English
Equivalent. Remarks. w+q; in a. IN IN a & a, &, w&, Short, hard and compact, as already ex¬ plained. Kx. TOSJ54* K f am, Empire, Realm. Pronounced, as regards the vowel-sound, exactly like that of the English word Come. differs from G^* in that the latter is a long, slow and gentle emanation, while IN* is uttered forcibly. Long, like a in English /or. Ex. K‘A, Order , Command; oppf LX, A courteous expression . Long, like a in jar. Ex. "FT KX-SHA, A sort of grass ; S^^"qJ*<£T TX-le-la-ma , Dalai n. Lama, or Gya-wa rim-po-ch‘e vr L‘ A-SA. Long, like the o in corner, or the aw in Bawl , or the Chinese wa as in Kwan, in translitera¬ tions from Sanskrit, Indian, Chinese or other foreign languages. Thus, < Ra-me-sha-ra , A holy place near Lanka or i Ceylon ; 5’ T'o-’u-KWan, I^ast Emperor Ns ' I of China of the Tartar dynasty Dai-ch'in-b ’a-dur, A Mongolian King of Tibet . Or long, like the a in far , in Tibetan 1 words. Thus, <36* Ts‘ a, Salt ; pT^’ K‘ a-ta, Crow , mag-pie ; ^vT Pa’-£hyX, A mitre - < shaped cap. Or it serves to show that a letter is not a prefix, but an initial. Thus, Dano-po, clear , which might other- TIBETAN ORAMMAB. 9 Tibetan Sound. Romanized Equivalent. Remarks. wise have read NgX-po ; fij-po, A district of Tibet south-east of 0 find Kong- po which might otherwise have read GX-fo. iN+af 'i Short, like a in can. Ex. Zhyan- w+v C a pa (pronounced Zhyam-pa) other ; or, Da ’-fa, Faith. Long, like a in can't, as pronounced by a t^H-or C a Yankee. Ex. ^*^<31^1' Nye-SIX, Disciple, Pupil: gpr^T or GyX-po, King. cv U4* i Short, like i in is. Ex. CAJ<^*£]’ Yin-pa (pro¬ nounced Yim-pa), To be. Long, like in ravine. Ex. Ji-fa , tfi+ST l i t To be afraid; *7j^T Gt, A sign of the Agen- tfi+ar J tive Case; KyI-la, Among, amid. V in the midst . i?r I Also long, like i in ravine. Used in translit- erations from foreign languages. Ex. „ .. cv ^ ShI-la, Moral conduct; Pt>N-t>A- RI-KA, White lotus ; -£]* SHRt, Glory. | rx t£r © Short, like a in made, or Italian c. Ex. S’ l!)E, The, That. Like the preceding, but long. Ex. Gk , l£+*t $> Devil , Demon , Evil-spirit ; She- w+cg* pa, To know ; SEi>wa, or SE-wa, To absolve. 10 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. Tibetan Romanized Remarks. 1 •" Sound. Equivalent. (N-Hj* ) £ Short, like e in geL Ex. e&dpT CH‘feN-PO 5 (pronounced Cn'fcM-PO), Great , .Big, Large ; ““*s J'fc’-pA, To do, to act, to perform , to achieve. iJr ai Like c in md. Ex, , T|*a4VT Kai-ia-sha, .4 * ^ moun/am on *Ae .AT. shore of Lake Manor # sarowar ; &T5* Maitri, Love, Friendship ; Tai-ltno-ga, T^e modern Telingana. ''O u Short, like n in pu. Ex. *Hf Hur-po, -4cfii;e ; Bu, IPorm ; Cn‘u, Water. tg+'ipr a Long, like oo in snooze. Ex. 2 hyu pa. To sit. Same as preceding. Ex. ^)*^* J \* Wai du- a i IM* i <?i r a rya, j4zure stone, Lapis lazuli ; Hum, ^ v A terrifying or angry expression . Q*?^T i Brutal. ^ <s+T ) Like m in French une. Ex. f)ON, W 5 ii N9 Seven; KU’-pa, Thread . nJ tg+sr ) > n Same aa last, but long. Ex. D*tj, ig+QJ* ( ; Period, Time ; Yu, Land, Country. 5m* O Short, like o in for , or rock . This is the com- monest o in Tibetan. Ex. R?l* T'oh, Tibetan Sound. Romanized Equivalent, Bazaar ; % Ya’-po, Good; ZB'ET 2o " A build; *24 Lo, Year; ^’ 5 J* K'yi- -Bitch; 6 ^ J‘o-wo, Nobleman master * Ts‘n .*1 lord ; CJ Q/ Po-’o, Grandfather. ■^ J ° n Sj like o in mode. Ex. crowd. a multitude . Like the last. XJsed only in transliterating. Ex. GD-ta-ma, Buddha's name. r\ Short, like eu in French Jem it. Ex. Gon-pa (pronounced G^m-pa) , A monastery ; Cho’-pan, Diadem. Same as last, but long. Ex. 3Tsr Ch 4 0. Religion; Nya-D' 6 , Fishing net. Like on in Noumenon. Ex. Qou^ri- o. ma. Sometimes also spelt 12T(V or N5 No Ex. SJ or ^1 ^ Gau-ta~7na , Gou- ta-ma. Notes. 1*—In the above Tabular Statement the sign -f- in column 1 means lt as modified by the addition of.” It will b 6 seen tti&fc tlie basic, inherent W a is subject to modifications, not only when quali- 12 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. fied by vowel-signs, but also when followed or subjoined by 'a, or when subjoined by Zf Ha, or 4 warbur, or when followed by 3j* Na , QT La , Da, ST Sa , and Q'orsa. which last is sometimes represented by the abbreviation ^ Tardag-%a t i.e. *T Ta reversed, and called ^ a/ ~ sa ~^ ar ^ e y° 2 . _In words containing those vowel-modifications which are affected by AT la, the AT when pronounced, should be uttered very softly. Often it iB not pronounced at all. e.g., Noffl*, or tfou, Money; AjSiflrE' SSl-j‘a, or SS-j‘a, Tea. Where AT, as a final, is followed by the particle q* wa, the latter, in the Colloquial, is often changed into ^ ra. e.g., (instead of q') =ippT Ch'o'-pa fctf-RA *ag- wa, To sacrifice (Honorific form). Sometimes, however, merely duplicated. See § 18. 