Vowels
Hindustani natively possesses a symmetrical ten-vowel system. The vowels:, are always short in length, while the vowels: are always considered long (but see the details below). Among the close vowels, what in Sanskrit are thought to have been primarily distinctions of vowel length (that is /i ~ iː/ and /u ~ uː/) have become in Hindustani distinctions of quality, or length accompanied by quality (that is, /ɪ ~ iː/ and /ʊ ~ uː/). The historical opposition of length in the close vowels has been neutralized in word-final position, for example Sanskrit loans śakti (शक्ति– شکتی 'energy') and vastu (वस्तु – وستو 'item') are /ʃəkt̪i/ and /ʋəst̪u/, not */ʃəkt̪ɪ/ and */ʋəst̪ʊ/.
The vowel represented graphically as ऐ (Romanized as ai) has been variously transcribed as or . Among sources for this article, Ohala (1999), pictured to the right, uses, while Shapiro (2003:258) and Masica (1991:110) use . Furthermore, an eleventh vowel /æː/ is found in English loanwords, such as /bæːʈ/ ('bat'). Hereafter, the former will be represented as to distinguish it from the latter. The open central vowel is often transcribed in IPA by either or . Despite this, the Hindustani vowel system is quite similar to that of English, in contrast to the consonants.
The standard educated Delhi pronunciations have common diphthongal realizations, ranging from to and from to, respectively, in eastern Hindi dialects and many non-standard western dialects. There are also vowel clusters /əiː/ and /əuː/.
In addition, occurs as a conditioned allophone of /ə/ (schwa) in proximity to /h/, if and only if the /h/ is surrounded on both sides by two schwas. For example, in /kəh(ə)naː/ (कहना – کہنا 'to say'), the /h/ is surrounded on both sides by schwa, hence both the schwas will become fronted to short, giving the pronunciation . Syncopation of phonemic middle schwa can further occur to give . The fronting also occurs in word-final /h/, presumably because a lone consonant carries an unpronounced schwa. Hence, /kəh(ə)/ (कह – کہ 'say!') becomes in actual pronunciation. However, the fronting of schwa does not occur in words with a schwa only on one side of the /h/ such as /kəhaːniː/ (कहानी – کہانی 'a story') or /baːhər/ (बाहर – باہر 'outside').
As in French and Portuguese, there are nasalized vowels in Hindustani. There is disagreement over the issue of the nature of nasalization (barring English-loaned /æ/ which isn't nasalized). Masica (1991:117) presents four differing viewpoints:
- there are no * and *, possibly because of the effect of nasalization on vowel quality;
- there is phonemic nasalization of all vowels;
- all vowel nasalization is predictable (i.e. allophonic);
- Nasalized long vowel phonemes (/ĩː ẽː ɛ̃ː ɑ̃ː ɔ̃ː õː ũː/) occur word-finally and before voiceless stops; instances of nasalized short vowels and of nasalized long vowels before voiced stops (the latter, presumably because of a deleted nasal consonant) are allophonic.
Masica supports this last view.
Read more about this topic: Hindi-Urdu Phonology
Famous quotes containing the word vowels:
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