Syllables in the word Hinđī
'हिन्दी' / 'हिंदी' इन शब्दों के खंड
Almost everyone pronounce Hinđī as two syllables 'Hin' and 'di'.
There are two commonly used spellings of the word 'Hinđī' in the ĐevaNāgarī script.
- 'हिंदी' ('hiNdee' as per Nāgarī-128)
- 'हिन्दी' ('Hinđī' as per Nīrajā-Latin)
The second spelling 'हिन्दी' looks like 'हि+न्दी' ('hi+ndee'). The 'n' which is pronounced with 'hi' is attached with 'dee'.
In other words; 'Hinđī' can be written in ĐevaNāgarī as 'Hi-ndi'. It does not correctly represent syllable boundaries.
Some people give example of this second spelling of Hinđī to argue that ĐevaNāgarī is not completely scientific!
To correct the syllable issue, we may write हिन्दी (हिन् +दी). This we have done by showing 'halant' explicitly. This character 'halant' is generally absorbed in conjunct formation and hence remain invisible. But, people won't accept this spelling.
So, if you want correct syllable boundaries, use the first spelling of Hinđī ('हिंदी'). This spelling uses 'Anusvār' (अनुस्वार; Anuswar) instead of 'न्'.
Till 20th June 2021, I used to say 'Anusvār' may be used in regular Hinđī text instead of pure nasal consonants ( ङ् , ञ् , ण् , न् & म् ); while last two nasal consonants ( न् & म् ) could be used in text books of junior schools instead of 'Anusvār'.
But now I propose this rule : If you have a word (like 'हिंदी' that can be spelled हिन्दी) , think of how you would like to pronounce. Certainly you would pronounce the 'न्' (nasalised consonant n) with 'हि'; so you should prefer 'Anusvār' over pure nasal consonants.
'संबंध' should be preferred instead of 'सम्बन्ध'.
'हलंत' should be preferred instead of 'हलन्त'.
In Hindi some words can be written differently but are pronounced similarly.
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