Update: 2018-05-25 05:18 AM -0400
MC-indx.htm
by A. A. Macdonell, 1893,
• Scanned pages from Univ. Cologne
-
http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de/scans/MDScan/index.php?sfx=jpg;
1929.
• Nataraj ed., 1st in 2006, 2012.
• Digital online dictionary from Univ. Chicago
-
http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/macdonell/
• Benfey Skt-Eng Dictionary, 1866, in PDF
-
TBenfey-SktEngDict<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180112)
Ref. as "Benfey" - no page numbers
in Google e-book from which the PDF is copied
Edited by U Kyaw Tun (UKT) (M.S., I.P.S.T.,
USA), Daw Khin Wutyi, Daw Thuzar Myint
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
UKT 171129: To find the relation between Bur-Myan, Pal-Myan and Skt-Dev, words should be carefully spelled out. Giving only English transcription has hindered my understanding of such words, such as ¤ BEPS basic akshara
{S~hpa.} --> स्फोट
UKT 180511: What does the glyph{a.} represent? In Eng-Lat script, a represents the vowel /a/ without specifying the vowel-duration. It could be either
{a} 2 blnk. It could also be the negation of something. However, the negation in Bur-Myan is not
{ma.}.
• In page-by-page reference of the original book
Vowels as onsets
UKT 171125:
Consolidated index
of all vowels is under
-
MCv1pp-indx.htm
Updates: v1
- update 2017Jan, v2
- 2017Jan
Plosive-stops, affricates &
semi-nasals as onsets -
MCc1pp-indx.htm - update 2018May
UKT 171125: Consolidated index of
consonants of r1
, r2
& r3
:
Updates: r1
-
2018May, r2
-
2017Aug, r3
-
2017Aug
Plosive-stops, & true-nasals as onsets -
MCc4pp-indx.htm
- update 2017Nov
UKT 171202: Consolidated index
of consonants of r4
& r5
{pa.}
Updates: p105-p148-1
{ta.}-- 2017Nov, p148-2-p237-1
{pa.} -
future update
Approximants regrouped as
semi-consonants, fricatives, and H- as
onsets:
- The following -
MCa-indx.htm - update 141217
are to be rechecked,
and moved to
p030.htm represented in the following
format.
¤ p237-2-p305.htm -
MC-c61-indx.htm - MCa1pp-indx.htm
- future upload
¤ p306-p374 -
MC-c65-indx.htm -
MCa2pp-indx.htm - future upload
¤ p375-p382 -
MC-c72-indx.htm - MCa3pp-indx.htm
- future upload
• On grouped files -
MCc-indx.htm - update
2017Nov
: to be eventually deleted. I've started taking out its contents one by one.
• I've gone over A. A. Macdonell A Practical Sanskrit Dictionary, looking at
the entries in groups of 1, 2, 3, etc. a second time, in days before the split of TIL and Softguide. These are what I'm calling old files
or grouped files. I'm now going over them again.
- 
MC-c41-indx.htm - update
2017Nov
- 
MC-c51-indx.htm - future update
Though I have planned to access the individual files from
individual TOCs, I'm finding that it is better to have a unified TOC for {ta.}-row
and {pa.}-row.
• On script
-
MCscript-indx.htm
- update 2017Dec
UKT to TIL editor 170827:
The following are in txt-in-single-file form.
If any are to be expanded, separate it as
a nested folder. Contains:
¤ Preface,
¤ Scanned pages,
¤ Digital online Univ Chicago version,
¤ Glossary,
¤ Nepali Dictionary,
¤ Language comparison and roots of languages being compared
¤ Hand-written Skt-Dev Akshara
¤ HD-nonPDF:
LearnSktOnline-GrammTerms<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô>
¤. In HD-PDF:
KVAbhyankar-DictSktGramm<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô>
¤ Mahayana texts from website
http://www.ishwar.com/buddhism/holy_mahayana_texts/ 171212
• On speech - Remember Skt-Dev sounds
belonging to IE languages, and Pal-Myan (&
Bur-Myan) sounds belonging to Tib-Bur languages
are entirely different. For example, listen to
the pronunciation of Skt-Dev
niroakta<))
Its equivalent in Pal-Myan is
{ni.roak~ta.}. Concentrate on the closing sound. It is त occupying r4c1 of the
akshara-matrix, the same place as
. However
how does त sound? Is it
/ta/, 
/té/ or
/tè/,
or something entirely different ?
