Re: Niggahiita in IPA?

[To the group: I've been busier than usual in the past few days (so much
happening all at once) and have gotten behind in my responses to recent
posts to the group. I will catch up later with replies to Ven. Yuttadhammo,
Justin, and others]

Dear Ven. Dhammanando,

<< 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] >>

Your proposal of the retroflex nasal symbol for .n would probably be widely
accepted but I wonder if the traditional description of the pronunciation of
the muddhaja consonants can be equated with retroflexes. The articulatory
instrument (kara.na.m) for the .ta-vaggas is given as 'jivhopagga' which
Warder interprets as "the sub-tip of the tongue" (Warder, p.3, fn 4) which
suggests the under suface of the tongue near the tip. But I have come across
a different interpretation in the Kaccaayana-va.n.nanaa (p. 14 Thai ed.)
which states the upper surface (upari tala.m) near the tip of the tongue:

"mukhabbhantaramuddhimuddhi.t.thaana.m. tassaa jivhaaya aggassa samiipa.m
upari tala.m kara.na.m. ta.m jivhopagga.m ti vutta.m."

From this, I think .n would be better represented in IPA as the
alveolar/post-alveolar [n].

Best wishes,
Jim

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