|
NOTE: Click on any image to listen to its mp3 audio clip.
The Vowels
|
Alongside
the vowels I, i you noticed the additional symbol of the tilde, denoted
thus, .
This symbol represents the same
sound as do the symbols I, i, but the intensity is far less, and the
effect is as if the main vowel (I,i) has been "underutilised".
This is a necessary addition in Kashmiri, because there are a number of words in
the language which end with this sound, while many other words have this sound,
while many other words have this sound figuring in-between. The tilde implies
that the sound is not to be stressed, and, hence, the above symbol will always
figure beneath the letter after which the sound is to follow, as, for instance,
in the following Kashmiri words:
This vowel is also frequently used
in gender changes and number changes of words.
|