Editing Sanskrit (section)

===Consonants===
Sanskrit possesses a symmetric consonantal phoneme structure based on how the sound is articulated, though the actual usage of these sounds conceals the lack of parallelism in the apparent symmetry possibly from historical changes within the language.{{sfn|Jamison|2008|pp=9–10}}

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; width:95%"
|+Sanskrit consonants in the Devanagari script{{sfn|Robert P. Goldman|Sally J Sutherland Goldman|2002|pp=13–19}}{{efn|name="manyscript"}}
|-
!
! colspan="8" | ''{{IAST|sparśa}}''<br />([[Plosive consonant|Plosive]])
! colspan="2" | ''{{IAST|anunāsika}}''<br />([[Nasal stop|Nasal]])
! colspan="2" | ''{{IAST|antastha}}''<br />([[Approximant]])
! colspan="2" | ''{{IAST|ūṣman/saṃgharṣhī}}''<br />([[Fricative consonant|Fricative]])
|-
! [[Voice (phonetics)|Voicing]] →
| colspan="4" | ''{{IAST|aghoṣa}}''
| colspan="8" style="background:beige;" | ''{{IAST|ghoṣa}}''
| colspan="2" | ''{{IAST|aghoṣa}}''
|-
! [[Aspiration (phonetics)|Aspiration]] →
| colspan="2" | ''{{IAST|alpaprāṇa}}''
| colspan="2" style="background:beige;" | ''{{IAST|mahāprāṇa}}''
| colspan="2" | ''{{IAST|alpaprāṇa}}''
| colspan="2" style="background:beige;" | ''{{IAST|mahāprāṇa}}''
| colspan="4" | ''{{IAST|alpaprāṇa}}''
| colspan="2" style="background:beige;"| ''{{IAST|mahāprāṇa}}''
|-
!''{{IAST|kaṇṭhya}}''<br />([[Guttural]])
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|क}}||{{IAST|ka}}<br />{{IPAblink|k}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ख}}||{{IAST|kha}}<br />{{IPAblink|kʰ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ग}}||{{IAST|ga}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɡ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|घ}}||{{IAST|gha}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɡʱ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ङ}}||{{IAST|ṅa}}<br />{{IPAblink|ŋ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ह}}||{{IAST|ha}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɦ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ᳲक}}||{{IAST|ẖ}}<br />{{IPAblink|x}}
|-
!''tālavya''<br />([[Palatal consonant|Palatal]])
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|च}}||{{IAST|ca}}<br />{{IPAblink|t͜ɕ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|छ}}||{{IAST|cha}}<br />{{IPAblink|t͜ɕʰ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ज}}||{{IAST|ja}}<br />{{IPAblink|d͜ʑ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|झ}}||{{IAST|jha}}<br />{{IPAblink|d͜ʑʱ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1;; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ञ}}||{{IAST|ña}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɲ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|य}}||{{IAST|ya}}<br />{{IPAblink|j}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|श}}||{{IAST|śa}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɕ}}
|-
!''mūrdhanya''<br />([[Retroflex consonant|Retroflex]])
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ट}}||{{IAST|ṭa}}<br />{{IPAblink|ʈ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ठ}}||{{IAST|ṭha}}<br />{{IPAblink|ʈʰ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ड}}||{{IAST|ḍa}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɖ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ढ}}||{{IAST|ḍha}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɖʱ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ण}}||{{IAST|ṇa}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɳ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|र}}||{{IAST|ra}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɾ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ष}}||{{IAST|ṣa}}<br />{{IPAblink|ʂ}}
|-
!''dantya''<br />([[Dental consonant|Dental]])
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|त}}||{{IAST|ta}}<br />{{IPAblink|t}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|थ}}||{{IAST|tha}}<br />{{IPAblink|tʰ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|द}}||{{IAST|da}}<br />{{IPAblink|d}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ध}}||{{IAST|dha}}<br />{{IPAblink|dʱ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|न}}||{{IAST|na}}<br />{{IPAblink|n}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ल}}||{{IAST|la}}<br />{{IPAblink|l}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|स}}||{{IAST|sa}}<br />{{IPAblink|s}}
|-
!''{{IAST|oṣṭhya}}''<br />([[Labial consonant|Labial]])
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|प}}||{{IAST|pa}}<br />{{IPAblink|p}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|फ}}||{{IAST|pha}}<br />{{IPAblink|pʰ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ब}}||{{IAST|ba}}<br />{{IPAblink|b}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|भ}}||{{IAST|bha}}<br />{{IPAblink|bʱ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|म}}||{{IAST|ma}}<br />{{IPAblink|m}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|व}}||{{IAST|va}}<br />{{IPAblink|ʋ}}
| style="background:#ffdec1; font-size:24px;"|{{lang|und-Deva|ᳲप}}||{{IAST|ḫ}}<br />{{IPAblink|ɸ}}
|}

{{Quote box
 |quote  = '''The system of Sanskrit Sounds'''<br />[The] order of Sanskrit sounds works along three principles: it goes from simple to complex; it goes from the back to the front of the mouth; and it groups similar sounds together. [...] Among themselves, both the vowels and consonants are ordered according to where in the mouth they are pronounced, going from back to front.
 |source = — A. M. Ruppel, ''The Cambridge Introduction to Sanskrit''{{sfn|A. M. Ruppel|2017|pp=18–19}}
 |width = 28%
 |style=min-width: 15em
 |bgcolor=#FFE0BB
 |align  = right
}}

* Sanskrit has a series of retroflex stops originating as conditioned alternants of dentals.{{sfn|Jamison|2008|pp=9–10}}
* ''jh'' is a marginal phoneme in Sanskrit, hence its phonology is more difficult to reconstruct; it was more commonly employed in the Middle Indo-Aryan languages as a result of phonological processes resulting in the phoneme.
* The palatal nasal is a conditioned variant of n occurring next to palatal obstruents.{{sfn|Jamison|2008|pp=9–10}} 
* The ''anusvara'' that Sanskrit deploys is a conditioned alternant of post-vocalic nasals, under certain sandhi conditions.{{sfn|Jamison|2008|p=10}} 
* The ''visarga'' is a word-final or morpheme-final conditioned alternant of s and r under certain sandhi conditions.{{sfn|Jamison|2008|p=10}}
* The voiceless aspirated series is also an innovation in Sanskrit but is rarer than the other three series.{{sfn|Jamison|2008|pp=9–10}}
* While the Sanskrit language organizes sounds for expression beyond those found in the PIE language, it retained many features found in the Iranian and Balto-Slavic languages. An example of a similar process in all three is the retroflex sibilant ʂ being the automatic product of dental s [[Ruki sound law|following i, u, r, and k]].{{sfn|Jamison|2008|p=10}}