The Devanagari Script Block

Category: Various signs

Each of the vowels except for VOCALIC RA (and presumably the other VOCALIC RA and VOCALIC Ls?) may occur with nasalisation. Nasalisation is produced by directing a substantial part of the breath towards the nasal cavity as the vowel is being uttered. This sign is used to indicate nasalisation. It is written over the headstroke of the vowel itself, eg. हाँ, or over the headstroke of the consonant to which the vowel sign is attached. eg. हूँ.

If any part of the vowel is written above the headstroke, then the dot alone is used instead of the full shape, eg. गईँ, मेँ, थीँ. In some books only the dot is used, but it is better not to follow this practice.

Category: Various signs

This is a convenient and commonly used device that stands for any of the nasal consonants of the syllabary when they occur as the first member of a conjunct.

Pronunciation in Hindi is ənʊsvaːrə.

It is written above the headstroke, at the right-hand end of the preceding character. In the list below both spellings are correct and equivalent, although anusvara is preferred in the case of the first two: रंग= रङ्ग, पंजाबी= पञ्जाबी, हिंदी= हिन्दी, लंबा= लम्बा.

Anusvara is still applied when previous character has its own vowel sign. If the vowel sign is AA, the anusvara appears over the AA, eg. फ़्रांसीसी or आंदोलन.

Category: Various signs

Spacing.

The dots are more widely spaced that a colon. This sign can appear in the middle of a word (and has no headstroke).

It is pronounced as ह, and only occurs rarely in Hindi, eg. दुःख, छः

Category: Independent vowels

Hindi [iː] As in 'heat'.

Vowel sign is ी 0940.

Category: Independent vowels

Hindi [ʊ] As in 'foot'.

ru is written रु.

Vowel sign is ु 0941.

Category: Independent vowels

Hindi [uː] As in 'fool'.

ruu is written रू .

Vowel sign is ू 0942.

Category: Independent vowels

Hindi [ɾɪ] As in 'ripple'.

Only occurs in Sanskrit loanwords.

ha-vocalic r is written हृ. sha-vocalic r is written शृ .

Vowel sign is ृ 0943.

Category: Independent vowels

Hindi [?]

Vowel sign is ॢ 0962.

Category: Independent vowels

Hindi [?]

Category: Independent vowels

Hindi [?]

For transcribing Dravidian short e.

Vowel sign is ॆ 0946.

Category: Independent vowels

Hindi [e] As in the first part of the vowel sound of 'cable': a pure vowel sound, not a diphthong like the English.

Vowel sign is े 0947.

Hindi [ɛ] As in 'hen'.

Vowel sign is ै 0948.

Hindi [ɔ] Hindi uses to create English sound 'o' as in चॉक्लेट (chocolate).

Uses आ and ॅ but not listed as decomposable.

Vowel sign is ॉ 0949.

Hindi [?]

For transcribing Dravidian short o.

Vowel sign is ॊ 094A.

Hindi [o] As in the first part of the first vowel in 'hotel': a pure vowel sound, not a diphthong like the English.

Vowel sign is ो 094B.

Hindi [ɔ] As in 'off'.

Vowel sign is ौ 094B.

Hindi [kə] The k sound as in 'skit', but less release of breath.

Hindi [kʰə] As in 'kit', but with stronger release of breath.

Hindi [gə] As in 'gimmick', but with less release of breath.

Hindi [gʰə] As the gh in 'dog-house' spoken quickly.

Hindi [ŋə] As n in 'ink'.

Note that the dot is not a nukta.

Hindi [cə] Like the ch in 'cheese', but with less release of breath and with the tongue against the lower teeth. Also like the ty sound in 'tube'.

Hindi [cʰə] Strongly aspirated form of the ch in 'church'.

Hindi [ɟə] Like the j in 'jeer', but with less release of breath and with the tongue against the lower teeth. Also close to the dy sound in 'duty'.

