Learn Sanskrit - Saḿskŗtaḿ adhigacchasi!

[Aseca]

Hey guys, seeing there is some interest in quirky and old languages, thought I'd share some of my knowledge of Sanskrit.

As much as I want to gloss over the pronunciation and phonology, unfortunately it has to be covered here, as Sanskrit uses many sounds found in different languages, so it'd be best to have it covered. Especially with diacritics in IAST (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration), which I will cover here. No need to learn Devanagari though!

1. Short Vowels

a - [ʌ]
i - [ɪ]
u - [ʊ]
r - [r]

You may wonder why [r] is listed as a vowel. It is seen that way, same as the r found in /srbja/.

2. Long Vowels

aa - [a], ā
ii - , ī
uu - , ū
rr - [r:], ŕ

Easy no?

3. Compound Vowels
Now we get to the most important part of Sanskrit - the very foundation that determines how a word is understood - it forms the basis of 'ablauted' verbs, adjectives and nouns seen later on.

Weak vowels - (a), i, u, r;
Medium vowels - add a to weak vowels.
Strong vowels - add a to medium vowels.

As outlined below:

Code: Select all

Weak    Med     Strong
i       ai      aai
u       au      aau
r       ar      aar

Keep in mind some of the compound vowels above change from:

ai and au --> e [e, əɪ] and o [o, əʊ].
aai and aau --> ai [aɪ] and au [aʊ]
ar and aar --> ar [ər] and ár [ar]

As you have observed thus far, long vowels are álways accented with either an áccent or a mācron. Also, e, o, and ar, the medium vowels, all use the [ə~] sound, so keep note of that, and try not to weaken e to [ə] or o to [ɔ]!

Every sound is pronounced as it is represented!


Exercise 1.
Change the vowels below according to the compound rules above:
(The first one has been done for you)

1. vanaa [ʋʌna] (vaná)
2. biija [biɟʌ]
3. viira [ʋirʌ]
4. kaalii [kali]
5. siḿhaa [sɪɴɦa]
6. ashvaa [ʌʃʋa]
7. baalaau [balaʊ]
8. gaarha [garɦʌ]

I'm sure you'll be wondering what these words are. They will be covered in the next lesson.

[Click]

If I recall correctly, ‹ḿ› is not [ɴ], but vowel nasalisation.

[Xing]

1. Short Vowels

a - [ʌ]
i - [ɪ]
u - [ʊ]
r - [r]

You may wonder why [r] is listed as a vowel. It is seen that way, same as the r found in /srbja/.

2. Long Vowels

aa - [a], á
ii - , í
uu - , ú
rr - [r:], ŕ

Easy no?

What time and place does this pronunciation reflect?

It seems like the Wikipedia article on Sanskrit gives slightly different pronunciations for some vowels, notably [ɐ~ə] for <a>, and [ɑː] for <á>.

3. Compound Vowels
Now we get to the most important part of Sanskrit - the very foundation that determines how a word is understood - it forms the basis of 'ablauted' verbs, adjectives and nouns seen later on.

How are "compound vowels" different from regular diphthongs (or possibly vowel clusters)?

As you have observed thus far, long vowels are álways accented with either an áccent or a mācron.

Why do your write doubled vowels in the chart above (aa, ii, uu, rr), if the long vowels always are indicated by an accent/macron?

[Aseca]

If I recall correctly, ‹ḿ› is not [ɴ], but vowel nasalisation.

Yes, isn't that basically the same thing? [ɴ]+vowel = vowel nasalisation?
Correct me if I'm wrong.

What time and place does this pronunciation reflect?

I'm not sure what you by time and place of pronunciation?

It seems like the Wikipedia article on Sanskrit gives slightly different pronunciations for some vowels, notably [ɐ~ə] for <a>, and [ɑː] for <á>.

Yes, the root a sound is actually [ʌ] but has slightly weakened to either [ɐ~ə] depending on vowel harmony. [ɑː] for <á>? Ah I see, that would make sense, seeing how á is from two <a> [ʌ]. Thanks for pointing it out.

How are "compound vowels" different from regular diphthongs (or possibly vowel clusters)?

Because Modern Sanskrit has simplified the system by minimising the use of dipthongs and vowel clusters as much as possible, and replaced <ai> with <e>, and <au> with <o>, as well as <aai> with <ai>, and <aau> with <au>. Even <ua> becomes <va> and <ia> becomes <ya>.
Does this answer your question?

Why do your write doubled vowels in the chart above (aa, ii, uu, rr), if the long vowels always are indicated by an accent/macron?

