Dear phil,

It's called a tilde !

As for the pronunciation. when ~n is followed by a vowel, it is pronounced with the full -ny- sound, as you correctly say, just like the Spanish se~nor. .

However, when it is immediately followed by -j- or -c-, the separate full -y- sound disappears, and the only difference between ~n and the 'normal' -n- is that the ~n is pronounced with the tip of the tongue at the same point at which the -j- or -c- is articulated. One way to get it right is to feel where your tongue is when you pronounce a dental t/d (with the tongue touching the top back of the teeth) , then pronounce c/j. You will notice that for c/j the tip of the tongue is slightly further back into the mouth. The tongue is in these exact same spots for the pronunciation of -n- and -~n- respectively.

If you know Spanish, say 'santa sancha', and you will notice that the tongue is slightly further back along the palate (on the ridge behind the teeth) in 'sancha'. Exactly the same in Pali (and Sanskrit). The ~n is 'coloured' by the following j/c sound.

If you get the tongue in the right place for dental t/d, then a bit further back for c/j, and further back still for the subdotted .t/.d, pronounce the preceding n/~n/.n at that same spot and it will come out right automatically.

Hope this helps,

Metta,
James Whelan

----- Original Message -----
From: Phil
To: Pali@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 12:01 PM
Subject: [Pali] Pronouncing ~n~ before j or other consonants




Dear Pali pals,

Could you kindly explain how the ~n~ (spanish "senor" sound) is
pronounced before a consonant such as "j"? (So far I have only seen
this in bhu~n~jati but can't find an explanation of this combination in
the pronunciation guide I have.)

Like "bhunyujati?" or is the "j" sound lost? ("bhunyati")

Does this sound appear before any other consonants?

Also, what is this ~ symbol called again? I forget from my Spanish
study days.

Thanks!

Phil




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