Hindi: masculine and feminine, singular and plural</h1> <article> <h1>Hindi: masculine and feminine, singular and plural</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:12:42 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>I've been mixing up masculine and feminine forms--in part, I think, because I learned Spanish before Hindi, and the -a ending in Spanish is feminine. In Hindi, it is masculine. To keep it all straight, these are the general forms (<em>i.e.</em>, there are plenty of exceptions) for Hindi words.</p></div></div></div> </article> <article> <h1>Hindi question words</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:56:26 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p><span class="word-headword"><a href="/word/कौन">कौन</a></span> who</p> <p><span class="word-headword"><a href="/word/क्या">क्या</a></span> what</p> <p><span class="word-headword"><a href="/word/कहाँ">कहाँ</a></span> where</p> <p><span class="word-headword"><a href="/word/कब">कब</a></span> when</p> <p><span class="word-headword"><a href="/word/क्यों">क्यों</a></span> why</p> <p><span class="word-headword"><a href="/word/कैसा">कैसा</a>/<a href="/word/कैसी">कैसी</a>/<a href="/word/कैसे">कैसे</a></span> how, what kind</p></div></div></div> </article> <article> <h1>Hindi: Fricative Consonants: श, ष, स, ह</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:35:34 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The seventh and final group of consonants -- श, ष, स, ह -- is the fricative consonants (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricative_consonant">Fricative consonants</a>). As an aerospace engineer, fricatives are easy for me to understand. Fricatives are formed by forcing the air from your lungs into a tight channel and causing turbulence in the air flow; it's like placing a model in a wind tunnel.</p> <p><span class="word-headword">श</span> śa, /ɕ,ʃ/</p> <p><span class="word-headword">ष</span> ṣa, /ʂ/</p></div></div></div> </article> <article> <h1>Hindi: Approximant Consonants: य, र, ल, व</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 01:40:56 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The sixth group of consonants -- य, र, ल, व -- is the approximant consonants (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Approximant_consonant">Approximant consonants</a>). The approximants sound similar to their corresponding English consonants, as shown in the transliterations below. Approximants are special because they resemble vowels -- a sort of middle sound between vowels and consonants.</p> <p><span class="word-headword">य</span> ya, /j/</p> <p><span class="word-headword">र</span> ra, /r/</p></div></div></div> </article> <article> <h1>Hindi: Labial Consonants: प, फ, ब, भ, म</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 08:52:48 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The fifth consonants -- प, फ, ब, भ, म -- are labial consonants (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labial_consonant">Labial consonants</a>). Labial consonants are articulated with the lips. Labial consonants are easy to say because they are analogous with sounds in the English language. This group of five consonants corresponds with p, b, and m in English. The trick is saying प and फ, ब and भ, with the proper aspiration.</p></div></div></div> </article> <article> <h1>Hindi: Dental Consonants: त, थ, द, ध, न</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:25:12 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The fourth five consonants -- त, थ, द, ध, न -- are <strong>dental consonants</strong> (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_consonant">Dental consonants</a>). Just like it sounds, the dental consonants are related to your teeth. Dental consonants represent half of the strange d's and t's, <a href="http://kirkkittell.com/language/2009/01/26/hindi-third-five-consonants/">cerebral consonants</a> are the other half. Of course, by strange, I mean strange to me.</p></div></div></div> </article> <article> <h1>Hindi: Cerebral Consonants: ट, ठ, ड, ढ, ण</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 02:14:21 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The third five consonants -- ट, ठ, ड, ढ, ण -- are cerebral consonants (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retroflex_consonant">Cerebral consonants</a>). Apparently, in most phonetic systems, these are known as retroflex consonants, but in this and other languages in the region they are called cerebral consonants. From my point of view, as an American, cerebral consonants require tongue placement similar to the palatal consonants.</p></div></div></div> </article> <article> <h1>Hindi: Palatal Consonants: च, छ, ज, झ, ञ</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:17:35 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>The second five consonants -- च, छ, ज, झ, ञ -- are palatal consonants (<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palatal_consonant">Palatal consonants</a>). Palatal consonants are articulated with the top, flat part of your tongue against the hard palate -- the middle of the roof of your mouth. This is easier to understand if you slowly say the <em>j</em> in <em>jump</em> or the <em>ch</em> in <em>change</em>.</p></div></div></div> </article> <article> <h1>Hindi: Guttural Consonants: क, ख, ग, घ, ङ</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 06:14:51 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>When starting from the beginning in my Hindi studies, I learned an interesting concept about the arrangement of the Hindi alphabet: there is a reason the letters are in such an order. It is based on articulation of the consonants. I'm no linguist, but my understanding is that the consonants go in groups in this order: guttural; palatal; cerebral; dental; labial; approximant; fricative. Basically, but not entirely, this goes from the back of the throat (guttural) to the lips (labial). I'll lay it out in steps.</p></div></div></div> </article> <article> <h1>Punjabi Alphabet: Vowels</h1> <p>kirk.kittell — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:24:02 +0000</p> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>This is a companion post to a previous post that lists the consonants of the <a href="http://kirkkittell.com/language/2008/08/10/punjabi-alphabet/">Punjabi alphabet</a>. Or, in other words, now I can finally provide some closure to being able to read Punjabi. (Making sense of what I read, of course, is a totally different problem.) The first three letters of the alphabet -- ੳ, ਅ, and ੲ -- are not used by themselves. Each serves as a foundation on which independent vowels are formed.</p></div></div></div> </article> </main></body></html>