The conjunct ending with ञ, written ज्ञ, is pronounced 'gya'.

Hindi [ɟʰə] Strongly aspirated form of the j in 'jar'.

Hindi [ɲə] As n in 'injury'.

The conjunct beginning with ज, written ज्ञ, is pronounced 'gya'.

Hindi [ʈə] Rather like the t in 'train', but with the tongue further back and with less release of breath.

Hindi [ʈʰə] Strongly aspirated form of TTA.

Hindi [ɖə] Rather like the d in 'drum', but with the tongue further back and with less release of breath.

Hindi [ɖʰə] Strongly aspirated form of DDA.

Hindi [ɳə] The retroflex nasal, produced with the tongue high on the palate as with retroflex consonants.

Hindi [tə] Produced with the relaxed tip of the tongue against the back of the front upper teeth, and with minimal release of breath.

The conjunct त+त becomes त्त.

Hindi [tʰə] Strongly aspirated form of TA.

Hindi [də] The dental d sound in 'breadth', with less release of breath.

Hindi [dʰə] Strongly aspirated form of DA.

Hindi [nə] Like n in 'nice' but with the tongue flatter against the front teeth.

Hindi [?ə]

For transcribing Dravidian alveolar n.

NFC normalised form is unchanged!

Hindi [pə] As p in 'spin', with less release of breath.

Hindi [pʰə] Rather lik p in 'pin' but with stronger release of breath.

Hindi [bə] As b in 'bin', with less release of breath.

Hindi [bʰə] Strongly aspirated form of BA: as 'bh' in 'club-house' spoken quickly.

Hindi [mə] As m in 'mother'.

Hindi [jə] Close to the y in 'yet', but less tense.

Hindi [ɾə] An r which is trilled or tapped, not unlike the Scottish rolled r but shorter. It is never lost like the r in 'more'.

Conjuncts involving this character are particularly complex. When RA is the first member of a conjunct it is represented by the sign above the headstroke at the very end of the syllable which it precedes, eg. उर्दू and शार्मा. This sign is called a repha. When it is the second element of a conjunct the characteristic sign is , but precisely where it comes depends on the shape of the previous member, eg. प्र, त्र, ह्र. With TTA and DDA it needs a little supporting line, ie. ट्र, ड्र.

If a RA is followed by a virama and zero width joiner in Unicode this should produce the eyelash-RA, eg. र्‍न.

Hindi [?ə]

For transcribing the Dravidian alveolar r.

Half-form is represented as the non-standard 'Eyelash RA', eg. र्‍न. This form of RA is commonly used in writing Marathi.

NFC normalised form is unchanged!

Hindi [lə] A clear l sound, as in 'life', but with the tongue positioned as for dental TA etc.

Hindi [?ə]

Hindi [?ə]

For transcribing the Dravidian alveolar l.

NFC normalised form is unchanged!

Hindi [və] This sound lies between the English sounds v and w. Unlike the English v, the lower lip hardly touches the upper teeth; but unlike the English w, there is no lip rounding.

Hindi [ɕə] As sh in 'ship'.

Hindi [ɕə] Strictly speaking a retroflex, but in practise rarely distinguished from SHA in pronunciation.

Hindi [sə] As s in 'sip'.

Hindi [hə] This h sound is always fully voiced, as in 'ahead'.

For extending the alphabet to new letters.

The nukta must appear immediately after the consonant it modifies and before any other combining characters (including the virama). The logic behind this is that the nukta modifies the character, whereas the vowel signs and anusvara or candrabindu modify the syllable.

Hindi [?]

Hindi [aː] As in 'part'.

Independent vowel is आ 0906.

Hindi [ɪ] As in 'hit'.

Stands to left of base consonant or consonant cluster.

Independent vowel is इ 0907.

Hindi [iː] As in 'heat'.

Independent vowel is ई 0908.

