Syllables in the word Hindi
'हिन्दी' / 'हिंदी' इन शब्दों के खंड
Almost everyone pronounce Hindi as two syllables 'Hin' and 'di' (or 'dee').
As per xNagari transliteration, the spelling of Hindi is 'hindee'.
There are two commonly used spellings of the word 'Hindi' in the DevaNagari script.
- 'हिंदी' ('hiNdee' as per xNagari)
- 'हिन्दी' ('hindee' as per xNagari)
The second spelling 'हिन्दी' looks like 'हि+न्दी' ('hi+ndee'). The 'n' which is pronounced with 'hi' is attached with 'dee'.
In other words; 'Hindi' can be written in Devanagari as 'Hi-ndi'. It does not correctly represent syllable boundaries.
Some people give example of this second spelling of Hindi to argue that DevaNagari is not scientific!
So to correct the syllable issue, we may write हिन्दी (hina-_dee; हिन्+दी). This we have done by showing 'halant'. This character 'halant' is generally absorbed in conjunct formation and hence remain invisible. But, people don't accept this spelling.
If you want correct syllable boundaries, use the first spelling of Hindi which is 'हिंदी' ('hiN' + 'dee').
In my opinion 'Anuswar' may be used in regular hindi text instead of pure nasal consonants ( ङ् ञ् ण् न् म् ); while last two nasal consonants ( न् म् ) should be used in text books of junior schools instead of 'Anuswar'.