12 
F. B. Shawe — Tibetan Orthography and Pronunciation. [No. 1, 
But against this view is urged, that Tibetans were “ unaccustomed 
to pronounce polysyllables and combinations of several consonants with 
one vowel.” 1 I do not think that this is really the case. At any rate 
ifc is hard to see how we are to know this. At the present day inhabi¬ 
tants of the central provinces certainly do not pronounce a combination 
of several consonants with one vowel, but have reduced nearly all com¬ 
binations to simple forms. This is, however, only habit, for I have 
convinced myself by actual experiment, that Tibetans of U and Tsang 
can pronounce most complicated combinations. Nor can it be said, that 
some combinations are absolutely unpronounceable. Jaeschke 2 cites 
quite as difficult combinations from the Polish language, and the Welsh 
language offers similar parallels. Finally, we have the curious fact, that 
in some dialects a more or less literal pronunciation actually does take 
{V place at the present day, as will be presently shown. 
We now turn, therefore, to the dialects with all the more confidence, 
as we know what very valuable materials European dialects have sup¬ 
plied to the philologist. Nor are we disappointed, for a slight attention 
to them reveals some very interesting facts. 
Taking first the Cenjtral Tibetan dialects, which at present stand 
more at variance with the orthography than an y othe rs, we find pecu¬ 
liarities, which seem to be remnants of a former literal pronunciation. 
According to ordinary usage, the affix p in verbs and adjectives is 
softened into h —pronounced * w *—after a vowel. In Central Tibet, 
however, when a final consonant of the root is elided, thus leaving a 
vocalic tone at the end of the syllable, the p is usually not softened, but 
retains its original form. Thus: ybes-pa “beloved” is pro- 
nounced *ce-pa * and not, as would be expected, *ce-wa* (but 
ce-ba “great” is *ce-wa*); rjed-pa “to forget” is pronounced 
* je-pa *; whilst 0 bye-ba “ to open ” is pronounced * je-wa ; * 
O dod-pa “ to wish ” becomes * do-pa ? not * dd-ica .* This persistency of 
the hard form of the affix is all the more striking as we have seen above 
that the usual tendency is to soften down such endings in speech, whilst 
retaining the original hard form in writing. 
We have, further, a few names which correspond in pronunciation 
to the orthography. I have several times heard the monastery of 
Q bras-spuns called # bra-pun?* whilst according to modem 
pronunciation # dll-pun # is the only correct form. Then the name of 
~V" r -\r f 
the celebrated lama Jbrom-ston is usually pronounced * brom-ton* 
although * dom-ton * would be correct, and is indeed said by the 
1 S. Ch. Das, loc. cit. 
2 Dictionary, p. xv. 
