Update: 2020-10-11 01:53 AM -0400
Pre-intro.htm
by U Kyaw Tun (UKT) (M.S., I.P.C., USA),
Daw Khin Wutyi, Daw Zinthiri Han
and staff of Tun Institute of Learning (TIL).
Not for sale. No copyright. Free for everyone.
Prepared for students and staff of TIL
Research Station, Yangon, MYANMAR
-
http://www.tuninst.net ,
www.romabama.blogspot.com
• Preface
• Introduction
¤ Salutations to our teachers
¤ Swastika
¤
The Curse of Babel and Shibboleth
¤ The Legend of Four Brahmas landing in
Burma
UKT 180801:
I owe a lot to my teachers who had taught me
Bur-Myan
{sa} and
{sa.ka:}, the first being my father U Tun Pe and
mother Daw Hla May. I remember my old teachers
in Kyait'htaw Saya Kywè's village-school. There I'd my
first taste of reciting the Mora (Peacock) Paritta
in Saya Kywè's school. Listen to recitations:
Mora (Peacock) Paritta by Mingun Sayadaw
{mín-kwun: hsa.ra tau} - bk-cndl-Mingun<))
and its equivalent the Gayatri Mantra by Anuradha Paudwal - bk-cndl-gayatri<))
I remember my teachers in Kungyangon schools: headmaster U Hpo Hlaing and his son U Nyunt Shwé.
Then in East Rangoon, the d'Silva sisters & Daw Khin Myint Gyi (who I came to regard as my elder sister). And again in East Rangoon, Saya U Chit Tun (a Christian who hailed from Bassein) at Saya Solomon's Tutorial Classes.
At the university level, I remember U Kyaw Yin, U Hla Maung and U Hla Shwé. Because of my respect for the university teachers who came to head the Myanmar Language Commission (MLC) at one time or another, I will always have high regards for MLC.
I shall always remember my good friend
U (Dr.) Tun Tint, with whom I still argue. He
is so close to me that he would not hesitate to
call me a Man-on-the-street
{lûm:pau-ka.lu} implying a rustic fellow, and I
return call him the Learned-on-ivory-tower
Pyin'nyashi
{píñ~ña shi.} on an Ivory tower. Therefore my
work is not to find fault with the MLC, but to
come up with a unifying language which I am
calling BEPS (Burmese, English, Pali, Sanskrit
speeches in Myanmar, IPA-Latin, & Devanagari
scripts.
In the course of my work, I have to come up with many innovations: one-to-one definitions, and new "what on earth" aksharas, such as Super-Thwehto.
I've to write the vowel /é/ written as Tha'we'hto
or Thwehto
{þa.wé-hto:}, placed on the left of the consonant
being modified to be easily read by non-native
Bur-Myan peoples who have not gone to school in
Myanmarpré. For them the Bur-Myan transliterated
into Engl-Lat is simply not understandable and
misleading. The most problematic are the conjuncts
- both vertical
{paaT~hsín.} and horizontal
{paaT~twè:}. The word
{paaT~twè:} is a word coined by me for the Tha-major
{þ~þa.} conjunct which is mute.
I've solved the problem of left-handed vowels found
in Bur-Myan and Bangla-Bengali - the simplest being
{é} - using such innovations as Super Thwehto.
It results in a new form of of the motto of Shin
Kic'si
{shin-kic~sæÑ:}, the Buddhist monk who was praised as
the foremost Grammarian by the Gautama Buddha
himself. Note: Super Thwehto is to be used when
it is found placed between two consonants,
e.g. it is only used in {ût~htau:}, not
in {tau:}.
UKT 180609: English j /ja/
{ja.} (derived from medial-conjunct
{gya.}), and IPA j /ya/
{ya.} are different. My test for a conjunct is
to find its durability when placed under a Virama
{a·þût.}. Thus Eng-Lat j /ja/
{ja.}/
{j}, and Bur-Myan Nya'gyi
{Ña.}/
{Ñ} are basic aksharas and not conjuncts. Using
{ja.}/
{ j} will be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
I hope my Bur-Myan sayas, who taught me the Bur-Myan - both script and speech - would forgive me for muddying their beloved language.
