Pali alphabet

study the language of pali

1. Presented by
Ven.Dhammarama,
100 level,
Sri Lanka international Buddhist Academy
PĀLI
ALPHABET

2. CONTENT
What is Tipitaka
Who was the Ālavaka
Discourse of Ālavaka
The Buddha & Ālavaka
Conclusion
References

3. PALI SCRIPT

Most interestingly,
Pali is language which is not known to have a special
script of its own.

In India the Nagari »» अ इ उ
In Sri Lanka the Sinhalese »» w b W
The Pali Text Society, London Roman »» A I U

4. PALI ALPHABET

5. VOWELS

•The vowels are divided into short and
long

•The short vowels »» a I u
•The long vowels »» ā ī ū

(e, o are of middle length vowels)

6. CONSENENTS
•The consonants are divided into:
• 25 mutes
• 5 semi-vowels
• one sibilant
• one aspirate
•The 25 muter are divided, according to the place of their
formation and utterance, into 5 groups of 5 letters each.
Gutturals: k, kh, g, gh, ɲ
Palatals: c, ch, j, jh, ñ
Cerebrals: ṭ, ṭh, ḍ, ḍh, ṇ
Dentals: t, th, d, dh, n
Labials: p, ph, b, bh, m
Miscellaneous: y, r, l, v, s, h, ḷ, ŋ

7. THE PRONUNCIATION
a is pronounced like u in cut
ā is pronounced like ā in father
i is pronounced like i in mill
ī is pronounced like ee in bee
u is pronounced like u in put
ū is pronounced like oo in cool
k is pronounced like k in kite
g is pronounced like g in good
ɲ is pronounced like ng in singer
c is pronounced like ch in church
j is pronounced like j in jam
ñ is pronounced like gn in signor
ṭ is pronounced like t in hat
ḍ is pronounced like d in good
ṇ is pronounced like n in now

8. LEARN PALI
Why we should learn pali?.
Because if we wont to learn real Buddhism we must
learn pali.
As well as pali language is a very interesting language
for as much as it is Buddha's language.