Sanskrit originally used to be Vedic Sanskrit, and was the basis of how to change the sounds from one form to another depending on the liquids the vowels are connected to - u to v, i to y and ŗ to r. Sanskrit was read originally without using macrons or e/o, ai, au back before it used devanagari, but now because of that writing system, and in transliteration to the latin alphabet, they are interpreted as having a macron or <e> for ai, <o> for au, <ai> for aai, and <au> for aau. The last two can also be read as áv, áy as well.

For example,
baalaau icchanti ashvaau (bālāu icchanti aśvāu) - The two boys, they WANT the two horses, becomes:
baalaav icchanty ashvaau (bālāv icchanty aśvau)

[Xing]

What time and place does this pronunciation reflect?

I'm not sure what you by time and place of pronunciation?

The pronunciation on any given language is likely to change over time, and also to vary between dialects. Therefore, it might be good to know which variety of Sanskrit you are teaching - when and where the language was pronounced as described in the chart.

How are "compound vowels" different from regular diphthongs (or possibly vowel clusters)?

Because Modern Sanskrit has simplified the system by minimising the use of dipthongs and vowel clusters as much as possible, and replaced <ai> with <e>, and <au> with <o>, as well as <aai> with <ai>, and <aau> with <au>. Even <ua> becomes <va> and <ia> becomes <ya>.
Does this answer your question?

Not really... it seems like you are describing a sound change where former diphthongs evolve into monophthongs. Maybe you should explain what you mean by "Modern Sanskrit".

Why do your write doubled vowels in the chart above (aa, ii, uu, rr), if the long vowels always are indicated by an accent/macron?

Sanskrit originally used to be Vedic Sanskrit, and was the basis of how to change the sounds from one form to another depending on the liquids the vowels are connected to - u to v, i to y and ŗ to r. Sanskrit was read originally without using macrons or e/o, ai, au back before it used devanagari, but now because of that writing system, and in transliteration to the latin alphabet, they are interpreted as having a macron or <e> for ai, <o> for au, <ai> for aai, and <au> for aau. The last two can also be read as áv, áy as well.

For example,
baalaau icchanti ashvaau (bálau icchanti aśvau) - The two boys, they WANT the two horses, becomes:
baalaav icchanty ashvaau (báláv icchanty aśvau)

So, the double vowels represent an older romanisation, or?

[Aseca]

The pronunciation on any given language is likely to change over time, and also to vary between dialects. Therefore, it might be good to know which variety of Sanskrit you are teaching - when and where the language was pronounced as described in the chart.

There is no variety of Sanskrit I am teaching. There is only one Sanskrit, as prescribed by Panini in the 5th Century BC. Because of this, there is no 'dialectal' forms of Sanskrit as they have changed so much over the years as to become different languages such as Marathi, Punjabi, Hindi, Gurujati, Nepal, Bengali, etc, etc.

Virtually the whole Sanskrit grammar and pronunciation is based on Classical Sanskrit.

If you're more concerned about dialectal semantics say for example [ʧ] vs [c] for <c> or [ʧː] vs [cç] for <ch>, I would suggest going for the latter, /c/. The former involves using [t] and [ʃ] both of which are dentals, and <c> is a cerebral plosive, especially with sounds like [ɲ] <ñ>, [ɟ] <j> and [ɟɲ] <jñ>.
In most cases, /ʧ/ is often heard as in <varaat.śaśo.gacchati> (the rabbit goes from the forest), which is different to say, <etat.caayah --> etac.cáyah> (that.tea). All of these examples also use sandhi, which we will get to next.

Not really... it seems like you are describing a sound change where former diphthongs evolve into monophthongs.

Yes, you're right. It is a sound change to a slight degree, and yes, it is represented by using different phonemes. These rules have always been that way for many many years, and you must understand them, for they explain the very basis of Sanskrit vowel formation and Sandhi in word boundaries, which I am trying to do next, after you all have gone over the details.

Maybe you should explain what you mean by "Modern Sanskrit".

I should? Modern means now. What is the Sanskrit that is being taught now? Modern Sanskrit. Where did this Modern come from? Classical Sanskrit, as being taught from Panini. So when I mention Modern Sanskrit, I am referring to the Classical Sanskrit. So, classical, modern, they all mean the same thing. The same language, the same sounds, the same words.

So, the double vowels represent an older romanisation, or?

Yes, from Vedic Sanskrit because they never had <e> or <o>, only using <a, i, u> !
Classical, or Modern Sanskrit however, through IAST, uses Macrons or <ai/au> over <aai/aau> combinations. Yes it is complicated to get your head around at first, but you will see the system actually makes sense.

