Visarga ( sa, विसर्गः, translit=visargaḥ) means "sending forth, discharge". In Sanskrit
phonology
Phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies how languages or dialects systematically organize their sounds or, for sign languages, their constituent parts of signs. The term can also refer specifically to the sound or sign system of a ...
(''
''), ' (also called, equivalently, ' by earlier grammarians) is the name of a
phone voiceless glottal fricative
The voiceless glottal fricative, sometimes called voiceless glottal transition, and sometimes called the aspirate, is a type of sound used in some spoken languages that patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant '' phonologically'', b ...
, , written as:
Visarga is an
allophone
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in ''s ...
of and in
pausa (at the end of an
utterance
In spoken language analysis, an utterance is a continuous piece of speech, often beginning and ending with a clear pause. In the case of oral languages, it is generally, but not always, bounded by silence. Utterances do not exist in written langu ...
). Since is a common inflectional
suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...
(of nominative singular, second person singular, etc.), visarga appears frequently in Sanskrit texts. In the traditional order of Sanskrit sounds, visarga and
anusvāra
Anusvara (Sanskrit: ') is a symbol used in many Indic scripts to mark a type of nasal sound, typically transliterated . Depending on its location in the word and the language for which it is used, its exact pronunciation can vary. In the context ...
appear between vowels and stop consonants.
The precise pronunciation of visarga in Vedic texts may vary between
Śākhās. Some pronounce a slight echo of the preceding vowel after the aspiration: will be pronounced , and will be pronounced . Visarga is not to be confused with
colon.
Types
The visarga is commonly found in writing, resembling the punctuation mark of colon or as two tiny circles one above the other. This form is retained by most
Indian scripts.
According to Sanskrit phonologists, the visarga has two optional
allophone
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is a set of multiple possible spoken soundsor ''phones''or signs used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, (as in ''s ...
s, namely (''jihvāmūlīya'' or the guttural visarga) and (''upadhmānīya'' or the fricative visarga). The former may be pronounced before , , and the latter before , and , as in (''tava pitāmahaḥ kaḥ?'', 'who is your grandfather?'), (''pakṣiṇaḥ khe uḍḍayante'', 'birds fly in the sky'), (''bhoḥ pāhi'', 'sir, save me'), and (''tapaḥphalam'', 'result of penances'). They were written with various symbols, e.g. X-like symbol vs sideways 3-like symbol above flipped sideways one, or both as two crescent-shaped semi-circles one above the other, facing the top and bottom respectively.
The Unicode Standard, version 10.0 - Vedic Extensions
/ref> Distinct signs for ''jihavamulīya'' and ''upadhmanīya'' exists in Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
, Tibetan
Tibetan may mean:
* of, from, or related to Tibet
* Tibetan people, an ethnic group
* Tibetan language:
** Classical Tibetan, the classical language used also as a contemporary written standard
** Standard Tibetan, the most widely used spoken dial ...
, Sharada, Brahmi
Brahmi (; ; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Brāhmī'') is a writing system of ancient South Asia. "Until the late nineteenth century, the script of the Aśokan (non-Kharosthi) inscriptions and its immediate derivatives was referred to by various names such ...
and Lantsa
The Rañjanā script (Lantsa) is an abugida writing system which developed in the 11th century[Jwajalapa](_blank)
scripts.
Other Brahmic scripts
Burmese
In the Burmese script
Burmese may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Myanmar, a country in Southeast Asia
* Burmese people
* Burmese language
* Burmese alphabet
* Burmese cuisine
* Burmese culture
Animals
* Burmese cat
* Burmese chicken
* Burmese ( ...
, the visarga (variously called ''shay ga pauk'', ''wizza nalone pauk'', or ''shay zi'' and represented with two dots to the right of the letter as ), when used with joined to a letter, creates the high tone
Tone is the use of pitch in language to distinguish lexical or grammatical meaning – that is, to distinguish or to inflect words. All verbal languages use pitch to express emotional and other paralinguistic information and to convey emph ...
.
Japanese
Motoori Norinaga
was a Japanese scholar of ''Kokugaku'' active during the Edo period. He is conventionally ranked as one of the Four Great Men of Kokugaku (nativist) studies.
