Dighnikayo Part 3

SR No.: 009978
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Vipassana Research Institute Igatpuri
Publisher: Vipassana Research Institute Igatpuri
Publication Year: 1998
Total Pages: 338
Language: Sanskrit
Classification: Interfaith & Buddhism
File Size: 11 MB

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Notes on the pronunciation of Pali
Pāli was a dialect of northern India in the time of Gotama the Buddha. The earliest known script in which it was written was the Brahmi script of the third century B.C. After that it was preserved in the scripts of the various countries where Pali was maintained. In Roman script, the following set of diacritical marks has been established to indicate the proper pronunciation.
The alphabet consists of forty-one characters: eight vowels, thirty-two consonants and one nasal sound (niggahita).
Vowels (a line over a vowel indicates that it is a long vowel):
a
ā - as the "a" in father
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as the "a" in about
- as the "i" in mint
u as the "u" in put
-
e is pronounced as the "ay" in day, except before double consonants when it is pronounced as the "e" in bed: deva, metta;
0 is pronounced as the "o" in no, except before double consonants when it is pronounced slightly shorter: loka, photṭhabba.
Consonants are pronounced mostly as in English.
g- as the "g" in get
c
v a very soft -v- or -w
i
ū
-
soft like the "ch" in church
All aspirated consonants are pronounced with an audible expulsion of breath following the normal unaspirated sound.
The nasal sounds:
as the "ee" in
as the "oo" in cool
th - not as in 'three'; rather 't' followed by 'h' (outbreath) ph- not as in 'photo'; rather 'p' followed by 'h' (outbreath)
-
The retroflex consonants: t, th, d, dh, n are pronounced with the tip of the tongue turned back; and I is pronounced with the tongue retroflexed, almost a combined 'rl' sound.
n
m
The dental consonants: t, th, d, dh, n are pronounced with the tongue touching the upper front teeth.
-
n guttural nasal, like -ng- as in singer
-
ñ
as in Spanish señor
with tongue retroflexed
as in hung, ring
in see
Double consonants are very frequent in Pali and must be strictly pronounced as long consonants, thus -nn- is like the English 'nn' in "unnecessary".
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