Indian Antiquary Vol 48

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 323

ng 7
ALPHABET FOR WRITING THE SOUTH ANDAMAN LANGUAGE. SIGN. ENGLISH, ETC. SOUTH ANDAMAN. SIGN. ENGLISH, ETC. SOUTH ANDAMAN.
Oral Vowels and Diphthongs. idea, cut alaba kind of tree li police ya-di turtle, pid hair ā cur (with un- bā small, ya ba not
0 indolent •bòigoli European trilled r)
ô • pole jób basket
ò ela kà region
pot à
pòli-ke dwell-does Ital. caga
o awful to go wrist, shoulder à father da-ke don't (imperative)
u influence bû kura name of a tree äl fathom jär awa name of a tribe
1' pool pû d-re burn-dich e ? bed êmej name of a tree
ai bite dai-ke understand does chaotic pad-re burn-did
au house chopau'a narrow ê 3 pair ê-la pig-arrow
au rouge cháu body i lid ig-bâ dig-re see-did | òi boil bòi goli European
Consonants. bbed búd hut
Fr.gagnervâ more ch church châk ability, micralen ng bring ngi ji kinsman, êrkê'dang-ke why, rûch Ross Island
in trees-search-does 6 d dip dô ga large
nga then ҫар
gôb bamboo utensil p pap pid hair h hay
hê ho! a weh (h sounded, r 8 rest rab necklace of netting, see note ) etcetera
ra ta wooden arrow judge jā bag bad, ê mej name of r 9 torrent râ ta sea-water a tree
is sad not found 10 k king ka gal-ke ascend does it ten
ti blood i lap ing navigable channel
t'i tear ( from the eye 11 ) man mai gu face
2 wet
wo lo adze, bal'awa name n nun nau-ke walk-does, ró-pan
of a tribe toad
y yolk
yaba: a little
RULE. In the above alphabet the syllable under stress in any word is shown by placing a turned period () after a long vowel, or the consonant following & short vowel, in every word of more than one syllable.
? d accented before a consonant, is the English a in mat, as distinguished from d, which is the short of à or Italian a in anno. -
e accented in closed syllables, as in bad ; in open syllables unaccented as in chaotic or Italian padre, smore.
• No vanishing sound of ins in English say.. No vanishing sound of u as in English know.
5 X is wounded after a vowel by continuing breath through the position of the mouth, while remitting the voice.
6 When ng is followed by a vowel, it must run on to that vowel only, and not be run on to the preceding vowel either in finger' or in * singer', thus 08-ni-nga-da', good, not be-ring-a-da, 68-ring-ga-da, or bê-rin-ga-da. It is only when no vowel follows that ng is run on to the preceding vowel
This a palatalinod ng, and bears the same relation to it as # bears to n. To pronounce s attempo bo Bay and y simultaneously : to pronounce ng do the same for ng and y.
& This r is soft and gentle, with no sensible ripplo of the tongue, as very frequently in English, but not merely vooal. : This r is strongly trilled, as r in Scotch, or Italian r, or Spanish r.
10 The Andamanege cannot hiss, and hence they substitute ch for a, thus Rach for Ras the Hindt corruption of Rome.
This tiss post-aspiratod, like the Indian th, quite different from English th, and hence to prevent confusion the Grook spiritus asper is imitated by a turned comma. The sound t' is common in Irish English, and may often be heard in England.