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			{{Short description\|Diacritical mark in Indic scripts}}
	{{More citations needed\|date=May 2014}}		{{More citations needed\|date=May 2014}}
	{{Infobox diacritic\|char={{lang\|hi\|ः}} \|name=Visarga \|unicode=}}		{{Infobox diacritic\|char={{lang\|hi\|ः}} \|name=Visarga \|unicode=}}

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{{More citations needed|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox diacritic|char={{lang|hi|ः}} |name=Visarga |unicode=}}
'''Visarga''' ({{lang-sa|विसर्गः|translit=visargaḥ}}) means "sending forth, discharge". In Sanskrit [[phonology]] (''[[shiksha|{{IAST|śikṣā}}]]''), ''{{IAST|visarga}}'' (also called, equivalently, ''{{IAST|visarjanīya}}'' by earlier grammarians) is the name of a [[Phone (phonetics)|phone]] [[voiceless glottal fricative]], {{IPA|[h]}}, written as:

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Transliteration
!Symbol
|-
| [[ISO 15919]] / [[IAST]]
|{{angbr|{{IAST|ḥ}}}}
|-
| [[Harvard-Kyoto]]
|{{angbr|H}}
|}

Visarga is an [[allophone]] of {{IPA|/r/}} and {{IPA|/s/}} in [[pausa]] (at the end of an [[utterance]]). Since {{IPA|/-s/}} is a common inflectional [[suffix]] (of nominative singular, second person singular, etc.), visarga appears frequently in Sanskrit texts. In the traditional order of Sanskrit sounds, visarga and [[anusvara|anusvāra]] appear between vowels and stop consonants.

The precise pronunciation of visarga in Vedic texts may vary between [[shakha|Śākhās]]. Some pronounce a slight echo of the preceding vowel after the aspiration: {{IAST|aḥ}} will be pronounced {{IPA|[ɐhᵄ]}}, and {{IAST|iḥ}} will be pronounced {{IPA|[ihⁱ]}}. Visarga is not to be confused with [[Colon (punctuation)|colon]].

== Types ==
The visarga is commonly found in writing, resembling the punctuation mark of colon or as two tiny circles one above the other. This form is retained by most [[Brahmic scripts|Indian scripts]].

According to Sanskrit phonologists, the visarga has two optional [[allophone]]s, namely {{lang|sa|जिह्वामूलीय}} (''jihvāmūlīya'' or the guttural visarga) and {{lang|sa|उपध्मानीय}} (''upadhmānīya'' or the fricative visarga). The former may be pronounced before {{angbr|क}}, {{angbr|ख}}, and the latter before {{angbr|प}}, and {{angbr|फ}}, as in {{lang|sa|तव पितामहः कः}} (''tava pitāmahaḥ kaḥ?'', 'who is your grandfather?'), {{lang|sa|पक्षिणः खे उड्डयन्ते}} (''pakṣiṇaḥ khe uḍḍayante'', 'birds fly in the sky'), {{lang|sa|भोः पाहि}} (''bhoḥ pāhi'', 'sir, save me'), and {{lang|sa|तपःफलम्}} (''tapaḥphalam'', 'result of penances'). They were written with various symbols, e.g. X-like symbol vs sideways 3-like symbol above flipped sideways one, or both as two crescent-shaped semi-circles one above the other, facing the top and bottom respectively.<ref>[https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U1CD0.pdf The Unicode Standard, version 10.0 - Vedic Extensions]</ref> Distinct signs for ''jihavamulīya'' and ''upadhmanīya'' exists in [[Kannada alphabet|Kannada]], [[Tibetan alphabet|Tibetan]], [[Śāradā script|Sharada]], [[Brahmi alphabet|Brahmi]] and [[Ranjana alphabet|Lantsa]] scripts.

== Other Brahmic scripts ==
=== Burmese ===
In the [[Burmese script]], the visarga (variously called {{my|ရှေ့ကပေါက်}} ''shay ga pauk'', {{my|ဝစ္စနစ်လုံးပေါက်}} ''wizza nalone pauk'', or {{my|ရှေ့ဆီး}} ''shay zi'' and represented with two dots to the right of the letter as {{lang|my|◌း}}), when used with joined to a letter, creates the [[Burmese language#Tones|high tone]].

