1837.] Alphabets of the Tai language. 19 



4. Where double consonants, as hl.pl, kr, &c. occur at the com- 

 raencement of a word, as they frequently do in Siamese, the Shyans 

 and Khamtis, as well as the Laos, soften the pronunciation by omit- 

 ting the second consonant; but it is preserved by the Ahoms. I will 

 illustrate each of these remarks by a few examples. 



Siamese. Lios. Shyan. Kkamti. Ahom. 



1. Ba ba ma ma ba a shoulder. 



B&n ban man man ban a village. 



Bin bin min min bin to flv. 



Bo bo mo mo bo a well 



2.Di di If ni di good.' 



Deng deng leng neng deng red. 



Doi doi loi noi doi a mountain. 



D;iu dau lau nau dau a star. 



Diian dun luu niin dun the moon. 



3. Rak rakorhak hak hak rak to love. 

 Rai rai hai hai rai bad. 

 Ron ron hon hon ron hot. 



Ru ru hu bfl ru to know. 



Rua ru hu hii ru a boat. 



Riian riin liiin hiin run a house. 



4. Phi pa pa pa pl a a fish. 

 Klai kai kai kai klai distant. 

 Klua ku ku kii klu salt. 

 Pliiak piik piik piik plfik a husk. 



From these circumstances we may conclude that the Siamese and 

 Ahom dialects afford a more correct specimen of the original Tai lan- 

 guage, than either the Laos, Khamti, or Shyan ; for it is improbable, 

 if the original forms had been simple and easy of enunciation, 

 that they would have been exchanged for others more difficult • but it 

 is perfectly natural that difficult forms should be exchanged for others 

 more simple. 



Explanation of the Table. 



It is probable that all the alphabets of the Tai, (if we except the 

 Siamese,) were formed from the Burman. The column of Burman 

 letters is merely added for the purpose of comparison. The Ahom, 

 Khamti, and Shyan alphabets each contain eighteen letters, but 

 this number is quite inadequate to express the various sounds of these 

 languages. The Laos alphabet is more perfect : it contains fewer 

 letters, however, than the Siamese. In the above table we observe 

 that the Laos alphabet contains, to some extent, two distinct charac- 

 ters for each letter of the Ahom and Shyan ; one denoting the rising, 

 and the other the falling tone*. The rising-toned letters are set first 



* The second column of the Laos consonants embrace the second order or 

 the softer sound of each class of the Indian alphabets, g gh ; jjh ; d dh ,- b bh 

 &c. : the gh only is formed differently from the same letter of the Burman 

 alphabet. We have inserted these letters in the Roman column on the above 



D 2 



