syllable breaks in Hindi/Devanagari words

[Bob Eaton]

I'm trying to write a TECkit map to break Devanagari words into
syllables and had a question for native speakers.

In a word like रूकना, I would break this into two syllables: रुक.ना
(i.e. ruk.naa)

But when the last syllable starts with a flap consonant (i.e. र, ण,
ड़, ढ़), then it seems like it might be three syllables. So what's
your opinion, which of the following words seems correct (not all of
them are Hindi, but you can imagine how they might be pronounced if
they were):

मुकरी: मुक.री (i.e. muk.rii) or मु.क.री (i.e. mu.ka.rii)
मिसरी: मिस.री (i.e. mis.rii) or मि.स.री (i.e. mi.sa.rii)
मुकणा: मुक.णा (i.e. muk.Naa) or मु.क.णा (i.e. mu.ka.Naa)
बिगड़ी: बिग.ड़ी (i.e. big.Rii) or बि.ग.ड़ी (i.e. bi.ga.Rii)
टुकड़ा: टुक.ड़ा (i.e. Tuk.Raa) or टु.क.ड़ा (i.e. Tu.ka.Raa)

These last two really seem like three syllable words to me (actually,
to me they all do), but I felt the need to check to see if it's just
me or not :-)

Thanks in advance,
Bob

[Akshay BAKAYA]

Interesting and difficult questions, as always, from Bob, which native speakers often don't ask. Or know, such as the four rules of pluralizing a noun in Hindi (M1/M2/F1/F2) ! Or, for instance, is the é in déh (body) long and the é in déhaati (rural inhabitant) short according to clear patterns that Bob will map, too...? 

True, the movement and time required by the tongue to first buckle backwards after the big in bigree and then flap down tends sometimes to be long enough for one to count an extra syllable ga (in less urbane or non-standard pronunciation rather than the pronunciation or accent of a typically urbane Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor or Nargis in 'Andaz'). In poetry recitation, or rather in songs (Bigree banaané vaalé, bigree banaa dé !) one definitely hears three syllables in bigaree. But then if you try to sing "Ruknaa nahee hai kaheen", you will come out with "Rukanaa nahee hai kaheen" there too ! 

But I think the agile tongue of the native speaker of standard Hindi moves fast enough for ruknaa and bigraa to have the same syllable count !

Akshay 

Le 11 nov. 08 à 19:02, Bob Eaton a écrit :

[Amitabh Triapthi]

yes bob the last two are realy three syllable words.

[विनय | Vinay]

On 11 नव, 13:02, Bob Eaton <pete_dembrow...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I'm trying to write a TECkit map to break Devanagari words into
> syllables and had a question for native speakers.
>
> In a word like रूकना, I would break this into two syllables: रुक.ना
> (i.e. ruk.naa)
>
> But when the last syllable starts with a flap consonant (i.e. र, ण,
> ड़, ढ़), then it seems like it might be three syllables. So what's
> your opinion, which of the following words seems correct (not all of
> them are Hindi, but you can imagine how they might be pronounced if
> they were):

That's a great observation. I can certainly see some difference in the
way they are pronounced. In my experience, even though some people do
pronounce the middle syllable in the following cases a bit strongly
than normal, it is still not the same as the distinct standalone sound
of those. Plus, it is not a universal thing. Some people do that, some
don't. Could be a regional or dialectical difference too.

Overall, I am in agreement with Akshay's response on the matter.

Vinay