Classical Sanskrit distinguishes about 36 phonemes. There is, however, some allophony and the writing systems used for Sanskrit generally indicate this, thus distinguishing 48 sounds.
The sounds are traditionally listed in the order vowels (Ach), diphthongs (Hal), anusvara and visarga, plosives (Sparśa) and nasals (starting in the back of the mouth and moving forward), and finally the liquids and fricatives, written in IAST as follows (see the tables below for details):
a ā i ī u ū ṛ ṝ ḷ ḹ ; e ai o au ṃ ḥ k kh g gh ṅ; c ch j jh ñ; ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ; t th d dh n; p ph b bh m y r l v; ś ṣ s h An alternate traditional ordering is that of the Shiva Sutra of Pāṇini.
Vowels See also: R-colored vowel#Vocalic R in Sanskrit The vowels of Classical Sanskrit with their word-initial Devanagari symbol, diacritical mark with the consonant प् (/p/), pronunciation (of the vowel alone and of /p/+vowel) in IPA, equivalent in IAST and ITRANS and (approximate) equivalents in English are listed below:
Letter प् Pronunciation Pronunciation with /p/ IAST equiv. ITRANS equiv. English equivalent (GA unless stated otherwise) अ प /ɐ/ or /ə/ /pɐ/ or /pə/ a a short near-open central vowel or schwa: u in bunny or a in about आ पा /ɑː/ /pɑː/ ā A long open back unrounded vowel: a in father (RP) इ पि /i/ /pi/ i i short close front unrounded vowel: e in england ई पी /iː/ /piː/ ī I long close front unrounded vowel: ee in feet उ पु /u/ /pu/ u u short close back rounded vowel: oo in foot ऊ पू /uː/ /puː/ ū U long close back rounded vowel: oo in cool ऋ पृ /ɻ/ /pɻ/ ṛ R short retroflex approximant: r in burl ॠ पॄ /ɻː/ /pɻː/ ṝ RR long retroflex approximant r in burl ऌ पॢ /ɭ/ /pɭ/ ḷ LR short retroflex lateral approximant (no English equivalent) ॡ पॣ /ɭː/ /pɭː/ ḹ LRR long retroflex lateral approximant ए पे /eː/ /peː/ e e long close-mid front unrounded vowel: a in bane (some speakers) ऐ पै /əi/ /pəi/ ai ai a long diphthong: i in ice, i in kite (Canadian English) ओ पो /oː/ /poː/ o o long close-mid back rounded vowel: o in bone (some speakers) औ पौ /əu/ /pəu/ au au a long diphthong: Similar to the ou in house (Canadian English)
The long vowels are pronounced twice as long as their short counterparts. Also, there exists a third, extra-long length for most vowels, called pluti, which is used in various cases, but particularly in the vocative. The pluti is not accepted by all grammarians.
The vowels /e/ and /o/ continue as allophonic variants of Proto-Indo-Iranian /ai/, /au/ and are categorized as diphthongs by Sanskrit grammarians even though they are realized phonetically as simple long vowels. (See above).
Additional points:
There are some additional signs traditionally listed in tables of the Devanagari script: The diacritic ं called anusvāra, (IAST: ṃ). It is used both to indicate the nasalization of the vowel in the syllable ([◌̃] and to represent the sound of a syllabic /n/ or /m/; e.g. पं /pəŋ/. The diacritic ः called visarga, represents /əh/ (IAST: ḥ); e.g. पः /pəh/. The diacritic ँ called chandrabindu, not traditionally included in Devanagari charts for Sanskrit, is used interchangeably with the anusvāra to indicate nasalization of the vowel, primarily in Vedic notation; e.g. पँ /pə̃/. If a lone consonant needs to be written without any following vowel, it is given a halanta/virāma diacritic below (प्). The vowel /aː/ in Sanskrit is realized as being more central and less back than the closest English approximation, which is /ɑː/. But the grammarians have classified it as a back vowel.[25] The ancient Sanskrit grammarians classified the vowel system as velars, retroflexes, palatals and plosives rather than as back, central and front vowels. Hence ए and ओ are classified respectively as palato-velar (a+i) and labio-velar (a+u) vowels respectively. But the grammarians have classified them as diphthongs and in prosody, each is given two mātrās. This does not necessarily mean that they are proper diphthongs, but neither excludes the possibility that they could have been proper diphthongs at a very ancient stage (see above). These vowels are pronounced as long /eː/ and /oː/ respectively by learned Sanskrit Brahmans and priests of today. Other than the "four" diphthongs, Sanskrit usually disallows any other diphthong-vowels in succession, where they occur, are converted to semivowels according to sandhi rules. Consonants IAST and Devanagari notations are given, with approximate IPA values in square brackets. Ōshtya Labiodental Dantōshtya Dental Dantya Retroflex Mūrdhanya Palatal Tālavya Velar Kanthya Glottal Stop Sparśa Unaspirated Alpaprāna p प [p] b ब [b] t त [t̪] d द [d̪] ṭ ट [ʈ] ḍ ड [ɖ] c च [c͡ç] j ज [ɟ͡ʝ] k क [k] g ग [g] Aspirated Mahāprāna ph फ [pʰ] bh भ [bʱ] th थ [t̪ʰ] dh ध [d̪ʱ] ṭh ठ [ʈʰ] ḍh ढ [ɖʱ] ch छ [c͡çʰ] jh झ [ɟ͡ʝʱ] kh ख [kʰ] gh घ [gʱ] Nasal Anunāsika m म [m] n न [n̪] ṇ ण [ɳ] ñ ञ [ɲ] ṅ ङ [ŋ] Semivowel Antastha v व [ʋ] y य [j] Liquid Drava l ल [l] r र® Fricative Ūshman s स [s̪] ṣ ष [ʂ] ś श [ɕ] ḥ ः [h] h ह [ɦ]
Labial
The table below shows the traditional listing of the Sanskrit consonants with the (nearest) equivalents in English (as pronounced in General American and Received Pronunciation) and Spanish. Each consonant shown below is deemed to be followed by the neutral vowel schwa (/ə/), and is named in the table as such.
