In
Sanskrit phonology, Visarga () is the name of the
voiceless glottal fricative
The voiceless glottal fricative, sometimes called voiceless glottal transition or the aspirate, is a type of sound used in some spoken languages that patterns like a fricative or approximant consonant '' phonologically'', but often lacks the ...
, written in
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; in script: , , ) is an Indic script used in the Indian subcontinent. It is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental Writing systems#Segmental systems: alphabets, writing system), based on the ancient ''Brāhmī script, Brā ...
as '' . It was also called, equivalently, ' by earlier grammarians. The word ''visarga'' () literally means "sending forth, discharge".
Visarga is an
allophone
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is one of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plos ...
of and in
pausa (at the end of an
utterance
In spoken language analysis, an utterance is a continuous piece of speech, by one person, before or after which there is silence on the part of the person. In the case of oral language, spoken languages, it is generally, but not always, bounded ...
). 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 and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...
(of nominative singular, second person singular, etc.), visarga appears frequently in Sanskrit texts. In the traditional order of Sanskrit sounds, visarga and
anusvāra 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
Indic scripts.
According to Sanskrit phonologists, the visarga has two optional
allophone
In phonology, an allophone (; from the Greek , , 'other' and , , 'voice, sound') is one of multiple possible spoken soundsor '' phones''used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language. For example, in English, the voiceless plos ...
s, namely (''jihvāmūlīya'' or the guttural visarga) and (''upadhmānīya'' or the labial 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 () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...
, Tibetan, Sharada,
Brahmi and Lantsa scripts.
Other Brahmic scripts
Burmese
In the Burmese script, 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 joined to a letter, creates the high tone.
Japanese
Motoori Norinaga invented a mark for visarga which he used in a book about Indian orthography.
Javanese
In the Javanese script, the visarga, known as the ''wignyan'' (), is represented by 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 visarga (which is called visarga) is represented with two small circles to the right of a letter ಃ. It adds an ''aḥ'' sound to the end of the letter.
This script also has separate symbols for ''ardhavisarga'' absent in most other scripts, jihvamuliya, , and upadhmaniya, .
Khmer
In the Khmer script, 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 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 (, , ) is the abugida used to write Thai language, Thai, Southern Thai language, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai script itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols (, ), 16 vowel s ...
, it indicates a glottal stop
The glottal stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...
after the vowel.
Malayalam
In the Malayalam script, the visarga is represented with two small circles to the right of a letter as . It indicates a /h/ after a letter. Visarga is considered as a vowel in Malayalam, where its independent form is written as അഃ. Unlike other languages, visarga need not necessarily occur at the end of a word. Examples include ദുഃഖം, മനഃപ്രയാസം, പുനഃസൃഷ്ടി.
Odia
In the Odia script
The Odia script (, also ) is a Brahmic script used to write the Odia language. To a lesser extent, it is also used to write Sanskrit and other regional languages. It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic. The script has deve ...
, the Bisarga 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, Unlike other languages, the bisarga can appear in middle of words, such as ନିଃଶ୍ବାସ, ନିଃସ୍ବ, ନିଃସନ୍ଦେହ, ନିଃଶେଷ etc. All words with Bisarga aren't borrowed from Sanskrit.
Sinhala
In the Sinhala script
The Sinhalese script (), also known as Sinhala script, is a writing system used by the Sinhalese people and most Sri Lankans in Sri Lanka and elsewhere to write the Sinhalese language as well as the liturgical languages Pali and Sanskr ...
, visarga is represented with two small circle to the right of a letter as ඃ.
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 and elsewhere to write the Tamil language. It is one of the official scripts of the Indian Republic. ...
, similar to visarga (which is called ''āyuta eḻuttu'' (), ''āytam'' (), ''muppāl puḷḷi'', ''taṉinilai'', ''aḵkēṉam'', ''ak''), transliterated as ''ḵ'', is represented with three small circles to the right of a letter as . Its used to transcribe an archaic sound inherited from the proto Dravidian *H that has either become silent or geminates the next letter in unlearnt speech, 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 (aḵtu), (eḵku). The āytam in modern Tamil is used to transcribe foreign phones like ஃப் (ஃp) for ஃஜ (ஃj) for ஃஸ (ஃs) for , ʒand ஃக (ஃk) for similar to a nuqta.
Telugu
In the Telugu script
Telugu script (), 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 as several other neighbouring states. It is one ...
, there are two visargas. One 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 (, , ) is the abugida used to write Thai language, Thai, Southern Thai language, Southern Thai and many other languages spoken in Thailand. The Thai script itself (as used to write Thai) has 44 consonant symbols (, ), 16 vowel s ...
, 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 stop or glottal plosive is a type of consonantal sound used in many Speech communication, spoken languages, produced by obstructing airflow in the vocal tract or, more precisely, the glottis. The symbol in the International Phonetic ...
that follows the affected vowel.
References
{{Navbox diacritical marks
Vyakarana
Brahmic diacritics