Consonants

Unit 1 Sounds and Introductions

****CHAPTER 1: Spaces still need to be added in exercise boxes-HM *****

CONSONANTS

The Punjabi alphabet consists of 41* consonants and is completely phonetic. Each sound is represented by only one symbol and each symbol can only have one sound attributed to it, unlike the English alphabet.  For example, in English, the letter “c” can be prounced as “k” (can) or as “s” (cent).  However, the k and s sounds in Punjabi would be represented by two different symbols.

The alphabet is arranged very logically in 8 rows according to pronunciation.  We will not be learning these consonants in order, from the first to the last, but according to which are the easiest to pronounce for new speakers.

I:i  THE FIRST SOUNDS

ਹ ਸ ਮ ੜ ਲ ਵ

These six letters will be taught first because they are the simplest sounds to make for the non-native speaker.

Practise writing these letters 30-50 times each.

Remember to use the lines on the paper as a guide for the tops of the characters.

IMPORTANT POINT: Every consonant will always have a vowel attached to it. Even these consonants do, although you cannot see it. This is the invisible vowel mukta.  It makes the “u” sound as in “bug”.

ਹ = hu

ਸ = su

ਮ = mu

ੜ = yu

ਲ = lu

ਵ= v*u

This is the only sound in this first group of characters that does not have an equivalent sound in English.  For the sake of simplicity, we will represent this sound using a “v”.

However, this sound is in between the v and w sounds in English. The teeth do not touch the lips as they do when pronouncing “v”, nor are the lips completely rounded, as they are when pronouncing “w”.

The remaining characters in the alphabet are a little more complex and do not have an English equivalent.  The majority of these characters occur in pairs; with the first sound being the “simple” sound and the next being the aspirated form of the first sound; so that for rows 2-6, the columns 1 and 2 and columns 3 and 4, respectively are partner sounds.

These and many of the remaining sounds in the Gurmukhi alphabet are always “partnered”.  There will be one “unaspirated” sound and then its partner sound.  The partner sound is an aspirated form of the “normal” sound.  An aspirated sound is “stronger” than the “unaspirated” sound, occurring with a stronger breath of air.  To check and see if you are pronouncing the aspirated sound correctly, put your hand in front of your mouth – you should feel a puff of air coming out.  When you pronounce the “normal” sound, you will not feel a puff of air.

The additional “h” will represent those sounds which are “aspirated” and thus require a harsher release of breath.

**The first sound in the partnered pairs will be represented by an “equivalent” English sound, but remember that these sounds have no exact English equivalent.  They are similar to the English sounds but with a lesser release of breath.