Plosives - Sprshta Unaspirated Voiceless Alpaprāna Śvāsa Aspirated Voiceless Mahāprāna Śvāsa Unaspirated Voiced Alpaprāna Nāda Aspirated Voiced Mahāprāna Nāda Nasal Anunāsika Nāda Velar Kantya क /kə/; English: skip ख /kʰə/; English: cat ग /gə/; English: game घ /gʱə/; somewhat similar to English: doghouse ङ /ŋə/; English: ring Palatal Tālavya च /cə/; English: exchange छ /cʰə/; English: church ज /ɟə/; ≈English: jam झ /ɟʱə/; somewhat similar to English: hedgehog ञ /ɲə/; English: bench Retroflex Mūrdhanya ट /ʈə/; No English equivalent ठ /ʈʰə/; No English equivalent ड /ɖə/; No English equivalent ढ /ɖʱə/; No English equivalent ण /ɳə/; No English equivalent Apico-Dental Dantya त /t̪ə/; Spanish: tomate थ /t̪ʰə/; Aspirated /t̪/ द /d̪ə/; Spanish: donde ध /d̪ʱə/; Aspirated /d̪/ न /n̪ə/; English: name Labial Ōshtya प /pə/; English: spin फ /pʰə/; English: pit ब /bə/; English: bone भ /bʱə/; somewhat similar to English: clubhouse म /mə/; English: mine Non-Plosives/Sonorants Palatal Tālavya Retroflex Mūrdhanya Dental Dantya Labial/ Glottal Ōshtya Approximant Antastha य /jə/; English: you र /rə/; English: trip (Scottish English) ल /l̪ə/; English: love व (labio-dental) /ʋə/; English: vase Sibilant/ Fricative Ūshman श /ɕə/; English: ship ष /ʂə/; Retroflex form of /ʃ/ स /s̪ə/; English: same ह (glottal) /ɦə/; English behind
Phonology and Sandhi The Sanskrit vowels are as discussed in the section above. The long syllabic l (ḹ) is not attested, and is only discussed by grammarians for systematic reasons. Its short counterpart ḷ occurs in a single root only, kḷp "to order, array". Long syllabic r (ṝ) is also quite marginal, occurring in the genitive plural of r-stems (e.g. mātṛ "mother" and pitṛ "father" have gen.pl. mātṝṇām and pitṝṇām). i, u, ṛ, ḷ are vocalic allophones of consonantal y, v, r, l. There are thus only 5 invariably vocalic phonemes,
a, ā, ī, ū, ṝ. Visarga ḥ ः is an allophone of r and s, and anusvara ṃ, Devanagari ं of any nasal, both in pausa (i.e., the nasalized vowel). The exact pronunciation of the three sibilants may vary, but they are distinct phonemes. An aspirated voiced sibilant /zʱ/ was inherited by Indo-Aryan from Proto-Indo-Iranian but lost shortly before the time of the Rigveda (aspirated fricatives are exceedingly rare in any language). The retroflex consonants are somewhat marginal phonemes, often being conditioned by their phonetic environment; they do not continue a PIE series and are often ascribed by some linguists to the substratal influence of Dravidian26 or other substrate languages. The nasal [ɲ] is a conditioned allophone of /n/ (/n/ and /ɳ/ are distinct phonemes-aṇu 'minute', 'atomic' [nom. sg. neutr. of an adjective] is distinctive from anu 'after', 'along'; phonologically independent /ŋ/ occurs only marginally, e.g. in prāṅ 'directed forwards/towards' [nom. sg. masc. of an adjective]). There are thus 31 consonantal or semi-vocalic phonemes, consisting of four/five kinds of stops realized both with or without aspiration and both voiced and voiceless, three nasals, four semi-vowels or liquids, and four fricatives, written in IAST transliteration as follows:
k, kh, g, gh; c, ch, j, jh; ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, ḍh; t, th, d, dh; p, ph, b, bh; m, n, ṇ; y, r, l, v; ś, ṣ, s, h or a total of 36 unique Sanskrit phonemes altogether.
The phonological rules to be applied when combining morphemes to a word, and when combining words to a sentence are collectively called sandhi "composition". Texts are written phonetically, with sandhi applied (except for the so-called padapāṭha).
