Anusvara

The anusvara (Sanskrit: अनुस्वारः, romanized: anusvāraḥ) is a diacritic mark used in many scripts of India and Southeast Asia. Its primary function is to mark a nasal sound, but its precise articulation and phonetic value vary depending on the language and the surrounding sounds.

In Sanskrit, the anusvara is typically represented by a dot placed above a letter. It indicates that the preceding vowel is nasalized, or that a nasal consonant (usually /m/ or /n/) follows the vowel. The exact pronunciation is often determined by the following consonant. For example, if the following consonant is a velar (like /k/ or /g/), the anusvara is often pronounced as /ŋ/ (the "ng" sound in "sing").

The grammatical rules governing the use of anusvara in Sanskrit are complex and dependent on the rules of sandhi (phonetic combination).

In other languages that use scripts derived from Brahmi, the function and pronunciation of the anusvara can differ. It may represent a nasal vowel, a nasal consonant, or a homorganic nasal consonant (a nasal consonant with the same place of articulation as the following consonant).