My salutation to our teacher Gautama Buddha:
ye dhamma hetu pabhavd
tesan hetu tathagato
dha tesancha nirodho
evan vddi mahd samano.
'Whatever Laws are produced from Cause,
the Cause of these Tathagata
has told; and the Extinction of these,
has the great Samana in like manner declared.'
UKT 181118: Interpretations:
• "Laws" - natural laws - such as "all sentient beings are not free from mental suffering"
• "Cause" - "attachment to material things such as a living person, or one who has died
a non-living thing such as an object like a building, a stupa, or a stone, or
immaterial things such as an axiom, a book, a doctrine, a duty, an episode, or an idea such as an -ism
• "Extinction" - the human-being (a sentient being) overcoming attachment
I've avoided using Pali and Sanskrit terms such as Nibbana{naib~baan} or Nirvana, because of possible controversy.
See also Analytical Buddhism, by M. Albahari, 2006
- MAlbahari-Analytical Buddhism<Ô> / Bkp<Ô> (link chk 201009)
"Preface: For over two millennia, Eastern traditions such as Buddhism and Vedanta have claimed extraordinary capacities for the human mind. They have held that it is possible, through rigorous practices involving meditation, to attain nibbāna (Sanskrit, nirvāna), an exalted and irreversible mode of conscious existence. Some commonly reported characteristics of nibbāna include an end to all mental suffering. ... "
Copied from F. Mason, Toangoo, August 1871 :
-
FMason-PaliBurView<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 201009)
"THERE are two schools of Pali. One takes for its basis the Pali derived from
the oldest Burmese manuscripts, and the other the language as it now exists in
books and manuscripts in Ceylon, condemning everything as irregular which
differs from Singalese standards.
"The Pali books are said to have been introduced into Burmah A.D. 387, and they
appear to have been preserved uninterruptedly to the present time; but preserved
by frequent copying, for the palm-leaf, on which they are all written, is such a
perishable material, that the oldest manuscripts are supposed by the natives I
have consulted to be less than two hundred years old."
UKT 190801: I contend that Buddhism was introduced into northern Burma,
particularly to Tagaung area in the very life time of Buddha.
I also contend that northern Burma had been in contact with
north-eastern India centuries before the time of the Buddha, and that the legend
of King Abiraza
{a.Bi.ra-za mín:}, whose two sons were named Kan'yaza-gyi
{kän-ra-za kri:} and
{kän-ra-za gnèý} might be traced to the very period when Iron-weapon wielding
Indo-European speakers infiltrated into north-western India. Naturally, the
indigenous populations of many tribes speaking various languages belonging to
the Tibeto-Burman group of languages defended their homelands. Alas the
defenders, though numerous, had only bronze-weapons. (Note: Since "Bronze" in
Pali is
{kän-þa.}, the names of the princes might refer to
{kän-þa.}) The period could be called
the end of the Bronze-Age and the beginning of the Iron age into India.
This period also saw another group of Iron-agers invading across the Indian ocean from the south. The Tib-Bur languages disappeared eventually in the northern parts replaced by Hindi-group of languages (IE group), and in the southern parts replaced by Tamil-Telugu languages (Aus-Asi group).
The story of Krishna
{ka.Nha.} killing the Kamsa
{kän-þa.} कंस,
«kansa» "literally the Bronze-king" is probably based on fact.
I further contend that the Myanmar akshara
{mrûn-ma ak~hka.ra} had its origin in periods before the
invention of Asokan script. I base my contention on the fact the Myanmar akshara
consonant
{ta.} is still found in the Georgian alphabet თ [Tan].
I also conjecture that the Pali spoken and written in present-day
Myanmarpré is mostly derived from the speech and script of King Abiraza
{a.Bi.ra-za mín:} which
had been highly infiltrated by the Singalese variety.
UKT 180801: My aim is to find the relation between Bur-Myan, English-Latin, Pal-Myan and Skt-Dev. Because of this aim, words should be carefully spelled out taking care of the glyphs.
