Re: Language,Religion,and an information quest (or somesuch) [Mildly OT]

artabanos@mail.utexas.edu writes:
>It depends on the transcription system. If I am not mistaken,
>the Sanskrit phoneme there is a retroflex fricative, which to
>English speakers would probably sound like /S/.  Other more
>literalist transcriptions render that with a little dot.
Well,in the pronunciation guide for my Hindu Myth book, a full /S/ sound
is represented as 's' with a small dot under it. It also has 's' with what
looks like an accent over it, that the author says is pronounced halfway
between /S/ and /s/, and the 's' with an accent is what they use for
Shiva's name in the book (which is part of the reason I call Shiva, Siba
in Saalangal).  If you want to go look for the book, it's a small paper
back book with the title "Hindu Myths", published by Penguin (Classics).

Thr pronunciation guide also tells you how ro pronounce other sounds
correctly, but i cant seem to get it down (oh and you should have heard
people in my class attempt to say the names and words in the book, a lot
of stumbling there).

Of all the books with myths we had to read in my class, the Hindu Myths
often were the hardest to fully understand (it seems you have to be a
Brahmin and know the Rig Vedas, Mahabharata, and the Puranas by heart to
understand it all fully!

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'The beginning calls for courage; the end demands care'