Different pronunciation of column 3 of consonants

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dharmafootsteps
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Different pronunciation of column 3 of consonants

Post by dharmafootsteps »

In trying to learn the alphabet I've come across a split in the way the letters in the third column (the low tone, aspirated letters) of the alphabet are pronounced. The sources I'm using are all courses teaching Central/Standard Tibetan.

For example:

ག seems to be pronounced either the same as ཁ, but with a low tone [kʰà] or it's pronounced [ɡà].
This seems to be the same for the first 5 rows, the third column is either pronounced the same as the previous but with a low tone, or they change to ga, ja, da, ba, dza.

Looking at this wiki page they do indeed give these two different IPA pronunciations for that column: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wylie_transliteration

Can anyone shed any light onto the two pronunciations? Are the slightly different variations of the Standard dialect, are the different pronunciations used in different contexts or is there some other reason?
Temicco
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Re: Different pronunciation of column 3 of consonants

Post by Temicco »

They're allophones of the same phoneme. When no letter precedes the the 3rd column sounds in a given syllable then they are pronounced low, voiceless, and aspirated; but when there is a sngon 'jug or mgo can beforehand, the pronunciation becomes high, voiced, and unaspirated. As well, voiced sounds at the end of the previous word (e.g. "n") can cause the consonant to undergo voicing assimilation.

basically:

ga -- voiceless, aspirated

_ga -- voiced, unaspirated (where _ stands for any letter that can go there)
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བདག་དོན་ལ་ཞེན་ན་བྱང་སེམས་མིན། །
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MiphamFan
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Re: Different pronunciation of column 3 of consonants

Post by MiphamFan »

Also depends on dialect.

In Kham even when they are alone they are just pronounced voiced.
tingdzin
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Re: Different pronunciation of column 3 of consonants

Post by tingdzin »

:good:

Perhaps unfortunately, a lot depends on dialect.
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Grigoris
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Re: Different pronunciation of column 3 of consonants

Post by Grigoris »

dharmafootsteps wrote: Fri Jul 14, 2017 3:10 pm In trying to learn the alphabet I've come across a split in the way the letters in the third column (the low tone, aspirated letters) of the alphabet are pronounced. The sources I'm using are all courses teaching Central/Standard Tibetan.

For example:

ག seems to be pronounced either the same as ཁ, but with a low tone [kʰà] or it's pronounced [ɡà].
This seems to be the same for the first 5 rows, the third column is either pronounced the same as the previous but with a low tone, or they change to ga, ja, da, ba, dza.

Looking at this wiki page they do indeed give these two different IPA pronunciations for that column: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wylie_transliteration

Can anyone shed any light onto the two pronunciations? Are the slightly different variations of the Standard dialect, are the different pronunciations used in different contexts or is there some other reason?
Which text are you using?
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dharmafootsteps
Posts: 475
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 8:57 am

Re: Different pronunciation of column 3 of consonants

Post by dharmafootsteps »

Sorry, I forgot about this thread. It was the Manual of Standard Tibetan. I'm now studying at RYI in Boudha, so all has become clear. Temicco's reply, along with the influence of different dialect answered my question well.
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