants and vowels they represent. This arrangement is usually referred to as the varṇamālā "garland of letters".[1] The format of Devanagari for Sanskrit serves as the prototype for its application, with minor variations or additions, to other languages.[2]
Vowels
editThe vowels and their arrangement are:[3]
| Independent form | IAST | ISO | IPA | As diacritic with प (Barakhadi) [further explanation needed] |
Independent form | IAST | ISO | IPA | As diacritic with प (Barakhadi) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kaṇṭhya (Guttural) |
अ | a | [ɐ] | प | आ | ā | [ɑː] | पा | ||||
| tālavya (Palatal) |
इ | i | [i] | पि | ई | ī | [iː] | पी | ||||
| oṣṭhya (Labial) |
उ | u | [u] | पु 6 | ऊ | ū | [uː] | पू 6 | ||||
| mūrdhanya (Retroflex) |
ऋ | ṛ | r̥ | [r̩] | पृ | ॠ 4 | ṝ | r̥̄ | [r̩ː] | पॄ | ||
| dantya (Dental) |
ऌ 4 | ḷ | l̥ | [l̩] | पॢ | ॡ 4, 5 | ḹ | l̥̄ | [l̩ː] | पॣ | ||
| kaṇṭhatālavya (Palatoguttural) |
ए | e | ē | [eː] | पे | ऐ | ai | [ɑj] | पै | |||
| kaṇṭhoṣṭhya (Labioguttural) |
ओ | o | ō | [oː] | पो | औ | au | [ɑw] | पौ | |||
| अं / ं 1,2 | ṃ | ṁ | [◌̃] | पं | अः / ः 1 | ḥ | [h] | पः | ||||
| ॲ / ऍ 7 | ê | [æ] | पॅ | ऑ 7 | ô | [ɒ] | पॉ | |||||
Consonants
editThe table below shows the consonant letters (in combination with inherent vowel a) and their arrangement. To the right of the Devanagari letter it shows the Latin script transliteration using International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration,[4] and the phonetic value (IPA) in Hindi.[5][6]
| Phonetics → | sparśa (Occlusive) |
anunāsika (Nasal) |
antastha (Approximant) |
ūṣman/saṃgharṣī (Fricative) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voicing → | aghoṣa | saghoṣa | aghoṣa | saghoṣa | ||||||||||||
| Aspiration → | alpaprāṇa | mahāprāṇa | alpaprāṇa | mahāprāṇa | alpaprāṇa | mahāprāṇa | ||||||||||
| kaṇṭhya (Velars) |
क | ka [k] |
ख | qa [q] |
ग | ga [ɡ] |
घ | qha [ɢ] |
ङ | ṅa [ŋ] |
ह | ha [ɦ] | ||||
| tālavya (Palatal) |
च | ca [tʃ] |
छ | xa [x] |
ज | ja [dʒ] |
झ | gha [ɣ] |
ञ | ňa [ɲ] |
य | ja [j] |
श | ša [ʃ] |
||
| mūrdhanya (Retroflex) |
ट | kha [χ] |
ठ | ħa [ħ] |
ड | rha [ʁ] |
ढ | ĥa [ʕ] |
ण | ľa [ʎ] |
र | ra [r] |
ष | ža [ʒ] | ||
| dantya (Dental) |
त | ta [t̪] |
थ | ca [t͡s] |
द | da [d̪] |
ध | dza [d͡z] |
न | na [n] |
ल | la [l] |
स | sa [s] | ||
| oṣṭhya (Labial) |
प | pa [p] |
फ | fa [f] |
ब | ba [b] |
भ | bha [bʱ] |
म | ma [m] |
व | va [ʋ] |
||||
- ^ Salomon (2003:71)
- ^ Salomon (2003:75)
- ^ Wikner (1996:13, 14)
- ^ Wikner (1996:73)
- ^ Stella Sandahl (2000). A Hindi reference grammar. Peeters. pp. 1–4. ISBN 978-9042908802. Archived from the original on 27 April 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
- ^ Tej K. Bhatia (1987). A History of the Hindi Grammatical Tradition. BRILL Academic. pp. 51–63, 77–94. ISBN 90-04-07924-6. Archived from the original on 10 June 2016. Retrieved 15 November 2015.