Re: Pali phrase book?

Piya,

My name is George (Bedell); please call me that.

I refer you to the Wikipedia entry on 'Extinct Languages'. Actually that entry distinguishes
between 'extinct' languages and 'dead' languages, which is a little new to me. I doubt
there are any 'dead' but not 'extinct' languages in their sense. In my usage and that of
most linguists, the two are the same and correspond to what the entry calls 'extinct'.
Either way, Pali (like Latin, Sanskrit or Classical Chinese) is both dead and extinct.

with metta,

George B

--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Piya Tan" <dharmafarer@...> wrote:
>
> Shall I call you DB or Bedell?
>
> Thanks for the interesting feedback, and I would like to know more. Any
> citations?
>
> I can see phantom question marks over some of my more intelligent pupils
> looking
> at me with suspicion if I said that a certain gdbedell on Pali Yahoo said
> such and
> such. Not that I don't value what you have said; indeed, for the very
> contrary.
>
> Citations please.
>
> Agape,
>
> Piya
>
>
> On Jan 25, 2008 10:26 PM, gdbedell <gdbedell@...> wrote:
>
> > With all due respect to Piya Tan and others of like mind, a 'dead'
> > language is usually
> > defined as one with no native speakers. These are people who learn it as
> > their first
> > language and for whom it remains the primary mode of communication. By
> > this definition,
> > Pali is a dead language in spite of the many Buddhists who read and chant
> > it regularly, and
> > situations like that described by Piya for the Thai abbot in Sri Lanka.
> > Being dead does not
> > prevent it from preserving the Buddha's teachings.
> >
> >
> > --- In Pali@yahoogroups.com <Pali%40yahoogroups.com>, "Piya Tan"
> > <dharmafarer@> wrote:
> > >
> > > When I was a monk in Thailand some 40 years back, I remember my abbot
> > (the
> > > current Somdet Phutthacharn of Wat Srakes) saying when he went to Sri
> > Lanka,
> > > he knew no Sinhala, and the Sinhalese knew no Thai. So they communicated
> > in
> > > Pali.
> > >
> > > Furthermore, Pali is not a "dead" language (like hieroglyphics, which
> > nobody
> > > uses).
> > > Pali is commonly use by living cultures. Sometimes it is called a
> > > Kunstsprache,
> > > which I think literally translates as "speech for art" a sort of
> > artificial
> > > language
> > > specially devised to preserve the Buddha's Teachings.
> > >
> > > Metta,
> > >
> > > Piya
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On Jan 25, 2008 2:59 PM, Jon Fernquest <bayinnaung@> wrote:
> > >
> > > > In a previous thread (History of the word "Aryan") Piya Tan suggests:
> > > >
> > > > "I think we should stop speaking English here, and start using Pali.
> > After
> > > >
> > > > all this is a Pali website."
> > > >
> > > > I would like to do this, but has a spoken Pali primer ever been
> > written?
> > > >
> > > > I once asked a former monk friend of mine how to say some simple
> > > > phrases and even though he can read Pali very well, he wasn't able to
> > > > produce spoken Pali. Does anyone speak Pali anymore? When did they in
> > > > the past?
> > > >
> > > > This reminds me of a **Pali phrase book** used to help beginners
> > > > communicate in Pali, that I found at a bookseller in Yangon, Burma
> > > > several years ago, that was published in Sri Lanka.
> > > >
> > > > Has anyone ever seen such a thing or know where it can be obtained?
> > > >
> > > > Sincerely,
> > > > Jon
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > The Minding Centre
> > > Blk 644 Bukit Batok Central #01-68 (2nd flr)
> > > Singapore 650644
> > > Website: dharmafarer.googlepages.com
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
> --
> The Minding Centre
> Blk 644 Bukit Batok Central #01-68 (2nd flr)
> Singapore 650644
> Website: dharmafarer.googlepages.com
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>