One of the main obstacles in my task is the
non-phonetic nature of the everyday English
language with which I have to convey my ideas via
speech, and writing. English as a language is
notoriously non-phonetic and its script is an
Alphabet-Letter. There is no one-to-one
correspondence between sound and glyphs. A possible
solution is to use the International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA). However, IPA, which was primarily
used as an intermediary between English and French,
is deficient when used for Abugida-Akshara languages.
UKT 180812: The word Indo-Aryan, which was commonly used before the Second World War, has fallen into disfavour thanks to the Third Reich of Adolph Hitler. So has the Swastika
{sak~ra} 'the spinning cross', the sacred religious symbol of the Buddhist and Hindus, discovered in the ruins Indus-Sarasvati civilization . It is thoroughly misunderstood in North America. In trying to analyze the Folk Elements in Buddhism, by Maung (Dr.) Htin Aung, I have to keep myself reminded that I am a Scientist and a Theravada Buddhist. See:
-- flk-ele-indx.htm > ch05-magus.htm (link chk 180412)
Read also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occultism_in_Nazism , 180802
Read Adolf Hitler el Último Avatāra, by Miguel Serrano, 2011, in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries
- MSerrano- AdolfHitlerAvatara<Ô> / Bkp<Ô> (link chk 201010)
"A Book describing the ongoing, titanic and eternal battle between Gods and Devils – between a Dark Force, a Satanic Spirit and a coming, or returning Hyperborean, Aryan Age."I hope those, lay-men and Theravada Buddhist monks, who have introduced me to the subject of their interest - the Bur-Myan occult, such the construction of Yantras
{ín:}, such as the Four-rounded Yantra
UKT 180803: The Bur-Myan word Yantra
{yûn~ta.ra:} (MED2006-387c1 of Skt-Dev origin) aka
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayinnaung 180803
"He is considered one of the three greatest kings of Burma, along with Anawrahta and Alaungpaya. Some of the most prominent places in modern Myanmar are named after him. He is also well known in Thailand as Phra Chao Chana Sip Thit (พระเจ้าชนะสิบทิศ, "Victor of the Ten Directions")".What is not well-known is about a king who was also a Master of Yan
{ín: waiz~za}, King Dhamazedi of Peguan Kingdom, and his mother-in-law Sovereign-Queen Shinsawbu. See:
lang-relig-indx.htm > dhamazedi.htmThe Yantra
What went into Georgian script is the Myanmar
So far the IPA developed for the Western European languages has proven to be unsatisfactory for my work, especially in Bur-Myan which has a full set of 5 nasals, compared to 2 of Eng-Lat and 3 of Skt-Dev.
Giving only English transcription has hindered my understanding of Languages. I'm confining myself to the study of four languages at present - speech and script - checked by languages which use the same script such as Mon-Myan which uses the same basic Myanmar akshara. I've two principles, or mottos perhaps: Script unifies and Speech divides, and the motto of Shin Kic'si Meaning is known by Script. I hope it will free us from the shackles of the Curse of Babel.
When speaking English, a Bur-Myan speaker should learn to imitate the English phonology. It is because of the notoriously confusing nature of English spelling: learn to think of English pronunciation in terms of phonemes rather than letters [{graphemes}] of the alphabet.
See: Section 2: English phonetics
- Eng-phon-indx.htm (link chk 180915)
UKT 180813:
Why peoples of different language groups speak different
mutually non-understandable speeches, has been explained
in two ways:
#1 the religionist explanation, and,
#2 the scientific explanation.
From Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel 180331
"The Tower of Babel (Hebrew: מִגְדַּל בָּבֶל, Migdal Bāḇēl) as told in Genesis 11:1-9 is an origin myth meant to explain [and frighten the people with an image of the wrathful God, to bring them into submission to the priests] why the world's peoples speaking different languages. [1] [2] [3] [4] "
From: http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Words/shibboleth.html 180401
"A shibboleth
{shib~bol leþ} is one specific phenomenon
involving observing use of language of
"out-group" people. It is a
linguistic marker that is characteristic
of members of a group, which is used by another
group to identify members of the first group.
Such identification typically has bad
consequences for the members thus identified.