I will have to say "entirely different". 
For the opening sound, the Sonority Scale is a help, but the closing sound is always a problem. Relying on spelling is entirely useless, especially for the velar, palatal, and retroflex words. They are absent in Eng-Lat, and unreliable in Skt-Dev.
The palatal sounds are the most problematical because of their fricative
tendencies and because for Pal-Myan
{þa.}
/θ/, there are three in Skt-Dev श /ʃ/ ; ष /S/; स /s/.
Note:
/S/ & /s/ are my way of showing two very closely related sounds which are
almost the same.
Now listen to the Skt-Dev vowel and consonant sounds from Lakshyā Yoga
- SktAlphLY<)) (link chk 171126)
Look at the akshara alphabet chart. On the right side are the
vowels. Most of them has a short (1 eye-blink) and a long (2 eye-blink) version.
And on the left side 25 consonants. And then 5 semi-consonants
semivowels. And 3 Sibilants: the husher, the hisser, and fricative s.
We, Tib-Burmans, pronounce the last one as thibilant as in English <thin>,
however in Skt-Dev it is a sibilant.
The place of pronunciation aka POA (place of articulation)
Don't try to unify the sounds. You'll get a failing grade.
Just remember what Gautama Buddha said to his monks 'you are permitted to spread
my words in the vernacular of the audience':
His disciple monk, Shin Kic'si, came up with his motto:
UKT 171208, 180326: The postulate of Shin Kic'si
{rhin kic~sæÑ}: "The signification is known by akshara" was highly approved by the Gautama Buddha, who then declared his disciple monk as the greatest "grammarian".
See my note on this postulate on p077F.htm (link chk 180325)
The motto is also in Mason-Mazard, p036 in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries.
- FMasonMazard-KicsiPali<Ô> / bkp<Ô> (link chk 171224)
UKT 180403: Notice how the syllable
{té} ते is written in scripts of Pali-Myan, Engl-Lat, and Skt-Dev. The order (by position) of vowel glyph
{þa.wé hto:} - written as
), and the consonant
{ta.} त is different.
Pali-Myan: vowel (left) - consonant (right):
Engl-Latin: consonant (left) - vowel (right): te
Skt-Dev: vowel (above) - consonant (below): तेIn BEPS-Myan, vowel glyph Tha'we'hto
- MJenny-IntroMonLang<Ô> / Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180403)
He realizes that the meaning is more important than correct
pronunciation. Just because spelling is the same don't imagine the
pronunciation would be the same. An illustration is the difference in Bur-Myan
r2 row {sa.},
{hsa.},
{za.},
{Za.},
{Ña.},
and Mon-Myan r2 row:
-
bk-cndl-{sa.}-row<)) : Mon pronounce
{sa.} as
/{kya.}/
UKT 170114: Bookmarks for entries from FE-BHS must be standardized as per entries on p001.htm .
Capitals for proper names are allowed, and diacritics removed.UKT 170418: Some Macdonell's entries are very large. These are broken into individual entries for comparing with entries from other sources. There are two kinds of marks: ¶ and ©
Mark ¶ : Cutting very large grouping into smaller groups. e.g. among the consonants, in the entries on :
- p076.htm : p076c1-b21
- p082.htm : multiple cuts p082c-b15Mark ©: Entries that are of interest to me. I have to come up with a spelling in Dev myself. I check it with the following sources:
¤ Spoken Sanskrit dictionary (SpkSkt) online, and
¤ Sanskrit Document website - http://sanskritdocuments.org/dict/dictall_unic.html (link chk 170415)
See the downloaded paper: MC-indx.htm > glossary.htm (link chk 170415)
¤ Green Message - http://greenmesg.org/index.php (Don't open from HTML editor: link chk 170526
¤ A Sanskrit-English Dictionary, by Theodor Benfey, 1866 , pp1145. Since it is of the same time-period of A A Macdonell, it uses the same old form of Skt-Dev script. It is a good reference to check the orthography of Macdonell. See Wikipedia: - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Benfey 170815
Downloaded copies of dictionary in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries:
- TBenfey-SktEngDict<Ô> / Bkp<Ô> (link chk 170816)I need to listen to how Sanskrit words are pronounced. e.g. निरुक्ति «nirukti».