Hindi [ʊ] As in 'foot'.

ru is written रु.

Independent vowel is उ 0909.

Hindi [uː] As in 'fool'.

ruu is written रू .

Independent vowel is ऊ 090A.

Hindi [ɾɪ] As in 'ripple'.

Only occurs in Sanskrit loanwords.

ha-vocalic r is written हृ. sha-vocalic r is written शृ .

Independent vowel is ऋ 090B.

Hindi [?ə]

Independent vowel is ॠ 0960.

Hindi [?ə]

See ऍ 090D: DEVANAGARI LETTER CANDRA E and ऑ 0911: DEVANAGARI LETTER CANDRA 0

Hindi [?ə]

See ऎ 090E: DEVANAGARI LETTER SHORT E and ऒ 0912: DEVANAGARI LETTER SHORT 0

Hindi [e] As in the first part of the vowel sound of 'cable': a pure vowel sound, not a diphthong like the English.

Independent vowel is ए 090F.

Hindi [ɛ] As in 'hen'.

Independent vowel is ऐ 0910.

Hindi [ɔ] Hindi uses to create English sound 'o' as in चॉक्लेट (chocolate).

Independent vowel is ऑ 0911.

Hindi [?]

For transcribing Dravidian short o.

Independent vowel is ऒ 0912.

Hindi [o] As in the first part of the first vowel in 'hotel': a pure vowel sound, not a diphthong like the English.

Independent vowel is ओ 0913.

Hindi [ɔ] As in 'off'.

Independent vowel is औ 0914.

= halant. Suppresses inherent vowel and leads to creation of conjunct consonants where provided by the font.

If a conjunct glyph cannot be found in the font for a particular sequence, the default is for the virama to be displayed visually as a combining mark on the base character to indicate that the vowel has been omitted. Otherwise the virama is not displayed.

Hindi [?]

Used in the transcription of Sanskrit texts.

Used in the transcription of Sanskrit texts.

Used in the transcription of Sanskrit texts.

Used in the transcription of Sanskrit texts.

Hindi [qə] A sound like k but produced as far back in the throat as possible. Many speakers do not distinguish it from KA. It occurs only in Arabic and Persian loan words.

NFC normalised form is क़ (KA + NUKTA).

Hindi [xə] Like the ch in Scottish 'loch' but strictly pronounced further back with a slight scrape. Occurs only in Persian and Arabic loan words.

NFC normalised form is ख़ (KHA + NUKTA).

Hindi [ɣə] The voiced counterpart of KHHA. Many speakers do not distinguish it from GA. Occurs only in Persian and Arabic loan words.

NFC normalised form is ग़ (GA + NUKTA).

Hindi [zə] As z in 'zip'.

NFC normalised form is ज़ (JA + NUKTA).

Hindi [ɽə] This is the retroflex DDA when it is between two vowels, flapped to produce a kind of r sound somewhat similar to the rr in 'worry'.

NFC normalised form is ड़ (DDA + NUKTA).

Hindi [ɽʰə] The aspirated version of DDDHA.

NFC normalised form is ढ़ (DDHA + NUKTA).

Hindi [fə] As f in 'find'.

NFC normalised form is फ़ (PHA + NUKTA).

Hindi [?ə]

NFC normalised form is य़ (YA + NUKTA).

Hindi [?ə]

Vowel sign is ृ 0944.

Hindi [?ə]

Vowel sign is ॣ 0963.

Hindi [?]

Independent vowel is ऌ 090C.

Hindi [?ə]

Independent vowel is ॡ 0961.

Phrase separator, used very like a full stop. The comma and period are freely used in writing Hindi, and the danda is usually restricted to more traditional texts.

Pronunciation in Hindi: दण्ड or खड़ी पाई

Marks the end of a verse or stanza in traditional texts.

This is used after the first syllable of the word to be abbreviated, eg. रु॰ stands for रुपया, and पं॰ for पंडित.