Official resources by the Government of India

[dakanga]

I have just stumbled accross the
the Department of Offical Language राजभाषा विभाग by the Government of India भारत सरकार
https://rajbhasha.gov.in/hi

And also a fascinating resource :
Self-Teaching Hindi - Leela - Prabodh, Praveen and Pragya
वीडियोहिंदी स्वयं शिक्षण - लीला - प्रबोध, प्रवीण तथा प्राज्ञ

https://lilappp.rb-aai.in/#!

I mention this - as I thought others may find this interesting.

Also, I am trying to find where the Government of India states what characters in devanagari script are officially recognized.

Can anyone suggest where I find this ?

[dakanga]

I am also confused how different resources talk about different letters and numbers of letters in the devanagari script, including different total number of consonants and vowels.

There must be discussions / resources that point out ones that are officially recognized by the Government of India, and the characters that are not officially recognized. Can people suggest links/resources about this ?

[dakanga]

Also - to understand what the Duolingo course covers, in relation to any variations - either inclusions / exclusions from the officially recognized devanagari script by the Government of India.

Please note the Government of India is not the only place that uses the devanagari script. Devanagari is used by many different people. And it is valid to have differences.
I just like knowing what those differences are.

[dakanga]

Another interesting topic, is in the resource https://lilappp.rb-aai.in/#!

It gives you these options, for you to "Select a Hindi package". Which I have investigated further for definitions.

prabodh प्रबोध : prompting ref
praveen प्रवीण : proficiency, accomplishment ref
pragya प्राज्ञ wisdom, intelligence and understanding ref

Above is a logo, that has those 3 words around a central letter :
अ : a

And then the word :
lila

I wonder if the word "lila" means anything.

And, If I have any of this information is wrong, I hope someone will correct me.

edited: haaa haaaaaaa - in looking a little deeper, I see the internet address for this resource is :
" lilappp.rb-aai.in "
So I am now assuming "lila" is the name for this resource.
edited again :
In further research, and in noticing the words more closely on the source page :

lila लीला : Lila (Sanskrit: लीला līlā) or leela (/ˈliːlə/) can be loosely translated as "divine play". ref

While further to this, in the name "lilappp" , the three p's stand for prabodh , praveen and pragya .

subnote : with all this depth of meaning - and pondering on concepts - I am gaining greater interest in Hindi. Thank you also for those of you who are part of this journey.

[dakanga]

Also interestingly, in this learning resource it states :

There are 52 letters in the Hindi language- 13 vowels and 39 consonants.

[dakanga]

Another feature is that "lilappp" has character tracing.
It is worth checking out.

I have also collected this short list of other character tracing resources, that could be good for individual learning, or to use in class situations.

https://www.indif.com/kids/learn_hindi/ ... heets.aspx
https://freepreschool.in/hindi-alphabet ... से-ज्ञ-तक/
https://www.tuitmob.com/worksheet_hindi.html
https://kids.jbigdeal.com/hindi-alphabe ... orksheets/

If people have other recommendations, I hope you will add to this conversation.

Stroke order is also important.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cate ... roke_order
http://learnhindifree.blogspot.com/2011 ... rders.html
https://languagelearning.stackexchange. ... at the top.

[dakanga]

Inspired by how the alphabet is presented in Lilappp, with extended links to other information.

Vowels स्वर swar

Independent vowel forms are used when the vowel occurs alone, at the beginning of a word, or after another vowel. In other words, the independent form is used whenever there is no consonant for the vowel to attach to.
मात्रा Matra vowel symbols are dependant on consonants - shown by diatric marks.
In most dictionaries, for the ordering of the alphabet, the vowels come first, as shown below. Then the cononants are covered, though in a slightly different order to as listed here. (to do: a list of the order of the consonants)

Vowel based nasalization and visarga

अं am [ w ]	अः a: [ w ]

Vowels

अ a [ w ]	आ ā1 (aa2) [ w ]	इ i [ w ]	ई ī1 [ w ]
उ u (ii2) [ w ]	ऊ ū1 (u2) [ w ]	ऋ riː [ w ]	ए ē1 (a2) [ w ]
ऐ ai1 (ae2) [ w ]	ओ ō1 [ w ]	औ au (ao2 ) [ w ]

Consonants व्यंजन vaynhan

Consonants are produced by the complete or partial closure of the vocal tract so that audible friction is produced.
In Hindi the letters are ordered according to how the sounds are produced. Also, to make the consonant sound they are joined with a vowel to make a syllable.
For saying the name of consonant it is paired with the vowel अ ( a ).

