Rhotic words in Sanskrit - an IE language
Open to close highly rhotic vowels of BEPS exemplified with Pali
{kRa.}Sanskrit - the dead language
Update: 2019-02-01 09:10 PM -0500
Rhoticity.htm
by U Kyaw Tun (UKT) (M.S., I.P.S.T., 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
UKT 190201: This essay has been culled from my notes in many pages of - MCc1pp-indx.htm , which is still an ongoing process. It needs be revised again and again.
Introduction
Rhotic words in Sanskrit - an IE
language
Open to close highly rhotic vowels of BEPS exemplified with
Pali
{kRa.}
Sanskrit - the dead language
- UKT 190201:
My mother Daw Hla May, with Cantonese-Chinese and Mon-Myan used to tell me about her grand-aunts and cousins who were pure Mons speakers of Peguan dialect. They were originally from Kun'gyan'goan township now incorporated into Greater Yangon. The timeline was late 1800s to early 1900s. My mother was still in her preteens, and the grand-aunts in their 60s. Her stories of how they mispronounced many Chinese, English, and Hindustani words and names always brought laughter. I remember, one of my mother's distant cousin's name was Chein-ti, which a particular grand-aunt would pronounce {hsín li:} 'literally meaning in Bur-Myan as "elephant-penis". Poor Chein-ti could never asked the old lady to call him by any other name.
In BEPS, we are always faced with unpronounceable (for Bur-Myan) words particularly with rhotic accent.
UKT: 120126, ... 170605, 180115, 190120:
There are highly rhotic words in Skt-Dev derived from the vowel-pair
{iRRi.}
ऋ /
{iRRi}
ॠ . (Their signs are: ृ / ॄ ). The members of the vowel-pair are differentiated
by their duration in eye-blinks, 1 and 2. This vowel-pair has nothing to do with base consonant
{ra.},
and its conjunct
{ra.ric}.
The term "vocalic r" is a misnomer: it should have been "rhotic vowel".
These
rhotic-vowels are not present in Bur-Myan and Pali-Myan. Note: cap R implies
rhoticity - not basic consonant
{ra.}.
As in other cases of vowels, these and basic consonants can form rhotic
syllables like
{kRRi.}.
In Bur-Myan (particularly in the dialect
of the Irrawaddy basin),
{kra.} is so non-rhotic that
it is pronounced exactly like
{kya.}. However, it is somewhat rhotic in the Bur-Myan dialect of the Rakhine
coastline. I believe it is more rhotic in Pali-Myan. To represent this rhotic sound of Pali as a Hanging-Ra
{ra.-hswè:} is impossible, because it
would play havoc in Mon-Myan (Aus-Asi),
in which the basic consonant r1c5 is
represented as
{gn~ra.} - not
{gna.} as in Bur-Myan (Tib-Bur). Just
listen to Mon-Myan Ka-row in which the
pronunciation is:
Mon-Myan with /a/ and /é/ as inherent vowel:
{ka.}, {hka.}, {ké}/{gé}, {hké}, {gné}
- bk-cndl-{ka.}-row<))
- r1c3 is {ké} in Pegu-dialect of Mon: {gé} in Martaban-dialect.Bur-Myan: with only /a/ as the inherent vowel:
{ka.}, {hka.}, {ga.}, {Ga.}, {gna.} (onset as non-nasal)/ {nga.} (coda as nasal)
- r1c5 in Bur-Myan is not a true-nasal. It is nasal only in the coda. In onset, it is a non-nasal
---which has prompted me to call it a semi-nasal .
That what is touted as a nasal
or a true-nasal is spelled differently in transliteration, and can be found in
English: "sign" & "sing". Note the order of place of g and n
is different.
