Modern Hindi Grammar - Indian Institute of Language Studies (IILS)

2. PHONOLOGY

tth laT\z latth stick
cc ]cca ucc high
cch svacC svacch clean
kt r@t rakt blood
mp lamp lamp lamp
nt sant sant saint
nk baMk bank bank
nkh SaMK šankh conch
st mast mast carefree
št gaSt gašt take a round
št kYT kašt trouble
rth Aqa- arth meaning
rkh maUK- mu:rkh fool

Final three-consonant clusters

ntr maM~ mantr hymn
ndr [Md` indr name of God
str As~ astr weapon

2.2.3. Syllable Structure

Hindi has a (C)(C)V(C)(C) syllable structure. The assignment of the
medial units to syllables does not depend on morphological
structure. The first consonant of the medial cluster is assigned to the
preceding syllable and the remaining elements of the unit to the
following syllable. In the following examples, the syllable boundary
is marked with [+] sign.

nak\ + Saa na@Saa^ nak+ša: nakša: map
sauna\ + dr sauMdr sun+dar sundar beautiful
iksa\ + mat iksmat kis+mat kismat fate

The vowel-initial syllables are found only in the initial position of
words.

AakaSa a:ka:š sky
AmaRt amrit nectar
[maart ima:rat building
[laaja ila:j treatment