Everything about Pali totally explained
Pali (
IAST: ) is a
Middle Indo-Aryan language or
prakrit of
India. It is best known as the language of the earliest extant
Buddhist canon, the
Pāi Canon (Pāi:
Tipitaka), and as the
liturgical language of
Theravada Buddhism. Pāli has since been written in a variety of
scripts, from the
Brahmic family scripts through to a
romanised form devised with the research and contributions of
Robert Caesar Childers and
T. W. Rhys Davids, both of the
Pali Text Society.
Origin and development
The word Pāli itself signifies "line" or "(canonical) text", and this name for the language seems to have its origins in commentarial traditions, wherein the "" (in the sense of the line of original text quoted) was distinguished from the commentary or the vernacular following after it on the manuscript page. As such, the name of the language has caused some debate among scholars of all ages; the spelling of the name also varies, being found with both long "ā" [ɑː] and short "a" [a], and also with either a
retroflex [ɭ] or non-
retroflex [l] "l" sound. To this day, there's no single, standard spelling of the term; all four spellings can be found in textbooks.
Pāli is a
literary language of the
Prakrit language family; it isn't now (and never was) an informal, spoken language, in the sense of a
mother tongue. Despite excellent scholarship on this problem, there's persistent confusion as to the inter-relation of to the vernacular spoken in the ancient kingdom of
Magadha (now modern-day Bihār).
Pāli as a
Middle Indo-Aryan language is different from
Sanskrit not so much with regard to the time of its origin than as to its dialectal base, since a number of its morphological and lexical features betray the fact that it isn't a direct continuation of
Vedic Sanskrit; rather it descends from a dialect (or a number of dialects) which was (/were), despite many similarities, different from .
Pāli was considered by early Buddhists to be linguistically similar to Old
Magadhi or even a direct continuation of that language. Many
Theravada sources refer to the Pāli language as “Magadhan” or the “language of Magadha”. However, the later form of Magadhi of
Asoka's inscriptions (3rd century BC) is an Eastern Indian language whereas Pāli most closely resembles Western Indian inscriptions. There are many remarkable analogies between Pali and
Ardhamagadhi (Half Magadhi), an old form of Magadhi preserved in ancient
Jain texts. Ardhamagadhi differs from Magadhi proper on similar points as Pali. For example, Ardhamagadhi too doesn't change
r
into
l, and in the noun inflexion it shows the ending
-o instead of Magadhic
-e at least in many metrical places. This similarity isn't accidental, since
Mahavira, the 24th
Tirthankara of
Jainism preached in the same area (Magadha) as
Buddha Gotama.
T.W. Rhys Davids in his book
Buddhist India
, and
Wilhelm Geiger in his book
Pali Literature and Language suggested that Pāli may have originated as a form of
lingua franca or common language of cultured laity, used at the time of the
Buddha. However, most modern scholars consider that Pali evolved over a period of centuries, becoming fairly fixed when the Pāli Canon was written down in
Sri Lanka. It continued to be preserved entirely in Pāli, while the commentarial tradition that accompanied it (according to the information provided by
Buddhaghosa) was translated into
Sinhalese and preserved in local languages for several generations.
However it was ultimately supplanted in
India by Sanskrit as a literary and religious language following the formulation of Classical Sanskrit by the scholar
Panini. In Sri Lanka, Pāli is thought to have entered into a period of decline ending around the 4th or 5th Century (as Sanskrit rose in prominence), but ultimately survived. The work of Buddhaghosa was largely responsible for its reemergence as an important scholarly language in Buddhist thought. The
Visuddhimagga and the other commentaries that Buddhaghosa compiled codified and condensed the
Sinhalese commentarial tradition that had been preserved and expanded in Sri Lanka since the 3rd Century BCE.
Today Pāli is studied mainly to gain access to Buddhist scriptures, and is frequently chanted in a ritual context. The secular literature of Pāli historical chronicles, medical texts, and inscriptions, is also of great historical importance. The great centers of Pāli learning remain in the
Theravada nations of
South-East Asia:
Myanmar (Burma),
Sri Lanka,
Thailand,
Laos and
Cambodia. Since the 19th century, various societies for the revival of Pāli studies in
India have promoted awareness of the language and its literature, perhaps most notably the
Maha Bodhi Society founded by
Anagarika Dhammapala.
