Palatals

Exercise

One of the best exercises to improve your pronunciation of Sanskrit is to consciously articulate all sounds produced at one place of articulation. Watch how similar the vibration of individual letters in the mouth is and how you can move from one letter to the next. In this exercise, the phonation space becomes closer and closer:

i: vowel - The phonation space is completely open. You can feel a short vibration at the soft palate.
ī: vowel - The phonation space is completely open. You can feel a longer vibration at the soft palate.
y: semivowel - The phonation space is slightly narrowed down. You can only feel the vibration on the succeeding vowel.
ś: fricative - The hard palate is almost closed off, the air swirls there.
c: plosive - Short closure at the hard palate, the air is released afterwards.
ch: plosive, aspirated - followed by a breath of air.
j: plosive, voiced - pronounced with voice.
jh: plosive, voiced, aspirated - again followed by a breath of air.
ñ: nasal - The closure remains, air streams out through the nose.

Sanskrit Pronunciation

Vowels

On the articulation of a vowel, air streams out almost unimpededly. In Sanskrit, vowels oscillate, either as long or short vowels, from guttural (a,ā), palatal (i,ī), retroflex (r̥,r̥̄) and dental (l̥,l̥̄) to labial (u,ū). The umlauts (vowel On the articulation of a vowel, air streams out almost unimpededly. In Sanskrit, vowels oscillate, either as long or short vowels, from guttural (a,ā), palatal (i,ī), retroflex (r̥,r̥̄) and dental (l̥,l̥̄) to labial (u,ū). The umlauts (vowel mutations) (o,au,e,ai) are always long.

Palatal vowels

i / ī: Open your mouth slightly wider. Again, the short i is sounded only briefly, whereas the long ī lingers. Both vowels make the palate vibrate (palatal).

Examples:

i: Mitte, Kind
ī: Igel, Flieder, Kies

Sanskrit Pronunciation

Plosives

On the articulation of a plosive, built up pressure is released by a sudden release of air. In Sanskrit, plosives are ideally pronounced sonant and aspirated from guttural (k,kh,g,gh), palatal (c,ch,j,jh), retroflex (ṭ,ṭh,ḍ,ḍh), and dental On the articulation of a plosive, built up pressure is released by a sudden release of air. In Sanskrit, plosives are ideally pronounced sonant and aspirated from guttural (k,kh,g,gh), palatal (c,ch,j,jh), retroflex (ṭ,ṭh,ḍ,ḍh), and dental (t,th,d,dh) to labial (p,ph,b,bh).

Palatal plosives

ca: The tongue closes off the hard palate. The contact is released after slight pressure.
cha: The analogue sound with more air.
ja: The analogue sound with vibration or voice.
jha: The voiced sound with more air.

Examples:

ca: Tschechien
cha: Charles, Charme
ja: Dschschungel
Not to be confused with a German ja as in Jogurt! In Sanskrit, the German j sound corresponds to the letter Y.
jha: Jeep

Sanskrit Pronunciation

Nasals

On the articulation of nasal sounds, the closure at the place of articulation is not released. Most of the air streams out through the nose. The closed back part of the oral cavity thus becomes a variable resonance chamber for ṅ,ñ,ṇ,n and m.

Palatal nasal

ña: The sound is nasalised.

Examples:

ña: Señior,
Im German, an n in front of other palatal sounds.

Sanskrit Pronunciation

Semivowels

Phonetically, a semivowel lies between a vowel and a plosive. In contrast to a vowel, a semivowel does not represent a syllable on its own when articulated. Neither is the vocal tract blocked for the pressure characteristic of a plosive. The tongue Phonetically, a semivowel lies between a vowel and a plosive. In contrast to a vowel, a semivowel does not represent a syllable on its own when articulated. Neither is the vocal tract blocked for the pressure characteristic of a plosive. The tongue moves in the direction of the place of articulation to produce an approximant. In contrast to a fricative, though, the approximation does not go so far as to produce the friction necessary for a fricative. In Sanskrit, there are semivowels for four of the five places of articulation (y, r, l, v).

Palatal semivowel

ya: Produced by bringing the tongue closer to the palate (palatal).

Examples:

ya: ja, Sanskrit: Yoga
Pronounced like a German j, not like a y as in Yvonne.

Sanskrit Pronunciation

Fricatives and Aspirates

On the articulation of a fricative, a confined space is created. The air streaming out is swirled and creates a fricative. Compared to semivowels, which also count as approximants, the tongue moves closer to the confined space, though without the On the articulation of a fricative, a confined space is created. The air streaming out is swirled and creates a fricative. Compared to semivowels, which also count as approximants, the tongue moves closer to the confined space, though without the contact necessary for a plosive. In Sanskrit, there is a semivowel for four of the five places of articulation (h, ś, ṣ, s).

Palatal fricative

śa: Here, the air swirls at the palate (palatal). To pronounce this sound, the teeth should remain closed with the lips opened noticeably. The tongue is relaxed and positioned directly behind the teeth. The resulting hissing sound thus becomes very sharp, almost as in a z.

ha: A guttural fricative (5).

Examples:

śa: Schale, Schach, Schatten
Pronounced quite hard.