14 F. B. Shawe— Tibetan Orthography and Pronunciation. [No. 1, 
the Ladaki and most other western dialects. Jaeschke 1 mentions 
dge- Q dun “the sangha,” bTca- 0 bum “the 100,000 
Precepts ” (name of a book), and bha- 0 gyur “ the translated 
word ” (i. e., the Buddhist canon), pronounced respectively # gen-dun , # 
* ham-bum, * and # han-gyur,* as probably the only examples. To 
""V 
these, however, must be added : 3fl*Q’Q5]’3r vitia- Q gro-ma “ Dakini,” 
~v" 
pronounced * k’an-do-ma* ; , 0 - o tfud “ suckling child,” pronounced 
* om-tfun ;* ^ T QV lha- 0 dre “hobgoblin,” pronounced # lhan-de ;* 
she- 0 jus “ embrace,” pronounced # shyen-jus ;* £j T QV shu- 0 dra 
“image,” pronounced * shun-da* ; N’QSQT sa- Q gul “ earthquake,” pro- 
C\ 
nounced *sam-gul* or *san-gul* ; sdig-nua- Q bu “scorpion,” 
pronounced *(s)dig-ram-bu ;* ^’^3’ cu- 0 bu, “water-insect,” pronounc¬ 
ed *c’um-bu* A few more instances may still exist, in which Q' has 
become m or n in the western dialects, thus showing that it is neither 
a mere orthographical sign nor simply a basis for a vowel,—this latter 
want being supplied by 12T 2 —but that it formerly had a distinctly 
audible pronunciation. 
In connection with this appearance of otherwise mute letters it is 
worthy of note that in the Ladaki dialect the stem of the Perf. tense in 
the literary language has become the sole stem of the verb, and is used 
for the Present and Future, as well as for the Perfect. In many cases 
this peculiarity is not noticeable in pronunciation, and scarcely any, even 
educated, Ladaki are aware of it. But it occasionally becomes apparent 
~\rsr 
in compounds, e. g ., SWSf-V mgo-shor “ deceit, ” is usually pronounced 
* go-(s)kor.* In writing Ladaki dialect, however, mgo-bshor would have 
to be written and though the prefix b indicating the Perf. tense is 
not ordinarily heard, it becomes audible in the compound substantive, 
which is pronounced * gob-shor .* 
In all the cases cited the mute consonant re-asserts itself in com¬ 
pounds. In Ladak, however, many consonants, mute in the central 
dialects, are distinctly heard even iu simple words. Foremost amongst 
these is initial s, which is almost invariably pronounced in Ladak. 3 
1 Phonetik, p. 172. 
2 Jaeschke, Dictionary, p. xiv. 
3 The Ladaki go so far in their preference for s as to pronounce it even where 
the orthography does not authorize it. %’ rt is almost always, and very 
often pronounced * st *. Hence the Ladaki says : * sta # “ horse ; ” * stags * “ sign; 
* stat-ces * “ to deliver ; ” * ma-stogs-te * “ besides.” Final s is also rarely mute. 
