Tuesday 21 January 2014

ਨਾਸਕੀਕਰਨ ناسکیکرن Nasalization

Punjabi (Gurmukhi) has two symbols for indicating nasal sounds.

One of these, the dot (ਂ) is called bindi (ਬਿੰਦੀ/بندی) in Punjabi. Along with the other one, the tippi (ਟਿੱਪੀ/ٹپی ੰ ), it's a sign used for nasalization, for example, in a velar nasal (the 'n' sound in words ending in '-ing') or for a \m\ before certain consonants (-mb, -mp etc.).

As an illustration, 'big' written in Punjabi would be 'ਬਿਗ/بگ' but 'bing' is written as 'ਬਿੰਗ/بنگ'. Similarly, while 'log' is written as 'ਲੌਗ/لوگ', 'long' is written as 'ਲੌਂਗ/لونگ' with the bindi/tippi indicating that some air escapes through the nose during the production of the sound by the mouth.

One more thing! There are rules as to which vowel sign (ਮਾਤਰਾ/ماترا) employs what nasal symbol. Also note that these symbols are for Gurmukhi script, Shahmukhi script uses only one symbol 'noonguna' (ں) for nasalization.

Bindi: used with kanna (ਾ), bihari (ੀ), laan (ੇ), dulaavan (ੈ), hora (ੋ) and kanora (ੌ).

Tippi: used with mukta (no vowel), sihari (ਿ), aunkar (ੁ) and dulainkar (ੂ). The only exception is with aunkar and dulainkar when they are used with oora (ੳ) i.e. ਉ and ਊ use bindi and not tippi.

Let's look at all the cases one by one.

ਬਿੰਦੀ/Bindi


1. ਕੰਨਾ/Kanna

ਕਾਂ (crow)
ਮਾਂ (mother)
ਸਾਂਝ (partnership/relationship)

2. ਬਿਹਾਰੀ/Bihari

ਪੀਂਘ (swing)
ਮੀਂਹ (rain)
ਅਸੀਂ (we)

3. ਲਾਂ/Laan

ਭੇਂਟ (meeting)
ਗੇਂਦ (ball)
ਸਕੇਂ (conditional form of the verb ' ਸਕਣਾ')

4. ਦੁਲਾਵਾਂ/Dulavaan

ਮੈਂ (I)
ਪੈਂਟ (pants)
ਦੁਲੈਂਕੜ (one of the vowel symbols)

5. ਹੋੜਾ/Hora

ਭੋਂ (land)
ਵਸੋਂ (settlement)
ਵਰਤੋਂ (use)

6. ਕਨੌੜਾ/Kanaura

ਲੌਂਗ (clove or nose-pin)
ਭੌਂਕਣਾ (to bark)
ਔਂਕੜ (one of the vowel symbols)

ਟਿੱਪੀ/Tippi


1. ਮੁਕਤਾ/Mukta


ਅੰਬ (mango)
ਮੰਗ (demand)
ਸੁਰੰਗ (tunnel)

2. ਸਿਹਾਰੀ/Sihari


ਲਿੰਗ (gender or male genital)
ਪਿੰਡ (village or body)
ਪਿੰਜਰ (skeleton)

3. ਔਂਕੜ/Aunkar

ਧੁੰਦ (fog)
ਸਹੁੰ (oath)
ਨਹੁੰ (nail)

4. ਦੁਲੈਂਕੜ/Dulainkar

ਕੂੰਜੀ (key)
ਬੂੰਦ (drop)
ਭੂੰਡ (drone bee)

ਅਪਵਾਦ/Exceptions


1. ਉ

ਉਂਞ (that way)
ਸਿਉਂਕ (termite)
ਵਿਉਂਤ (plan)

2. ਊ

ਮਾਊਂ (child's word for a bug)
ਮਿਆਊਂ (meow)

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