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How is "nāga" (the mythical creature) pronounced, and why?
Everything I've seen suggests that it's pronounced with a short a (the first, I mean), but if that's the case, why does it have a macron? From what I've read, it's specifically IPA, so I'm pretty sure it *is* a macron… Shouldn't it be pronounced with a long a?
2 Answers
- Anonymous7 years agoFavorite Answer
It's "nah-gah," like "mama" or "papa." You're very confused. The macron indicates different things in different languages. In Romanizations of Sanskrit, for example, it does NOT mean what you're calling a "long a" (that it, it doesn't mean that the first syllable of "naga" rhymes with "hay" or "play"). In Romanization of Sanskrit, it refers to the actual timed length of the vowel, not a different sound.
And the IPA does not use "a with a macron" to represent the sound in "hay" or "play." Again, you are extremely confused.
- 7 years ago
The first a is long and the second is very short. Kind of like N-A-A-G, so the second a is hardly pronounced.
Hope this helped!
-WriteYourMind
