become well practised in speaking with a moving jaw, it does require some attention to break that habit and speak with a moving tongue. The biggest single factor in practising the refined sounds of Sanskrit, is to open the mouth! For English, the mouth opens to a mere slit of about 6-mm (a pencil thickness); for Sanskrit this needs to increase fourfold — literally! Try this out for yourself: with the mouth opened to a slit, sound a prolonged a3 and slowly open the mouth wide and listen to the change in the quality, to the richness and fulness that emerges. The mouth needs to open a lot more than you think — so don't think! — use a measure, like two fingers. 1.A.3 The Three Primary Vowels: a i u The sounding of a3 is simplicity itself: with body and mind relaxed but alert, open the throat and mouth wide, and with tongue relaxed, breathe out and simply desire that the vocal cords vibrate. What could be more natural than that? This sound is central to all the vowel sounds; indeed, the whole alphabet is simply an embellishment of this sound. As a very rough guide, the short a sounds similar to the vowel in 'but' and definitely not 'bat'; likewise the long a is similar to the vowel in 'harm' and not 'ham'. In producing the short a there is a slight tensioning in the throat; that tension should not be there for the long a or the prolonged a3- In spite of this difference between a and a, they are treated as though the same in the rules of sandhi (euphonic combination) of the grammar. To sound i3, open the mouth as for a3 and raise the back of the tongue (the tip should be relaxed behind the bottom front teeth). In producing this sound it will be noticed that there is a slight constriction or tensioning in the throat as compared with the relaxed throat when sounding a3- To sound U3, allow the lips to form a small circular opening of the mouth (so that the moistened back of a pencil just slips in and out, filling the opening); there should be no tension in the lips or face muscles, so pout rather than purse the lips. There will be a similar tension in the throat as for i3. The short i sounds similar to the vowel in 'pink' and NOT 'pin', and the long T like 'peep' or 'seat'; the short u is similar to the vowel in 'put' or 'soot', and the long u like 'boot' or 'suit'.