UKT 180914: The Eng-Lat <shibboleth> on transforming into BEPS-Myan by use of Romabama is
The story behind the word is recorded in the biblical Book of Judges. The word shibboleth in ancient Hebrew dialects meant 'ear of grain' (or, some say, 'stream'). [UKT ¶]
Some groups [not necessarily of the same language
group
{sa.ka:oap-su.}] pronounced it with a sh
sound [ श ś [ɕ] /ʃ/ ], but
speakers of related dialects [may be belonging to
a different language group] pronounced it with
an s [ ष ṣ [ʂ]
/s/ ].
UKT 180401: This fricative-sibilant husher श ś [ɕ] /ʃ/ phoneme is known in BEPS Bur-Myan as
{sha.}/
{sh}, but the fricative-sibilant hisser ष ṣ [ʂ] /s/
{Sa.}/
{S} is not known. It's place is taken by fricative-thibilant
{þa.}/
{þ} /θ/. Fricative-thibilant is unknown is Skt-Dev. To understand this note of mine you have to know the BEPS consonants. (link chk 180926)
Romabama
{ro:ma.ba.ma} (my invention as a intermediate ASCII language) to harmonize BEPS. It is yet to be accepted by MLC (Myanmar Language Commission).]
We find a parallel to the two ethnic-groups mentioned in the Bible in two ethnic groups in Myanmarpré: the Bamah (Burmese) and Karens. As far as I know shibboleth
Ref: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karenic_languages 190802
"The Karen or Karenic languages, are tonal languages spoken by some seven million Karen people. They are of unclear affiliation within the Sino-Tibetan languages. The Karen languages are written using the Burmese script."
UKT 190802: The minute I see the term "Burmese script", I began to have doubts. It is unfortunate that linguists still do not differentiate "speech" from "script". Burmese is speech and Myanmar is script. "Speech divides" whilst "script unites." The unfortunate incident had arose out of differences in speech".When I ask my Karen cook to slice
{lhi:} me some unions, she will bring
{li:} 'penis' onions. I could never made her pronounced the Ha'hto
{ha. hto:} sounds.
In the story, two Semitic tribes, the
Ephraimites and the Gileadites, have a great battle.
The Gileadites defeat the Ephraimites, and set up a
blockade across the Jordan River to catch the
fleeing Ephraimites who were trying to get back
to their territory. The sentries asked each person
who wanted to cross the river to say the word
shibboleth
{shib~bol leþ}. The Ephraimites, who had no
sh sound in their language, pronounced
the word with an s and were thereby
unmasked as the enemy and slaughtered.
UKT 180404: Two Semitic tribes, one which could pronounce the Ha'hto sound in the word shibboleth, and the other which couldn't, cannot be of the same language group as in the case of Burmese and Karens.
Note the word Semites: which includes Arabs, Arameans, Babylonians, Carthaginians, Ethiopians, Hebrews, and Phoenians. (AHTD). It is a coined word of 1770s derived from Christian concept of ancient peoples as descendants of the three sons of Noah of the Flood story: Sem (Shem), Iafeth (Japheth) and Cham (Ham), which I as a skeptical chemist, and a Theravada Buddhist cannot accept outright. Just think of them as two different warring groups one of which could pronounce the
Here is the relevant excerpt from the King James Bible,
Book of Judges. The full account is in
Chapter 12, verses 1-15.
From:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges+12&version=KJV
180404
" 5 And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites: and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay;
" 6 Then said they unto him, Say now Shibboleth: and he said Sibboleth: for he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him, and slew him at the passages of Jordan: and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand."
See Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_James_Version 180404
Personal note: I dip into the King James Bible (KJV) (Christian Bible for Church of England written during 1604 to 1611), from time to time to see how English as a language has been changing. It was the Bible my mother Daw Hla May (Theravada Buddhist) was exposed to, when she went to Diocesan Girl School in Rangoon at the turn of 19th to 20th century under the name of Mary.
In British-Burma, children going to Christian schools had to take up English Christian names even though they came from Buddhist families. My name was Harry. The colonialists were trying to make us ‘Macaulay’s Children’ - Burmese only in ethnicity, but British in outlook and religion. An education policy set by Baron Macaulay which backfired in India and Myanmarpré.
