TIL

Linguistics

ling-indx.htm

A collection by U Kyaw Tun, M.S. (I.P.S.T., U.S.A.), Deep River, Ontario, Canada. Not for sale. No copyright. Free for everyone. Prepared for students of TIL  Computing and Language Center, Yangon, MYANMAR .

These pages are in Arial Unicode MS font. Please remember that not all Unicode fonts are alike. Myanmar characters are in gif picture format and you do not need any Myanmar font to read it.

TIL website main index index.htm | |Top
ling-indx

Contents of this page

Table of IPA consonants and Myanmar and Devanagari aksharas
Burmese-Myanmar graphemes in Romabama
IAST (International alphabet of Sanskrit transliteration) - Wikipedia
Comparison of Myanmar vowels to IPA in vowel quadrilateral

Language and thought - lang-thought.htm
 ¤ Sign language - si-lang.htm
 ¤ Plato's Cratylus and Socrates' etymology - crat.htm
The Sphoṭa theory of language : a philosophical analysis - spho-cwrd-indx.htm
 - by H. G. Coward in 2 parts:
 ¤ Metaphysical background of the Sphota theory.
 ¤ The Spota theory of Language as Revelation
Bhartṛhari's Syntax, Meaning, Sphoṭa - bartrhari-matilal.htm
Speech vs. Writing in Derrida and Bhartṛhari - by H. G. Coward - sp-writ.htm

Language and meaning [formerly in Language and thought folder: now in a new folder]

Language and religion [formerly in Language and thought folder: now in a new folder]

UKT notes
• The thibilant-sibilant controversy (Is Myanmar script more ancient than is now accepted? If so, where is the epigraphical evidence?)

Contents of this page

Table of IPA consonants compared to Myanmar and Devanagari

Contents of this page

Burmese-Myanmar graphemes in Romabama

Contents of this page

IAST (International alphabet of Sanskrit transliteration)

The following are for akshara-to-akshara transliteration between Devanagari and Myanmar.

UKT: Note to digitizer/Devanagari transcriber :
you can copy and paste the following:
Ā ā  Ē ē  Ī ī  Ō ō  Ū ū ȳ
Ḍ ḍ Ð  Ḥ ḥ  Ḷ ḷ  Ṁ ṁ  Ṃ ṃ  Ṅ ṅ  Ñ ñ  Ṇ ṇ  Ṛ ṛ  Ṝ ṝ  Ś ś  Ṣ ṣ  Ṭ ṭ
Commonly used IPA: ă ɑ ɒ ə ɚ ɛ ɪ ʊ ʌ ŋ ʃ ʧ ʤ θ ʰ
 (triangular colon) ː (question mark without dot)  ʔ (square root ) √
 (modifier) ˌ

UKT: Burmese-Myanamr allows only five kinds of pronounceable primary medial: {ya.ping.}, {ra.ric}, {la.hswè:}, {wa.hswè:} and {ha.hto:}. In all, except {la.hswè:} and {wa.hswè:}, the shape of the medial former is changed beyond recognition. However, in the case of {la.hswè:} and {wa.hswè:}, though the shape of the medial former is not changed, it appear as the lower member of the vertical conjunct. In addition to the pronounceable conjuncts, other conjuncts, both vertical and horizontal conjuncts, are allowed. They are mute. They need an akshara preceding them to become pronounceable.
   On the other hand, Sanskrit-Devanagari allows more conjuncts. Though I have no first hand knowledge whether they are pronounceable or not (as of 090829) I find that most of these are beyond my ability to pronounce when I try to pronounce them. However, for transliteration between Devanagari and Myanmar, I need to know them.
   The following is a table of consonant conjuncts from Omiglot, http://www.omniglot.com/writing/devanagari_conjuncts.php 090829. I have added Burmese-Myanmar medial formation in Romabama. (I still have to recheck some of the entries -- UKT091103)

   Note: Syllabic letters ङ {nga.}, ठ {Hta.}, ड {ða.} and ढ {Ða.} never prefix the conjunction mark (Virama ् {a.thût}) .
   UKT: The above note by Omiglot is interesting: it means, for example, that the inherent vowel of ङ {nga.} cannot be killed by Virama. In other words:

{nga.} + viram + {wa.} --> {ngwa.} is not allowed in Sanskrit. It is not so in Burmese-Myanmar.
   ङ     +    ्    +   व    -->    ङ्व   क्व

UKT: The reader should note that speakers using the Devanagari are mostly sibilant-speakers (Indo-European) whereas those speakers using Myanmar are thibilant-speakers (Tibeto-Burman). Thus, the three sibilants in Devaragari are equivalent to two sibilants plus one thibilant in Myanmar.

