Exercise 2

  • Characters
  • Notes
  • Script Tutor 1
  • Script Tutor 2
  • HW 1
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The second installment of characters (followed by the conjunct consonants for the first batch):
  • Consonants: ज ja, ष ṣa, ध dha, ब ba, भ bha
    • Note how भ (bha) and म (ma) differ primarily in the opening in top bar in भ bha, though it can also have a distinctive loop (see the SOAS script tutor below).
    • Similarly, the only thing to distinguish ब (ba) and व (va) is the diagonal drawn through the oval of the former.
  • Vowels: उ u (ु e.g., कु), ऊ ū (ू e.g., कू), ओ o (ो e.g., को), ऐ  ai ( ै e.g., कै). As before, various related vowels have related forms:
    • Long ऊ (ū) is just the short उ (u) with a hook to the right
    • ओ (o) is अ (a) plus the diacritic for ओ (o): a vertical bar and flag ( ो).
    • And that diacritic is appropriately related to the one for au (ौ), since the sound, au, is a strengthened form of the o sound (ो), as we’ll see.
    • Similarly, the fact that the ai sound is a strengthened form of e is well represented by the character, ऐ (ai = the e-vowel with an e-diacritic over it) and the diacritic, ै (two flags, rather than one [े] for e): e.g., कै (kai) versus के (ke).
  • Miscellaneous: । (daṇḍa)
    • The daṇḍa marks pauses and so corresponds to periods, colons, semicolons and comma.
  1. Study the (2 page) handout for our new characters and conjunct consonants under the Characters tab.
  2. For the conjunct consonants in that handout, pay special attention to the doubled त् (त्त्) and the द् conjuncts (द्द dda द्य dya, etc.), as they are not intuitive. The rest are fairly easily derivable from their distinctive elements.
  3. Read through the various notes to our new characters under the Notes tab.
  4. Using the provided script tutors as models, practice writing the characters in the sheets  attached below. Feel free to continue practicing these characters (with or without vowel diacritics) on lined paper for any that require more practice. It’s always a good idea to pronounce the sounds while you’re writing them—the more senses you engage in learning new material, the more quickly you’ll remember it.
  5. Practice your recognition of the characters and conjuncts we’ve learned so far in the flashcards at the bottom of the page.