[Aseca]

Lesson Two:

First off - the answers to the Exercises from Lesson one:
1. vanaa [ʋʌna] - vanā
2. biija [biɟʌ] - bīja
3. viira [ʋirʌ] - vīra
4. kaalii [kali] - kālī
5. siḿhaa [sɪɴɦa] - siḿhā
6. ashvaa [ʌʃʋa] - aśvā
7. baalaau [balaʊ] - bālau
8. gaarha [garɦʌ] - gārha

Now we can move on to the next part - the consonants, and making verbless sentences!

- CONSONANTS -
Sanskrit uses this list for teaching consonants:
The 5 unvoiced plosives:

pa, ta, ṭa, ca, ka; [pʌ, tʌ, ʈʌ, cʌ, kʌ]

And their voiced counterparts:

ba, da, ḍa, ja, ga; [bʌ, dʌ, ɖʌ, jʌ, gʌ]

The unvoiced aspirates:

pha, tha, ṭha, cha, kha; [pʰʌ, tʰʌ, ʈʰʌ, cʰʌ, kʰʌ]

And the voiced versions:

bha, dha, ḍha, jha, gha; [bʰʌ, dʰʌ, ɖʰʌ, jʰʌ, gʰʌ]

Now onto the liquids:

va, la, ra, ya; [ʋʌ lʌ rʌ jʌ]

And the sibilants:

sa, ṣa, śa, ha; [sʌ ʂʌ ʃʌ hʌ]

Finally, the nasals:

ma, na, ṇa, ña, ńa; [mʌ nʌ ɳʌ ɲʌ ŋʌ]

It also can be grouped as below:
1. Labials (pavarga):

pa, ba, pha, bha, va, ma

2. Dentals (tavarga):

ta, da, tha, dha, la, sa, na

3. Retroflexes (țavarga):

ṭa, ḍa, ṭha, ḍha, ra, ṣa, ṇa

4. Palatials (cavarga):

ca, ja, cha, jha, ya, śa, ña

5. Velars (kavarga):

ka, ga, kha, gha, ha, ńa

Whew, that is quite alot of different consonants to use in one language! This system explains why Sanskrit is phonetically a very unique language - not many can come close to using almost every single consonant available in the mouth!

However, we have left out the two most important sounds.
They are termed visarga and anusvara, respectively:

ah, aḿ; [ʌh, ə̃]

- VERBS AND NOUNS -

Now we can move onto making simple verb sentences:

gacchāmi - I go (gaccha.ami)

bodhasi - you awaken (bodha.si)

carati - he/she/it walks (cara.ti)

āgacchāmah - we come (aagaccha.amah)

vindanti - they find (vinda.nti)

Easy? Great, lets move on to describing who is doing what but first of all, a list of vocab:

gajah - elephant

siḿhah - lion

narah - man

vīrah - hero

bālah - boy

aśvah - horse

Note how these all end in <ah>. That is the subject case form for these nouns (subject case)
To make simple sentences using both the nouns and verbs, we simply state using one of each as in below:

siḿhah vindati - the lion finds.

bālah bodhati - the boy awakens.

narah carati - the man walks.

aśvah gacchati - the horse goes.

gajah āgacchati - the elephant comes.

- EXERCISES -
Exercise 2.1:

Using the above verbs, write down the Sanskrit translation for these:
1. I find (ami)
2. We awaken (amah)
3. He goes (ti)
4. You walk (si)
5. They come (nti)

Exercise 2.2:

Make simple sentences in Sanskrit - all use 3sg (~ti) forms.
1. Lion goes
2. Horse finds
3. Hero comes
4. Man awakens
5. He walks

Visarga sandhi (~h) will be covered in the next lesson. For now, do these exercises - I want to see if you understand what has been explained in Lesson 2.
Namaste!

[Click]

3. Retroflexes: (țavarga)

ța, ḑa, țha, ḑha, ra, șa, ņa

4. Cerebrals: (cavarga)

ca, ja, cha, jha, ya, śa, ña

Umm, according to Wikipædia retroflexes, not palatals are referred as cerebrals.

Also, aren't retroflexes written with a dot below, like ‹ṇ ṭ ḍ ṭh ḍh ṣ›, instead of comma below? Anyway, it's not much of a difference.

[Aseca]

[...]

Fixed. Thanks for pointing those errors out.

[Ambrisio]

Here are my translations (sans diacritics):

Spoiler:

1. Lion goes - simhah(simho?) gacchati
2. Horse finds - asvah vindati
3. Hero comes - virah agacchati (vira agacchati?)
4. Man awakens - manavah bodhati
5. He walks - sah carati

1. I find (ami) - vindami
2. We awaken (amah) - bodhamah
3. He goes (ti) - gacchati
4. You walk (si) - carasi
5. They come (nti) - agacchanti

Why don't you write a few Saashvirmahaa lessons? I know a little Sanskrit myself and I would like to see the similarities and differences.

