Dhamma Society - dhammasociety.org - Pāḷi and the International Phonetic Alphabet

Home

e-Tipiṭaka

King of Siam Pāḷi Tipiṭaka

Pāḷi and the International Phonetic Alphabet

Pāḷi and the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) :
A Guide to the Pronunciation System of the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka in Roman Script

Excerpt from Professor Emeritus Vichin Panupong's article
Published in Chulachomklao of Siam Pāḷi Tipiṭaka : A Digital Preservation Edition, 2009

Introduction

Pāḷi and Pāḷi Tipiṭaka Studies

The Unique Characteristics of Pāḷi

Pāḷi or the language of the Dhamma, is a unique linguistic medium through which the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka has been preserved and handed down for thousands of years in various civilizations all over the world. There are several characteristics of both the language, and the recitation and chanting of the Tipiṭaka in Pāḷi which have helped preserve the sounds in Pāḷi Theravāda Buddhist tradition.

These unique and special characteristics can be divided into the following four categories:

The first of these is the unique purity of Pāḷi sounds. As the language of one of the world’s oldest human civilizations, Pāḷi has a clear and definite sound system resulting from the articulation. This refers to the places of articulation or the position of the passive articulators in the vocal tract, and the active articulators, which involve organs in the mouth, especially the tongue that moves toward the passive articulators. This aspect of Pāḷi will be discussed in detail later in the article. The system of pronunciation of the Pāḷi consonants is classified according to the places of articulation arranged in lines from the inner part of the vocal tract to the lips.

Second, the simplicity of the Pāḷi vowels, which are all monopthongs, makes them easy to pronounce and imitate. This is one of the reasons that Pāḷi has preserved the continuity of the traditional recitation and chanting among the Buddhist Theravāda community from the past until the present day.

Third, the fact that Pāḷi is non-tonal, i.e., it does not use pitch to differentiate the meaning of words, has allowed for the use of various national alphabets to write and pronounce the Pāḷi sounds. In addition, the largely mono-tonal sound of Pāḷi creates a mindful consistency during recitation. Chanting and recitation in Pāḷi, then, bring about tranquility, which in turn may lead to spiritual insight that is conducive to peace and Vimutti, a taste of the possible liberation of the mind. This is the ultimate goal of the Dhamma, characterized by Pāḷi.

The fourth characteristic of Pāḷi --the Dhamma Language-- is explained in the Tipiṭaka Commentary cited below:

“...Dhammoti Pāḷi...”
“... Pāḷi is, therefore, the Dhamma Language of the Buddha...”

According to the Theravāda tradition, the words of the Buddha in Pāḷi have their origins in a local dialect, but they take on a different and much deeper meaning. For example, in the Magadha dialect, Pathavī means ‘soil’; however, when it appears in the Dhamma language of the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka, the word has a supramundane meaning, referring to a state of softness and hardness.

Examples of the words of the Buddha in Pāḷi are Vijjamānapaññatti (the regulation accepted by Sabhāvadhamma) Satipaṭṭhāna, Vipassanā and Nibbāna, etc. These words are defined in the Abhidhammapiṭaka, which has been constantly proof-read through the oral tradition of chanting and was later preserved through successive Great Buddhist Councils. These examinations have ensured both the preservation of the words of the Buddha recorded in the Tipiṭaka and the pronunciation of Pāḷi sounds.

It is the nature of this Dhamma language that has allowed the Pāḷi to retain its pristine quality to the present day. Vinaya or the Rules of Doctrine in the first canon of the Vinaya Piṭaka explicitly state that the Buddha ordered the teaching of the Dhamma to be in the original indigenous dialect. This orders later led to the practice of preserving the Dhamma in Pāḷi, the local language of the common people of Magadha in old India. When someone requested the Buddha to preserve his teachings in the language of the elite, i.e the Brahmin’s metrical language of Sanskrit, the Buddha refused and had set in the Vinaya that his teachings should not be transmitted in Sanskrit.

(Pāḷi and Translation)

285. 1192 “na, bhikkhave, buddhavacanaṃ chandaso āropetabbaṃ. Yo āropeyya, āpatti dukkaṭassa. Anujānāmi, bhikkhave, sakāya niruttiyā buddhavacanaṃ pariyāpuṇitun”ti.