My arguments are based on my on-going study of Mon-Myan:
¤ Grammatical notes and Vocabulary
of the Peguan Language
by J.M. Haswell, Rangoon, American Mission Press, 1874
-
MV1874-indx (link chk 170311)
See TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries
- JMHaswell-PeguanGrammVocab<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 171224)
¤ Basic Mon-Myanmar Language (in Burmese) by Nai Maung Toe, Rangoon,
2007. See downloaded pages in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF libraries -
NaiMgToe-MonBur<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 171224)
{kRRi.} words are listed in Franklin Edgerton,
1885–1963, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
Grammar and Dictionary , vol. 2
p.190-192.
English (Eng-Latin) of British dialect is not very rhotic, r with the IPA symbol /ɹ/. However it is more rhotic than Bur-Myan. The American dialect is more rhotic than the British dialect. However, both dialects are less rhotic than Skt-Dev. Pali (Pal-Myan) is more rhotic than Bur-Myan, making the International Pali or Pal-Lat similar to the English dialects.
{kRa.}UKT - 120303 , 140328, ..., 170322, ..., 180115, 190121
We find in Skt-Dev, the close highly rhotic syllable
{kRRi.} कृ [note the Ra'ric aka 'wrapped around with foot
of
{ra.}
sign]. However, its counter-part the open highly rhotic
{kRa.} [without wrapped around] is absent. And then there is the क्र and repha.
On the other hand, in Irrawaddy-basin dialect of Bur-Myan we find the non-rhotic
{kra.} which is pronounced the same as
{kya.}. In the Rakhine-dialect of Bur-Myan, we find slightly rhotic ?{kra.}
which is the same as Pali-Myan ?{kra.}.
Because of various degrees of rhoticity, I find myself in an unenviable position in BEPS to assign each language a unique glyph.
Skt Repha is exemplified by a change to
{ka.ka.}. Note the position of
क र ् क = कर्क . It is equivalent to Pali vertical conjunct
{kak~ka.}.
Repha is different from
क क ् र = क क्र , which is equivalent to Pali medial
{ka.kRa.}
However, it is not equal to Burmese medial
{ka.kra.}, which is totally non-rhotic and which is pronounced as
{ka.kya.}
I am using BHS to see how highly rhotic Sanskrit (two dialects: Northern-Hindi biased, and Southern-Tamil biased), and almost-non rhotic Pali-Myan words are related. The very first entry on p190 is a name «Kṛkin» spelled with cap <k> which I have rewritten as «kṛkin» because Romabama is case sensitive. From the spelling I am transcribing into Skt-Dev and Pal-Myan only giving a gloss for the meaning.
The intruding Poannars
{poaN~Na:} are of two main groups: represented by modern Hindi-speakers in
the North, and Tamil-speakers of the South. Their accent are
noticeably different, as exemplified by ऋ / ृ pronounced differently:
See Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richa 171209
which gives rise to my view on The problem of Richa
(front vowel) and Rucha (back vowel) given in
index.htm .
The Poannars
{poaN~Na:} were the forerunners
of the modern colonialists, the Europeans
of the 17th to 19th centuries. In order to
make those whom they have dominated by
strength of arms, lose their self-respect,
they applied epithets such as servants
and slaves to the conquered people,
and call their "priests and
priestesses" the Practitioners of
Left-Handed Path aka
Black Magicians. The "gods and
goddesses" are termed "Ogres
aka Bilus
{Bi-lu:}, and witches aka Soans
{soan:}. On the other hand they call their
"priests and priestesses"
Practitioners of Right-handed Path
aka White Magicians .
Lately, I have come across a brief
description of two kinds of people,
the Bilus
{Bi-lu:} and the Soans
{soan:}, of Myanmarpré. See Gazetteer of
Upper Burma and Shan States, in 5 volumes,
ed. by J. G. Scott, 1900. The downloaded
papers are in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF
libraries:
- JGScott-GazettUpperBurShan<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180115)
The Palatal affricates in Bur-Myan and Mon-Myan are problems when it comes to the terms "voiceless" and "voiced". And there is a tendency of the Bur-Myan speakers to speak with a "heavy" accent. For example, they would pronounce the Bur-Myan term for "ginger" spelled
{hkyín:} as
{gyín:}.