In
Europe, the Pali Text Society has been a major force in promoting the study of Pāli by Western scholars since its founding in
1881. Based in the
United Kingdom, the society publishes romanized Pāli editions, along with many
English translations of these sources. In
1869, the first Pali Dictionary was published using the research of Robert Caesar Childers, one of the founding members of the Pali Text Society. It was the first Pali translated text in English and was published in
1872. Childers's Dictionary later received the
Volney Prize in
1876.
The Pali Text Society was in part founded to compensate for the very low level of funds allocated to
Indology in late 19th century
England; incongruously, the English were not nearly so robust in Sanskrit and
Prakrit language studies as
Germany,
Russia and even
Denmark—a situation that many would say continues to this day. Without the inspiration of colonial holdings such as the former
British occupation of Sri Lanka and
Burma, institutions such as the
Danish Royal Library have built up major collections of Pāli manuscripts, and major traditions of Pāli studies.
Lexicon
Virtually every word in has
cognates in the other Prakritic "
Middle Indo-Aryan languages", for example, the
Jain Prakrits. The relationship to earlier Sanskrit (for example,
Vedic language) is less direct and more complicated. Historically, influence between Pāli and Sanskrit has been felt in both directions. The Pāli language's resemblance to Sanskrit is often exaggerated by comparing it to later Sanskrit compositions -- which were written centuries after Sanskrit ceased to be a living language, and are influenced by developments in Middle Indic, including the direct borrowing of a portion of the Middle Indic lexicon; whereas, a good deal of later Pāli technical terminology has been borrowed from the vocabulary of equivalent disciplines in Sanskrit, either directly or with certain phonological adaptations.
Post-canonical Pāli also possesses a few loan-words from local languages where Pāli was used (for example Sri Lankans adding Sinhalese words to Pāli). These usages differentiate the Pāli found in the [[SuttaPitaka|]] from later compositions such as the Pāli commentaries on the canon and folklore (for example, the stories of the
Jātaka commentaries), and comparative study (and dating) of texts on the basis of such loan-words is now a specialized field unto itself.
Pāli wasn't exclusively used to convey the teachings of the Buddha, as can be deduced from the existence of a number of secular texts, such as books of medical science/instruction, in Pāli. However, scholarly interest in the language has been focused upon religious and philosophical literature, because of the unique window it opens on one phase in the development of
Buddhism.
Emic views of Pāli
Although Sanskrit was said, in
brahmanical tradition, to be the unchanging language spoken by the gods, in which each word had an inherent significance, this view of language wasn't shared in the early Buddhist tradition, in which words were only conventional and mutable signs. Neither the Buddha nor his early followers shared the brahmans' reverence for the
Vedic language or its
sacred texts. This view of language naturally extended to Pāli, and may have contributed to its usage (as an approximation or standardization of local Middle Indic dialects) in place of Sanskrit. However, by the time of the compilation of the Pali commentaries (4th or 5th century), Pali was regarded as the natural language, the root language of all beings.
Comparable to
Ancient Egyptian,
Latin or
Hebrew in the
mystic traditions of the West, Pāli recitations were often thought to have a
supernatural power (which could be attributed to their meaning, the character of the reciter, or the qualities of the language itself), and in the early strata of Buddhist literature we can already see Pāli
[[dharani|]]s used as charms, for example against the bite of snakes. Many people in Theravada cultures still believe that taking a vow in Pāli has a special significance, and, as one example of the supernatural power assigned to chanting in the language, the recitation of the vows of [[Angulimala|]] are believed to alleviate the pain of childbirth in Sri Lanka. In
Thailand, the chanting of a portion of the [[Abhidhamma|]] is believed to be beneficial to the recently departed, and this ceremony routinely occupies as much as seven working days. Interestingly, there's nothing in the latter text that relates to this subject, and the origins of the custom are unclear.
Phonology
Vowels
| Height |
Backness |
| Front |
Central |
Back |
| High | i [i]ī [iː]
|
|
u [u]ū [uː]
|
| Mid | e [e], [eː] |
a [ɐ] |
o [o], [oː]
|
| Low | |
ā [aː] |
|
Long and short vowels are only contrastive in open syllables; in closed syllables, all vowels are always short. Short and long
e and
o are in complementary distribution: the short variants occur only in closed syllables, the long variants occur only in open syllables. Short and long
e and
o are therefore not distinct phonemes.
