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Devanagari Workbook – Introduction

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Devanagari Workbook

Part 1	Introduction
Part 2	Numerals
Part 3	Vowels
Part 4	Consonants
Part 5	Conjuncts
Part 6	Transliteration
Appendices	Tables, links, and other resources

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Devanagari script used to write Hindustani (Hindi):

अ	आ	इ	ई	उ	ऊ	ए	ऐ	ओ	औ
a	ā	i	ī	u	ū	e	ai	o	au
क	ख	ख़	ग	ॻ	ग़		घ		ङ
k	kʰ	x	ɡ	ɠ	ɣ		ɡʱ		ŋ
च	छ		ज	ॼ	ज़		झ		ञ
c	cʰ		ɟ	ʄ	z		ɟʱ		ɲ
ट	ठ		ड	ॾ	ड़		ढ	ढ़	ण
ʈ	ʈʰ		ɖ	ɗ	ɽ		ɖʱ	ɽʱ	ɳ
त	थ		द				ध		न
t	tʰ		d				dʱ		n
प	फ	फ़	ब	ॿ			भ		म
p	pʰ	f	b	ɓ			bʱ		m
य	र	ल	व
j	r	l	ʋ
श	ष	स	ह
ʃ	ʂ	s	h

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What is nagari?

“Nagari” is a common short name for devanagari (Nāgarī is the name of the parent writing system of devanagari). The devanagari is an abugida alphabet used in some Indian languages such as Hindi, Sanskrit, Marathi and Nepali. It is written from left to right, lacks distinct letter cases, and is recognizable by a distinctive horizontal line running along the tops of the letters linking and aligning them. Unlike Urdru, the other major writing system of India, it is very strongly a phonetic system. Variation of pronunciation does occur depending on location - and for some Indian immigrants (outside of asia) there is a general collapsing of all consonants with aspiration towards the same, but unaspirated sounds.

Getting started

You will need lots of blank pages, a pen or pencil or the like, and a few weeks of time to practice.

There are 14 vowel, liquid, and semivowel graphemes. There are many more consonants. But there are still only 10 graphemes for numbers. These are the same base ten, with a zero, than you are familiar with already. So let's start with those.

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