The sixth group of consonants -- य, र, ल, व -- is the approximant consonants (
Approximant consonants). The approximants sound similar to their corresponding English consonants, as shown in the transliterations below. Approximants are special because they resemble vowels -- a sort of middle sound between vowels and consonants.
य
ya, /j/
र
ra, /r/
ब
la, /l/
ल
va, /ʋ/
The alphabetical order of the previous five groups of consonants followed rows in the table below. However, the alphabetical order of the sixth and seventh groups follows the columns. Thus, the alphabetical order is: (labials) प, फ, ब, भ, म; (approximants) य, र, ल, व; (fricatives) श, ष, स, ह.
| Stop | Nasal | Approximant | Fricative | |||||
| Unvoiced | Voiced | Unvoiced | Voiced | |||||
| Unaspirated | Aspirated | Unaspirated | Aspirated | Unaspirated | Aspirated | |||
| Guttural | क ka /k/ |
ख kha /kh/ |
ग ga /g/ |
घ gha /gh/ |
ङ ṅa /ŋ/ |
ह ha /h,ɦ/ |
||
| Palatal | च ca /c,ʧ/ |
छ cha /ch,ʧh/ |
ज ja /ɟ,ʤ/ |
झ jha /ɟh,ʤh/ |
ञ ña /ɲ/ |
य ya /j/ |
श śa /ɕ,ʃ/ |
|
| Cerebral | ट ṭa /ʈ/ |
ठ ṭha /ʈh/ |
ड |
ढ ḍha /ɖh/ |
ण ṇa /ɳ/ |
र ra /r/ |
ष ṣa /ʂ/ |
|
| Dental | त ta /t̪/ |
थ tha /t̪h/ |
द da /d̪/ |
ध dha /d̪h/ |
न na /n/ |
ल la /l/ |
स sa /s/ |
|
| Labial | प pa /p/ |
फ pha /ph/ |
ब ba /b/ |
भ bha /bh/ |
म ma /m/ |
व va /ʋ/ |
||
I am archiving this information about the alphabet on the Hindi page: kirkkittell.com/language/hindi. More information from Wikipedia:
- Approximant consonants
- Sounds represented within /.../, e.g., /k/, are symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), which is extremely useful for me to understand how Hindi sounds.
- Sounds such as ka are transliterations from the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST). It's simpler to understand than IPA.