From the throat

क ka [ w ]	ख : kha [ w ]	ग ga [ w ]	घ gha [ w ]	ङ na [ w ]

By touching the roof of the mouth (palate)

च ca [ w ]	छ : cha [ w ]	ज ja [ w ]	झ jha [ w ]	ञ na [ w ]

By touching the root of the teeth

ट ṭa [ w ]	ठ : ṭha [ w ]	ड ḍa [ w ]	ढ ḍha [ w ]	ण ṇa [ w ]

By touching the teeth

त ṭa [ w ]	थ : ṭha [ w ]	द ḍa [ w ]	ध ḍha [ w ]	न ṇa [ w ]

By touching the lips

प pa [ w ]	फ : pha [ w ]	ब ba [ w ]	भ bha [ w ]	म ma [ w ]
य ya [ w ]	र : ra [ w ]	ल la [ w ]	व va [ w ]
श śa [ w ]	ष : ṣa [ w ]	स sa [ w ]	ह ha [ w ]

Conjunct Consonants

क्ष ksha [ w ]	त्र tra [ w ]	ज्ञ jna [ w ]	श्र shra [ w ]

Extra Consonant

ड़ ugDha [ w ]	ढ़ ugDhha [ w ]

Adopted sounds*⁹

ख़ Khi [ w ]	फ़ fi [ w ]	ज़ gya [ w ]

[ w ] : for a link to https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page about that character.
Stroke order

*1 note that Duolingo uses the unicode European Latin script of a small flat line, called a macron, above various vowels in transliteration. ā ē ī ō ū
*2 transliteration as presented in lilappp
*9 Adopted sounds : Hindi language has adopted :
5 sounds - क़, ख़, ग़, ज़, फ़ from Arabic, Persian and English languages.
2 Sounds क़, ग़ are not convenient to Hindi language at pronunciation level.
Until and unless there is a specific purpose for Urdu pronunciation, its not necessary to use these 2 sounds.

Its essential to use नुक्ता nukta ( . ) below the consonants ख, ज, फ for pronouncing the remaining 3 sounds - ख़, ज़, फ़ .

https://www.hindipod101.com/hindi-pronunciation/
https://sites.google.com/a/balodyan.com ... -explained

[dakanga]

While this resource is beneficial to general langauge learners, now in having a little more time in investigating what it offers, it appears to me that the main target audiance is for Government officials and staff, and people interacting with the Government.
To assist them in learning Hindi.

What a great initiative !

This does not detract for the key resources it does provide for general language learners.

Please, if I am wrong, correct me. Or if you have a different point of view.

[dakanga]

pronunciation of Alphabet, inspired from lilappp

Under construction and reconciliation to other resources (lets hope this is sucessful)

	अघोष Unvoiced अल्पप्राण Unaspirated	अघोष Unvoiced अल्पप्राण Aspirated	अघोष Voiced अल्पप्राण Unaspirated	अघोष Voiced अल्पप्राण Aspirated	अनुनासिक Nasal
कंठ्य Gutturals (back of the mouth)	क ka [ w ]	ख : kha [ w ]	ग ga [ w ]	घ gha [ w ]	ङ na [ w ]
तालव्य Patatals (mid-point in mouth)	च cha [ w ]	छ : chha [ w ]	ज ja [ w ]	झ jha [ w ]	ञ na [ w ]
मूर्धन्य Cerebrals (back in mouth with tongue curled)	ट ta [ w ]	ठ : tha [ w ]	ड da [ w ]	ढ dha [ w ]	ण na [ w ]
दंत्य Dentals (touching teeth)	त ta [ w ]	थ : tha [ w ]	द da [ w ]	ध dha [ w ]	न na [ w ]
ओष्ठ्य Labials (from closed lips)	प pa [ w ]	फ : pha [ w ]	ब ba [ w ]	भ bha [ w ]	म ma [ w ]
अंत:स्थ व्यंजन/ अर्ध स्वर Semi-vowels	य ya [ w ]	र : ra [ w ]	ल la [ w ]	व va/wa [ w ]
ऊष्म वर्ण Sibilants	श sha [ w ]	ष : sha [ w ]	स sa [ w ]
महाप्राण Aspirated	ह ha [ w ]

संयुक्त व्यंजन
Conjunct Consonant

क्ष ksha [ w ]	त्र tra [ w ]	ज्ञ 1 jna 2 [ w ]	श्र shra [ w ]

*1 This is pronounced as ग्य in Hindi.
*2 It is written as gya in roman script.

Also see : https://www.mezzoguild.com/hindi-alphabet/