Pali Grammar

Pali is a phonetic language. As such each letter has its own characteristic sound.

UKT:

• * Not a mistake. Pronunciation as given by the author may help the native English-speakers, but for Burmese-Myanmar speakers they are of little help, if not downright misleading. That, "it may help the native speakers" in itself is doubtful if one realises that there are two forms of pronunciation, the 'strong form' and the 'weak form'. According to DJPD16, the strong form is /bʌt/ and the weak form /bət/.
   To help the Burmese-Myanmar speakers, I am giving examples from PTS Dictionary read together with PMDict (Compendium Pali Dictionary) by {lèý-ti-paN~Ði.ta.} U Maung Gyi, Rangoon, 1966, pp.524 - in Burmese-Myanmar. e.g. <atta> {at~ta.}:
"The Arahant has neither atta nor niratta, neither assumption nor rejection, he keeps an open mind on all speculative theories." -- reminds me what all scientists should aim for.

• Vowels in Indic scripts and also in Myanmar are written in two forms: the "stand-alone" characters, and vowel-signs in which a consonant character has to be inserted. I have given both forms In the above table.

• Additions to the above 8 vowels found in section on pronunciation:
ē  pronounced as a in <fate>
ō  pronounced as o in <note>
UKT: The author gives unsuitable examples by giving English words that end in e - the silent e . To add more sense to the examples, I am giving the IPA spellings:
  <fate> /feɪt/
  <note> /nəʊt/

The vowels "e" and "o" are always long, except when followed by a double consonant; e.g. ettha, oṭṭha.

UKT: With my limited knowledge of Pali, pronunciation of words that begin with o always give me trouble. For example, <ojā̄> . In Romabama it would be {Au-za}. Notice that the vowel o has now become {au}. Please refer to PTS Dictionary p165 and you will see that this word has the same root as Latin <Augustus>.