[en] A tritium nuclear magnetic resonance study is carried out on the T₂, HT, and DT isotopomers of dihydrogen dissolved in various nematic phases, including a zero-electric-field-gradient mixture. Ab initio calculations are performed to reproduce the observed dipolar couplings. Within the framework of the open-quotes mean-fieldclose quotes approximation, the results provide support for a picture in which two independent contributions to the solute orientation can be distinguished. One contribution involves a liquid-crystal-dependent interaction between the mean solvent electric-field gradient and the solute molecular quadrupole moment. The other contribution is of unknown origin; however, it is essentially identical in all liquid crystals and it can be modeled adequately with a phenomenological mean-field interaction. A remarkable feature of this second interaction is that it causes the average orientation of the asymmetrical isotopomers, and especially of HT, to behave differently from the symmetrical species. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society