Update: 2018-10-26 07:24 PM -0400
Sanskrit for Buddhists and Hindus
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
• The Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Grammar and
Dictionary, vol.2, by F. Edgerton,
pp. 627.
-
FEdgerton-BHSD<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180627)
Edgerton's downloaded version is in TIL HD-PDF
and SD-PDF libraries.
• A Dictionary of the Pali Language, by
R.C. Childers, reprint 2007 available in TIL
library in Research Center in Yangon.
The above as downloaded text from 1875 ed. in
TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries:
-
RCChilders-PaliLangDict<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180701)
• Pali-Myanmar dictionary, by U Hoke Sein
(in Pal-Myan) in ink-on-paper book (for reference)
Edited by U Kyaw Tun (UKT) (M.S., I.P.S.T., USA),
Daw Khin Wutyi, Daw Thuzar Myint, 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
UKT 171129, 180702: 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
TIL HTML editor 180630: For BHS bookmarks, the following convention is used:
1. m - usual m; [m°] - ṃ
2. s - usual s; [s°] - ṣ ; [s¹] - ś :- e.g. «aṃśa» - [am°s¹a]
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.}.
• Introduction
¤ From Sanskrit Documents - Glossary.htm -
update 2018 Oct
(link chk 181025)
¤ Preface to Macdonell's (MC) dictionary, Scanned pages
-
MC-pre1.htm (link chk 180909)
- MC-pre2.htm (link chk 180909)
A PDF version with limited number of pages is in
TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries
- AAMacDonell-SktEngDict<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk180909)
• Nighantu and Nirukta: Buddha's anti-Brahmanism
-
nirukta.htm -
update 2018 Oct
• Page-by-page of the original book, beginning with Vowels, and moving on to Consonants and Approximants.
UKT 180922: I've been emptying folders from MCc-indx.htm
- MC-v1, MC-v2 - empty. MCv-indx.htm - deleted
- MC-c11, MC-c13, MC-c14 - on row#1,col#1, col#3, col#4
- MC-c21 - on row#2, col#1
- MC-c31 - on row#3, col#1
Only MC-c41 & MC-c51 remain full. When these have been emptied (in the future) MCc-indx.htm will be deleted.Check the following which were once part of MCv-indx.htm .
¤ Vowels in general - Human Voice - MC-acoustics.htm (link chk 160110)
¤ Ancient Langauages: BEPS & Georgian - MC-anci-lang.htm (link chk 160110)
¤ Comparison of Skt-Dev, Eng-IPALatin, and Bur-Myan vowels - MC-BEPS-vow.htm (link chk 160110)
UKT 180922: All vowels under
-
MCv1pp-indx.htm -
update 2018Oct
Updates: v1
- update 2018Jul, v2
- 2017Jan
UKT 171125: Consonants under -
MCc1pp-indx.htm -
update 2018Oct
- Consolidated - r1
{ka.}, r2
{sa.}
& r3
{Ta.}
- Single - r4
{ta.}
- 2018Jun,
- Single - r5
{pa.} - future update
- 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 2018Aug
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".
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} : Listen to Skt-Dev
BkCnd-VIDEO<))
¤ Vowel letters in
Bur-Myan and Skt-Dev
¤
Checking the Bur-Myan vowels
•
Pronunciation of Skt-Dev Basic Aksharas
• Sonority hierarchy
UKT 180724:
As humans, we have been baby-talk when we were babies, and then graduated to regular speech. But I wonder whether you have opened your mount wide enough to see the passage ways through which our "beautiful" voices have come out.
Open your mouth wide in front of a mirror and look
inside. Try to look for your "little grape"
called Uvula. It is at the end of the mouth passage,
leading into a vertical tube. You are looking into
this tube from a side opening. The upper portion of
the tube leads up into the nose, and down into the
gullet.
Long time ago when we found out that the name of
the robber-turned-saint
{ ín-gu.li.ma-la. ma.hté} has been mispronounced as
{ ûn-gu.li.ma-la. ma.hté}, we have run into the
problem of Semi-nasal as a killed-akshara checking
the vowel /i/
{ i.}.
In my TIL 2001-09-22 version of Sanskrit English
Dictionary, from: Online Sanskrit Dictionary,
February 12, 2003 -
http://sanskritdocuments.org/dict/dictall.pdf
090907
I've analyzed the problem as follows:
{ ïn~gu.} अङ्गु
p004b3-4• अङ्गुल (a.ngula) .
