I have a question about the way Hindi/Urdu is spelled when using romanized letters. Obviously when you take it away from the Devanagari there is going to be some slipups-
but does Hindi have a true "th" sound, as in "thank you", for English? I don't think it does.
because certain words are spelled...like paratha...and you don't pronounce the "h". why is this? Also when in the song Silsila Yeh Chaahat Ka, the singer says "faasala thaa durii thii" and I didn't hear a single "th", only straight T's!!
can someone explain, again..
if the "th" sound is absent from Hindi
and WHY the "th" sound is absent
thank you.
2006-09-05 05:49:40 · 6 answers · asked by Mr. Fancy Pants 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
There is a very specific ' th ' sound in Hindi. This becomes rather apparent by hearing the Word " Matha " ( Hindi ) or " Mattha "( Punjabi), both words mean forehead. In the song Silsila Yeh Chaahat Ka, the singer says " faasala thaa durii thii ' and you have to hear the same sound as I mentioned above. If you don't then probably you heard it wrong or the singer pronounced it wrong. Another Hindi word " Thoda" meaning ' little ' also has the same sound as in Maatha, Mattha and ' thha ' ( Faasala Tha & Doori thi ' ). These should prove that the sound ' th' as in the Greek letter ' Theta ( uppercase Θ, lowercase θ ) ' . Here the issue is simply of how it is written in English.
The English word ' Thankyou ' , written with a single ' h ', is not entirely same as " Maatha ' or ' thoda ' or ' tha '. This because in these Hindi words there is much more emphasis on the sound " th" than as in english ' thankyou '. So I think that, if you write / visualize " Silsala thha " in place of ' Silsala tha ' , it would be more appropriate. There is one caveat though, just remember that in Hindi there is also a sound ' th ' in the Hindi word " Theek " meaning ' OK, Right , Fine ' etc. Here the ' th ' sound is not at all same as the ' th ' sound in ' Maatha ' , ' Silsila thha ' or as in ' Thankyou ' .
2006-09-05 06:27:56 · answer #1 · answered by ArnieSchivaSchangaran 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there is the th sound in the songs you have mentioned. you probably didn't hear it, and sometimes in songs its not said the way it is. but thats how it suppose to be said the way you have stated the titles of the song wid the TH sound. I dont know why you having prob noticing paratha as parata, but i say it paraTHa. or is it that . thankyou is not spoken as THankyou, i've heard that TH sound almost as a 'S' sound. like a lisp of pronouncing S. if you are looking for that pronounciation of TH, it will definately appear to u , that its not TH, but T. However the way urdu/hindi accent is we know the TH is there.
2006-09-05 13:19:25 · answer #2 · answered by asmi.rani 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It is not absent. Depends on which part of India you hail from. Pronunciation differs from area to area. In general, the "th" sound is used. I have heard "paratha" pronounced as "paratha" and "parata". Depended on where the person came from.
2006-09-05 12:59:32 · answer #3 · answered by worldneverchanges 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there r clear th's in the song and also in the word paratha. i've never heard any one (especially indian) using t's in such words.
2006-09-05 13:00:55 · answer #4 · answered by givaloluputya (greedy for taste) 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Most languages do not have the "th" sound.
2006-09-05 12:57:38 · answer #5 · answered by Persephone 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
my name has the "th" sound, tejal
4 T sounds in devanagari:
T unaspirated, T(H)aspirated,
th unaspirated, th(H)aspirated
2006-09-05 12:56:25 · answer #6 · answered by t c 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