Letter-sounds of all Indian languages arranged in a spread sheet, along with their corresponding Roman font representations.


E.g:
Page 1 of 5 [Vowels and Vowel sounds – a, aa, etc.]

Page 2 of 5 [Gutturals – ka, kha, etc., & Palatals – ca, cha... nya]

Page 3 of 5 [Linguals – ta,... ña & Dentals – tha... na]

Page 4 of 5 [Labials – pa, pha... ma & Semi-vowels – ya, ra... va]

Page 5 of 5 [Sibilants – sha, sa... etc., Aspirate – ha, Nasal.]

There are two instances in Annexure I which need elucidation –

a) new vowel sound ü:

We suggest a new font for representing a vowel sound which is used in the spoken tongue, but which has no visual symbol. Its phonetic value lies between ‘i’ and ‘u’. Take the English word ‘rhythm’. Now drop the letters ‘rh’ and the last three letters ‘thm’. We are left with a sound which is neither ‘i’ nor ‘u’: but somewhere in between.

In almost all Indian languages, it appears after the letter ‘r’ as in ‘Krishna’, ‘Mridangam’, etc. On rare occasions, it occurs after ‘l’ in Sanskrit and Telugu. This vowel sound is however frequently used in Malayalam and Tamil especially when a word is written with a final ‘u’. In Malayalam, it is shown as a small ring placed at the end of the word. In Tamil, though it is explained in its grammar, it is often used in the spoken tongue, but has no visual symbol.

To denote this sound, we suggest the letter ‘u’ with a diacritical mark above it... ü. Now, the words like ‘Krishna’ and ‘Nadu’ can be typed as krüs°nA and nAdü as they are pronounced in practice.

b) Nasals                   (m), (n), etc.
These are sounds which are produced simultaneously orally and nasally. They are of two types – the nasal consonant and the nasal vowel.

The nasals listed in the alphabet of the Indian languages are of the former variety. For instance, in pronouncing the word Ganga, the ‘n’ is not fully voiced but blended with the succeeding ‘g’.
This is the nasal guttural. In most Indian languages, whenever ‘n’ or ‘m’ is followed by a consonant of the guttural class, it is represented by a solid dot placed above the preceding letter. This dot is called ‘anusvar’. The nasal guttural never occurs independently.

The same practice of using an ‘anusvar’ obtains in the nasal-palatal (e.g. Ranjan, Khanjoos [miser, Hindi]). Here too, the nasal is not used independently except in a few words of Tamil and Malayalam. In such cases, they can be written phonetically... “nya”. (e.g. nyaan [I, Malayalam])

The lingual variety of the nasal ñ does not suffer the same limitations. It is used independantly but only in the middle or end of a word. Eg.: mañi [time, Tamil], pu ñe, etc.

However, when it is followed by a consonant of its own class, the ‘anusvar’ is used. Eg.: andaa [egg, Hindi], ghanta [hour, Hindi], etc.

The other two nasals ‘n’ and ‘m’ (the dental and labial) have no such restrictions. They are freely used but when followed by a consonant of the respective class, is denoted by an ‘anusvar’. (e.g. Mumbai, Champa, antara [inside, Sanskrit], sindhu, etc.)

The second type, the nasal vowel, is the vowel which is sounded nasally and orally at once. Eg: haa(n)ji [Yes sir, Hindi], ha(n)s [Laugh, Hindi], maa(m)s [meat, Hindi], etc. In the present disposition, they are represented by the crescent-shaped sign ‘chandra-bindhu’. In all the above instances, the sounds are virtually half-nasals. Therefore, we suggest the use of (n) and (m) – using the brackets.