However, the ethnic tribe "Chin" though spelled
{ro:ma.ba.ma} (Burmese speech in Latin script) is my hope to solve such problems, and mitigate the Curse of the Tower of Babel. I'm getting encouragement from the motto of Shin Kic'si
{shin kic~sæÑ}. The motto "The signification is known by akshara" was highly approved by the Gautama Buddha, who then declared his disciple monk as the greatest "grammarian".
Perhaps the most prominent word with the highly rhotic vowel of Skt-Dev is the name of the Hindu-god Khrisna कृष्ण «kṛs-ṇa» = क ृ ष ् ण .
Here, I'm faced with two choices: क ृ (ष ् ण) or (क ृ ष ्) ण .
The first is the easy way out. Take (क ृ) =
{kRRi.} just by itself (without hissing sound) and treat (ष ् ण) as the basic
lisping consonant =
{SNa.}
The second would give a hissing sound to
{kRRi.}, rhyming with English "braid" but ending in a hissing sound.
I am unable to find the equivalent of Khrisna कृष्ण
«kṛs-ṇa» in U Hoke Sein's
dictionary who gives two spellings:
{ka.Nha.} (UHS PMD0283c1), and
{ki.Nha.} - UHS PMD0318c1. For both the gloss is "black". Based on UHS, my
choice is the first choice, and the name in BEPS is
{kRRi.Sna.}. For
{ka.Nha.}, U Hoke Sein mentions Vishnu
(déva.) who incarnated as Krishna.
Krishna as the human-king who acted as
the charioteer of the third Pandava,
Arjuna in the Mahabharata.
It was Khishna - the charioteer - who preached the Bhagava Gita or simply Gita - the philosophy of Vaishnavite Hindus. Now listen to a verse in Sanskrit and its English translation: - bk-cndl-Gita18-2<))
from: Bhativedanta VedaBase - https://www.vedabase.com/en/bg 170327श्रीभगवानुवाच «śrī-bhagavān uvāca» 'the Supreme Personality of Godhead said';
काम्यानां «kāmyānāṁ» 'with desire' /
कर्मणां «karmaṇāṁ» 'of activities'
न्यासं «nyāsaṁ» 'renunciation' /
सन्न्यासं «sannyāsaṁ» 'the renounced order of life'
कवयो «kavayaḥ» 'the learned' /
विदु: «viduḥ» 'know'
सर्वकर्मफलत्यागं «sarva» 'of all'
------------------ «karma» 'activities'
------------------ «phala» 'of results'
------------------ «tyāgam» 'renunciation'
प्राहुस्त्यागं «prāhuḥ» 'call'
------------ «tyāgam» 'renunciation' /
विचक्षणा: «vicakṣaṇāḥ» 'the experienced'
Note: The Gita is not accepted by Shaivite-Hindus who regarded Siva - the dancing god - as the Supreme God. He appears as Lau'ka Nat in Bur-Myan.
FE-BHS-191 gives «kṛṣṇa»
'(3) n. of a king, previous incarnation
of Śākyamuni, and a hero of a
Jātaka (Pali Jāt. 440,
Kaṇha-J)". I have downloaded and
stored it TIL library.
See my online source: -
http://zugangzureinsicht.org/html/tipitaka/kn/j/j09/j440_en.html
140402
I quote from text: "... in the womb
of this brahmin's wife was conceived the
Bodhisatta, and from his black colour they
gave him on his nameday the name of
Kaṇha-kumāra, young Blackie.
..." On transcription we get
{ka.Nha.} .
See also in Jataka vol. 4, ed. by
E. B. Cowell, 1901,
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/j4/index.htm
170323
Jataka no. 440, Kaṇha Jātaka.
I am still doubtful that the Hindu-god Khrisna
कृष्ण
«kṛs-ṇa» is the Buddhist Kaṇha.