A sound called
anusvāra (Skt.; Pali:
nigghahita), represented by the symbol in romanization, and by a raised dot in most traditional alphabets, originally marked the fact that the preceding vowel was nasalized. That is,, and represented [ ã ], [ ĩ ] and [ ũ ]. In many traditional pronunciations, however, the anusvāra is pronounced more strongly, like the velar nasal [ ŋ ], so that these sounds are pronounced instead [ ãŋ ], [ ĩŋ ] and [ ũŋ ]. However pronounced, never follows a long vowel;
ā, ī and
ū are converted to the corresponding short vowels when is added to a stem ending in a long vowel, for example becomes, not, becomes, not *.
Consonants
The table below lists the consonants of Pāli. In bold is the letter in traditional romanisation, in brackets is its pronunciation in the
IPA.
The sounds listed above, except for
ṅ,
ḷ and
ḷh are distinct phonemes in Pāli.
ṅ only occurs before velar stops.
ḷ and
ḷh are allophones of
ḍ and
ḍh when they occur singly between vowels.
Morphology
Pāli is a highly inflected language, in which almost every word contains, besides the root conveying the basic meaning, one or more affixes (usually suffixes) which modify the meaning in some way. Nouns are inflected for gender, number, and case; verbal inflections convey information about person, number, tense and mood.
Nominal inflection
Pāli nouns inflect for three
grammatical genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, and plural). The nouns also, in principle, display eight
cases:
nominative or
paccatta case,
vocative,
accusative or
upayoga case,
instrumental or case,
dative or
sampadāna case,
ablative,
genitive or
sāmin case, and
locative or
bhumma case; however, in many instances, two or more of these cases are identical in form; this is especially true of the genitive and dative cases.
a-stems
a-stems, whose uninflected stem ends in short
a (/ə/), are either masculine or neuter. The masculine and neuter forms differ only in the nominative, vocative, and accusative cases.
|
Masculine (loka- "world") |
Neuter (yāna- "carriage") |
| Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural |
| Nominative | loko |
lokā |
|
yānāni
|
| Vocative | loka
|
| Accusative | |
loke
|
| Instrumental | lokena |
lokehi |
yānena |
yānehi
|
| Ablative | lokā (lokamhā, lokasmā; lokato) |
yānā (yānamhā, yānasmā; yānato)
|
| Dative | lokassa (lokāya) |
|
yānassa (yānāya) |
|
| Genitive | lokassa |
yānassa
|
| Locative | loke |
lokesu |
yāne |
yānesu
|
ā-stems
Nouns ending in ā (/aː/) are almost always feminine.
|
Feminine (kathā- "story") |
| Singular |
Plural |
| Nominative | kathā |
kathāyo
|
| Vocative | kathe
|
| Accusative |
|
| Instrumental | kathāya |
kathāhi
|
| Ablative |
| Dative |
|
| Genitive |
| Locative | kathāya, |
kathāsu
|
i-stems and u-stems
i-stems and u-stems are either masculine or neuter. The masculine and neuter forms differ only in the nominative and accusative cases. The vocative has the same form as the nominative.
|
Masculine (isi- "seer") |
Neuter (akkhi- "eye") |
| Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural |
| Nominative | isi |
isayo, isī |
akkhi, |
akkhī, akkhīni
|
| Vocative |
| Accusative |
|
| Instrumental | isinā |
isihi, isīhi |
akkhinā |
akkhihi, akkhīhi
|
| Ablative | isinā, isito |
akkhinā, akkhito
|
| Dative | isino |
|
akkhino |
|
| Genitive | isissa, isino |
akkhissa, akkhino
|
| Locative | |
isisu, isīsu |
|
akkhisu, akkhīsu
|
|
Masculine (bhikkhu- "monk") |
Neuter (cakkhu- "eye") |
| Singular |
Plural |
Singular |
Plural |
| Nominative | bhikkhu |
bhikkhavo, bhikkhū |
|
cakkhūni
|
| Vocative |
| Accusative |
|
| Instrumental | bhikkhunā |
bhikkhūhi |
cakkhunā |
cakkhūhi
|
| Ablative |
| Dative | bhikkhuno |
|
cakkhuno |
|
| Genitive | bhikkhussa, bhikkhuno |
|
cakkhussa, cakkhuno |
|
| Locative | |
bhikkhūsu |
|
cakkhūsu
|
Example of Pāli with English translation
» Manopubbaṅgamā dhammā, manoseṭṭhā manomayā;
Manasā ce paduṭṭhena, bhāsati vā karoti vā,
» Tato nam dukkhaṃ anveti, cakkaṃ'va vahato padaṃ.