See:
-
RBoyle-SkepticalChymist<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô>
(link chk 180926)
"Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist, 1661, or
Chymico-Physical Doubts & Paradoxes, Touching
the Spagyrist's Principles Commonly call'd Hypostatical;
As they are wont to be Propos'd and Defended by the
Generality of Alchymists. Whereunto is præmis'd Part
of another Discourse relating to the same Subject."
-
RHickey-LangSoc<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180926)
"Language is both a system of communication
between individuals and a social phenomenon. The
area of language and society – sociolinguistics
– is intended to show how our use of language is
governed by such factors as class, gender, race, etc.
A subsection of this area is anthropological
linguistics which is concerned with form and use of
language in different cultures and to what extent
the development of language has been influenced by
cultural environment."
The confusion between languages can be explained scientifically as the result of speakers of a particular language group using a particular set of vocal muscles, and another using a different set. We lay aside what has been explained as the nefarious work the Christian God.
My Christian friends always love their God as a merciful and understanding God. It is unthinkable for them to see their God to be so mean. He surely would not play such dirty tricks on the very people whom he had created. His aim would not be to make them subservient, but to love and understand each other. The King in Heaven is not a cruel despot like some on Earth.
- UKT 181113, 201010:
According to my friend U (Dr.) Tun Tint, as far as
he (aged 84) could remember, the story is told in
Adikuppa kyum
{aa-di.kûp~pa. kyûm:} , by
{sic~kè:tau-kri: U:shwé-nau}
'the legend of the beginning of the Earth'.
The legend that we heard independently goes:
"Soon after the land was
formed, sweet odors started issuing from the
ground. A group of four Brahma
{brah~ma} "dwellers of Space who have only
ethereal bodies and who have no gender", saw
it and came down to investigate. The odors were
so rich that they started eating the earthy
material which transformed their bodies into
material and heavy bodies. They could not go back
into Space. Soon sexual organs started to appear,
and three turned males, while the fourth became a
female. They turned to sex pleasures and had
children and started the human race. They had to
elect a leader who was called the Universal
Monarch
{ma.ha þûm~ma.ta. mín:}."
This legend might have been derived from the Buddhist
Aggañña Sutta
{ag~giñ~ña. þoat~tän}, in Digha Nikaya. The story was told
by Buddha to two monks Bharadvaja
{Ba-ra.dwa-za} and Vasettha
{wa-þéT~HTa.}.
See also: -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agga%C3%B1%C3%B1a_Sutta 201010
"In the second part of the Sutta, the Buddha tells the story of how human
beings came to dwell on Earth."
UKT 190803: I doubt that it was the Buddha who had told this story. The story tells
us that the land of Myanmarpré at the time of alien landing was already
solid ground. Geologically, the mainland of Burma was under the ancient Tythis Ocean until geologically recent times.
See Section 08: What the Earth has to say
-
earth-indx (link chk 190803)
and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tethys_Ocean 190803
See also The ancient Tethys oceans of Asia: How many? How old? How deep?
How wide? by Ian Metcalfe, 1999 in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries
-
IMetcalf-TethysOceanBurma<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô>
(link chk 190803)
Inset map is from Ian Metcalf. Concentrate on suture 8 curving down south to become suture 12 which is the Irrawaddy-Sittang basin which is marked "Shan Boundary".
We must conclude that the story or legend do not have any basis. Yet, I will now take the liberty and say, it
was Burma where the Spacemen were supposed to have landed and
the land came to be called the Brahmadesh
{brah~ma dé-þa.} which eventually came to be called Burma, and the speech
{ba.ma sa.ka:}. It is my answer to the Poannars who call their script, the
script used in the capital of Dévas {dé-wa. na-ga-ri}.
The Legendary four races of ancient Burma
- UKT 181120:
According to the legends, there were 4 races living in Burma, before the incursion of the Mons (speakers of Mon-Myan speech). They were: Pyu, Kanyan, Thak (also spelled as Thet), Myanmar. When the Mons destroyed the homeland in Sri Ksektra , the Pyus went into the mountainous regions. Mons followed them and destroyed their settlements, and they went further northwards and joined the Myanmar, who finally absorbed them peacefully. The Thaks went back to the area of
{þak-mín:ka.toän}. I wonder whether the Thaks were Sanskrit speakers of India. However, my friend U (Dr.) Tun Tint of MLC, would not accept my suggestion. (phone conversation on 181120).