UKT 150503: How would a Hindi-speaker pronounce it ?
https://www.howtopronounce.com/hindi/निरुक्ति/ 150712
The website gives the sound of this word निरुक्ति<)) (link chk 170814),
It sounds{ni.roak-té} to me, ending in /e/ instead of /i/. Maybe, my hearing is at fault.
UKT 170227: Paucity of nasals in IE - Eng-Lat & Skt-Dev - has necessitate the introduction of a sort of universal stand-in
{käin}. It is allowed by Shin Kicsi
{rhín kic~saeÑ:} - the Buddhist grammarian praised by Gautama Buddha. See examples in
{kaín} &
{kaiñ} on p068.htm (among coda consonants). However, it is not enough, and I have to change the vowel itself to solve the problem of Paucity of nasals.
UKT notes :
• Doggie's Tale : copy and paste
• Indology : forget the fairy-tales
•
My own thoughts and my inspiration : never bow down - look up to the stars
• Nirukta
{ni.roat~ta}
•
Perceptual sound variation of
lateral to rhotic sounds
as reflected in Vedic to Sanskrit
languages, with Pali in between
Includes moves from old p045-1.htm which has been deleted:
¤ Vowel letters in Bur-Myan and Skt-Dev
¤
Checking the Bur-Myan vowels
• Pronunciation of Skt-Dev Basic Aksharas
•
Sonority hierarchy
-- UKT 130613
Mnemonic
The Doggie Tale:
Little doggie cringe in fear -- ŋ (velar),
Seeing Ella's flapping ears -- ɲ (palatal)
And, the Shepard's hanging rear -- ɳ (retroflex).
Doggie so sad he can't get it out
What's that Kasha क्ष
when there's a Kha ख ?
And when there's Jana ज्ञ
what I am to do with Jha झ?
On top of all there're husher and hisser, Sha श /ʃ/ and Ssa ष /s/,
when I am stuck with Theta स
/θ/ !"
Little Doggie don't be sad,
You are no worse than a Celtic Gnome
Losing G in his name, he is just a Nome!
Note to digitizer: you can copy and
paste the following:
Ā ā ă ấ Ē ē ĕ ế Ī ī ĭ Ō ō
ŏ Ū ū ŭ ː
Ḍ ḍ Ḥ ḥ Ḷ ḷ Ḹ
ḹ Ṁ ṁ Ṃ ṃ
Ṅ ṅ
Ñ ñ Ṇ ṇ ɴ Ṛ ṛ Ṝ ṝ
Ś ś Ṣ ṣ Ṭ ṭ ɕ ʂ
Book marks: * star, † dagger (alt0134), ‡ double dagger (alt0135).
Bur-Myan: for {gna.}-onset use c ċ (U010B) - unfortunately ċ is non-ASCII
• Instead of Skt-Dev ः {wic~sa.} use "colon" :
• Avagraha ऽ use apostrophe
• Repha spelling: exemplified by
¤ dharma: ध र ् म
--> धर्म
¤ spota: ष ् प र ् श ा ः
--> ष्पर
• Root sign √ ; approx ≅
• IAST Dev: भ आ इ ई उ ऊ
ऋ ऌ ऍ ऎ ए ऐ
ऑ ऒ ओ औ
च «ca» छ «cha» श
ś [ɕ] /ʃ/ ; ष ṣ [ʂ] /s/;
स s [s] /θ/ ;
ऋ {iRi.} & ॠ {iRi},
viram ् , rhotic ऋ ृ
• Skt-Dev Row #3: ट ठ ड ढ ण ;
conjunct ट ् ठ
= ट्ठ
• IAST Dev: Repha & Viram-position, e.g. तर्ज «tarj» [ targ ] = त र ् ज
• Skt-Dev special phonemes: Ksa क ् ष
= क्ष
• Undertie in Dev transcription: ‿ U203F
• Using ZWNJ (ZeroWidthNonJoiner), e.g. ,
क्ष
(code: क्‌ष)
See Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zero-width_non-joiner 150630
• IPA-, Pali- & Sanskrit nasals: ŋ ṅ ṅ ,
ɲ ñ ñ , ɳ ṇ ṇ, n n n , m m m
Pali- & Skt {þé:þé:tín}: aṁ , aṃ
• IPA symbols:
ɑ ɒ ə ɛ ɪ ɯ ʌ ʊ ʃ ʧ ʤ θ ŋ ɲ ɳ
ɴ ɔ ɹ ʔ /ʰ/ /ʳ/ /ː/
<king> /kɪŋ/ (DJPD16-300)
<kick> /kɪc/ (DJPD16-299 gives /kik/) and <kiss> /kɪs/ (DJPD16-301)
<church> /ʧɜːʧ/ (DJPD16-097)
<success> /sək'ses/ (DJPD16-515)
<thin> /θɪn/ (DJPD16-535),
<thorn> /θɔːn/
(DJPD16-535)
circumflex-acute :
ấ U+1EA5 , ế U+1EBF
upsilon-vrachy ῠ
small-u-breve ῠ ŭ
• Subscripts: ₀ ₁ ₂ ₃ ₄ : CO₂
Go back Dog-tale-note-b
-- UKT 140831, 150703, 170326:
When you study Indology, you will come
across many unexpected things, such as
in a Hindu-religionist story on the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Lord Chaitanya
(18 February 1486 – 14 June 1534):
http://krishna.org/lord-chaitanya-defeats-the-buddhists/
- 140216, 140831, 150703 . He was considered to be Kishna himself.