Element for element gloss » Mano-pubbaṅ-gam=ā dhamm=ā, mano-seṭṭh=ā mano-may=ā;
Mind-before-going=
m.pl.nom. dharma=
m.pl.nom., mind-foremost=
m.nom.pl. mind-made=
m.nom.pl. » Manas=ā ce paduṭṭh=ena, bhāsa=ti vā karo=ti vā,
Mind=
n.sg.inst. if corrupted=
n.sg.inst. speak=
3.sg.pr. either act=
3.sg.pr. or,
» Ta=to naṃ dukkhaṃ anv-e=ti, cakkaṃ 'va vahat=o pad=aṃ.
That=from him suffering after-go=
3.sg.pr., wheel as carrying(beast)=m.sg.gen. foot=n.sg.acc.
The three compounds in the first line literally mean:
» manopubbaṅgama "whose precursor is mind", "having mind as a fore-goer or leader"
manoseṭṭha "whose foremost member is mind", "having mind as chief"
» manomaya "consisting of mind" or "made by mind"
The literal meaning is therefore: "The
dharmas have mind as their leader, mind as their chief, are made of/by mind. If [someone] either speaks or acts with a corrupted mind, from that [cause] suffering goes after him, as the wheel [ofa cart follows] the foot of a draught animal."
A slightly freer translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita
» Mind precedes all mental states. Mind is their chief; they're all mind-wrought.
If with an impure mind a person speaks or acts suffering follows him
» like the wheel that follows the foot of the ox.
Pāli and Sanskrit
Although Pāli can't be considered a direct descendant of either
Classical Sanskrit or of the older
Vedic dialect, the languages are obviously very closely related and the common characteristics of Pāli and
Sanskrit were always easily recognized by those in India who were familiar with both. Indeed, a very large proportion of Pāli and Sanskrit word-stems are identical in form, differing only in details of inflection.
The connections were sufficiently well-known that technical terms from Sanskrit were easily converted into Pāli by a set of conventional phonological transformations. These transformations mimicked a subset of the phonological developments that had occurred in Proto-Pāli. Because of the prevalence of these transformations, it isn't always possible to tell whether a given Pāli word is a part of the old
Prakrit lexicon, or a transformed borrowing from Sanskrit. The existence of a Sanskrit word regularly corresponding to a Pāli word isn't always secure evidence of the Pāli etymology, since, in some cases, artificial Sanskrit words were created by back-formation from Prakrit words.
The following phonological processes are not intended as an exhaustive description of the historical changes which produced Pāli from its Old Indic ancestor, but rather are a summary of the most common phonological equations between Sanskrit and Pāli, with no claim to completeness.
Vowels and diphthongs
- Sanskrit ai and au always monophthongize to Pāli e and o, respectively » :Examples: maitrī → mettā, auṣadha → osadha
- Sanskrit aya and ava likewise often reduce to Pāli e and o » :Examples: dhārayati → dhāreti, avatāra → otāra, bhavati → hoti
- Sanskrit avi becomes Pāli e (for example avi → ai → e) » :Example: sthavira → thera
- Sanskrit ṛ appears in Pāli as a, i or u, often agreeing with the vowel in the following syllable. ṛ also sometimes becomes u after labial consonants. » :Examples: kṛta → kata, tṛṣṇa → taṇha, smṛti → sati, ṛṣi → isi, dṛṣṭi → diṭṭhi, ṛddhi → iddhi, ṛju → uju, spṛṣṭa → phuṭṭha, vṛddha → vuddha
Sanskrit long vowels are shortened before a sequence of two following consonants. » :Examples: kṣānti → khanti, rājya → rajja, īśvara → issara, tīrṇa → tiṇṇa, pūrva → pubba
Consonants
Sound changes
The Sanskrit sibilants ś, ṣ, and s merge together as Pāli s » :Examples: śaraṇa → saraṇa, doṣa → dosa
The Sanskrit stops ḍ and ḍh become ḷ and ḷh between vowels (as in Vedic) » :Example: cakravāḍa → cakkavāḷa, virūḍha → virūḷha
Assimilations
General rules
Many assimilations of one consonant to a neighboring consonant occurred in the development of Pāli, producing a large number of geminate (double) consonants. Since aspiration of a geminate consonant is only phonetically detectable on the last consonant of a cluster, geminate kh, gh, ch, jh, ṭh, ḍh, th, dh, ph and bh appear as kkh, ggh, cch, jjh, ṭṭh, ḍḍh, tth, ddh, pph and bbh, not as khkh, ghgh etc.
