B: The Pali Alphabet
Concise summary of the romanised Pali Alphabet
Part of “A Beginner (Non-Linguist) Guide to Learning Pali”
Alphabet Order
Pali consists of 8 vowels (sara) and 33 consonants (vyañjana), arranged in the following order (the letters in round brackets are unused in the dictionary):
sara: a, ā, i, ī, u, ū
kaṇṭhatāluja: e
kaṇṭhoṭṭhaja: o
niggahīta: (ṃ1)
kavagga: k, kh, g, gh, (ṅ)
cavagga: c, ch, j, jh, ñ
ṭavagga: ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, (ḍh), (ṇ)
tavagga: t, th, d, dh, n
pavagga: p, ph, b, bh, m
antaṭṭha: y, r, l, (ḷ), (ḷh)
dantoṭṭhaja: v
sakāra: s
hakāra: h
Alphabet Groups
| Articulation Place | rassa | dīgha | kaṇṭhatāluja kaṇṭhoṭṭhaja | anunāsika | aghosa sithila | aghosa dhanita | ghosa sithila | ghosa dhanita | nāsika | antaṭṭha | hakāra | sakāra |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| kaṇṭhaja | a | ā | k | kh | g | gh | ṅ | h | ||||
| tāluja | i | ī | e | c | ch | j | jh | ñ | y | |||
| muḍḍhaja | o | ṃ | ṭ | ṭh | ḍ | ḍh | ṇ | r ḷ | ||||
| dantaja | t | th | d | dh | n | v l | s | |||||
| oṭṭhaja | u | ū | p | ph | b | bh | m |
How to form sounds
| vagga | Group | Sound |
|---|---|---|
| kaṇṭhaja | Gutturals | pronounced in the throat |
| tāluja | Palatals | pressing the tongue on the front-palate |
| muḍḍhaja | Linguals (Cerebrals, Retroflex) | bringing the up-turned tip of the tongue in contact with the back of the palate |
| dantaja | Dentals | pronounced with the aid of the teeth |
| oṭṭhaja | Labials | formed by means of the lips |
| hakāra | Spirant | a strong aspirated breathing |
| sakāra | Sibilant | has a hissing sound |
| anunāsika | Nasal | nasal breathing found only after the short vowels: aṃ, iṃ, uṃ |
| aghosa | Voiceless (Surds, stops) | hard, flat, and toneless |
| ghosa | Voiced (Sonants) | soft and uttered with a checked tone |
| dhanita | Aspirates | pronounced with a strong breathing or h sound added to them |
| sithila | Nonaspirates | pronounced naturally, without effort and without the h sound |
| nāsika | Nasals | sounded through the nose |
| antaṭṭha | Liquids (Resonants, semi-vowels) | readily combine with other consonants: (except, perhaps, ḷ) |
| - | Mutes (Nonsurds) | not being readily pronounced without the aid of a vowel |
Pronunciation
| Letter | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| a | but, cut |
| ā | art, father |
| i | mill, pin |
| ī | bee, machine |
| u | put |
| ū | cool, rule |
| e | ten, fate |
| o | hot, note |
| k | key, kite |
| g | get, good |
| ṅ | ring, singer |
| c | church, rich |
| j | jam, jug |
| ñ | signor |
| ṭ | hat, not |
| ḍ | good, hid |
| ṇ | hint, now |
| t | thumb |
| d | they |
| n | now |
| p | lip, put |
| b | but, rib |
| m | him, mind |
| y | yard, yes |
| r | rat, right |
| l | light, sell |
| v | vile, vine |
| s | sing, sit |
| h | hot, hut |
| ḷ | felt, light |
| ṃ | sing |
ṃ (niggahīta) can be written η, ṁ or ṃ ↩︎