See also Wikipedia:
-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaitanya_Mahaprabhu
150703
Curiously, he was born 449 years before I was
born on 18 Feb 1935, Monday just before the
Moon became full.
Bur-Myan Buddhists - one group in my target audience - should be prepared for such stories, noting that Skt-Dev is just a language and that you must be able to treat it like any other language free from biases of the religionists.
From Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indology 130509
Indology is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent (most specifically the modern-day states of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal), and as such is a subset of Asian studies.
Indology may also be known as Indic studies or Indian studies, or South Asian studies [UKT: differentiate from South-East Asian (SE-Asian) studies], although scholars and university administrators sometimes have only partially overlapping interpretations of these terms.
The term Indology or (in German)
Indologie is often associated
with German scholarship, and is used
more commonly in departmental titles
in German and continental European
universities than in the anglophone
academy. In the Netherlands the term
Indologie was used to designate
the study of Indonesian history and
culture in preparation for colonial
service in the Dutch East Indies.
Specifically, Indology includes the study of Sanskrit literature and Hinduism along with the other Indian religions, Jainism, Buddhism and Pāli literature, and Sikhism. [UKT ¶]
UKT 151122, 170326: Pali language is an artificial language created from Old Magadhi of Buddha and king Asoka, and the native language of Sri Lanka aka Ceylon. Old Magadhi speech is written in Asokan (or Asokan-Brahmi) - the forerunner of Myanmar script, and Lanka speech in its own script.
Pal-Myan is related the Old Magadhi in Asakan-Brahmi, whereas International Pali to the Pali used in Sri Lanka.
Dravidology is the separate branch dedicated to the Dravidian languages of South India. What we meant by Indology is specifically called the Classical Indology dealing with Pali and Sanskrit and various forms of religion. It is to be differentiated from Modern Indology, is focussed on contemporary India, its politics and sociology.
Systematic study and editorial activity
of Sanskrit literature is possible
with appearances of works such as:
1. the St. Petersburg Sanskrit-Wörterbuch
- 1850s to 1870s.
2. the Sacred Books
of the East - beginning 1879.
3. Pāṇini's grammar by Otto von Bohtlingkappeared -
1887.
4. Rigveda by Max Müller - 1849–75.
5. Bibliotheca Buddhica by Sergey Oldenburg - 1897.
Take note of timeline in Myanmarpré: Anglo-Burmese Wars: 1st. 1824, 2nd. 1852,
3rd. 1885
UKT 130511: Macdonell has stated in his Preface MC-pre2.htm (link chk 160222)
in connection with Transliteration :"The system is that which has been adopted in the 'Sacred Books of the East,' and already followed by me in my edition of Professor Max Müller's Sanskrit Grammar. Had I been guided exclusively by my own judgment I should have preferred c
UKT: more in the Wikipedia article.
Go back Indology-note-b
-- UKT120904, 140831, 160222
I have been asked by many why at this old age I have become a linguist after retirement from a life time of a university chemistry teacher which I had shared with my now departed wife Daw Than Than aka Mrs. Than Than Tun.
Retirement years as an old man physically handicapped to some extent are not the golden years as have been popularly imagined. Ordinarily I would have been treated even by my own children as a senile old man who has outlived his usual years as a human being. Luckily my love for my birth country Myanmarpré and its language Bur-Myan (Burmese speech in Myanmar) script have come to my rescue.
