Dear Ed and friends,

Pali, not doubt, is a "dead language". But, it is still liturgical,
i.e. used in chanting in Theravada countries, preserving its spoken
aspect. Buddhist texts are still written in Pali, preserving its
written aspect (with South Asian, Southeast Asian and Roman
scripts). Further insights into its grammatical structure and
etymological aspects can all be derived from comparative language
studies. Most of the Pali texts have also been translated into other
languages, such as Chinese and Tibetan (and then to Japanese and
Korean). Hence, the doctrinal authenticity is preserved too.


metta,
Yong Peng

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, emillersa1 wrote:

I am confused. How is it that scholars can provide correct
pronunciation and correct grammatical structure, yet it is a "dead
language" that was only a spoken language. At least with Latin and
ancient Greek there are written records left to compare to modern
languages.