a ऋ experiment
ऋ is a vowel/vocalic r in Sanskrit that has taken various forms as it evolved to modern Indic languages, but since spelling is stubborn, we still use its equivalent in text. It’s read, however, like /ɾi/ in Hindi-Urdu and /ɾu/ in Marathi. In this experiment I try to gauge first language influence on the production and perception of /r/ as a(n) nucleus/onset-nucleus. /i/ and /u/ as vowels differ in their roundedness, and whether or not one says /r/ with their lips rounded influences what the Indic ṛ has evolved into in speech. In essence, the degree to which speakers of a tongue labialize their /r/ in various contexts dictates this.
In this two-part activity,
part 1: production
- step 1:
say rrrrrrr
. Trill the /ṛ/ sound, or an allophone of it in your phonological inventory, and hold it. - step 2: As you do, look in the mirror. Observe the shape of your lips. Identify the shape closest to your mouth and make a mental note of it (just in case you try mimicking the other shapes as you rrrrrr).

If you’re having a tough time identifying the shape, consider checking out this page. We’re just trying to see how round your lips are oriented as you vocalize this sound.
- step 3: Guess what that would evolve into if you were the sole enunciator of that sound, and passed it down to a whole generation of people that just found it tough to conform to a liquid semivowel. (hint: would it be ri? ru? rə?)
part 2: perception
- step 1: Find a partner who does not speak an Indic language, and have them write down what they hear you say:
- /rʃi:/, or rrrshi
- /rθu:/, or rrtu
- /krʃna:/, or krrshna
- /prθvi:/, or prrthvi
- /krpa:/, or krrpa
These are all Sanskrit words approximated to their closest English allophones for the sake of accessibility.
- step 2: Examine the results. What do they say? Is there a vowel after the r in their spelling? If so, what vowels did they use? Did they use the same vowel for all of these words?
- step 3: Try this out with more people!
so,
It’s becoming easier to tell how both production and perception played a part in these evolutionary differences. But what really is causing differences in the production and perception themselves? Syllabic structure in their tongue? Could it be the distribution of vowels in their tongue? Is it all random? Is it genetic (likely not)? To find the answers to these, we can keep refining these experiments to include more words from other languages, involve more people of diverse tongues, and so forth.
Question/Remark: I almost guarantee that e never showed up after the r in any of the subjects’ transcriptions. Why do you think this is?