पृष्ठम्:Sanskrit Introductory.djvu/६७

ka. This means that halanta ksa may by sounded repeatedly without moving the tip of the tongue from the murdhanya position. (This sound is reminiscent of ten-year-olds playing cops and robbers!) Although the ksa is originally formed by halanta ka joining with a following sa (i.e. k + sa>-ksa), and may be thus separated when, for example, the alphabetical order is required in looking up a word in the dictionary, the pronunciation, as reflected in the changed symbol, is in practice ( ^ ) + s + a. 7.A.5 Pronunciation of jfia The pronunciation of this is similar to the French 'J' as in 'Jean- Jacques', or as in the 'z' sound in the English words 'mirage', 'rouge', 'measure', or 'vision'; but in all cases it is sounded through the talavya mouth position, and is strongly nasalized. As a practical method of approaching this sound, begin by sounding the English 'hiss' and holding the sibilant — this sibilant is much like the Sanskrit halanta sa. Now sound the English 'his', again holding the sibilant: note that the difference between these sibilants is that the vocal cords vibrate for 'his' and not for 'hiss'. Now with the tongue in the talavya position, sound a prolonged halanta sa. And then repeat the sound but allowing the vocal cords to vibrate — with some imagination, this is beginning to sound like a prolonged halanta ja, which is of course, impossible to sound. Now repeat this voiced sound allowing it to be strongly nasalized. This is about as close as one can get to describing the sound of halanta jha. There are two common errors in sounding jha. Firstly, the halanta jha tends to be followed by an additional nasal consonant before the vowel (i.e. jh + h + a); the halanta jha is a single sound. Secondly, the nasalization is often carried over into the vowel: to correct this, practise sounding ajha, attending to both a sounds, which should be the same. Although the jha is originally formed by halanta ja joining with a following ha (i.e. j + ha>-jha), and may be thus separated when, for example, the alphabetical order is required in looking up a word in the dictionary, the pronunciation, as reflected in the changed symbol, is in practice ( - ) + a.