108 The Nectar of Instruction

a — like the win rule but held twice as long as short u.
tr — like the riin rim.
t — like ree in reed.

| — like / followed by r (ir).

e — like the e in they.

ai — like the aiin aisle.

o —~ like the oin go.

au — like the ow in how,

th (anusvdra) — a resonant nasal like the nin the French word bon.
h (visarga) — a final h-sound: ah is pronounced like aha; ih like ihi.

The consonants are pronounced as follows:

k ~ asin kite jh — as in hedgehog

kh— as in Eckhart fi — asin canyon

g — asin give t — asin tub

gh— as in dig-hard th — as in light-heart

h — asin sing d — asindove

¢€ — asin chair dha- as in red-hot

ch — as in staunch-heart n — asrna (prepare to say
j — asin joy the rand say na).

Cerebrals are pronounced with tongue to roof of mouth, but the
following dentals are pronounced with tongue against teeth:

t | — asin tub but with tongue against teeth.

th — as in light-heart but with tongue against teeth.

d — asin dove but with tongue against teeth.

dh— as in red-hot but with tongue against teeth.

n — as in nut but with tongue between teeth.

p — asin pine ] — asin light

ph— as in uphill (not f) v — asin vine

b — asin bird § (palatal) — as in the sin the German
bh— as in rub-hard word sprechen

m — as in mother s (cerebral) — as the sh in shine

y — asin yes 8 — asinsun

r —asinrun h — asin home

There is no strong accentuation of syllables in Sanskrit, only a flow-
ing of short and long (twice as long as the short) syllables.
