From: Richard Wordingham
Message: 16414
Date: 2002-10-18
--- In cybalist@..., "Danny Wier" <dawier@...> wrote:
As no-one else replied, I will.
> Arabic I think is increasingly using letters normally used in
Persian for five additional consonants, using a three-dot marking:
>
> beh > peh (three dots below)
> jiim > chiim (three dots inside/below)
> zeh > zheh (three dots above)
> feh > veh (three dots above)
> kaaf > gaaf (a diagonal line parallel to the top mark of kaaf)
veh isn't Persian, though the other four are. Farsi has /v/,
not /w/, so it uses waw for /v/.
> Devanagari and its cousins in India use the nukta (point below) for
Persian, English and other loans:
>
> k > q
> kh > x
> g > G
> j > z
> ph > f
> y > zh (?)
> Hindi has d./d.h > r./r.h for retroflex flaps.
Interesting. The Thai alphabet, which is another cousin, needed
extra letters (for Thai), and made them by raising the rightmost
corners of the labials and putting a dent in the others. Some of the
changes were the same:
kh > x (but now /kh/ and not used in words)
g > G (but now /kh/, like <g>, and not used in words)
j > z (now /s/, but used to modulate tone markings)
ph > f
The modification of <j> to <z> surprised me when I learnt it. Are
the changes in Thai and Devanagari related or parallel?
A similar change was:
b > v (now /f/, but used to modulate tone markings)
There was also an idiosyncratic need, to distinguish voiceless
plosives /p/ and /t/ from preglottalised plosives /?p/ and /?t/
(now /b/ and /d/). The preglottalised plosives got the original
letter, and /p/ and /t/ got the modified letter. For good measure,
Thai also doubled up <t.> the same way, though as far as I am aware,
Indic retroflex consonants have always been pronounced the same way
as the dental consonants.
As you might imagine, transliterating Thai presents a challenge, for
Thai is full of Indic loans - some even make it into the Swadesh 100
word list! Does one write 'Ayutthaya' or 'Ayudhya' for the city
named after Rama's bithplace? 'Sawankhalok' (pronunciation)
or 'Svargaloka' (the town's Sanskrit name)? I have yet to fathom out
the scheme used for passports - Thai names are often composed of
Sanskrit or Pali elements. TV listings and street names use
different systems. But then one road name in Bangkok is translated
as 'Henri Dunant Road' at one end and 'Ongri Dunong Road' at the
other! (Street signs are bilingual - Thai / English.)
Richard.