=== Japanese ===
{{See also|Siddhaṃ script}}
[[File:Motoori Norinaga Visarga.png|thumb|The Visarga mark used by Motoori.]]
[[Motoori Norinaga]] invented a mark for visarga which he used in a book about Indian orthography.

=== Javanese ===
In the [[Javanese script]], the visarga (known as the ''wignyan'' ({{lang|jv|ꦮꦶꦒ꧀ꦚꦤ꧀}})) is represented by a two curls to the right of a syllable as {{jav|ꦃ}}: the first curl is short and circular, and the second curl is long. It adds a /[[Voiceless glottal fricative|-h]]/ after a vowel.

=== Kannada ===
In the [[Kannada script]], the visarga (which is called visarga) is represented with two small circles to the right of a letter ಃ. It brings an "''aḥ''" sound to the end of the letter.

=== Khmer ===
In the [[Khmer script]], the visarga (known as the ''reăhmŭkh'' ({{lang|km|រះមុខ}}; "shining face")) indicates an [[Voiceless glottal fricative|aspirated]] {{IPA|/ʰ/}} sound added after a syllable. It is represented with two small circles at the right of a letter as {{lang|km|ះ}}, and it should not be confused with the similar-looking ''yŭkôlpĭntŭ'' ({{lang|km|យុគលពិន្ទុ}}; "pair of dots"), which indicates a short vowel followed by a glottal stop like their equivalent visarga marks in the [[Thai alphabet|Thai]] and [[Lao alphabet|Lao]] scripts.

=== Lao ===
In the [[Lao script]], the visarga is represented with two small curled circles to the right of a letter as {{lang|lo|◌ະ}}. As in the neighboring related [[Thai alphabet|Thai script]], it indicates a [[glottal stop]] after the vowel.

=== Odia ===
In the [[Odia script]], the visarga is represented with a vertical infinity sign to the right of a letter as {{lang|or|ଃ}}. It indicates the post-vocalic voiceless glottal fricative ''aḥ'' [h] sound after the letter.

=== Tamil ===
In the [[Tamil script]], similar to visarga (which is called ''āyutha eḻuttu'' ({{lang|ta|ஆயுத எழுத்து}}), ''āytam'' ({{lang|ta|ஆய்தம்}}), ''muppaal pulli'', ''thaninilai'', ''aghenam''), is represented with three small circles to the right of a letter as {{lang|ta|ஃ}}. Its used to transcribe {{IPA|/q/}} or {{IPA|/h/}} sound that has either become silent, or pronounced as {{IPAslink|x}}, {{IPA|/(a)k-/}} or {{IPA|/-ka/}} in careful speech. Like Sanskrit, it cannot add on to any letter and add aspiration to them. It should be always placed between a single short vowel({{lang|ta|அ}}, {{lang|ta|இ}}, {{lang|ta|உ}}, {{lang|ta|எ}}, {{lang|ta|ஒ}}) and a hard consonant ({{lang|ta|க்}}, {{lang|ta|ச்}}, {{lang|ta|ட்}}, {{lang|ta|த்}}, {{lang|ta|ப்}}, {{lang|ta|ற்}}) for example {{lang|ta|அஃது}} (a'''q'''thu), {{lang|ta|[[:ta:எஃகு|எஃகு]]}} (e'''q'''gu).

=== Telugu ===
In the [[Telugu script]], the visarga (which is called visarga) is represented with two small circles to the right of a letter {{lang|te| ః}}. It brings an "ah" sound to the end of the letter.

=== Thai ===
In the [[Thai script]], the visarga (known as the ''visanchani'' ({{lang|th|วิสรรชนีย์}}) or ''nom nang thangkhu'' ({{lang|th|นมนางทั้งคู่}})) is represented with two small curled circles to the right of a letter as {{lang|th|◌ะ}}. It represents a [[glottal stop]] that follows the affected vowel.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

{{Navbox diacritical marks}}

[[Category:Vyakarana]]
[[Category:Brahmic diacritics]]

Visarga - Revision history

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