My love for Bur-Myan and my attempts to write it out on my father's English typewriter has been dormant all along in my life since my pre-teen days in the 1940s (before Burmese typewriters came on scene). The resulting script, Romabama, is thus not a Johnny-come-lately in my old age because I have nothing else to do. However, Romabama in its present form, was launched only in the late 1990s on the Internet from Canada, after both my wife and I had become Canadian citizens because of which our meagre service pension for serving in the Myanmar universities for over 33 years have been discontinued.
To
be able to bring my beloved Myanmar script to
the world's attention, and to try to
"unify" BEPS (Burmese, English, Pali,
& Sanskrit spoken languages written in
Myanmar, IPA-English, & Devanagari scripts)
have been my reward. To be able to continue
with this study for these many years is because
of the encouragements I have received from
achievers in life . The following
is one:
From a news report by Nick Collins, Science Correspondent, The Telegraph, 120110. Nick Collins wrote about Professor Stephen Hawking on his 70th birthday. Professor Hawking is the one who had been diagnosed 50 years ago, to live only five years.
"Prof Hawking reflected on his life as a "glorious time to be alive" and said he was happy to have made a "small contribution" to our understanding of the universe.
"He concluded: "Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist.
" 'Be curious. And however difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at. It matters that you don't just give up.' "
See also Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hawking 140831
Go back thoughts-inspiration-note-b
- UKT 150923, 170425:
I have been on the Language problem of primitive Buddhism, since I received a photocopy sometime in 2004, from Daw Papa Aung, lecturer in Pali, Yangon University.
From: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirukta 150923
Nirukta
निरुक्त
{ni.roat~ta}, "explanation, etymological
interpretation", is one of the six
Vedānga disciplines of Hinduism,
treating etymology, particularly of obscure
words, especially those occurring in the Vedas.
[1]
[2]
[3]
The discipline is traditionally attributed
to Yāska, an ancient
Sanskrit Vedic grammarian.
Yāska's association with the discipline
is so great that he is also referred to as
Niruktakāra or Niruktakrit ("Maker
of Nirukta"), as well as Niruktavat
("Author of Nirukta"). In practical
use, nirukta consists of brief rules
(sūtras) for deriving word meanings,
supplemented with glossaries of difficult or
rare Vedic words.
Nirukta is also the name given to a celebrated commentary by Yāska on the Nighantu, an even older glossary (dated before 14th Century CE) [4] which was already traditional in his time. Yāska's Nirukta contains a treatise on etymology, and deals with various attempts to interpret the many difficult Vedic words in the Nighantu. It is in the form of explanations of words, and is the basis for later lexicons and dictionaries. [5] The Nighantu is now traditionally combined with the Nirukta as a unified text.
A critical edition of the Nighantu and the
Nirukta was published by Lakshman Sarup in
the 1920s. The downloaded pdf paper is in
TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries:
-
LSarup-NighantuNirukta<Ô> /
bkp<Ô> (link chk 170425)
See Buddha's conversation with two
Brahmin-Poannars, on p075. He used the
Socratic manner of argument to make the
Poannars to reject their beliefs in
axiomatic entities.
See what the Socratic method is in Wikipedia:
-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socratic_method 170425
The
question of meaning of Niruta is also connected to how it is pronounced. I
cannot get its pronunciation. What I could get is निरुक्ति
«nirukti».
How would a lay Hindi-speaker , or a Poannar whose L1 is Hindi pronounce the
word निरुक्ति
«nirukti» = न ि र ु क ् त ि -->
{ni.roak~ti.}? Now, listen:
निरुक्ति<))
(link chk 170425)
from:
https://www.howtopronounce.com/hindi/निरुक्ति/
150712
I don't know how another Hindi-speaker would heard it. But it sounds
{ni.roak-té} to me.
No wonder we are all confused!
Remember there are at least two kinds of
Brahmins who speak Skt-Dev:
Vaishnavite-Poannar
{braah~ma.Na PoaN~Na:} (mostly with Hindi as L1) and
Shaivite-Poannar
(mostly with Tamil as L1). Their
Sanskrit pronunciations are different.