----- remainder from old version-----
Under the BEPS-indx.htm , you'll find:
1. Dominance of Script over Speech in communication. 2. Translation from one script into another: different from Interpretation from one Alphabet-Letter speech into another, with notes on Analytic Philosophy. (I've been asking myself if it would be appropriate to take the first two sermons and a theory on psychology of Theravada Buddhism and classify the group of three as Analytic Buddhism ? 3. Continuation from Translation from one Alphabet-Letter Script into another - LiteraryTranslation.htm.
See also Literary translation and its indefinable nature, by J. Thangamariappan, 2016, in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries:
- JThangamariappan-LiteraryTranslation<Ô> / Bkp<Ô> (link chk 181112)
"The act of translating a text from one language into another language is an age old activity. So far, many linguists, translators and translation theorists have tried to form a define that act, but, there is no authentic description has been drawn so far."
• BEPS and Transcription systems - to be written
1. Alphabet-Letter System of Transcription for Eng-Lat - to be written
2. Abugida-Akshara System of Transcription - AbugidaAkshara.htm - update 2018Sep
3. Rhotic accent of the Indo-Europeans - rhoticity.htm -
4. Devanagari hand-strokes - Dev-hand.htm
5. Travels of Ta თ /t/ from Burma to Georgia - Paradigms.htm - update 2018Sep• BEPS vowels - Vowel.htm - update 2018Sep
1. Sonority of BEPS aksharas - SonoBEPS.htm - update 2018Sep
---- See also: - RBM-intro-indx.htm (link chk 180916)
2. Vowel lengths : Hrasva, Dīrgha and Pluta - measured in time to blink your eye
3. Shudras and Kiratas - the Bronze Age peoples• BEPS approximants - Approx.htm - update 2018Sep
UKT 180915: It is unwise to complete this section until I've gone through
Section 07: Sanskrit dictionaries and grammars• BEPS nasals - Nasal.htm - update 2018Sep
1. Nasals-consonants as onset
2. Nasal-consonants as coda
3. Nasal Endings and respective bookmarks• BEPS consonants - Conson.htm - update 2018Sep
Differentiate the Abugida-Akshara system from Alphabet-Letter system
1. Esoteric nature of consonants : the search for Ka'minor{ka.gnèý}, companion of Ka'major
{ka.kri:}
2. BEPS new glyphs :,
,
,
• Building words from consonants and vowels (this should go into another Section)
This section includes:
¤ Paleolithic Age and human settlements
¤ Homo Erectus in Asia
Pix: The oldest inscriptions found on the Indian Sub-continent are of King Asoka
of Magadha Kingdom.
#1. Though there are some human societies which are believed to use language with speech alone without any form of script, is it fair to believe that they have no forms of representation to record speech? Is it possible to have a modern society which uses computers instead of script? Is it fair to believe that an ancient society such as Indus-Saraswati society have only speech without any other forms of representation to record speech? In other words, can an advanced society be illiterate?
#2. There is a possible direct link between Myanmarpré and Central Asia, which I'll call the Burma Paradigm . I've formed this paradigm, after coming across Mon Paradigm of Professor Michael Aung Thwin, and Pyu Paradigm of those who question him.
#3. Google gives: " Burma is the
Burmese name, used at the beginning of the
12th century, but its origin is still unclear,
but historians of Myanmar agreed that, the
name derived from “Brahmadesh” in
Sanskrit, which means “land of Brahma” Hindu
god of all things." .
- My question: Which "historians of
Myanmar"? Was the first one Taw Sein Ko?
My observation: historians are not
scientists - newer ones quoting older ones!
- My question: What about archeologists writing
history?