When assimilation would produce a geminate consonant (or a sequence of unaspirated stop+aspirated stop) at the beginning of a word, the initial geminate is simplified to a single consonant. » :Examples: prāṇa → pāṇa (not ppāṇa), sthavira → thera (not tthera), dhyāna → jhāna (not jjhāna), jñāti → ñāti (not ññāti)
When assimilation would produce a sequence of three consonants in the middle of a word, geminates are simplified until there are only two consonants in sequence. » :Examples: uttrāsa → uttāsa (not utttāsa), mantra → manta (not mantta), indra → inda (not indda), vandhya → vañjha (not vañjjha)
The sequence vv resulting from assimilation changes to bb » :Example: sarva → savva → sabba, pravrajati → pavvajati → pabbajati, divya → divva → dibba
Total assimilation
Total assimilation, where one sound becomes identical to a neighboring sound, is of two types: progressive, where the assimilated sound becomes identical to the following sound; and regressive, where it becomes identical to the preceding sound.
Progressive assimilations
Internal visarga assimilates to a following voiceless stop or sibilant » :Examples: duḥkṛta → dukkata, duḥkha → dukkha, duḥprajña → duppañña, niḥkrodha (=niṣkrodha) → nikkodha, niḥpakva (=niṣpakva) → nippakka, niḥśoka → nissoka, niḥsattva → nissatta
In a sequence of two dissimilar Sanskrit stops, the first stop assimilates to the second stop » :Examples: vimukti → vimutti, dugdha → duddha, utpāda → uppāda, pudgala → puggala, udghoṣa → ugghosa, adbhuta → abbhuta, śabda → sadda
In a sequence of two dissimilar nasals, the first nasal assimilates to the second nasal » :Example: unmatta → ummatta, pradyumna → pajjunna
j assimilates to a following ñ (for example, jñ becomes ññ) » :Examples: prajñā → paññā, jñāti → ñāti
The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate to a following stop, nasal, sibilant, or v » :Examples: mārga → magga, karma → kamma, varṣa → vassa, kalpa → kappa, sarva → savva → sabba
r assimilates to a following l » :Examples: durlabha → dullabha, nirlopa → nillopa
d sometimes assimilates to a following v, producing vv → bb » :Examples: udvigna → uvvigga → ubbigga, dvādaśa → bārasa (beside dvādasa)
t and d may assimilate to a following s or y when a morpheme boundary intervenes » :Examples: ut+sava → ussava, ud+yāna → uyyāna
Regressive assimilations
Nasals sometimes assimilate to a preceding stop (in other cases epenthesis occurs; see below) » :Examples: agni → aggi, ātman → atta, prāpnoti → pappoti, śaknoti → sakkoti
m assimilates to an initial sibilant » :Examples: smarati → sarati, smṛti → sati
Nasals assimilate to a preceding stop+sibilant cluster, which then develops in the same way as such clusters without following nasals (see Partial assimilations below) » :Examples: tīkṣṇa → tikṣa → tikkha, lakṣmī → lakṣī →lakkhī
The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate to a preceding stop, nasal, sibilant, or v » :Examples: prāṇa → pāṇa, grāma → gāma, śrāvaka → sāvaka, agra → agga, indra → inda, pravrajati → pavvajati → pabbajati, aśru → assu
y assimilates to preceding non-dental/retroflex stops or nasals » :Examples: cyavati → cavati, jyotiṣ → joti, rājya → rajja, matsya → macchya → maccha, lapsyate → lacchyate → lacchati, abhyāgata → abbhāgata, ākhyāti → akkhāti, saṃkhyā → saṅkhā (but also saṅkhyā), ramya → ramma
y assimilates to preceding non-initial v, producing vv → bb » :Example: divya → divva → dibba, veditavya → veditavva → veditabba, bhāvya → bhavva → bhabba
y and v assimilate to any preceding sibilant, producing ss » :Examples: paśyati → passati, śyena → sena, aśva → assa, īśvara → issara, kariṣyati → karissati, tasya → tassa, svāmin → sāmī
v sometimes assimilates to a preceding stop » :Examples: pakva → pakka, catvāri → cattāri, sattva → satta, dhvaja → dhaja
Partial and mutual assimilation