Since, Hindi speech written in Devanagari
script is the directly related to Skt-Dev,
I would like to rely more on the Sanskrit
speech of the Hindi speakers taking note
that Hindi syllables that should end with
coda are shown without the Virama sign,
which has a bearing on their Sanskrit
pronunciation. It results in a change in the
nuclear vowel of the syllable. Thus Asoka
has become Ashok, which in Bur-Myan means
'confusion'. And we are doubly confused!
Go back nirukta-note-b
UKT 131019, 140725, 160807, 161007:
Strictly speaking approximants are neither vowels nor consonants though they have been described as semi-vowels which is the same as semi-consonants.
My interest is their effect on the
preceding vowel - either free or bound
as an inherent vowel in an akshara.
Remember, as such they are the
codas. e.g.:
{y},
{r},
{l},
{w},
{h}
UKT 160807: In BHS we find, Rāhula
{ra-hu.la.} has an equivalent, Lāghula
{la-Gu.la.}. It is an evidence for pronunciations of Lateral (L-like) plane changing into those of Rhotic (R-like) plane.
See: F. Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and Dictionary,
- BHS-indx.htm (link chk 161007)
Do not confuse these with
{ya.pín.},
{ra.ric},
{la.hswè:},
{wa.hswè:},
and
{ha.hto:}. As an illustration:
{ya.} -->
{kèý}
The codas
{y},
{r},
{l},
{w},
{h}, do not seem to change the pronunciation
of the vowel, from
{a.} to
{i.},
but to effect its nature as to its
rhoticity, laterality, and roundness.
{ma} -->
{maar}
{bo} -->
{bol}
{pa.o.} -->
{pa.ow.}
However if your tongue is thick and is not versatile, you pronounce each
pair the same. It has been suggested that
{maar} 
{maan}
- which is not acceptable because it involves an unnecessary vowel change from
rhotic to nasal.
The case of
{r} is more complicated than the
rest because it rise to repha sounds,
{ar} (in
{a.þût}-form), and
{ar~}
{kín:si:}-form).
The highly rhotic vowels ऋ & ॠ are treated elsewhere . There is a perceptual difference between rhotic and lateral vowels ऌ & ॡ, and in classical Sanskrit of Panini, the lateral vowels have disappeared. However, we can expect to find them in Pal-Myan.
-- UKT 120121, 120602, 120622
The following phonemes are controversial, because they are the most back and the most open. They can be pronounced with various degrees of lip rounding:
¤
{o} to
{AU}
¤/
{AU:} to
• Skt-Dev as ओ «o» & औ «au»
• Skt-Dev diacritics: े (E) ै (Ai), ो (O) ौ (Au) - (names according to Windows)
To get to the Bur-Myan way of writing before
the British colonial-educators had to chance
to meddle in it, I refer to A. W. Lonsdale:
You will note that Lonsdale did not include
{o}. The 'flags', ो ौ, on the
aksharas should be compared to the those on
े {é} ै {è}.
As a side-note, see how Panini the greatest ancient
phonetician of the East gives a remarkable example
of vowel variaties s as the call of a village cock
in the early morning.
The controversy on the varieties (tones or
registers) of vowels is based on several factors:
1. Production of vowels depends
upon linguistic groups, and within a linguistic
group, it varies from person to person. Since
the production of vowels depends on the muscles
of the hyoid complex, we can expect quite a
lot of divergence.
2. When the external facial
features differs from speakers of different
ethnicity, it is to be expected that the
contours of the vowel space would also be
different.
3. Though we usually think in terms of a
two-dimensional quadrilateral vowel diagram
based on the classical diagram of Daniel-Jones,
we must think in terms of at least a
three-dimensional one where lip-rounding is
taken into consideration. And then extend our
thinking into a four-dimensional one taking
into consideration the jaw positions, and of
course on the length of jaw which would be
dependent on the ethnicity of the speaker.
4. Last but not the least is the
Two-three tone problem between English-Lat,
the IE (Indo-European) language and
Burmese-Myan, a Tib-Bur (Tibeto-Burman)
which is also a Thibilant-nasal language
where the sounds of /θ/ {þa.} and
/ŋ/ {nga.} & /ɲ/ {Ña.} are
quite prominent.
The controversy is also due to the absence
of the series
{o.},
{o},
{o:} in both Skt-Dev and Eng-Lat.
