The essentials
Indian phoneticians classified speech sounds by place of articulation (sthana) and manner of articulation (prayatna). This is why the Sanskrit alphabet (varnamala) is so systematic.
Stop consonants are arranged in five groups (vargas) by place:
- kanthya (velar/throat): k, kh, g, gh, ṅ
- talavya (palatal): c, ch, j, jh, ñ
- murdhanya (retroflex/cerebral): ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, ḍh, ṇ
- dantya (dental): t, th, d, dh, n
- oshthya (labial): p, ph, b, bh, m
Within each group the order is the same: voiceless unaspirated, voiceless aspirated, voiced unaspirated, voiced aspirated, nasal. Alpaprana sounds have little breath and mahaprana sounds are aspirated; aghosha sounds are voiceless and ghosha sounds are voiced. Vowels are short (hrasva), long (dirgha) or prolonged (pluta). Vedic accents are udatta (raised), anudatta (not raised) and svarita (falling/combined).
Grammar: Words are formed from a root (dhatu) plus suffixes (pratyaya). Sounds combine at word boundaries by rules of sandhi; words combine into compounds (samasa). Panini's karaka theory relates nouns to the action: karta (agent), karma (object), karana (instrument), sampradana (recipient), apadana (source/point of separation) and adhikarana (location). Panini uses the 14 Shiva Sutras to create short codes called pratyaharas (for example, "ac" for all vowels), making his rules very compact.
Key points
- Five places: velar, palatal, retroflex, dental, labial.
- Order within a varga: unaspirated, aspirated, voiced, voiced aspirated, nasal.
- Six karakas.
- Shiva Sutras and pratyaharas.
Exam tips
- Practise placing a given consonant in its varga and describing it.
Common mistakes
- Confusing dantya (t) and murdhanya (ṭ).
- Confusing karana (instrument) with karma (object).