Preconsonantal Nasals in the Avestan Alphabet

Whereas Sanskrit has four letters representing the different places of articulation of the preconsonantal nasal (labial म m, dentoalveolar न n, postalveolar ञ n, and velar ङ ṅ ―five, if the retroflex variant ण ṇ is included―), according to the usual description of the Avestan alphabet, it has only one letter for it: ṇ. The present paper seeks to show that, when the Avestan alphabet was created, there were more preconsonantal nasals than assumed (probably four) and how rests of this original situation can be demonstrated through the extant manuscripts and, especially, with the so called “Avestan ritual alphabets”.