The Romabama spellings given below are tentative: they may have to be changed with deeper understanding of the problems involved. -- UKT120121
&
are
different from very rhotic Sanskrit
graphemes. The hood over the Myanmar graphemes
has been has been drastically shortened whilst
those for Sanskrit has been lengthened as much
as possible, e.g.
in ऋ « ». Similarly, you will find a
shortening of hoods in {ra.ric}-medials.
-- UKT120817, 161120
If you look at the akshara table, you'll see that row #3 consonants, the retroflex, seem to stand apart from the other consonants. The first three consonants seem to be standing on pedestals.
The retroflex row#3 is quite outstanding in Mon-Myan pronunciation,.
Retroflex{Ta.-HTa.} row is quite different from Dental
{ta.hta.} row. Now listen to
Mon-Myan retroflex: Mon-retroflex<))
Mon-Myan dental: Mon-dental<))Now listen to
Mon-Myan Velar: Mon-velar<))
According to European philologists J.M.Haswell (1874) and R.C.Temple, {ga.} is pronounced as {ké}. However, I can only hear {gé} in the Mon-velar<)).
What the European had heard was from the Peguan speakers themselves. What I am hearing now is the Martaban dialect. We will have to note that the Peguan, the mother tongue of my Mon ancestors which is a dead language. However, I could still hear the remanants of some sounds in the place-names of towns and villages near town of Kungyangoan where I was born and spent my pre-teen years.
Mon-Myan Palatal: Mon-palatal<))
Notice there is only one akshara sound with {é} for retroflex, whereas there are 3 each for others.
Most of the other
consonant-glyphs has shapes clearly based on
One-circle-Two-circles shapes based on the
full-rounded circle
{wa.}
r2c4
{ña.}
r4c5{na.}
r7c3{La.}
Unlike the vowels, none of these consonants have an alternate "Letter" form.
In the case of vowels, there are two forms:
the vowel-letters and the vowel-signs. As the
first part part of our study, we will deal with
{þa.wuN}-vowels: /a/ /i/, /u/ . They are the
three of eight cardinal vowels of Daniel Jones.
http://www.phonetics.ucla.edu/course/chapter9/cardinal/cardinal.html 120817
In all Indic languages and Bur-Myan, each of the above three has a short form «a», «i», and «u», and a long form «ā», « ī», and «ū». Right now our interest is only on /i/ & /u/, and their forms in Devanagari and in Myanmar. In both cases there are distinct vowel-letters, and {a.}+vowel-signs.
Our interest is now narrowed down to vowel-letters:
• इ «i»
{I.} ; ई « ī»
{I}
• उ «u»{U} ; ऊ «ū»
{U}
In each case notice the diacritics when a short form is changed into the long form.
What most of the modern Bur-Myan have
difficulty with is
{I.}. They think it is a vertical conjunct of
{ka.} over
{ku.}. They do not know that it has the
sound of
{i.}, and like
{i.},
{I.} on being checked by a killed consonant
changes into {ai}.
- UKT 110815 , 120119 , 161206
Though
the Westerners who are used to
Alphabet-Letter system, CVC, do not pay
any attention to the coda, the coda is very important for Abugida-Akshara
system. I am finding
that the only way to study Bur-Myan
language belonging to Abugida-Akshara, CVÇ, is to study the effect of coda
consonant, Ç, on the nuclear vowel, V.
An added problem is the difference in number of tones
or registers (time-duration of which are measured by the time you take to blink
your eye) between different languages such as Bur-Myan, Eng-Lat, Mon-Myan,
and Skt-Dev. At the beginning of my study, I notice what I have termed the
Two-three tone problem. My work was hampered until I discovered the अः of Skt-Dev
has a counter part in Mon-Myan
{a:.}.
My thanks to the Gayatri Mantra where I noticed the नः from which I find the
Mon-Myan 
{na:.}.
-
bk-cndl-gayatri<))
{a:} (2 blnk+emphasis),
Note #1: Bur:{aa.} (1/2 blnk) = Mon:
Note #2: There is no emphatic in both Mon and Sanskrit.
Listen to Skt-Dev vowels:
Spoken Skt-Dev grammar - SpkSktDevGram01-indx.htm (link chk 171027)
and - SpkSktDevGram02-indx.htm. (link chk 171027)
Note #3:
Short ह्रस्व «hrasva» (1 blnk), i.e., one मात्राकाल «mātrākāla»
Long दीर्घ «dīrgha» (2 blnk), i.e., two मात्राकाल «mātrākāla»
Protracted प्लुत «pluta», i.e., three मात्राकाल «mātrākāla» Lesson04<))
To be compared to the call of rooster in the morning.