Sanskrit sibilants before a stop assimilate to that stop, and if that stop isn't already aspirated, it becomes aspirated; for example śc, st, ṣṭ and sp become cch, tth, ṭṭh and pph » :Examples: paścāt → pacchā, asti → atthi, stava → thava, śreṣṭha → seṭṭha, aṣṭa → aṭṭha, sparśa → phassa
In sibilant-stop-liquid sequences, the liquid is assimilated to the preceding consonant, and the cluster behaves like sibilant-stop sequences; for example str and ṣṭr become tth and ṭṭh » :Examples: śāstra → śasta → sattha, rāṣṭra → raṣṭa → raṭṭha
t and p become c before s, and the sibilant assimilates to the preceding sound as an aspirate (for example, the sequences ts and ps become cch) » :Examples: vatsa → vaccha, apsaras → accharā
A sibilant assimilates to a preceding k as an aspirate (for example, the sequence kṣ becomes kkh) » :Examples: bhikṣu → bhikkhu, kṣānti → khanti
Any dental or retroflex stop or nasal followed by y converts to the corresponding palatal sound, and the y assimilates to this new consonant, for example ty, thy, dy, dhy, ny become cc, cch, jj, jjh, ññ; likewise ṇy becomes ññ. Nasals preceding a stop that becomes palatal share this change. » :Examples: tyajati → cyajati → cajati, satya → sacya → sacca, mithyā → michyā → micchā, vidyā → vijyā → vijjā, madhya → majhya → majjha, anya → añya → añña, puṇya → puñya → puñña, vandhya → vañjhya → vañjjha → vañjha
The sequence mr becomes mb, via the epenthesis of a stop between the nasal and liquid, followed by assimilation of the liquid to the stop and subsequent simplification of the resulting geminate. » :Examples: āmra → ambra → amba, tāmra → tamba
Epenthesis
An epenthetic vowel is sometimes inserted between certain consonant-sequences. As with ṛ, the vowel may be a, i, or u, depending on the influence of a neighboring consonant or of the vowel in the following syllable. i is often found near i, y, or palatal consonants; u is found near u, v, or labial consonants.
Sequences of stop + nasal are sometimes separated by a or u » :Example: ratna → ratana, padma → paduma (u influenced by labial m)
The sequence sn may become sin initially » :Examples: snāna → sināna, sneha → sineha
i may be inserted between a consonant and l » :Examples: kleśa → kilesa, glāna → gilāna, mlāyati → milāyati, ślāghati → silāghati
An epenthetic vowel may be inserted between an initial sibilant and r » :Example: śrī → sirī
The sequence ry generally becomes riy (i influenced by following y), but is still treated as a two-consonant sequence for the purposes of vowel-shortening » :Example: ārya → arya → ariya, sūrya → surya → suriya, vīrya → virya → viriya
a or i is inserted between r and h » :Example: arhati → arahati, garhā → garahā, barhiṣ → barihisa
There is sporadic epenthesis between other consonant sequences » :Examples: caitya → cetiya (not cecca), vajra → vajira (not vajja)
Other changes
Any Sanskrit sibilant before a nasal becomes a sequence of nasal followed by h, for example ṣṇ, sn and sm become ṇh, nh, and mh » :Examples: tṛṣṇa → taṇha, uṣṇīṣa → uṇhīsa, asmi → amhi
The sequence śn becomes ñh, due to assimilation of the n to the preceding palatal sibilant » :Example: praśna → praśña → pañha
The sequences hy and hv undergo metathesis » :Examples: jihvā → jivhā, gṛhya → gayha, guhya → guyha
h undergoes metathesis with a following nasal » :Example: gṛhṇāti → gaṇhāti
y is geminated between e and a vowel » :Examples: śreyas → seyya, Maitreya → Metteyya
Voiced aspirates such as bh and gh on rare occasions become h » :Examples: bhavati → hoti, -ebhiṣ → -ehi, laghu → lahu
Dental and retroflex sounds sporadically change into one another » : Examples: jñāna → ñāṇa (not ñāna), dahati → ḍahati (beside Pāli dahati) nīḍa → nīla (not nīḷa), sthāna → ṭhāna (not thāna), duḥkṛta → dukkaṭa (beside Pāli dukkata)
Exceptions
There are several notable exceptions to the rules above; many of them are common Prakrit words rather than borrowings from Sanskrit.
