PRONUNCIATION.
Pronounce:
a as the Italian and German short a.
ā as a in father.
e as e in eight.
i as i in hit.
ī as i in machine.
o as o in home.
u as oo in good.
ū as u in rumor.
ai as in eye.
au as ow in how.
ñ as ny.
jñ as dny.
ññ;. as n-ny.
ch as ch in church.
cch as ch-ch in rich chance.
Note that o and e are always long.
s, j, y, and other letters, as usual in English words.
Double consonants are pronounced as two distinct sounds, e. g., ka´m-ma, not kă´ma.
The h after p, b, k, g, t, d is audible as in dub him, beg her, brick house, ant bill. Pronounce Tat-hāgata, not Ta-thāgata.
To the average European it is difficult to catch, let alone to imitate, the difference of sound between dotted and non-dotted letters. All those who are desirous for information on this point must consult Sanskrit and Pāli grammars.
Lest the reader be unnecessarily bewildered with foreign-looking dots and signs, which after all are no help to him, all dotted ṭ, ḍ, ṃ, ṇ, and italicized t, d, m, n have been replaced in the text of the book by t, d, m, n, ñ, ññ;, dotted ṛ and italicized s have been transcribed by ny, nny, ri, and sh, while the Glossary preserves the more exact transcription.
We did not follow the spelling of the Sacred Books of the East, where it must be misleading to the uninitiated, especially when they write italicized K to denote spelling of the English sound ch, and italicized g to denote j. Thus we write "rājā," not "rāgā," and "Chunda," not "Kunda."
