[Facts] Re: pronounciation: Avani
by তন্ময় ভট (guest)
3/12/2005, 5:06 PM
It depends on the language. The word avani in Sanskrit (which originally meant a stream or river bed, but later came to mean the earth, ground, or the whole earth) is pronounced a-va'-ni, with three short syllables, the first and second having the same uh kind of sound, the second being stressed. The v has less aspiration than in English (a w'ish kind of v), and the n is dental.
In modern Indian languages, the pronounciation has sometimes changed. Thus in Hindi, only the stress has disappeared, whereas in Bengali, it has become somewhere between awe-bawe-ni and awe-bo-ni (I am using awe for the vowel in call, in Bengali it is still short; bo as in boat, but short).