[Aseca]

Here are my translations (sans diacritics):
1. Lion goes - simhah(simho?) gacchati
2. Horse finds - asvah vindati
3. Hero comes - virah aagacchati
4. Man awakens - narah bodhati
5. He walks - sah carati

1. I find (ami) - vindaami
2. We awaken (amah) - bodhaamah
3. He goes (ti) - gacchati
4. You walk (si) - carasi
5. They come (nti) - aagacchanti

All your answers are right!! If you're doing without diacritics though, try to keep the vowels doubled, it makes a very big difference when it comes to reading words with when visarga sandhi comes into effect. Your (simho) is actually right when it comes to visarga sandhi.

Why don't you write a few Saashvirmahaa lessons? I know a little Sanskrit myself and I would like to see the similarities and differences.

Now that's an idea...

[Ambrisio]

Is this correct?

Spoiler:

simho gacchati
ashvo vindati
viira aagacchati
naro bodhati
so carati

(Never mind my spelling.)

By the way, I have started a conlang, Kinuiltys, that is kind of like your Saashvirmahaa in that it feels like a classical language. Here's how I would say the above sentences in Kinuiltys:

airon liiwea
malyr ghoonea
hevuryr pimea
žion renuumbea
kišoedeliiwea (yes, that's one word)

The vowels are as in Finnish (y is /y/, a is /ɑ/, doubled letters are long vowels). Stress is morpheme-initial.

The words 'malyr' (horse) and 'hevuryr' (man) are actually 'malys' and 'hevurys'. The sound change from s to r is based on Sanskrit.

And here's the next set of (one-word) sentences in Kinuiltys:

1. I find (mai) - *ghoonemai
2. We awaken (mies) - renuumbemies
3. He goes (a) - liiwea
4. You walk (it) - kišoedeliiweit
5. They come (ant) - pimeant

The word "kišoedeliiweyn" (to walk) is composed of "kišoede" (comitative plural of kišoes 'foot') and "liiweyn" (to go). And yes, the latter morpheme is pronounced /'li:.wε.yn/. Finnish has the ey diphthong (e.g. terveys 'health') so it isn't impossible.

(There's also polypersonal agreement, so that "I find you" is ghoonemeit, and "I find him" is ghoonemer. The ending -mai is used only for intransitive verbs, hence the star)

[Aseca]

Is this correct?
simho gacchati (correct)
ashvo vindati (correct)
viir' a aagacchati (the ~ah under goes ellision due to the long aa sound.)
naro bodhati (correct)
so saś carati (~ah gets changed to a fricative if the next character is an unvoiced plosive)
(Never mind my spelling. - Your spelling is good here XD)

Hmm will have to expand on visarga sandhi here, but don't have time atm for that.

By the way, I have started a conlang, Kinuiltys, that is kind of like your Saashvirmahaa in that it feels like a classical language.

Yeah? Sounds like a good idea.

Here's how I would say the above sentences in Kinuiltys:

airon liiwea
malyr ghoonea
hevuryr pimea
žion renuumbea
kišoedeliiwea (yes, that's one word)

New conlang in the works? Not bad, feels like High Valyrian (Game of Thrones' Latinlike conlang)

The vowels are as in Finnish (y is /y/, a is /ɑ/, doubled letters are long vowels). Stress is morpheme-initial.

First syllable stressed? Interesting. Not many do that if you have cases at the end but again, Latin and Sanskrit were often Penultimate if more than 3 syllables.

The words 'malyr' (horse) and 'hevuryr' (man) are actually 'malys' and 'hevurys'. The sound change from s to r is based on Sanskrit.

Ah, the ~h(s) sandhi to ~r change? Nice, same in my conlangs too. ~s gets changed to ~h then to ~r if in the plural, and adjacent to a dissimilar vowel or voiced consonant. Yes, this is how complicated Sanskrit visarga sandhi can get. It's a good system though.

And here's the next set of (one-word) sentences in Kinuiltys:

1. I find (mai) - *ghoonemai (root: Ghoone?)
2. We awaken (mies) - renuumbemies (renūmbe?)
3. He goes (a) - liiwea (liiwe?)
4. You walk (it) - kišoedeliiweit (kiśoedelīwe?)
5. They come (ant) - pimeant (pime?)

Seems all the verbs end with an /e/ or a schwa.