UKT 180120: It is probable - highly probable - that King Krishna was a folk hero of the Tib-Burmans before the incursion of "story-rewriting" Ponnars
See Wikipedia:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puranas 190120
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srauta 190120
I now have in TIL HD-PDF and SD-PDF
libraries "The Buddha-Carita, or
The Life of Buddha by
Aśvaghoṣa" - ed. and
transl. from Sanskrit by Edward B. Cowell, 1894.
-
EBCowell-BuddhaCarita<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180102)
A similar, but earlier, book by the same
author, 1893
-
EBCowell-BuddhaKarita<Ô> /
Bkp<Ô> (link chk 180102)
I wonder what the pronunciation of ऋ in days before Panini [time-line 2500yrs ago], when Sanskrit would be Vedic. At present, I suspect, the name Khrisna कृष्ण would be pronounced with different degrees of rhoticity by various speakers from Tamil-speakers in the extreme south, through Gujarati-speakers, to Hindi-speakers in the north just south of the Himalayas.
UKT 180114, 180125, 190120
Caution:
Differentiate the BEPS Ra'ric
{ra.ric} spellings.
Bur-Myan writes
{kri.} sparsely, instead of which it writes
{kræÑ.} 'to look'. Why? I've no answer, but
I must point to the fact that the 'killed'
Nya-major,
{Ñ}, is an integral part of the native spelling.
The 'break up' of Nya-major under the virama,
~
{ñ~ña.} as in
{piñ~ña} 'education, was a foreign incursion in
the Pagan Period with the introduction of Pali
and Sanskrit from Lanka.
The word "Sanskrit" is spelled in Devanagari as संस्कृत «saṃskṛta» = स ं स ् क ृ त , with the vowel ऋ {iRRi.}/ ृ .
Sanskrit speakers cannot pronounce the phoneme /θ/. They can only pronounce
/s/. The result is they pronounce their स as /s/. When they came into
contact with Bur-Myan they pronounce
{þa.} as /s/. Because of this I've to introduce
{Sa.}/
{S} into BEPS. And in have to accept that
{þa.} can be written as Bur-Myan
{Sa.}/
{S}. And also a series of new glyphs for monosyllabic consonants:
{Ska.},
{Sta.},
{Spa.}, {Sna.},
{Sma.}, ...
Insert the vowel ऋ {iRRi.}/ ृ , and we get स्कृ , which in BEPS
is
{SkRRi.}
Note क ृ = कृ . Secondly, note स (as conjunct) before क as स ् क = स्क , and
{Ska.}/{ska.} is the result, and further as
{SkRRi.}.
I can now confidently write:
{SkRRi.} -->
{þän-SkRRi.ta.} for "Sanskrit"
Remember the vowel ऋ {iRRi.} is basically
/i/ and should be treated as related to Bur-Myan
{ i.}, and not to
{a.}. And so when ऋ {iRRi.} is checked by
a coda-consonant such as
{t}, the pronunciation is related to
{ait}, and not to
{ût}. For the next entry of this category
{gRRi.} see -
p085R.htm
(link chk 180114)
Pronunciation-wise, Sanskrit is a dead language. Skt-Dev pair ऋ {iRRi.} (1 blnk) & ॠ {iRRi} (2 blnk), may very be ऋ {uRRi.} (1 blnk) & ॠ {uRRi} (2 blnk), depending in which part of India you are in. Remember, Skt-Dev is a dead language, and nobody really knows whether the ऋ {iRRi.} & ॠ {iRRi} of northern Hindu-speakers (of IE group) or ऋ {uRRi.} & ॠ {uRRi} of the southern Dravidian speakers (of Aus-Asi) group is right. See Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richa 180114.
For better relationship to Pali-Myan (not necessarily for International Pali), I opted for ऋ {iRRi.} & ॠ {iRRi}.
End of TIL file
