1894.] F. B. Sliawe— Tibetan Orthography and .Pronunciation . 13 
uneducated class of Ladaki lamas . 1 Very interesting is the Tibetan 
name of Vajra-pani p’yag-na rdo-rje. In this name the 
second and fourth syllables are usually discarded, and the name is then 
pronounced * cak-dor.* The final r is evidently the r superscribed on 
the 7 , which was originally pronounced and has remained attached to 
the previous syllable. At present all knowledge of this etymology is so 
■v 
thoroughly lost, that the name is now often written p’yag-rdor. 
Exceedingly common in names is the pronunciation *gyam-t’so* for 
’3rd)’ rgya-mt’so, usually pronounced *gya-fso*. 
The central dialects contain other examples of cases, when the 
first syllable of a composite word ends in a vowel, and in consequence a 
mute prefix belonging to the second syllable becomes audible as part of 
the first syllable. Thus dbu-mdzad “ precentor ” should be 
pronounced * u-dzat ,* but is just as often pronounced * um-dzat* 
This pronunciation is considered vulgar in U and Tsang. 
Examples of this kind are, however, of more frequent occurrence 
in the western dialects, especially in Ladak, where they are not at all 
vulgar. Most numerals are invariably treated in this way, e. g ., 
bcu-ysum (i 13” is * bug-sum ;* ’Rg'R®' bcu-bzhi “14” is 
nub-zhi ;* Ina-bcu “50” is * dab-bu ;* dgu- 
bcu-go-brgyad “ 98 ” is * gub-cu-gob-gyat* The same thing is common 
in nouns and adjectives, e. g ., sna-mfsul “ nose ” is pronounced 
* nam-t'sul * instead of * na-fsul * as would be required by present-day 
usage ; h'a-lpags “ lip ” is * kal-pa7c(s ) * instead of * tta-pak ;* 
bka-bkyon “blame” is * Tcap-hyon # as well as * ha-hyon;* 
W ya-mfsan “ wonderful ” is * yam-fsan * as well as * ya-t’san; # 
mcod-rten “ stupa, tope ” is *cor-ten* etc. The last mentioned 
word is important, as at the present day rten is always pronounced 
* sten * in Ladak, and we should therefore expect a contraction into 
* c* os-ten* That the r has maintained itself under such circumstances 
is strong evidence, that rten was originally pronounced as spelled. 
It is in such compounds that the letter V is still discernible in 
pronunciation, although it has otherwise completely disappeared from 
1 S. Ch. Das in the “ Journ Buddh. Text. Soc.” 1893, pts. 1 & 2, always writes 
“ Bromton,” and has informed me that he usually adopts the phonetic spelling 
of names. 
