On the Substitution of the Roman for the Indian Characters1859 - Alphabet - 35 pages |
Common terms and phrases
acute accent admit adopted advantage Aeda Aelapilla alphabetical characters amongst Anuswàra appears aspirate Bengálí Bindu character in existence character in India chch civilisation Combua consideration consonantal nasals consonants cursive denote Dentals Déva-nágarí diacritical points dian difficulty distinguishing mark district dot underneath doubled Dravidian languages enabled English cipher English mode Europeans fluently G. U. Pope Gahenukitta Government Grammar Grantham guage guttural Hindú impracticable Indian alphabets Indian characters Indian languages Indian sounds Indian systems Ispilla Kóttei languages of India learning to read least legible letters lingual long vowels Madras Maratha Matransi Monier Williams Native characters Native children Native languages necessity objection obstacle to education palatal Papilla peculiar perplexity persons practical pronounced pronunciation racter Raibha represented Roman character Roman k Sanskrit Sanyaga schools sibilants Singhalese small number Spanish nasal sign substitution symbol Tamil character Telugu ters transliterated Vedas vernacular books Visarga vowel sounds written character Yangsi
Popular passages
Page 33 - Cerebrals : t, th, d, dh, n. Dentals : t, th, d, dh, n. Labials : p, ph, b, bh, m.
Page 8 - In examining from montli to month the progress made by Native children in learning their letters, the difficulty of the native character has often forced itself upon my attention. To learn any Indian alphabet thoroughly, so as to be able to combine every consonant with every vowel and to know the various combinations of consonants, involves an acquaintance with from 200 to 500 symbols, according to the nature of the alphabet, and is surely the most difficult task to which poor school children are...
Page 15 - English turned into Tamil, even if the Roman characters were used, would occupy about a page and threequarters. Original Tamil compositions, however, would not, or at least need not, occupy more space than English, for the lengthiness of the Tamil words has taught all writers who wish to be regarded as classical to cultivate a highly condensed style. Even supposing, however, that Tamil works printed in the Roman character were to cost twice as much as English and to reach twice the size, which is...
Page 1 - TKKVELYAN.) [This paper has been contributed by the Revd. Dr. Caldwell, the author of the " Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or Southern Indian Family of Languages" which is decidedly the best book on ethnology and philology -which has been published for many a long year. The paper also derives a peculiar interest from the fact, that the important subject of it — the application of the Roman letters to the languages of Southern India, has been thought out by the able and learned Doctor, without...
Page 12 - ... therefore, that if the Singhalese system seems to persons who are conversant only with the Indian systems more perplexing than the Indian ones, it is only because they are less accustomed to it, and in a better condition for forming an impartial estimate of its defects. It may be concluded, then, that the substitution of the Roman characters for the Indian, supposing it to be possible, would greatly facilitate Native education. It would render it easier for Native children to learn to read, and...
Page 5 - Tamil capitals, which, when they are discovered, are found to differ almost as much from the modern Tamil characters as the Roman do, why not at once go back a thousand years more, and re-introduce the oldest characters of all (or at least, their most faithful existing representatives), and •Which are by far the best fitted of all for universal use, the Roman characters themselves ? II. The next point which deserves attention is the number and importance of the advantages that might be expected...
Page 30 - Anuswdra. (a). I begin with Anuswdra. This is the character which in Sanskrit, and in all other Indian alphabets except the Tamil, is used in certain conjunctions as the common representative of all nasal sounds. It is sounded like ng before gutturals, like nj before palatals, like n before linguals, like n before dentals, like m before labials and at the end of certain words ; and before li, where it is most appropriately used, its sound is nearly that of ng.
Page 2 - ... whereas every Arab or Hindu, how well soever he may be acquanted with his own language and with its character, must confess that he cannot take in at a glance more than a few words of any book or MS. at a time, nor be sure of the meaning of a sentence unless he has read every word in it right through. The Oriental regards as an impossibility the Englishman's ordinary daily achievement of ascertaining the news by merely looking over his newspaper, and gaining a correct general idea of the contents...
Page 2 - ... independently, from a purely Indian point of view, and with special reference to the objections of persons who are practically conversant with the Indian languages. The first thing to be done, on entering upon the consideration of this subject, is to satisfy ourselves whether the substitution of the Roman characters for the Indian, supposing it to be possible, would not be in the highest degree desirable and expedient. I. In endeavouring to make this point quite clear at the outset, the consideration...
Page 30 - Anustcdra, which shall be used with the same latitude until people learn to lay it aside. As we are not allowed to change about from n to m as circumstances seem to require, but must keep to the same letter throughout, it appears to me that m is the most suitable character to be used, to be distinguished from the consonantal m by a dot above. People will learn in time to lay aside the dot where it is not required, as at the end of neuter nouns. (i). The nasal of the guttural row of consonants which...