The History of Buddhist Thought c7.1

c7.1

IN Pāli and Sanskrit words the vowels are as in German or Italian, except that short *a* has the sound of *u* in *but*. The consonants are mostly as in English : *g* is always hard, *c* has the sound of *ch* in *church*. (In words more or less Anglicized *ch* has been used, as in *Chandragupta*.) The dentals, *t*, *d*, etc., are true dentals pronounced with the tongue against the teeth. The cerebrals, *ṭ*, *ḍ*, etc., are pronounced with the tongue against the hard palate, much as the English so-called dentals. In the case of the aspirated letters, *th*, *ph*, etc., the sound is a stop plus a simultaneous aspiration. The accent is on the long syllable as in Latin : *Suddhódana*, *udāna*, *Lálita-vístara*.