English
The manner of pronouncing these differs only in degree from the way in which Masculine and Feminine Letters are pronounced. That is, they are uttered less compactly and emphatically than the Mascu¬ line, and less softly than the Feminine Letters. Sob-Feminine or Barren Letters. I he pronunciation of these is also only a matter of degree as compared with the pronunciation of Feminine Letters Neuter Letter. This lias a hard and compact sound. The following Tabular Statement will elucidate the above remarks :— TIBETAN GRAMMAR. 41 Letter. ^ K a 3* Cha Ta £T Pa Tsa J Gender Masculine Pronunciation. ith distinctness, emphasis, fullness and compactness, effected by a special effort of the vocal organs. F <£' S' *?’ ST =n* E' CM' Wa @j’ Z h ya y K‘a Ch‘a T f a P‘a Ts‘a Sha Sa Ga Ja Da B'a Dz‘a S’ Common j Feminine Not so compactly as tlie Masculine, and not so softly as the Feini- nine Letters. A gentle and gradual emanation of the sound, rather than an em¬ phatic and compact projection of it. 42 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. Letter. Gender. Pronunciation. C* Xga “A Xya 1 1 Y m Xa Very Feminine. More gently and gradually than the Feminine. sr Ma J K Ha S ’ cr La l - Ha Sub-Feminine or Barren . . Without effort. ‘A * 1 P # J UN* A ■ Neuter Hard, from the base of the throat. * Even the Ftvk P refixes possess n gender of their own. Thus : — ^ Ha is Masculine , having been Feminine , as an Initial. =T|* 6a ) [ a, '° Common , having been Feminine , as Initials. •V D " ) \4 is Feminine, having been Barren , as an Initial. Ma is Very Feminine , unaltered. So, too, the Ten Fin a l Affixes have the following genders ;— ^ 6a, Masculine , having been Feminine as an Initial, and Common. as a Prefix. S,* ha. Ditto. Ditto. ^ iia. Ditto, having been Feminine as an initial, and Ma&ci*- line as a Prefix. TIBETAN GRAMMAR. 43 *r Sa t Masculine, having been Common as an Initial. Na t Common , having been Very Feminine as an Initial. Ditto, having been Barren as Initials. C, Nga J Feminine , having been Very Feminine as Initials, and £i- }/ a f having been Very Feminine , as a Prefix. ’A, Feminine, having been Barren as an Initial, and Feminine as a Prefix. Thus, the only Letter which undergoes no change in gender, whether as Initial, Prefix, or Final Affix, is Ma . In his Primer of Standard Tibetan the Revd. Mr. Edward Amundsen, when dealing with the Tone system, gives prominence to the Pitch and Length , rather than to the Comjmctness , Emphasis , and Dis¬ tinctness of the tone. His classification may be represented thus : High and short. High and long. Medium and short. Medium and long. Descending but re-ascend¬ ing and long. Very low and long. We have seen that the Length or Shortness of the Tone is governed by rules of its own (see § 3) : hence we need not consider it here in connection with Pitch. So far, therefore, as Pitch alone is concerned, Mr. Amundsen’s system may be reduced to only three classifications, namely :— 1. 5' S' CJ* G) 2. & -jC|* SJ* 3 . pr <5* g* ar £ 4. c* y sr 2j- w 5. df E* ^ d* 3* Vf 6. OT 44 TIBETAN GRAMMAR. A 1. High Medium ^consisting of Mr. A.’s I Low High and short. o High and long. Medium and short. Medium and long. Low and ascending. Very low. Now, if, instead of regarding this question of Tone from the point of view ot Pitch, we regard it from that of emphasis, fullness, compact¬ ness and distinctness, we shall find that the subject again arranges itself under three heads namely, utterances that are very compact and full, those that are only moderately so, and those that are soft and gradual emanations. lo sum up : for all practical purposes it will be found that (1) words beginning with the Masculine Initials 'TT ^ (V (C should he pronounced compactly and fully, anil in a high key ; (2) words begin¬ ning with the Common Initials JSf 9 ST, should be pronounced with moderate emphasis and in a moderately high key ; (•t) while words beginning with the Feminine Initials E' } - 2}* ^ j ^\ or with the Very Feminine Initials, W , ur wit!i the Barren Initials 5V or with the Neuter Initial f should be pronounced softly and in a low key. It should also he remembered that when an Initial has a Prefix, or a Sur¬ mounting Letter, the utterance according to these three rules is somewhat intensified as regards Masculine and Common Initials, and heightened and rendered more compact as regards all the others, It would appear, however, to be doubtful whether Prefixes have much to do with the nttsimj of the 'Tonic Pitch. What is more certain is that they are used (1) for modifying the meaning of a word, e.g., Ch o’-pa. To be cut off. To be decided . but Ch‘0*-pa TIBETAN GRAMMAR* 45 To honour ; Dong-wa (for Dano-wa, Cold), but Dong-wa, To count , and Dong-wa, To die ; (2) in the formation of the tenses of verbs, as already explained 13) ; and to effect changes in the pronunciation of Initial Letters. Thus CTT as an Initial, is pronounced almost like K in English ; but, when prefixed bv *v *>', *r, or it is pronounced like hard G in English Again an Initial, is pronounced almost like P in English : but when prefixed by ^ 9 it is pronounced as W, when unqualified by any vowel-sound, and as the vowel-sound only, when so qualified ; or, if prefixed by QA it takes the sound of B in English. Again, as regards 3', see $ 1.3. Again, as an Initial, is pronounced as a dental T ; but if prefixed by c fj’ ? or it takes the sound of a dental D. Again, E* a nd ^ when Initials, are pronounced with a slight aspirate ; but. when prefixed by or they lose the aspirate. Again 3 as an Initial, is pronounced almost like in English ; but, when prefixed by or it is pronounced like Z in English. Lastly, (ST as an Initial, is pronounced almost like shya ; but, prefixed by or it takes the sound of zkya. ■§ 20.—Writing and Punctuation. Originally, Tibetan was a monosyllabic language. Nowadays, however, its words are mostly dissyllabic. There is no attempt in the written or printed language to divide off words front one another, either by spacing or by punctuation. Hence, they all succeed and seem to run into each other in one continuous line, and the reader’s knowledge is all that enables him to recognize them individually. It is otherwise, however, with syllables. A syllable may consist of a single consonant simple or complex, or of two or more such consonants, silent or pro¬ nounced. But. be its consonantal structure what it may, the whole collocation of letters possesses onlv one vowel-sound , inherent or expressed by vowel-signs. Every such coiloc tion or syllable must be marked off 46 TIBETAN GRAMMAR, from, its successor by a dot ( *) placed at the right-hand top corner of the final consonant. This dot is called Ts‘fe\ To mark the termina¬ tion of clauses such as those for which we generally use a comma, a semi-colon, or a colon, another sign is used in the shape of a vertical stroke (| called Kyang-Sha\ Whenever this sign is used, the after the last consonant is omitted, except in the case of final C nga , which always retains it. A double vertical stroke (II), called Cv Nyi-Sha’, is used where we would use a full stop. At the end of a paragraph, or of a chapter, a fourfold vertioal stroke ( till^ called ^hyi-ShX’, is placed. Enstead of the four plain strokes the * following may be used : Instead of the two plain strokes the following, t a )) one plain stroke the following, G, In some books the ; Instead of the comma is seen thus, |. Sometimes the dot (*) or is seen and sometimes even larger, *. In Book-letter and in Running-hand the £&]' is seen thus, C At the commencement of printed and written matter symbols like the following may often be seen:— ^ || This is caI]ed Swasti or the Auspicious Rene- ^ diction . It may begin any work dealing with Ethics and Morality. The top figures are the Double Flame, or Radiance, the next are the Double Gem, and the lowest are the Double Lotus. On the right is ?S$1\C|^| \ 6 s 6 \ d % d Triple ditto, for writings on Philosophy * ■ I and Theology; Radiance, Gem, Triple Lotus, and Stalk. Begin¬ ning chapters in Religious works. Lotus and Stalk. Used with official ooirespondence, proverbs, maxims, etc., to indicate a fresh beginning. TIBETAN GRAMMAR, 47 Ordinary Block Print. The proper method of writing this is first to make the thick horizontal stroke at the top of each letter, and then the rest of the character, working from left to right as in English, anti adding the Ya-tas, Ra-tas, and vowel-signs last. The straight vertical strokes should be long, fairly thick at the top, and tapering to the bottom. In writing (?T the vertical stroke on the left may first be made downwards, and then the rest, never omitting clearly to define the loop in the centre. Or, a horizontal stroke may first be made, then the vertical stroke on the left downwards, and then the remainder, from the right-hand end of the horizontal stroke. The down-stroke from the loop must be long, quite vertical, and tapering, otherwise the beginner is apt to produce something which might be mistaken for Q/ which has no central loop, and whose final down-stroke is short, and instead of being vertical slopes off to the right. Other letters which the beginner is apt to mix up with each other when attempting to write them, are C* Nga, ^ Ta, and Da.