3. —In the pronunciation of words containing those vowel-modifications which are affected by D'a, or qj’ G'a, or sometimes =il$r Q'arsa, the following peculiarity should be noted. In the case of monosyllabic words or final syllables ending in one of the above letters, such letter is not exactly pronounced. Yet it is hinted at; for, just beforo pronouncing it, the speaker stops short, and, by a sharp contraction of the glottis, forms a kind of innominate sound, which perhaps is best described by reference to the Persian or Arabic f ‘am, or to the curious throat-sound omitted by some Glaswegians when, instead of saying Saturday , they say Se‘urday, or instead of saying water, they say wa'er. This em¬ phasized hiatus-sound will be represented by an apostrophe. ex. §^sr j* k’-PA, To do ; C H ‘ A, > Hand (Honorific term) ; TIBETAN GRAMMAR, 13 ending in Nyi-DU*, Parasol. In particular, as regards syllables O'a, the following rules may be observed :— (a) When the syllable forms a word by itself, like xS^* Chi’ (i Chig '), A, an; I>u’ 0u$), Is; or Sho’ 'P ( Shog'), Imperative of Yong-wa, To come, the *T O'a should never be pronounced, but only hinted at, in manner above described. (6) When the syllable in which or ^54' occurs is only one in a word of two or more syllables, and is not the final syllable, the or ^54* may be pronounced, or only hinted at, at pleasure. Ex. s=T*r DlO’-PA, or t>l’-PA, Sin ; Dod-Dod, or Oo'-fto’, A Lump; tVjqj-q' YAd-PO, or Ya'-po, Oood ; GyO-po, or GYOd- po, Quick. (c) Practically the same rules may be observed as regards final CH* la. Ex. ZW NoX, Fatigue , and fpi'-ST t>EL- wa, or t)E-WA, To fasten on. 4 ,—A consonant, having a prefix, but no affix, nor any qualifying vowel-sign, must be supported by the lengthening affix Q^’ ’a, which prevents the prefix from being mistaken for an initial letter. Ex. K'a, Order, command, word; t>’S, Arrow. 5 _Cl’ £} t is usually pronounced IV, when, in a word of more than one syllable, it ib the initial letter of the second or other following syllable, and the final letter of the immediately preceding syllable is either or n4' # or if such preceding syllable does not end in a consonant, but is governed by inherent l£4 t or one of the 14 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. vowel-signs. also takes the sound of w when it is prefixed by * t)a , and has no modifying vowel-sign or Yata sign. In the latter case it takes the sound of the modifyng signs. Ex. ;— Wang, Power, might , potency (non-physical); but 0, Respiration; U-fA, Hair (of head): En-nX, Lonely spot ; On-fo, Grandson , nephew (Literary term) ; W Yar, Summer; Ying, Region, Space (e.g., heavenly expanse); 33 ^^' Yud-PA, or Yu’*pa, To brandish , to flourish; Y feN-CH* k-wa , To separate; but Q^C54* Bang, A subject; ^3^*^ Jung-wa, To happen , originate, become , arise. The letter Ba , when sounding as a w, and followed by i. is pronounced somewhat ljke the hard Russian vowel oi, but with a w before it, or something like the English word may , save that the a must be given the vowel-sound of and merged into the succeeding i, so as to make the two into a sort of diphthongal sound. Second vowels, following immediately after a simple or com¬ pound consonant, whether qualified by a vowel-sign or not, are always based on ’ a , not on a. Ex. not ^-ST 5 ^ Gau-ta-ma ; LE-u, Chapter; Ml-tr, Little man. TIBETAN GRAMMAR, 16 § 4—Th e six reversed (i.e lo’) lettebs. Used chiefly in transliterations from Sanskrit, Pali, etc. Letter. Name. Cy m d t> S *3 O O' 05 K) Remarks. ? j Tarlog-ta T * The dental letter Ta reversed and * | or Ga-ea-da Kyo pronounced as a palatal. A common ab¬ breviation for the double affix Ex Ptjng-rO, instead of P T f a-log't*a T‘ • £f T‘o reversed, and pronounced as an as- pirated palatal. _ f Da-log-da D t)a reversed, and pronoimced as an unaspirated palatal, much as some Irish¬ men pronounce the th in think. Na^log-na N The dental letter <3T Na reversed, and pronounced as a palatal. p Sha-log-K ‘a K* -£|* Sha reversed, and pronounced like |C* K'a. a Ka-Sha-)og-t&- pa K'ya . K*y r t|* Ka, with a reversed -£j* Sha sub¬ joined. Pronounced like R’ K'ya, strongly aspirated. 10 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. § 5.— The seven consonants to which Wf Ya, in thk form of may BE subjoined, WJ* so subjoined is called or Ya-ta, Ya-subjoined. 3 0 3 3 3 This is Kya t and it is so pronounced. This is K* ya, and it is so pronounced.