My observation: Relying on stone inscriptions
- which may be just as unreliable as those by modern
historians - can be just hearsay. As an example, see
Sacred Geography of Dawei, by E. H. Moore,
2013 in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries:
-
EHMoore-SacredGeogrDawei<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180813)
The Problem of Translation or translating
See: - Translation.htm (link chk 181110)
and read: 04. Translators: Translating , and 04.1. Interpreting
In many instances what we think of Translating or Translating is Interpretation such as during a conference which is then followed by official Translations in various scripts.
"Interpreters provide simultaneous interpretation from and into the six official languages for the meetings of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council and all their subsidiary bodies. A team for a six-language meeting requires 14 interpreters: three per booth for Arabic and Chinese (because they interpret from and into those languages), and two apiece for English, French, Russian and Spanish." -- from the requirements of an interpreter at the United Nations assemblies:
https://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=LCEFD&FId=2 181108
UKT 181110: Delegates from Myanmarpré and other nations which suffer from insufficient understanding of English and other official UN languages are always a setback in international conferences. I came to notice this while I was on the editorial board of the North Renfrew Times in Deep River, Ontario, CANADA. I will cite the case of the term "Third World". We in Myanmarpré have taken it to mean "Non-aligned" as different from the "First World" (Capitalists such as USA and UK), the "Second World" (Communists such as the Soviet Union). We are proudly the "Third World (Non-Aligned - India, Myanmarpré, etc.). Everyone else took it to mean "third class - undeveloped".
I remember, Dr. John Hardy, a member of the board, took time to make a thorough search, and came back the following day and reported to all at the meeting, how they have been misunderstanding.- UKT 181001
After becoming convinced that Script is more important than Speech in human communication, I must look into how to translate one text into another. I have heard Pali translated/interpreted into everyday Burmese all my life without paying much attention to it. I did not know Burmese and Pali are speeches, and both written in Myanmar script. I've heard Pali being recited, and interpreted as
{a.nak a.Daip~paaý} without knowing that it is interpretation and not translation.
Then comes English being translated/interpreted into Burmese. The problem is more complicated because here we are using two scripts, Latin and Myanmar. Moreover, the two uses two transcription systems, Alphabet-Letter for English and Abugida-Akshara for Burmese. To compound the problem Eng-Latin is non-phonetic whereas Bur-Myan is phonetic. Fool as I am in attempting to formulate BEPS, I am treading onto an area where angels fear to tread. I deserve to be called man-on-the-street
{lûm:pau-ka.lu} by my friend U (Dr.) Tun Tint.
See also:
• Language and Religion - lang-relig-indx.htm - update 2015Dec
• Language problem of primitive Buddhism, lang-probl.htm - update 2015Nov¤ General info on above subsections
Pix: The oldest inscriptions found on the Indian Sub-continent are of King Asoka of Magadha Kingdom. Compare the timeline of Asokan script to that of Assyrian Sacred Tree (Assyrian timeline: Old Assyrian Empire 2025-1400 BC, Neo-Assyrian Empire 1055-936 BC, expansion 911-627 BC, downfall 626-609 BC - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Assyrian_Empire 181009
#1. Though there are some human societies which are believed to use language with speech alone without any form of script, is it fair to believe that they have no forms of representation to record speech? Is it possible to have a modern society which uses computers instead of script? Is it fair to believe that an ancient society such as Indus-Saraswati society have only speech without any other forms of representation to record speech? In other words, can an advanced society being illiterate?
#2. See also Language and Religion - lang-relig-indx.htm - update 2015Dec
The present day Burmese language has to deal with four spoken languages belonging to two language groups
{ba.ïn~pa-þak}. It is the acronym for BURMESE, ENGLISH, PALI, SANSKRIT LANGUAGES or speeches
{sa.ka:} in four scripts
#3. There is a possible direct link between Myanmarpré and Central Asia, which I'll call the Burma Paradigm . I've formed this paradigm, after coming across Mon Paradigm of Professor Michael Aung Thwin, and Pyu Paradigm of those who question him.