Life
Norinaga was born in what is now Matsusaka in Ise Province (now part of Mie Pre ...
invented a mark for visarga which he used in a book about Indian orthography.
Javanese
In the Javanese script
The Javanese script (natively known as ''Aksara Jawa'', ''Hanacaraka'', ''Carakan'', and ''Dentawyanjana'') is one of Indonesia's traditional scripts developed on the island of Java. The script is primarily used to write the Javanese langu ...
, the visarga (known as the ''wignyan'' ()) is represented by a two curls to the right of a syllable as : the first curl is short and circular, and the second curl is long. It adds a / -h/ after a vowel.
Kannada
In the Kannada script
The Kannada script (IAST: ''Kannaḍa lipi''; obsolete: Kanarese or Canarese script in English) is an abugida of the Brahmic family, used to write Kannada, one of the Dravidian languages of South India especially in the state of Karnataka. Ka ...
, the visarga (which is called visarga) is represented with two small circles to the right of a letter ಃ. It brings an "''aḥ''" sound to the end of the letter.
Khmer
In the Khmer script
Khmer script ( km, អក្សរខ្មែរ, )Huffman, Franklin. 1970. ''Cambodian System of Writing and Beginning Reader''. Yale University Press. . is an abugida (alphasyllabary) script used to write the Khmer language, the official la ...
, the visarga (known as the ''reăhmŭkh'' (; "shining face")) indicates an aspirated sound added after a syllable. It is represented with two small circles at the right of a letter as , and it should not be confused with the similar-looking ''yŭkôlpĭntŭ'' (; "pair of dots"), which indicates a short vowel followed by a glottal stop like their equivalent visarga marks in the Thai
Thai or THAI may refer to:
* Of or from Thailand, a country in Southeast Asia
** Thai people, the dominant ethnic group of Thailand
** Thai language, a Tai-Kadai language spoken mainly in and around Thailand
*** Thai script
*** Thai (Unicode block ...
and Lao scripts.
Lao
In the Lao script, the visarga is represented with two small curled circles to the right of a letter as . As in the neighboring related Thai script
The Thai script ( th, อักษรไทย, ) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols ( th, พยัญชน ...
, it indicates a glottal stop
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
after the vowel.
Odia
In the Odia script
The Odia script ( or, ଓଡ଼ିଆ ଅକ୍ଷର, Odiā akṣara, translit-std=ISO) is a Brahmic script used to write primarily Odia language and others including Sanskrit and other regional languages. The script has developed over mor ...
, the visarga is represented with a vertical infinity sign to the right of a letter as . It indicates the post-vocalic voiceless glottal fricative ''aḥ'' sound after the letter.
Tamil
In the Tamil script
The Tamil script ( , ) is an abugida script that is used by Tamils and Tamil language, Tamil speakers in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and elsewhere to write the Tamil language. Certain minority languages such as Saurasht ...
, similar to visarga (which is called ''āyutha eḻuttu'' (), ''āytam'' (), ''muppaal pulli'', ''thaninilai'', ''aghenam''), is represented with three small circles to the right of a letter as . Its used to transcribe an archaic or sound that has either become silent, or pronounced as , or in careful speech. Like Sanskrit, it cannot add on to any letter and add aspiration to them. It should be always placed between a single short vowel(, , , , ) and a hard consonant (, , , , , ) for example (aqthu), (eqgu).
Telugu
In the Telugu script
Telugu script ( te, తెలుగు లిపి, Telugu lipi), an abugida from the Brahmic family of scripts, is used to write the Telugu language, a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well a ...
, the visarga (which is called visarga) is represented with two small circles to the right of a letter . It brings an "ah" sound to the end of the letter.
Thai
In the Thai script
The Thai script ( th, อักษรไทย, ) is the abugida used to write Thai, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai alphabet itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols ( th, พยัญชน ...
, the visarga (known as the ''visanchani'' () or ''nom nang thangkhu'' ()) is represented with two small curled circles to the right of a letter as . It represents a glottal stop
The glottal plosive or stop is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents thi ...
that follows the affected vowel.
References
{{Navbox diacritical marks
Vyakarana
Brahmic diacritics