The vowels in any human language are produced deep down in the throat by a set
of muscles on the hyoid complex in the voice-box with accompanying tongue and
lip movements. Because of this no two human beings will pronounce the same
vowel, say
{i.} /i/ in the same way. In fact the same human being will sing his or
her vowels differently from time to time depending on his or her health (such as
suffering from common cold), and in different consonantal environments.
When we are dealing with human beings of different linguistic groups such as Bur-Myan (Tib-Bur linguistic group), English-Latin (IE aka Indo-European), Pal-Myan (Tib-Bur), Sri Lankans (Austro-Asiatic), Northern Indians (Indo-Aryan) and Nepalis (Tib-Bur changing into Indo-Aryan), we must expect to hear them producing the same vowel /i/ noticeably differently.
Yet in many ways, we can still recognize
what they are singing: it is the vowel /i/.
So what we will be aiming at is the
phonemic (phonology) distinctions rather
than phonetics. We are concerned with
accuracy rather than precision. The only
reliable key to transcription is the two
highly contrastive vowels:
First set: /i/ (front-close), and /ɑ/ (back-open)
Second set: /a/ (front-open), and /u/ (back-close)
Though the first-set is more reliable, we are faced with a set back because of the uncertainty of /ɑ/, because in Pal-Myan and Bur-Myan, this phoneme is a mix-up between /ɔ/ (open-o), /o/, and /ɑ/.
Our only choice is the second-set. We find
the contrastive-ness in {u} and {a}
in Mora Sutta.
¤ Listen to Mora Sutta by Mingun Sayadaw
-
bk-cndl-Mingun<))
The phoneme {u} is used for the rising Sun in the morning, and {a}
is used for the setting Sun in the evening. This finding and other
similar findings has led me to conclude that we can know something of the
pronunciation by looking at the shape of the Myanmar aksharas.
We need to take the four BEPS languages together because what we are aiming at is to come up with a reliable transcription from Bur-Myan to Eng-Latin and back. Romabama, my invention, is the interlanguage-ASCII-based alphabet. It is used to bridge the four languages.
To be continued.
Go back lateral-rhotic-note-b
{sa.ka:þän-su.}-- UKT 120520, 120903, 150924
In the Abugida-Akshara system of writing,
the syllable
{sa.ka:þän-su.} is the principal unit. The
syllable has the canonical form CVÇ where Ç
is a 'killed' consonant -- a consonantal
akshara whose inherent vowel has been
'killed' by a virama (which I usually
shorten to 'viram') in Sanskrit and
{a.þût} in Burmese.
A syllable may or may not have the onset C,
or the coda Ç, but it must always have
the peak or the nuclear vowel V. In cases
where the syllable is either VÇ or just a V,
the rime is important. For argument sake
we may say VÇ is a syllable with coda=1
and V to be a syllable with coda=0. Thus
it is important to see how effective the Ç is
in checking the sound of V.
We see in the Sonority hierarchy, the most
effective are the plosive-stop consonants,
exemplified by
{pa.}.
The nasals -- an example being
{ma.} -- are not very effective and they
fall in between the consonants (obstruents)
and vowels (sonorants). Of the nasals,
the velar
{nga.} /ŋ/, is the probably very important
in Bur-Myan. Unfortunately, neither the English
speakers nor the Sanskrit speakers could
pronounce it properly. They usually substitute
its sound with that of
{na.} /n/. I am beginning to believe that
नः '1st personal pronoun possessive'
in the last line of Gayatri Mantra of the Hindus
is the "substitute" for
{ngaa.}.
धियो॒ यो नः॑ प्रचो॒दया॑त्॥ ।
dhíyo yó naḥ pracodáyāt
UKT 150924: aks-to-aks: नः -->
Listen to Gayatri Mantra, paying attention to नः॑
- bk-cndl-gayatri<)) (link chk 160222)
English has only two nasals <m> /m/
& <n> /n/ in both onset and
coda positions, and in my work on BEPS
I am concentrating on these two rather
than on
{nga.} /ŋ/ which is present
in the codas of the English syllable as in
<king> /kɪŋ/ but not in the
onset.
Go back sono-hierarchy-note-b
End of TIL file
