Anusvāra (ṁ)

Nasals

On the articulation of nasal sounds, the closure at the place of articulation is not released. Most of the air streams out through the nose. The closed back part of the oral cavity thus becomes a variable resonance chamber for ṅ,ñ,ṇ,n and m.

Examples:

evaṁ pronounced as eva-m

Der Anusvāra zeigt die Nasalierung des vorangegangenen Vokals an.

Beispiel: Saṁsāra (Geburtenkreislauf) wird gesprochen als S-ã-sāra

Der Phonationsraum wird verschlossen und die Luft des Vokals entweicht durch die Nase. Je nach folgendem Buchstaben findet der Verschluss an unterschiedlicher Stelle im Phonationsraum statt. So entsteht je nach Kontext, also nach folgendem Buchstaben, ein nasaler Laut mit dem Phonationsort des folgenden Buchstaben.

Beispiel: Saṁsāra (Geburtenkreislauf) wird gesprochen als S-ãn-sāra

Da der Anusvāra sich allen fünf verschiedenen nasalen Laute in der Aussprache annähert, wird er auch als Platzhalter der nasaler Laute bezeichnet.

Sanskrit Pronunciation

Vowels

On the articulation of a vowel, air streams out almost unimpededly. In Sanskrit, vowels oscillate, either as long or short vowels, from guttural (a,ā), palatal (i,ī), retroflex (r̥,r̥̄) and dental (l̥,l̥̄) to labial (u,ū). The umlauts (vowel On the articulation of a vowel, air streams out almost unimpededly. In Sanskrit, vowels oscillate, either as long or short vowels, from guttural (a,ā), palatal (i,ī), retroflex (r̥,r̥̄) and dental (l̥,l̥̄) to labial (u,ū). The umlauts (vowel mutations) (o,au,e,ai) are always long.

Anusvāra pronounced as "m" before semivowels

Before semivowels (y, r, l, v) and vowels (a, ā, i, ī, u, ū, r̥, r̥̄, l̥, l̥̄, e, ai, o, au), the Anusvāra indicates that the preceding vowel is nasalised. We can come close to the correct nasalisation when we pronounce the Anusvāra in front of these as m.

Examples:

Saṁyoga (deep connection) pronounced as sa-m-yoga
Saṁvit (understanding) pronounced as Sa-m-vit

Sanskrit Pronunciation

Fricatives and Aspirates

On the articulation of a fricative, a confined space is created. The air streaming out is swirled and creates a fricative. Compared to semivowels, which also count as approximants, the tongue moves closer to the confined space, though without the On the articulation of a fricative, a confined space is created. The air streaming out is swirled and creates a fricative. Compared to semivowels, which also count as approximants, the tongue moves closer to the confined space, though without the contact necessary for a plosive. In Sanskrit, there is a semivowel for four of the five places of articulation (h, ś, ṣ, s).

Anusvāra pronounced as class nasal in front of fricatives

The Anusvāra indicates the nasalisation of the preceding vowel also in front of fricatives (ś, ṣ, s and h). We can come close to the correct nasalisation when we pronounce the Anusvāra in front of fricatives (ś, ṣ, s and h) like the corresponding class nasal (ñ, ṇ, n and ṅ):

Examples:

Saṁśaya (doubt) pronounced as Sa-ñ-śaya
Saṁskṛta (Sanskrit) pronounced as Sa-n-skṛta
siṁha (lion) pronounced as si-ṅ-ha

Sanskrit Pronunciation

Plosives

On the articulation of a plosive, built up pressure is released by a sudden release of air. In Sanskrit, plosives are ideally pronounced sonant and aspirated from guttural (k,kh,g,gh), palatal (c,ch,j,jh), retroflex (ṭ,ṭh,ḍ,ḍh), and dental On the articulation of a plosive, built up pressure is released by a sudden release of air. In Sanskrit, plosives are ideally pronounced sonant and aspirated from guttural (k,kh,g,gh), palatal (c,ch,j,jh), retroflex (ṭ,ṭh,ḍ,ḍh), and dental (t,th,d,dh) to labial (p,ph,b,bh).

Anusvāra pronounced as class nasal in front of plosives

In front of a plosive the Anusvāra is pronounced as homorganic (produced at the same place of articulation) nasal, i.e.:

in front of a labial plosive like p, the bilabial nasal m is pronounced,
in front of a dental plosive like t the dental nasal n is pronounced,
in front of a guttural plosive like k, the guttural nasal ṅ''' is pronounced
etc.

Please note: In Sanskrit, this is usually only the case with compound words in which the first part ends on an m. In Hindi, alternative spellings exist for many words. Since the Anusvāra is easier to write than graphically complex ligatures, this spelling is preferred in modern languages; in Sanskrit prints however, the ligatures are usually written out:

Hindī and Hiṁd
Mumbaī or Muṁbaī

Examples:

paraṁ-tapa (killer of enemies) is pronounced as para-n-tapa

Anusvāra at the end of a word

According to one of the Sandhi rules, in Sanskrit, an m at the end of a word which is followed by a word starting with a consonant, turns into an Anusvara. The pronunciation does change alongside according the previous explained rules.

Merke: After applying these roles the pronunciation as m for an Anusvāra is only used in front of vowels, semivowel and labial plosives. Otherwise, as shown above, the respective class nasal is used.

Notice: Some speakers of Sanskrit pronounce the Anusvāra at any endings of a word as an "m". Others even pronounce it within all words as "m" and therefore don't use the above explained pronunciation rules at all.