NO. 6 PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF INDIAN LANGUAGES 3 



a, as in English father. a, as in English but. 



a, as in English hat. 



e, as in English fate. e, as in English met. 



i, as in English pique. i, as in English pin. 



6, as in English note. o, as in English not (better as o in German voll). 



u, as in English rule. u, as in English put. 



For vowel qualities due to mixed positions, such as the umlauted o 

 and « in German, two dots above the letter are recommended (o). 



The obscure vowel, found for instance in English a of idea, may be 

 rendered by 5 (turned e). 



Vowels of any timbre as determined by the shape of the mouth 

 cavity may be further modified by the addition of the resonance 

 chamber of the nose. Such nasal quality in vowels (as in the French 

 nasalized vowels) may be indicated by adding beneath the letter a 

 hook turning to the right (q). 



It is to be understood that if only one of the quaHties usually 

 associated with a roman letter occurs in the language in question, that 

 letter is to-be used without a diacritical mark (similarly, o is to be 

 used instead of turned c (j) if there is only an open o in the lan- 

 guage). 



2. Duration. — The duration or quantity of vowel sounds, often an 

 essential matter, may be indicated by placing a mark after the vowel. 

 It is recommended that a turned period (a-) or a colon (a:) be used 

 for vowels long in duration, and a breve {a^ ) for those unusually 

 short. It is important that these marks be used after the vowels to 

 avoid confusion between duration and quality or timbre, since they are 

 not necessarily connected, as is generally assumed to be the case in 

 English. 



3. Pitch. — In certain languages vowel sounds are distinguished 

 from each other by definite variations in pitch. When such varia- 

 tions of pitch are essential, the acute accent over the vowel (d) should 

 be used for high pitch, and grave (a) for low pitch, the circumflex 

 (a) for falHng pitch, and the inverted circumflex (a) for rising pitch. 

 When it becomes necessary in the recording of a language to use 

 these accents to represent pitch, similar diacritical marks for quality 

 over the vowels are best avoided. 



4. Weak vowels. — Vowels which are of full duration and strength 

 but not vpiced, such as whispered vowels, may well be represented 

 by small capitals. When vowels are slighted in the force of enuncia- 

 tion, but are voiced, exponent vowels should be used (w*). 



5. Stress. — Where variations in stress are prominent they may be 

 indicated by placing the acute accent ( ' ) after the vowel. Secondary 