ārya → ayya (beside ariya)
guru → garu (adj.) (beside guru (n.))
puruṣa → purisa (not purusa)
vṛkṣa → rukṣa → rukkha (not vakkha)
Pāli writing
Pāli alphabet with diacritics
Historically, the first written record of the Pāli canon is believed to have been composed in Sri Lanka, based on a prior oral tradition. As per Mahavamsa, great chronicle of Sri Lanka, due to a major famine in the country Buddhist monks wrote down the Pali canon during the time of King Vattagamini in 100 BC. The transmission of written Pāli has retained a universal system of alphabetic values, but has expressed those values in a stunning variety of actual scripts. This is confusing to many westerners, who tend to assume that one script is ineluctably tied to one set of phonemes.
In Sri Lanka, Pāli texts were recorded in Sinhala script. Other local scripts, most prominently Khmer, Burmese, and in modern times Thai (since 1893), Devanāgarī and Mongolian have been used to record Pāli.
Since the 19th Century, Pāli has also been written in the Roman script. An alternate scheme devised by Frans Velthuis allows for typing without diacritics using plain-ASCII methods, but is much less readable than the standard Rhys Davids system (see below).
The Pāli alphabetical order is as follows:
a ā i ī u ū e o ṃ k kh g gh ṅ c ch j jh ñ ṭ ṭh ḍ ḍh ṇ t th d dh n p ph b bh m y r l ḷ v s h
ḷh, although a single sound, is written with ligature of ḷ and h.
Pāli transliteration on computers
There are several fonts to use for Pāli transliteration. However, older ASCII fonts such as Leedsbit PaliTranslit, Times_Norman, Times_CSX+, Skt Times, Vri RomanPali CN/CB etc., are not recommendable since they're not compatible with one another and technically out of date. On the contrary, fonts based on the Unicode standard are recommended because Unicode seems to be the future for all fonts and also because they're easily portable to one another.
However, not all Unicode fonts contain the necessary characters. To properly display all the diacritic marks used for romanized Pāli (or for that matter, Sanskrit), a Unicode font must contain the following character ranges:
* Basic Latin: U+0000 – U+007F
* Latin-1 Supplement: U+0080 – U+00FF
* Latin Extended-A: U+0100 – U+017F
* Latin Extended-B: U+0180 – U+024F
* Latin Extended Additional: U+1E00 – U+1EFF
The Pali Text Society recommends VU-Times and Gandhari Unicode for Windows and Linux Computers. And The Tibetan & Himalayan Digital Library recommends Times Ext Roman, and provides links to several of other Unicode diacritic fonts usable for typing Pāli together with ratings and installation instructions. Moreover, an English Buddhist monk titled Bhikkhu Pesala provides some Pāli Unicode fonts he's designed himself here, and some Pali keyboards for Windows XP here. Further, the font section of Alanwood's Unicode Resources have links to several general purpose fonts that can be used for Pāli typing if they cover the character ranges above.
Pāli text in ASCII
The Velthuis scheme was originally developed in 1991 by Frans Velthuis for use with his "devnag" Devanāgarī font, designed for the TEX typesetting system. This system of representing Pāli diacritical marks has been used in some websites and discussion lists.
The following table compares various conventional renderings and shortcut key assignments:
| character |
ASCII rendering |
character name |
Unicode number |
key combination |
HTML code |
| ā |
aa |
a macron |
61580 |
Alt+A |
ā |
| ī |
ii |
i macron |
61620 |
Alt+I |
ī |
| ū |
uu |
u macron |
61672 |
Alt+U |
ū |
| ṃ |
.m |
m dot-under |
|
|
ṃ |
| ṇ |
.n |
n dot-under |
61686 |
Alt+N |
ṇ |
| ñ |
~n |
n tilde |
61590 |
Alt+Ctrl+N |
ñ |
| ṭ |
.t |
t dot-under |
61642 |
Alt+T |
ṭ |
| ḍ |
.d |
d dot-under |
61622 |
Alt+D |
ḍ |
| ṅ |
"n |
n dot-over |
61626 |
Ctrl+N |
ṅ |
| ḷ |
.l |
l dot-under |
61634 |
Alt+L |
ḷ |
Further Information
Get more info on 'Pali'.
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