SV: Niggahiita in IPA?

The description of the niggahiita (= Sanskrit anusvara) is seemingly obscure
and non-standard in the context of Indian grammatical literature. On the
other hand, it is difficult to get a clear idea of the actual articulation
of anusvara from its treatment in the works of the Sanskrit phoneticians, so
I guess that one description may be as good as any other. Buddhaghosa
appears to describe contemporary pronunciation, which according to him
involves not articulating any other sound by suppressing or checking the
organs of articulation (the karanaani) and producing the nasal through the
nose without the mouth being open. The Pali grammarians merely repeat
Buddhaghosa's explanation, sometimes adding an alternative explanation like
in Ruupasiddhi where it is explained that niggahiita is obtained (gayhati)
on the basis (nissaaya) of a preceding short vowel. As a technical term
niggahiita is slightly odd: the suppressed/checked (sound). It was evidently
named after the fact that its articulation follows the initial suppression
or checking of the organs of articulation as described by Buddhghosa.

Best regards,
Ole Pind

-----Oprindelig meddelelse-----
Fra: palistudy@yahoogroups.com [mailto:palistudy@yahoogroups.com] På vegne
af Dhammanando Bhikkhu
Sendt: 16. maj 2006 04:58
Til: palistudy@yahoogroups.com
Emne: [palistudy] Niggahiita in IPA?

Hello all,

For a chart I'm preparing showing SE Asian regional variations in the
pronunciation of Pali I want to represent the normative pronunciation of
Pali sounds (as described in the grammars) in the International Phonetic
Alphabet.

For the vagga nasals I have the following:

`n [angma / n with leftward hook at right]
~n [n with leftward hook at left]
.n [n with rightward hook at right]
n [n with subscript bridge]
m [m]

but would welcome suggestions as to how (if at all) the niggahiita would be
represented in IPA. N.B., I am not concerned here with how the niggahiita is
generally realised in Buddhist countries today, only with the sound as
described
thus:

Buddhaghosa:
"niggahitan" ti ya.m kara.naani niggahetvaa avissajjetvaa aviva.tena mukhena
saanunaasika.m katvaa vattabba.m.
       (Vin-a. vii. 1399)

Buddhapiya:
_a.m-iti niggahiita.m_
_a_kaaro uccaara.nattho, 'iti'-saddo
panaanantaravuttanidassanattho, a.miti ya.m _a_kaarato para.m vutta.m bindu,
ta.m niggahiita.m naama hoti.
rassassara.m nissaaya gayhati, kara.na.m niggahetvaa gayhatiiti vaa
"niggahiita.m".
       kara.na.m niggahetvaana, mukhenaaviva.tena ya.m,
       vuccate niggahiitanti, vutta.m bindu saraanuga.m.
       (Padaruupasiddhi 10)

I am also having some trouble with the vowels; the descriptions in the
grammars don't seem to be sufficiently detailed for one to make a definite
identification of all of them. But I'll post my questions on these later....

Best wishes,
Dhammanando


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