Chapter: [ Contents | 1. Alphabet | 2. Sandhi | 3. Assimilation | 4. Strengthening | 5. Declension | 6. Feminine | 7. Adjectives | 8. Numerals | 9. Pronouns | 10.1 Verbs | 10.2 Verbs | 10.3 Verbs | 11. Indeclinables | 12. Compounds | 13. Derivation | 14. Syntax | 15. Prosody ]
A Practical Grammar of the Paali Language
Chapter 1
THE ALPHABET
1.
6 | vowels, |
2 | diphthongs*, (HL: *combinations of 2 vowels.) |
32 | consonants, and |
1 | accessory nasal sound called Niggahiita. |
2. The vowels are divided into short and long;
a, i, u | the short vowels |
aa, ii, uu | the long vowels |
3. The value of a long vowel is about twice that of a short one, so that it takes twice as much time to pronounce a long vowel as to pronounce a short one.
4. The sign of a long vowel is a dash placed over it. Besides the above three long vowels, all short vowels are prosodically* long that come
before a conjunct or double consonant: for instance, in bhikkhu,
ra.t.tha and puppha, the -i before kkh, the -a before .t.th and
the -u before pph are said to be long.
(HL: *prosodic - of or relating to the rhythmic aspect of language or to the suprasegmental phonemes of pitch and stress and juncture and nasalization and voicing.)
Long also are a, i, u when followed by .m (niggahiita), as in: puppha.m, a flower; cakkhu.m, eye; kapi.m, monkey.
5. The two diphthongs are e and o, which are always long. They are diphthongs only grammatically, because they are supposed to be the product of the meeting and contraction of two vowels (a + i = e; and a + u = o). In reality and practically they are simple vowels.
6. The consonants are divided into: 25 mutes, 5 semi-vowels, one sibilant and one aspirate (spirant). The 25 mutes are divided, according to the place of their formation and utterance, into 5 groups of 5 letters each.
The following table shows at a glance the classification of all the letters:
(HL: Special font is needed to read it.)
| Consonants | ||||||||||
Mutes | |||||||||||
Surd | Sonants | ||||||||||
Unaspirate | Aspirate | Unaspirate | Aspirate | Nasals | Semi- vowels Liquids | Spirant | Sibilant | Vowels | |||
gutterals | k | kh | g | gh | º | h | a, | e | o | ||
palatals | c | ch | j | jh | | y | - | - | i, ´ | ||
linguals | Ê | Êh | ¶ | ¶h | ö | r, Â | - | - | - | ||
dentals | t | th | d | dh | n | l | - | s (surd) | - | ||
labials | p | ph | b | bh | m | v | - | - | u, è | ||
µ (niggah´ta) - sonant |
The following table shows corresponding letters under Velthuis Scheme:
Consonants | |||||||||||
Mutes | |||||||||||
Surd | Sonants | ||||||||||
Unaspirate | Aspirate | Unaspirate | Aspirate | Nasals | Semi- vowels Liquids | Spirant | Sibilant | Vowels | |||
gutterals | k | kh | g | gh | "n | h | a, aa | e | o | ||
palatals | c | ch | j | jh | ~n | y | - | - | i, ii | ||
linguals | .t | .th | .d | .dh | .n | r, .l | - | - | - | ||
dentals | t | th | d | dh | n | l | - | s (surd) | - | ||
labials | p | ph | b | bh | m | v | - | - | u, uu | ||
.m (niggahiita) - sonant |
7. .l is now generally considered to be a semi-vowel and it is a liquid, a modification of l; in palm-leaf MSS l and .l are constantly interchanged. .l is not seldom the substitute of .d; it is a lingual because it is pronounced as the letters of that class ( .t, .th, etc. ).
8. .m or niggahiita comports, properly speaking, no classification; it is merely a nasal breathing found only after the short vowels: a.m, i.m, u.m.
9. The Gutterals are so called from their being pronounced in the throat;
The Aspirates | are pronounced with a strong breathing or h sound added to them; |
The Dentals | are so called from their being pronounced with the aid of the teeth; |
The Labials | are formed by means of the lips; |
The Linguals | are formed by bringing the up-turned tip of the tongue in contact with the back of the palate; |
The Liquids | readily combine with other consonants: (except, perhaps, .l); |
The Mutes | are so called on account of their not being readily pronounced without the aid of a vowel; |
The Nasals | are sounded through the nose; |
The Palatals | from being uttered by pressing the tongue on the front-palate; |
The Sibilant | has a hissing sound; and, |
The Sonants | are soft and uttered with a checked tone; |
The Spirant | a strong aspirated breathing. |
Surds | are hard, flat, and toneless; |
The Unaspirates | are pronounced naturally, without effort and without the h sound. |
The Pronunciation
The Vowels
a | is pronounced like a in art. |
aa | is pronounced like a in father |
i | is pronounced like i in sin, pin |
ii | is pronounced like ee in been, sheen. |
u | is pronounced like u in put, bull |
uu | is pronounced like oo in fool, boon. |
e | is pronounced like a in table, fate. |
o | is pronounced like o in bone, stone. |
The Consonants
11. Remark. In all cases, the aspirates are pronounced like the unaspirates, but with the addition of a strong h sound; hence the pronunciation of the unaspirates only is given.
.m | (niggahiita), found always at the end of words is, in Burma, pronounced like m in, jam, ram; in Ceylon, it is given the sound of ng in, bring, king. |
"n | is pronounced like ng in king , bring. |
~n | is pronounced like ny in banyan. |
b | is pronounced like b in book. |
c | is pronounced like ch in church, chip. |
d | is pronounced like d in deed. |
g | is pronounced like garden, go. |
j | is pronounced like jail, jar. |
k | is pronounced like k in king. |
m, y, r, l, s, h | are pronounced like the corresponding English letters. |
n | is pronounced like n in nag. |
p | is pronounced like p in part. |
ph | it must be remarked, is simply the aspirate of p, and ought not to be pronounced like f (as in: philosophy). |
t | is pronounced like table, tack. |
th | it must be borne in mind, is never pronounced like the English -th, in such words as: the, thin, etc. It is merely -t, uttered with an effort. |
v | not preceded by a consonant has the sound of v, in vine, vile. But preceded by a consonant, it is sounded like w in wind, win; tvaa, therefore, is pronounced twaa. |
Conjunct Consonants
12. Two consonants coming together form what is called a conjunct or double consonant. For instance, in: vassa, kattha and pandaapeti, the ss, tth, and nd, are conjunct consonants.
13. Only the letters of a same vagga or group (viz., the five divisions of the mutes: gutterals, palatals, etc.), can be brought together to form a conjunct consonant: the first and second, and the third and fourth only: the fifth letter of each group, that is the nasal, can be coupled with any of the other four consonants in its group.
(Original file downloaded from
www.tipitaka.net/pali/grammar/. Tabulation follows the pdf file located at www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/paligram.pdf .)