DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20131#0086
IV. TRANSCRIPTION.
System adopted. A. Vowels. Ji. Diphthongs. 0. Consonants. D. Phonetic Accents — Linguistic Experiments.—
Alphabet used for Transcription.
Ihe transcription of words from the different languages of India, including
Tibetan and Turkish for High Asia, has, throughout our journeys, been an object to
which we have always endeavoured to give an attention proportionate to its difficulties.
Our principal object has been to define, to the best of our ability, the phonetic sound
of the words. Whenever it was possible, we followed the native orthography; but in
cases where this orthography was indeterminate as to the vowels, or too complicated
in the system of consonants, we have always deviated from it.
Where the provincial forms were found to be well defined or modernized, we
kept them unaltered, in conformity with the rule adopted in geographical works. For
a few of the familiar and most generally used names, such as Calcutta, Ganges, Indus,
Madras, &c, we have retained the established European mode of spelling".
We are not Oriental scholars ourselves, but had acquired a sufficient knowledge
of Hindostani to converse with the natives—such an amount of acquaintance with the
language being in itself indispensable, both in India, to facilitate intercourse with
followers and servants, and in the territories beyond English influence, which are
generally inacessible to Europeans, to enable the traveller to assume disguise with
more chance of success. Though we could never have hoped to pass as natives in a
country where Hindostani was the native language, the difficulty was far less in Tibet
or Turkistan, where the chief requisite in speaking with our interpreters was fluency,
and not correctness.
The systems adopted for the transcription of Indian languages are very numerous.
Our researches referring almost exclusively to physical geography and natural history,
System adopted. A. Vowels. Ji. Diphthongs. 0. Consonants. D. Phonetic Accents — Linguistic Experiments.—
Alphabet used for Transcription.
Ihe transcription of words from the different languages of India, including
Tibetan and Turkish for High Asia, has, throughout our journeys, been an object to
which we have always endeavoured to give an attention proportionate to its difficulties.
Our principal object has been to define, to the best of our ability, the phonetic sound
of the words. Whenever it was possible, we followed the native orthography; but in
cases where this orthography was indeterminate as to the vowels, or too complicated
in the system of consonants, we have always deviated from it.
Where the provincial forms were found to be well defined or modernized, we
kept them unaltered, in conformity with the rule adopted in geographical works. For
a few of the familiar and most generally used names, such as Calcutta, Ganges, Indus,
Madras, &c, we have retained the established European mode of spelling".
We are not Oriental scholars ourselves, but had acquired a sufficient knowledge
of Hindostani to converse with the natives—such an amount of acquaintance with the
language being in itself indispensable, both in India, to facilitate intercourse with
followers and servants, and in the territories beyond English influence, which are
generally inacessible to Europeans, to enable the traveller to assume disguise with
more chance of success. Though we could never have hoped to pass as natives in a
country where Hindostani was the native language, the difficulty was far less in Tibet
or Turkistan, where the chief requisite in speaking with our interpreters was fluency,
and not correctness.
The systems adopted for the transcription of Indian languages are very numerous.
Our researches referring almost exclusively to physical geography and natural history,