--- alexgenaud <alexgenaud@...> wrote:

> I noticed a discussion in the Yahoo Group archives
> several months back
> regarding the nasal niggahiita and the wandering
> dot.
>
> From my arm-chair research, the niggahiita seems
> weakly defined as
> muddhaja, cerebral, retroflex. If this is the case,
> it seems logical
> that the m would have a dot below (.m) rather than
> above (^m) in line
> with other cerebrals (.d .t .n .l).

The term retroflex, or supradental, means, as I see
it, that the tongue is folded backwards towards the
ceiling of the mouth, unlike the ordinary dentals,
where it is placed at the front teeth. When I
pronounce either a nazalized vowel or an "ng" sound, I
keep the tongue low, so I don't see how a symbol
reprezenting either could be a retroflex.

> Devanagari has two nasal markers. As I understand
> it, a dot above
> (anusvara) indicates a nasal consonant (hense ^n).
> However, a cresent
> with a dot above (anunasika or candrabindu [moon
> dot]) indicates a
> nasal vowel.

I think both markers are used in Hindi, which I have
studied very little. In my Sanskrit books, though (as
far as I can seen when making a few fast checks), only
the pure dot is used, never the crescent. Anyhow,
Devanagari became the standard script of Sanskrit only
as late as the 18th century.

> However, instead of an M with a dot above or below,
> why do we use an M
> at all?

It is a good question, and that M can sometimes be
confusing and have a funny influence when Sanskrit or
Pali words are imported into other languages (e.g.
"sa"msaara", which should in an English text be better
rendered by "sangsara" than "samsara").

> It is never by itself. It can not be
> pronounced without a
> vowel, and confuses first-time readers. Perhaps, it
> is more logical to
> drop the M and place a dot below the vowel

That would be a good idea, if we were starting from
scratch. As it is, however, there is the problem of
historical continuity. The present system has been
used since the end of the 19th century, and most books
in Latin letter Pali or Sanskrit, which new learners
must use, make use of it, so I am afraid we will have
to put up with it.

Gunnar




gunnargallmo@...