Skt: अङ्गुल (a.ngula) - a finger - OnlineSktDict
Skt: aṅgula - aṅgula m. (√ag or aṅg), a finger
# the thumb # a finger's breadth, a measure equal to eight barley-corns, twelve aṅgulas making a vitasti or span, and twenty-four a hasta or cubit
# (in astron.) a digit, or twelfth part # N. of the sage Cāṇakya L - MonWilliWash
Pal: aṅgula - mn. a finger, finger's breadth, inch - UPMT-PED005¤ अङ्गुली anguli
Skt: अङ्गुली anguli [ a&ndot;gulî ] f. finger; toe; -mudrâ, f. finger-mark. -- Mac004
Skt: अङ्गुलि aṅguli f. finger - SpkSkt
Skt: aṅguli - aṅgúli is, (or aṅgulī), f. a finger
# a toe # the thumb # the great toe
# the finger-like tip of an elephant's trunk # the measure aṅgula - MonWilliWash
Pal: - not entd. in UPMT
BPal:{ïn~gu.li.} - - UHS-PMD0013
My analysis still stands. If only the English
transcription of Angulimala
{ ín-gu.li.ma-la. ma.hté} had followed the example
of the transcription of English speech as
{ ïn~ga.lait.sa.ka:} and had been Engulimala
I could have accepted it. It hasn't been so. The
problem remained with me until I came across Pali
Grammar by Shin Kic'si
{shin kic~sæÑ:}, when I realized that that the
saint had to include Sanskrit speakers who could
not properly pronounce the semi-nasal
sounds.
See: Angulimala: a murderer's road to sainthood , by Hellmuth Hecker, © 2007,
-https://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/hecker/wheel312.html 180724
I've given my version of Shin Kic'si
{shin kic~sæÑ} motto:
See: Kachchayano's Pali Grammar, by Mason-Mazard, p036 in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries.
- FMasonMazard-KicsiPali<Ô> / bkp<Ô> (link chk 180724)
In my above analysis, you can clearly see the
Semi-nasal
{gna.}/
{ng} checking the preceding vowel
{a.} in the Skt-Dev spelling अङ्गुली .
Since both English-Lat and Sanskrit-Dev do not have
the phoneme
{gna.}/
{ng}, the English rendition has become /un/ in the place of /ɪn/. Always remember the
case of English word <king> in which
you don't pronounce the g . Or, note the
case of <sign> and <sing>.
My remark that "Skt-Dev did not have the phoneme
{gna.}/
{ng}" comes from the case of:
ड + dot --> ङ
The devise of adding a dot to the
r3c3 ड , the equivalent of
{ða.} shows that the original Skt-Dev did
not have the phoneme
{gna.}.
UKT 180819: While formulating Romabama, I ran into the problem of having to look for suitable Latin letters to represent the various shades of /d/. I had no choice but to use parallel pairs such as:
c3 vd - c4 Deep-H
{ða.} -
{Ða.}
{da.} -
{Da.}
The problem has made me coin the word
Seimi-nasal (non-nasal in onset
and nasal in coda). This problem must have
bothered the Buddhist grammarian Shin Kic'si
{shin kic~sæÑ} during the time of Gautama Buddha,
who proclaimed his monk as the "foremost"
grammarian. Shin Kic'si had to allow the use of
{þé:þé:tïn} in such cases. Our reverend Shin Kic'si
had to place the "correct spelling" ahead
of "correct pronunciation" to escape the
Curse of Babel .
Now just listen to the pronunciation difference between Bur-Myan and Mon-Myan sung by a Martaban-Mon speaker:
-- 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 /ˌ / /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 ¶]
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 :
- MCscript-indx.htm > MC-pre2.htm"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
{sa.} and j
{za.} to represent the hard and the soft palatal".
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
----- the following are from the old format. They will be incorporated into the
above,
or moved to BEPS-indx.htm
BEPS-indx.htm and its nested files
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
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
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-Myan pronounce
{sa.} as /
{kya.}/
which necessitates the invention of a new glyph for Mon-Myan:
{sa.}-Mon
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
{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 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.} अ (1 blnk) ,
{a} आ (2 blnk),
{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
End of TIL file