Bur-Myan {tha.} /θ/ = English-Latin <th/þ> /θ/ --> Hindi-Devanagari स U0938 /s/
Bur-Myan {thhya./þhya.} /ʃ/ = English-Latin <sh> /ʃ/ --> Hindi-Devanagari श U0936 Sha /ʃ/
Bur-Myan {sa.} (in the onset) /s/ = English-Latin <s> --> Hindi-Devanagari ष U0937 Ssa /s/

UKT: The reader should note that the so-called transcriptions (sound) depends not only on how a speaker articulate the sounds, but also on how the listener "hears" the sound. Both "speaking" and "hearing" depends on the first languages (L1) of the people involved, and since here we are dealing with four languages, Burmese, English, Pali and Sanskrit, the transcriptions given by a particular person is bound to be different from that given by another.

Contents of this page

Comparison of Myanmar vowels to IPA

UKT: In comparing Myanmar vowels to IPA, we usually rely on the following three diagrams:
(1) The vowel quadrilateral of Daniel Jones and (2) the tongue positions shown sideways, and 3. sometimes on the lip openings.
   However, these diagrams lead us to forget that pronouncing the vowels depend on the idiolect (person to person), the dialect (group of persons), the language, particularly the first language, L1 (living languages such as Burmese, English, Hindi, Mon, etc.), and the language group (such as Indo-European, Tibeto-Burman, Austro-Asiatic). We must also not forget that what a person articulate can be judged differently by foreign phoneticians. However, this last piece of uncertainty can now be taken care of by measuring the acoustic signals, the so-called formants F1 and F2 and giving a statistical model in three dimensions as shown below.

Contents of this page

UKT notes

Thibilant-sibilant controversy

UKT: My assumption on writing the following notes is: the shape (based on circles) and the way in which the Myanmar graphemes are traced out is of extreme importance to Burmese-Myanmar because the script was and is still used for casting the runes - an ancient magico-religious discipline which clearly predates Buddhism.

• SaDaBaWa Rune signifies the "imperfect" becoming "perfect". The starting akshara {sa.} is an imperfect circle because it is dented on the left side. As an individual struggles to become perfect, he goes through another imperfection - a circle dented in the bottom, then through another circle dented on top. Finally, he comes to "perfection" - a full circle. This way of counting, the clockwise is the "right-hand" way. You can also go through the reverse process. Start from being "perfect", and go through the "left-hand" way, and become the most "imperfect". This rune in all probability is connected to the well known Swastika of the Nazis which is left-handed. The Swastika is well-known in Myanmar: it is the "disc-weapon" of the "Universal Monarch".
   Now coming to the "Figure-Rune", on the right, can you guess the person or deity depicted? It is {þi.kra:ming} to the Buddhists, who can be equated to Indra of the Hindus. In his right hand, he is holding his staff, the capital of which itself is a rune. Can you see the {na.} signifying the Nag-dragon that makes up the length of the staff?
   I have come to know a rune master who had casted this rune 49 times ("seven times seven"), each time going through all the prescribed "austerities", and each time burning the rune (not to destroy it but to come to the "essence") and swallowing the "ash" (essence). Has he come to be protected by the attributes of {þi.kra:ming}? He's isn't telling! - note of 101107

• Remember the Indian th is {hta.} /tʰ/ , and Myanmar {tha.} is /θ/ . Myanmar {tha.} is a thibilant equal to the Indian s /s/ a sibilant. -- note of 091117

• Because of my deepest respect for the Ancients - both Indians and Myanmars, I compare the shapes of the graphemes in the two systems of aksharas and have noticed some striking aspects which probably reflect the way how the Ancients pronounced the phonemes bearing in mind the modern POAs (Points of Articulation). Compare:
¤ Myanmar pair - {hta.}-{ya.} to Devanagari pair थ-य tha-ya
   Observation: Why is the shape of {hta.} so similar to {ya.}? This intra-similarity is also observed in थ-य .
¤ Myanmar pair - {ba.}-{wa.} and Devanagari ब-व ba-wa 
¤ Myanmar triplet -- {pa.}-{sa.}-{tha.} to Devanagari triplet प-ष-स  pa-ṣa-sa 
   Observation: Note the intra-similarity in - {pa.}-{sa.} and in प-ष . Yet there is great intra-difference in - {sa.}-{tha.} and ष-स . Remember the individuals of the triplet -- {pa.}-{sa.}-{tha.} have very close POAs . And keep in mind their IPA transcriptions (which hopefully reflect the pronunciations): /p/-/s/-/θ/ for Myanmar, and /p/-/ʂ/-/s/ for Devanagari according to IAST (International Alphabet for Sanskrit Transcription - valid for Hindi) . I have come to a tentative conclusion: the Myanmar phoneticians who developed the script could clearly differentiate the difference in thibilant-sibilant whereas the Indian phoneticians had failed to "hear" the difference. Please note I am not paying attention to the present-day geo-political and national boundaries. -- note of 091117

Go back thib-vs-sib-note-b

Contents of this page

End of TIL file