The word "kišoedeliiweyn" (to walk) is composed of "kišoede" (comitative plural of kišoes 'foot') and "liiweyn" (to go). And yes, the latter morpheme is pronounced /'li:.wε.yn/. Finnish has the ey diphthong (e.g. terveys 'health') so it isn't impossible.

Ah, the infinitive is done by affixing yn to the root verb right? Seems like highly agglutinative/inflectional conlang.
Mine goes through verb strengthening changes to form an infinitive - quite a compact system though.

(There's also polypersonal agreement, so that "I find you" is ghoonemeit, and "I find him" is ghoonemer. The ending -mai is used only for intransitive verbs, hence the star)

What if you have a weird medio passive verb (eg verb that does for itself) - how would you express such an action.
Eg he finds some cake (for himself) vs he finds cake for his friends?

[Ambrisio]

Yes, the roots are right. But they don't have to end with /e/, and there are no schwas. For example:

We sleep - Diirmies (the root is diir-, infinitive diiryn).

And -yn is mostly right. If the root ends with an a, o or u, it's -un, and if the root ends with a double vowel it's just -n. Otherwise it's -yn. So:

tanumai 'I spy' -> tanuun 'to spy'
kellinmai 'I fly' -> kellinyn 'to fly'
dilaarmai 'I rest' -> dilaaryn 'to rest'
estammai 'I read' -> estamyn 'to read'
kinuilmai 'I speak' -> kinuilyn 'to speak'
miimai 'I own' -> miin 'to own'

There's also a nominalizer suffix -tys, as in the name of the language, Kinuiltys, which means 'speech'. Likewise, 'estantys' (there is assimilation here) means 'reading', 'renuumbetys' means 'awakening', and 'kellintys' means 'flight'. (Yes, -ys is a common ending on nouns. The inspiration is mainly Finnish (c.f. hengitys 'breathing'), but it does feel like High Valyrian--names like Daenerys and Viserys seem to fit the sound of the language only too well.)

I still have to create the noun cases and inflections, as well as the verb tenses. I'll upload more information in the Kinuiltys thread in the Beginner's Corner.

[hippopotame]

Oh my this is old...
But I'd love to see more Sanskrit lessons!

[Ambrisio]

All right, I'll chime in with the next lesson.

Masculine nouns in -ah

This is the most common noun declension in Sanskrit.

gajah - elephant
siḿhah - lion
narah - man
vīrah - hero (c.f. virile)
bālah - boy
dāsah - servant
rājah - king (c.f. Rex)
aśvah - horse (c.f. equine)
kākah - crow
janakah - father
putrah - son (c.f. puerile)

Horse nouns form the accusative in -am and the genitive in -asya.

Exercises, and little more vocab:

eats - khādati (notice the root -ad-, c.f. edible)
wants - icchati
thinks - cintayati
sees - paśyati (c.f. speculate)
hears - śrnoti (cognate to 'hear')
drinks - pibati (c.f. beverage)
sits - sīdati (cognate to 'sit', also sedentary)
is - asti (it's an irregular verb -- we'll go over that later).
leads - nayati

I - aham
you - tvam

The lion eats the man.
The elephant finds the boy.
The man hears the lion.
The boy thinks.
I see the crow.

[kanejam]

Spoiler:

The lion eats the man. सिंहः नरं खादति Siḿhah naram khādati.
The elephant finds the boy. गजः बालं विन्दति Gajah bālam vindati.
The man hears the lion. नरः सिंहं शृनोति Narah siḿham śrnoti.
The boy thinks. बालः चिन्तयति Bālah cintayati.
I see the crow. अहं काकं पश्यामि Aham kākam paśyāmi.

Not sure at all about the devanagari, I suspect the accusative ending shouldn't be written with an actual m, and wasn't sure whether to use chandrabindu or anusvara. Also I hope I was right in guessing Sanskrit is SOV.

Edit: fixed the answers up. Should the ḿ be anusvara as well? Also what are the rules for the accent?

[Ambrisio]

Bālam cintayati

"Boy" is nominative, not accusative. (Think Latin "puer cogitat")

The "m"'s in the accusative should be written with anusvara.

Otherwise, bene factum! (or should I say 'uttamam'?)

[Visions1]

So this is a sentence I did not expect to type, but if you're interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LghGlUdLCzs

[Arayaz]

So this is a sentence I did not expect to type, but if you're interested:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LghGlUdLCzs

I'm tempted to "learn" (read a bit about and then lose interest in) Sanskrit just to watch this. Did you make it, or did you find it? (Apologies if that's answered in the video; I haven't watched it yet since I can't right now.)