Because of my Burma Paradigm, I am taking some interest in Central Asia, the area into which Buddhism had spread before being destroyed by the Muslims. This has led me to The Assyrian Sacred Tree: A History of Interpretations, by Mariana Giovino, 2007, downloaded file in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF
- MGiovino-AssyrianSacredTree<Ô> / Bkp<Ô> (link chk 181009)#4. Google gives: " Burma is the Burmese name, used at the beginning of the 12th century, but its origin is still unclear, but historians of Myanmar agreed that, the name derived from “Brahmadesh” in Sanskrit, which means “land of Brahma” Hindu god of all things." .
- My question: Which "historians of Myanmar"? Was the first one Taw Sein Ko?
My observation: historians are not scientists - newer ones quoting older ones!
- My question: What about archeologists writing history?
My observation: Relying on stone inscriptions - which may be just as unreliable as those by modern historians - can be just hearsay. As an example, see Sacred Geography of Dawei, by E. H. Moore, 2013 in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries:
- EHMoore-SacredGeogrDawei<Ô> / Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180813)#5. Going through the dictionaries of 2 Myanmar languages, Bur-Myan and Pal-Myan, the first thing that strikes the reader's attention is the difference in arrangement of TOC. The TOC of all Bur-Myar dictionaries begins with the consonants, and the vowels come later. Whereas TOCs of the Pal-Myan dictionaries begins with vowels, and then come the consonants. I now believe there is a reason behind it, that depends on the sonority of the aksharas.
Dialects of Sanskrit written in Devanagari script
There is strong link between Asokan script and Myanmar script - stronger than Devanagari script. I base my view on the circularly rounded shape of the individual glyph. There is about 33% similarity between the two. Rev. F. Mason (Taungoo, 1867), went further. Of course, there are scripts with rounded shapes - but theirs is not circular.
It is now accepted that the oldest speech
{shin kic~sæÑ}, who has been praised by the Gautama Buddha, as the greatest "grammarian" as shown on the right.
The writing system, script
{a.þau:ka. mín:}, should be called Asokan (now erroneously dubbed Brahmi). This has led many to believe it is the script of Ponnar
{poaN~Na:} - the language of Hinduism, the Atta
{ût~ta.} religion. Emperor Asoka
{a.nût~ta.} doctrine, he was a Jain - a religion similar to Buddhism. Anatta
There are at least two major kinds of Ponnar
{braah~ma.Na. poaN~Na:} (the northern kind who speak one kind of dialect of Sanskrit), and the Shaivite Ponnar
{þi-wa. poaN~Na:} (the southern kind who speak a different dialect). Their faith is the Atta
See Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richa 170126, 171122, 180822
"Rucha or Richa , Skt-Dev ऋचा ... In Marathi or in Kannada [modern south Indian languages], it is pronounced as Rucha. In Hindi [modern north Indian language], it is pronounced as Richa ... The pronunciation of the given name 'Richa' varies based on the geography and native language of the speakers. Hindi speaking populace would pronounce the Sanskrit word as "richa" as opposed to Marathi or Kannada speaking populace. Both the 'ru' and 'ri' pronunciations of the given name are correct and are regional variants. "This has given rise to at least two varieties of Brahmi script: Asokan-Brahmi and Tamil-Brahmi.
See the following Wikipedia articles:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmi_script 180802
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Indian_epigraphy 180802
Asokan script is a phonetic script and could transcribe many speeches of various linguistic groups of India: Tibeto-Burman (Tib-Bur), Austro-Asiatic (Aus-Asi) and Indo-European (IE). It predates the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) by thousands of years. However, "the early Asokan variant of Brahmi lacks many conjuncts and vocalic letters."
- http://www.virtualvinodh.com/wp/asokan-brahmi/ -180711Yet, Asokan may not be the precursor of Pal-Myan, because of the possible absence of Pali vertical conjuncts,
{paaHT-hsín.}. I'll have to look into ¤ A Pali grammar on the basis of Kaccayano
- FMason-KicsiPaliGram<Ô> / bkp<Ô> (link chk 171224)
- FMasonMazard-KicsiPali<Ô> / bkp<Ô> (link chk 171224)Read also ¤ An Introduction to Kachchyana's Grammar of Palilanguage, by James d'Alwis, 1863,
- JAlwis-KachchayanaPaliGram<Ô> / Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180730)------End of remainder of old version -----
End of TIL file
