56. The y is by its physical character a palatal utterance; and it is classed as a palatal semivowel by the Hindu phonetists. It is one of the most common of Sanskrit sounds.
57. The व् v is pronounced as English or French v (German w) by the modern Hindus — except when preceded by a consonant in the same syllable, in which case it has rather the sound of English w; and European scholars follow the same practice (with or without the same exception).
a. By its whole treatment in the euphony of the language, however, the v stands related to an u-vowel precisely as y to an i-vowel. It is, then, a v only according the original Roman value of that letter — that is to say, a w-sound in the English sense; though (as was stated above for the y) it may well have been less markedly separated from u than English w, or more like French ou in oui etc. But, as the original w has in most European languages been changed to v (English), so also in India, and that from a very early time: the Paninean scheme and two of the Prātiçākhyas (VPr. and TPr.) distinctly define the sound as made between the upper teeth and the lower lip — which, of course, identifies it with the ordinarily modern v-sound. As a matter of practice, the usual pronunciation need not be seriously objected to; yet the student should not fail to note that the rules of Sanskrit euphony and the name of “semivowel” have no application except to a w-sound in the English sense: a v-sound (German w) is no semivowel, but a spirant, standing on the same articulate stage with the English th-sounds and the f.
58. The v is classed as a labial semivowel by the Hindu phonetical authorities. It has a somewhat greater frequency than the y.
a. In the Veda, under the same circumstances as the y (above, 55 a), v is to be read as a vowel, u.
b. As to the interchange of v and b, see above, 50 a.
59. Spirants. Under the name ūṣman (literally heat, steam, flatus), which is usually and well represented by spirant, some of the Hindu authorities include all the remaining sounds of the alphabet; others apply the term only to the three sibilants and the aspiration — to which it will here also be restricted.
a. The term is not found in the Paninean scheme; by different treatises the guttural and labial breathings, these and the visarga, or all these and anusvāra, are also (in addition to the sibilants and h) called ūṣman