...Monks, the speech of the Buddha should not be transmitted in metrical dialect (chandaso-Sanskrit). Whoever should transmit it, there is an offense of āpatti dukkatassa wrong-doing”

Therefore, according to the rule of Discipline in the Vinaya Piṭaka it is an offense to use languages (chandaso) other than the Pāḷi to preserve the words of the Buddha. It is also an offense to make an incorrect recitation of the Pāḷi sounds --the Kammavacā-- in the Tipiṭaka during the Theravāda Buddhist ordaination ceremony.

For these reasons, and particularly because of this the fourth characteristic, the Pāḷi Tipiṭaka is still preserved in Theravāda Buddhist chanting and has been strictly handed down in the system of Saṅgāyanā (the chanting of the words of the Buddha in the Great Buddhist Councils). Also as Pāḷi is the language of the Dhamma, it has preserved intact the words of the Buddha in the Tipiṭaka through the centuries.

The Pronounciation of Pāḷi Consonant Clusters

Consonant clusters mean two consonant sounds which are produced continuously without the interruption of a vowel in the middle. The clusters may appear in the initial position of the syllable or in intervocalic position. They are classified into two types: initial consonant clusters and consonant clusters in intervocalic position.

Initial Consonant Clusters

The consonants in Pāḷi which appear in initial consonant clusters are semivowels or approximants, i.e. /y r v l ḷ/ [ j ɻ ʋ t̪ l̪ ɭ ] and combine with the plosive consonants /k t d p b/ [k t̪ d p b]. Examples of initial clusters appear in the box below:

Plate 28 : Initial Consonant Clusters









Data & Typesetting : the World Tipiṭaka; Recitation : Siri Phetchai; IPA Pāḷi : Vichin Panupong, 2009

Consonant Clusters in Intervocalic Position

These consonant clusters which occur in intervocalic position consist of the same elements as the initial consonant clusters discussed above. One difference, however, is that the dental fricative /ส/ [ s̪ ] can combine with the bilabial nasal consonant /m/ [ m ] to form the cluster /สม/ [ s̪m ], as seen in the examples below.

When consonant clusters occur in intervocalic position, the first element of the cluster serves to end the preceeding syllable as well. The first element thus has two functions: as the final of the first syllable and as the beginning of the initial cluster of the next syllable.

Plate 29 : The Consonant Clusters in Initial Position









Data & Typesetting : the World Tipiṭaka; Recitation : Siri Phetchai; IPA Pāḷi : Vichin Panupong, 2009

In Plate 29, in IPA Pāḷi only consonant cluster sounds are represented. No linkage mark has been used to indicate the continuation of the vowel together with the consonant cluster itself.

However, in Plate 30, a likage mark is added, both in the Roman script and the IPA Pāḷi, to indicate the continuation of the preceeding vowel of the cluster with the cluster itself. The first consonant of the cluster functions both as the final of the first syllable (with red highlight) and as the beginning of the initial cluster (in bold) in the next syllable.

Plate 30 : The Consonant Clusters in Intrevocalic Position









Data & Typesetting : the World Tipiṭaka; Recitation : Siri Phetchai; IPA Pāḷi : Vichin Panupong, 2009

Plate 31 : The Consonant Clusters with /h/










Data & Typesetting : the World Tipiṭaka; Recitation : Siri Phetchai; IPA Pāḷi : Vichin Panupong, 2009

Plate 32 : The Consonant Clusters with /h/ in Intrevocalic Position










Data & Typesetting : the World Tipiṭaka; Recitation : Siri Phetchai; IPA Pāḷi : Vichin Panupong, 2009

Likewise, in IPA Pāḷi which appears in Plate 31, only consonant clusters are transcribed. No linkage mark has been used to indicate the continuation of the vowel together with the consonant cluster. However, in Plate 32, a likage mark is added, both in the Roman script and the IPA Pāḷi, to indicate the continuation of the vowel preceeding the cluster with the cluster itself. The first consonant of the cluster functions both as the final of the first syllable and as the beginning of the initial cluster in the next syllable.

However, in Plate 32, a likage mark is added, both in the Roman script and the IPA Pāḷi, to indicate the continuation of the vowel preceeding the cluster with the cluster itself. The first consonant of the cluster functions both as the final of the first syllable and as the beginning of the initial cluster in the next syllable.

Next >

[ Back ]