ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Hindustani phonology

Hindustani phonology is all about how the sounds in the Hindi and Urdu languages are made and pronounced.

Imagine you are playing with different toys that make different sounds - a drum, a whistle, and a horn. Similarly, your mouth produces sounds through different toys known as your lips, tongue, teeth, vocal cords, nasal cavity, and throat.

In Hindustani phonology, there are 11 vowel sounds, which are the sounds made without blocking airflow. These are like the different notes on a piano - some are high, some are low, and some are in the middle. The vowel sounds are important in creating meaningful words in Hindi and Urdu.

Now let's talk about the consonant sounds, which are the sounds made by blocking or constricting airflow. Imagine you are playing with your toy cars and you put them in a roadblock or a bottleneck - you are creating a temporary restriction. Similarly, your mouth does this when you make consonant sounds. There are 36 consonant sounds in Hindustani phonology, and each of them is made using a different combination of the toys in your mouth.

Finally, there are some sounds that require air to flow through your nose, rather than just your mouth. Imagine you are making a humming sound like a bee - this vibration comes from your nasal cavity. In Hindustani phonology, there are 3 nasal consonant sounds.

So, to sum it up, Hindustani phonology is all about the different sounds made by your mouth and nose when speaking Hindi and Urdu. It's like playing with different toys in your mouth to make different sounds that create meaningful words.