ȧrⁱ ačhar _ vowels
Vowels:
Kashmiri has oral and nasal vowels, with short and long sound. All the vowels except ( í / ِ ) and ( ī / اِ ی ) have a nasal counterpart. Nasalization is phonemic in Kashmiri. There is a clear contrast between short and long vowels. The following examples describe the contrast in length of these vowels.
اَ / a (a) – [IPA /a/] : Zabar is a diagonal stroke placed above the consonant which precedes it in pronunciation. It represents a short vowel a, like the English “u” in “but, nut , bus, cut” a short “ah” sound or the Urdu “a” in “kal (tomorrow)”.
2: ا / ā or آ / ā (aa) – [ IPA /aː/ ] :In initial position the character is preceded by ‘madah’ on Alif ( ا ) for the pronunciation of the vowel (aa). It resembles the long “aa” in “aahh” sound and “a” in “father”.
3: أ / ȧ –(ae) – [IPA /əː/] : The sign ( ٔ ) ‘amaal’ is placed above the consonant for the pronunciation of the vowel ( أ / ae). In isolation and initial position, this character is preceded by Alif ا. Check ȧčh أچھ (eyes)
4: ٲ / ä – (aae) – [IPA /əː/] : ä / ٲ is the second long vowel in Kashmiri. The sign ( ٔ ) ‘amaal mad’ is placed above the consonant for the pronunciation of the vowel (aae). It closely resembles the English ” i ” in “might” . In initial and medial position, the character is preceded by Alif ا.
5: ( ِ ) or اِ / í (i) – [IPA /i/ ] : Zeer is a diagonal stroke placed beneath the consonant which precedes it in pronunciation. It represents a short vowel i; like the “i” in English “chill, nib, till, pin”.
6: ا ی / ī (ee) – ٕ[IPA /iː/] : اِ ی is the third long vowel in Kashmiri. It also represents the consonant ‘ی ‘ (lakut yae). In medial position, the short alif ‘kishzeer’ is placed beneath ی, which precedes it in pronunciation (ee). It resembles the English “ee” in “sheep”.
7: اٟ / ü ( ι ) [ IPA /ɨː/ ]:( اٟ ) ‘sai’ is the forth short vowel in Kashmiri. The sign is placed beneath a consonantal letter for the pronunciation of the vowel (ι). In initial position, this character is preceded by Alif ا
8: اٟ / ṻ (aee) – [ IPA /ɨː/ ] : is the forth long vowel. The sign ( ٟ ) ‘sai mad’ is placed beneath a consonantal letter for the pronunciation of the vowel (aee). In initial and medial position this character is preceded by Alif ( ا )
9: ( ُ ) or اُ / u (u) – [IPA /u/] : Peš ( ُ ) is an apostrophe-like shape placed above the consonant which precedes it in pronunciation. It represents a short vowel u; like the English “u” in “pull” and “push”. In initial position this character is preceded by Alif ( ا ).
10: و or اوٗ / ū (oo) – [IPA /uː/] : اوٗ known as ‘kíší wāwuk’ is used in the combination that represents the vowel ū / ـوٗ. This is the long o of Kashmiri. It sits above waw (و) In isolation and initial position this character is preceded by Alif ا. It is pronounced like the Urdu “ū” in “phūl” (phool) and English “oo” in “cool, moon,” and “u” in “June”.
11: اۆ / ó (o) – [IPA /o/ ] : is the sixth short vowel in Kashmiri. In isolation and initial position this character is preceded by Alif ( ا ). It resembles the English “o” in “box”.
12: او or و / ō (oa) – [IPA /oː/] : ‘wāwuk‘ is the sixth long vowel in Kashmiri. It also represents the consonant (و ) w /v. It is pronounced like the second “o” in “promote” and “o” in “more”. When ( و / Waw ) is used to represent the short vowels, ( ُ / peš ) appears above the preceding consonant.
13: اۄ / ŏ (wo) – [IPA /ɔ/] – The sign is placed inside the letter waw ( و ) known as ‘lạṭe wāwuk‘. In initial position this character is preceded by Alif ( ا ). It is pronounced like the English “wo” in “wow”.
14: اے / ë (ye) – [IPA /e/ ] :The sign (ێ ) ‘nīmü yēyuk’ is placed above ( اے / ȳ ) to indicate its palatalization. In isolation and initial position this character is preceded by Alif ا.
15: اے / ē (ea) – [IPA /eː/ ] : ‘yēyuk’ is represented using ي . It mostly appears medially. If it’s followed by ( و ) wawuk or (اوٗ ) ‘kíší wāwuk’ the character (ē) is replaced by (y). For instance ( Nyūr نیوٗر )
16: اؠے / ĕ (ey) – [IPA /əi/ ] :The sign ( ْ ) is placed beneath a consonantal letter to indicate its palatalization.
17: ؠ / i (yi): This symbol (half lakut ye) indicates palatalization of the consonant in its final position. Palatalization is a frequent feature of Kashmiri words. It is represented using ؠ. It mostly appears medially and finally: non-final/isolate forms have a small circle beneath them, eg. ؠ , ؠـ , ـؠـ , ـؠ are all the same character.
18: ( ٛ ) / n̂ , r̂ , ŷ : This symbol is only applied on the following three consonants: noon , re and ye ( ے , ر , ن ) n, r and y as n̂ , r̂ , ŷ. They are placed between two consonantal letters to indicate the lack of a vowel between the two joined symbols. For instance: ṭaⁿg/tan̂g (narrow), raⁿg / ran̂g (colour). It indicates the consonant cluster.
19: ں / ñ: Nun gunah is almost similar to standard nun (ن) writing, except that it does not have a period above it, which symbolizes the nasalization of the phoneme / n /ñ. This letter is only found in the loose and ending position.
Related Words:
ačhur اَچُھر (sing) •/ ach:hur •/ letter, alphabet /
ačhar اَچَھر (plu) •/ ach:har •/ letters, alphabets /
zȧrⁱ ačhar •/ zaeri ach:har •/ consonants /
References:
کٲشِرڈِکشَنری (۱۹۶۸–۱۹۸۰) جموں اینڑ کشمیر اکاڈمی آف آرٹ کلچَر اینٛڑ لَنٛگویجز (جِلد ۱۔ ۷) پروفسر ايس ۔ کے ۔توشہ خانی (چیف ایڑیٹَر) ، پروفسر جے ۔لال ۔ کول ، پروفسرمحی الدین حاجنی ، پروفسر پی۔این۔پُشپ ، اختر محی الدین
Toshkhani, S. K.; Kaul, Lal; Hajani, Mohiudin; Pushp, P. N.; Mohiudin, Akhtar. (1968–1980), Käšír Dictionary. The Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages.
کٲشِرکِتاب دۆیمہِ جمٲژ خٲطٕر (ایِڑشن ۲۰۰۶) دی جموں اینڑ کشمیر اسٹیٹ بورڈ آف اسکول ایجوکیشن
Käšír Kítāb 2006. Class (1-8) The Jammu & Kashmir State Board of School Education.
Bukhari.H.S, 2016. Spoken Kashmiri Language, Kashmiri Vowel Sounds, Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3eFxyt6wZeo
Grierson.GA, 1993. A Dictionary of the Kashmiri Language, The Kashmiri Alphabet in the Roman Character, with its Equivalents in the Nagari and Persian Characters, pg. 6-20
Gulzar.S. 2020. Kashmiri Script Vowel Sounds. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90tip8m60o
Raina.MK, 2020. One Page Primer to Learn Kashmiri in Nastaliq, Devanagari & Roman scripts. http://mkraina.com/category/learn-kashmiri-language/
