A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion, Geography, History, and Literature c4.s3.5

c4.s3.5

The aspirates are simple aspirations of their respective consonants, and make no other change of their sounds; so ‘th’ is to be pronounced as in the words ‘at home,’ and ‘ph’ as in ‘up-hill,’ never as in ‘thine’ and ‘physic.’ The letter ‘g’ is always hard as in ‘gift.’ The palatals are the simple English sounds of ‘ch’ and ‘j’ as in ‘church’ and ‘just.’ The cerebrals and the dentals are similar letters, but the former are drawn from the roof of the mouth and the latter from the tips of the teeth. In ‘train’ and ‘drain’ we have cerebrals; in ‘tin’ and ‘due’ we have dentals, or an approach to them. The ordinary English ‘t’ and ‘d’ are more cerebral than dental, and the natives of India in transcribing English names use the cerebrals for our ‘t’ and ‘d.’ The palatal sibilant ‘s’ has a sound intermediate between ‘s’ and ‘sh,’ resembling the double ‘ss’ in ‘session.’ The visarga, the final ‘h,’ has no distinct enunciation, but it is nevertheless a real letter, and changes in certain positions into ‘s’ and ‘r.’ Thus the name Sunahsephas is sometimes written Sunassephas.