AnusvAra - is it pronounced as "m" before semi-vowels, sibilants and h?

[Jazirae Neokai (Jazzaray)]

My friend Vivek asked me this question, and I have the same doubt:

I have a doubt regarding Anuswara.

If it is on front of any of the following letters does it take on the nasal sound based on the mouth position or does at always become an “M” in these cases?

य र ल व

श ष स​

ह​

Is anyone certain on this?  The grammar books don't seem to address this.

Looking forward in hearing from you,

Vivek  (and Jazirae)

[Hnbhat B.R.]

On Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 9:35 AM, Jazirae Neokai (Jazzaray)
<jne...@gmail.com> wrote:
> My friend Vivek asked me this question, and I have the same doubt:
>
> I have a doubt regarding Anuswara.
>
> If it is on front of any of the following letters does it take on the nasal
> sound based on the mouth position or does at always become an “M” in these
> cases?
>
> य र ल व
> श ष स
> ह
>
> Is anyone certain on this? The grammar books don't seem to address this.
>

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=BxAVFu2aNu8C&pg=PT667&lpg=PT667&dq=%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%81%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE&source=bl&ots=oy0F1_BmGF&sig=hF0ApMtfrKHRIzre5f2wFvovyj8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibg6abxbTSAhWMErwKHRPIAYwQ6AEIGzAA#v=onepage&q=%E0%A4%B8%E0%A4%81%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BE&f=false

Yes. Before य, व, ल it changes optionally as you can see in the
examples in the book in the link.

संयन्ता/सँयन्ता, सं+वत्सरः/सँवत्सरः /यं लोकम्, यँलोकम्

But it does not change before श, ष, स

अंशः. शंसति, तं षष्ठम्

तं शन्तनुम्. गिरिशं सेवते

etc.

[Nagendra kumar jha]

Anuswaar is pronounced as per position of next letter.

If anuswaar is followed by ka, kha, etc then it will pronounce as fifth letter of Ka-varga. and like other varga.

When it is followed by Pa, Pha etc then it will pronounce as m.

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[Vivek]

Hari Om Nagendra,

The discussion was about the following letters

य र ल व

श ष स

ह

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[Sridatta A]

  

Before र् श् ष् स् ह् it is pronounced as only anusvāra, before य् व् ल् it can optionally change to their nasalized counterparts (य्ँ व्ँ ल्ँ respectively).

Further reading

1. वर्णोत्पत्तिः, अनुस्वारमकारयोः भेदश्च http://sambhashanasandesha.in/php/bookreader/templates/book.php?volume=019&month=09&year=2014&pagenum=0018#page/18/mode/1up
2. A MONOGRAPH ON THE ANUSVĀRA OF THE TAITTIRĪYA KṚṢṆA YAJUR VEDA http://www.sanskritweb.net/sansdocs/anusvara.pdf
3.  pg 39-40,63 of https://sites.google.com/site/jamadagni/files/samskritam/shiksaa-prathama-klptih.pdf
   

[अभ्यंकरकुलोत्पन्नः श्रीपादः | श्रीपतेः पदयुगं स्मरणीयम् ।]

अनुस्वार is a scripting symbol. It stands for any of the five nasal consonants. Which of the five nasal consonants, is decided by the class वर्गः of the consonant व्यञ्जनम् next to the अनुस्वार. To explain by examples

1. In अंक, अंग, डंख, संघ it stands for ङ् because the व्यञ्जन-s next to the अनुस्वार are of क्-वर्ग. The अनुनासिकम् of क्-वर्ग is ङ्.
2. In पंचम, संजय, it stands for ञ् because the व्यञ्जन-s next to the अनुस्वार are of च्-वर्ग. The अनुनासिकम् of च्-वर्ग is ञ्.
3. In घंटा पंडित, षंढ it stands for ण् because the व्यञ्जन-s next to the अनुस्वार are of ट्-वर्ग. The अनुनासिकम् of ट्-वर्ग is ण्.
4. In दंत, मंथन,मंद, अंध,  it stands for न् because the व्यञ्जन-s next to the अनुस्वार are of त्-वर्ग. The अनुनासिकम् of त्-वर्ग is न्. 
5. In पंपा अंब आरंभ, it stands for म् because the व्यञ्जनम् next to the अनुस्वार are of प्-वर्ग. The अनुनासिकम् of प्-वर्ग is म्.
6. In अंश, दंष्ट्र, संस्था the अनुस्वार is followed by the ऊष्म व्यञ्जनानि श् ष् स्. In these instances the pronunciation can be considered to be similar to that of अनुनासिकम् न्.
7. In संहिता, संयम, संवाद, संलग्न the अनुस्वार is followed by the अंतस्थ व्यञ्जनानि ह्, य्, व्, ल् In these instances also the pronunciation can be considered to be similar to that of अनुनासिकम् न्.

[KN.Ramesh]

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!msg/samskrita/f7FVJ3Feu58/b3fTwE6JBgAJ

[Subrahmanian R]

Respected Sirs,

 

In my view, an ‘anuswara’ should be pronounced as an anuswara. There is no mouth position for an anuswara. Only an anunasika (मुखनासिकयोर्वचनम्) can have a mouth position. Hence, there is no room for saying that it should be pronounced like ‘m’ or like ‘n’.

 

There are regional differences in pronounciation. In South India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular, anuswara before a fricative is pronounced distinctly as ‘m’ and quite often as ‘ma’. Hence a Tamilian prefers to transliterate the anuswara as ‘m’ – as the spelling of our own group shows. संस्कृत is generally pronounced close to समस्कृत and संस्थान् distinctly as समस्थानम्. For want of a symbol for an anuswara in English, the rest of the world prefers the spelling ‘n’. It is simha and narasimha (also amarasimha) for a south Indian and Sinha in the North.

 

Any language written in the script of another language has its shortcomings and cannot be as good as the script of the language to which the word belongs. The diacritical marks used in the other language script are of limited help.

 

Samskrita has earned the credit that it has a strict phonetic script. When it is so, to say that the same symbol represents so many different sounds goes against the creditable feature.

 

Pranams

R Subrahmanian

[ken p]

Sanskrit Pundits  have created different scripts for regional languages under different rulers and have avoided these ङ् ञ् ण् anunasikas. Why?

Don't they create new scripts for non scheduled  languages?

[Taff Rivers]

Ken,

    The hoary old issue of a universal script, phonetic or otherwise, has been debated for decades.

At the highest level of government, at the lowest level of blogs and everywhere in-between.

Many schemes for 'scheduled' and 'non-scheduled' languages have been proposed ...

... and rejected - for obvious reasons  - social, political, cultural, psychological, monetary, practical etc. etc.

Taff,

   Like the man said, 'If you has to ask, you'll never know!' iti  Louis Armstrong.