04-30-2008, 07:02 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-Bharatvarsh+Apr 30 2008, 06:02 PM-->QUOTE(Bharatvarsh @ Apr 30 2008, 06:02 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->In spoken & written Telugu we say samskrutam (Telugu doesn't have that "ri", thats why mrigam becomes mrugam and so on). But all the Telugu people I know say KrishNa, but write it as KrushNa.
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Oh yes, "R^i" as in "R^iShi" or in "kR^iShNa" is another case where pronunciation is often wrong.
Lets recall that R^i (and L^i) are classified under vowels. They shouldn't have any mixture of consonants. Most people either speak it as "ri" or "ru", both of which involve the consonant "r" and an additional vowel i or u.
A vowel is sounded when the shape of the vocal cavity is kept fixed and vocal cords are sounded continuously without any movement of tongue or other parts of the mouth. Any movements of parts of the mouth must happen before the vowel is started and the shape of the vocal cavity should be kept fixed till the vowel is sounded.
Thats why "a" and "aa" are different vowels, since shape of the mouth is different during their pronunciation. Some people think that "a" and "aa" differ only in the time taken to pronounce which is wrong. Vowels don't have any time limit associated with them. They can be sounded for any number of time mAtrA-s.
Vowels are also not changed when you change pitch, since during a pitch change only modification happens in the vocal cord, but the shape of the vocal cavity remains fixed. An interesting implication of this is that a vowel remains the same vowel even when the pich is changed in the middle. An extreme case is seen in sAmavedic gAna-s where the same single vowel (svara) can have several varying pitches assigned to it.
R^i is a vowel. That means no contacts are to be made by the tongue or no motion must happen of the tongue during its pronunciation. To pronounce it correctly find the place where the tongue touches the top part of mouth when you speak the consonant "r". Then keep the tongue fixed in that location but not touching the top of the mouth. Then sound the vocal cords. That is the correct sound of "R^i".
You will notice that the tongue is held in a fixed upward position without touching the palate. Rest of the mouth is in the same shape as pronouncing the vowel "a". This creates a partial restriction in the vocal cavity for the air to flow. This gives the characteristic sound of the vowel "R^i" different from the vowel "a".
This sound of R^i is neither ri nor ru, but something different (in fact closer to the sound of ra than ri or ru), and is a vowel. This becomes clearer when we look at cases of sandhi. e.g.
deva + R^iShi = devarShi
Here the R^i vowel gets transformed to consonant r after the sandhi, not to ru or to ri.
Similarly to pronounce L^i, find the place where the tongue touches when you speak the consonant "la". Keep the tongue in same position, but not touching the top of the mouth, and sound the vocal cords.
[right][snapback]81075[/snapback][/right]
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Oh yes, "R^i" as in "R^iShi" or in "kR^iShNa" is another case where pronunciation is often wrong.
Lets recall that R^i (and L^i) are classified under vowels. They shouldn't have any mixture of consonants. Most people either speak it as "ri" or "ru", both of which involve the consonant "r" and an additional vowel i or u.
A vowel is sounded when the shape of the vocal cavity is kept fixed and vocal cords are sounded continuously without any movement of tongue or other parts of the mouth. Any movements of parts of the mouth must happen before the vowel is started and the shape of the vocal cavity should be kept fixed till the vowel is sounded.
Thats why "a" and "aa" are different vowels, since shape of the mouth is different during their pronunciation. Some people think that "a" and "aa" differ only in the time taken to pronounce which is wrong. Vowels don't have any time limit associated with them. They can be sounded for any number of time mAtrA-s.
Vowels are also not changed when you change pitch, since during a pitch change only modification happens in the vocal cord, but the shape of the vocal cavity remains fixed. An interesting implication of this is that a vowel remains the same vowel even when the pich is changed in the middle. An extreme case is seen in sAmavedic gAna-s where the same single vowel (svara) can have several varying pitches assigned to it.
R^i is a vowel. That means no contacts are to be made by the tongue or no motion must happen of the tongue during its pronunciation. To pronounce it correctly find the place where the tongue touches the top part of mouth when you speak the consonant "r". Then keep the tongue fixed in that location but not touching the top of the mouth. Then sound the vocal cords. That is the correct sound of "R^i".
You will notice that the tongue is held in a fixed upward position without touching the palate. Rest of the mouth is in the same shape as pronouncing the vowel "a". This creates a partial restriction in the vocal cavity for the air to flow. This gives the characteristic sound of the vowel "R^i" different from the vowel "a".
This sound of R^i is neither ri nor ru, but something different (in fact closer to the sound of ra than ri or ru), and is a vowel. This becomes clearer when we look at cases of sandhi. e.g.
deva + R^iShi = devarShi
Here the R^i vowel gets transformed to consonant r after the sandhi, not to ru or to ri.
Similarly to pronounce L^i, find the place where the tongue touches when you speak the consonant "la". Keep the tongue in same position, but not touching the top of the mouth, and sound the vocal cords.