Romanising Indic Languages

Romanising Indic languages

Source of truth: this wiki page.

A base whose stem changes

When a card's bases word changes its stem in the inflected form, so the learner cannot see the link, the card's notes say so in one short line: for వచ్చింది (vaccindi), she came, "రావడం (rāvaḍam) changes its stem in the past: వచ్చ- (vacc-)." See "Base words" in the format specification.

Romanising Indic languages

A reading is there to help a learner say the word (#47). Each language writes every reading in letters based on ISO 15919's, spelled as the word is said, and says how in its <code>-romanisation.yaml (ADR-0025). It is not strict ISO 15919: the readings depart from it wherever a learner is better served. The README has the table of letters and the list of departures; the common rules are in the format specification:

• Length is marked where the language says it: పాలు is pālu and పలు palu; पानी is pānī, दूध dūdh.
• Retroflex is marked: పాట is pāṭa, పాత pāta.
• A nasal vowel ends in m̐: हाँ is hām̐, नहीं is nahīm̐.
• The schwa a speaker drops is not written: कमल is kamal, सड़क is saṛak, not kamala, saṛaka.
• Aspiration is an h: kh, gh, ch, th, dh, ph, bh, each one sound. च is c and छ is ch, as ISO 15919 writes them.
• A letter card for ङ or ञ on its own reads ṅa or ña; Bengali's read ṅô and ñô, so that ঞ differs from ন.
• A grammar row whose lemma is English has no reading; its forms do.
• Every reading has an ipa beside it, broad, without slashes.
• To write both for a new card, run python3 tools/transcribe.py <code> "<word>" <how it is typed>: the word as people type it shows what is said.

A typed answer needs none of the marks. The romanisation file's typed list says how its letters are typed (c as ch, ś as sh), and its equivalents the spellings learners also type for one sound, such as ee for i; grading treats them all as the decks' own.

Assamese writes স, শ and ষ as x (ôxôm) and the vowel sign ো as u (mur, muk), as it is said (the letter ও alone is o); decks/as/as-romanisation.yaml says so.

Bengali's readings follow how it is said:

• The inherent vowel is ô where it is said [ɔ] and o where it is said [o]: কথা is kôthā, কমল is kômol, and it is left out where it is silent: নাম is nām.
• শ, ষ and স are all ś, except where a speaker says s. স is s when it is joined in a conjunct with t, th, n, r or l (স্টেশন is sṭeśon, আস্তে is āste), and in many English words. It stays ś before k and p (হাসপাতাল is hāśpātāl, নমস্কার is nômośkār).

See also: Deck-Building-Guide · Home