Tibetan grammar 9783111492902, 9783111126517

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JÀSCHKE

TIBETAN GRAMMAR A D D E N D A B Y A. H . F R A N C K E A S S I S T E D B Y W. S I M O N

1929 W A L T E R D E G R U Y T E R & CO. Tormali G. J. Obschen'ache Verlagthuidlaiiff — J. Qattentag, VeritgsbuchhMdloDff — Geor* Beimer — Karl J. Trtlbner — Veit&Comp. BERLIN W 10 UND LEIPZIG

With permission of the publishers Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner&Co., Ltd. Jaschice's Tibetan Grammar is here reprinted in third edition. Professor A. H. Franeke, assisted by Dr. W. Simon, has added to the second edition, which teas prepared by H.Wenzel, some addenda.

Preface. T h e present new edition of Mr.

JÁSCHKE'S

Grammar scarcely needs a word of apology.

Tibetan

As the first

edition which was lithographed atKyelau in 1865 in a limited number of copies has long been out of print, Dr.

HOST

urged the author to revise his grammar for the purpose of bringing it out in an improved form.

The latter, prevented

by ill-health from undertaking the task, placed the matter in my hands, and had the goodness to make over to me his own manuscript notes and additions to the original -work.

Without his personal cooperation, however, I was

unable to make any but a very sparing use of these, adding only a few remarks from Gyalrabs and Milaraspa, with some further remarks on the local vernacular of Western Tibet.

Indeed, special attention has been paid throughout

to this dialect; it is the one with which the author during his long residence at Kyelan had become most familiar, and with which the English in India are most likely to be brought into direct contact Besides the above mentioned additions, I have taken a number of examples from the Dzanlun, to make clearer some of the rules, and, with the same view, I have altered, here and there, the wording of the lithographed edition.

IV

Preface. — Abbreviations.

The order of the paragraphs has been retained throughout, and only one (23.) has been added for completeness' sake. The system of transliteration is nearly the same as in the Dictionary, only for ny, n is used, and instead of e, a (respectively d) has been thought to be a clearer representation of the sound intended. For the niceties of pronunciation the reader is referred to the Dictionary, as in this Grammar only the general rules have been given. Finally I must express my warmest thanks to Dr. R O S T , to whose exertions not only the printing of this Grammar is solely due, but who also rendered me much help in the correcting of the work. M a y e n c e , May 1883. H.

WENZEL.

Abbreviations. act. = active. C or CT = Central Tibet, especially the provinces of U and Tsaii. cf. = confer, compare. Dzl. = Dzaiilun. e.g. = exempli gratia, for instance. ET = East Tibet, fut. — future, imp. = imperative, inf. = infinitive, i. o. = instead of. Kopp. = Koppen.

Kun. = Kunawur, province under English protection. Ld. = I.adak, province. Mil. = Miuraspa. neutr. = neuter verb, perf. or pf. = perfect, pres. = present, g. - see. term. = terminative case. Thgy. - Thar - gyan, scientific treatises, v. = vide, see. vulg. = vulgar expression. W or WT = Western Tibet.

C o n t e n t s .

I. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

Phonology.

Alphabet Remarks Vowels Syllables Final Consonants Diphthongs Compound Consonants Prefixed Letters Word; Accent; Quantity Punctuation

1 3 3 4

® 6

' 11 12

II.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Etymology. I. A r t i c l e . Peculiarities of the Tibetan Article Difference of the Articles The Indefinite Article II. S u b s t a n t i v e . Number Declension III. A d j e c t i v e . Relation to the Substantive Comparison IV. N u m e r a l s . Cardinal numerals Ordinal numerals Remarks Distributive numerals Adverbial nnmerals Fractional numerals

Page

17 19

20

25 26 28 31 31 33 33 33

Contents.

VI

25. 26. 27. 28. 29.

V. P r o n o u n s . Personal pronouns Possessive pronouns Reflective pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Interrogative pronouns Relative pronouns

VI. Introduction Inflection Infinitive Participle Finite Verb Present Preterit Future Imperative intensive Substantive Verbs Gerunds and Supines VII. A d v e r b VIII. P o s t p o s i t i o n IX. C o n j u n c t i o n X. I n t e r j e c t i o n XI. D e r i v a t i o n : 46. Derivation of Substantives 47. Derivation of Adjectives

Verb.

30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. b9. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45.

48. 49. 50. 51.

III. Arrangement of Words Use of the Cases Simple Sentences Compound Sentences

34 36 37 37 38 38 40 41 42 43 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 54 65 67 74 76 77 78

Syntax. 80 81 82 83

Appendix. Phrases Reading Exercise

86 92

Verbs

Oil

Errata. Page 3, line 13 read, 2 » 4, n lì 7 1» 4, n 4, » 9 4, » 14 » 20 4, 4, » 21 dele * 5, « 5 dele 4 read 7, 5 7, 11 » 7, 8, 1» 11 8, » 12 16 8, D » 8, Yt 19 n j) 8, » 23 » 8, « 24 9 9, „ 10 4 10, » 9 » » 11, 12, » 21 V D 1 9 13, 9 7 13, » 14, JJ 6 20, >» 3 B » 20, » 5 20, « 19 It » 21, » 5 n

„

„

„

„

„ „

a t instead of in. respectively. w h i c h instead of whom. u n d e r particular. instead of XJJ*?.

exertion. to. down. s u c c e s s i o n instead of conjunction. e a c h instead of either. s u b s c r i b e d instead of subjoined. f o o t for food. s u b s c r i b e d for subjoined. homonyms. language. over instead of above. consonants. case. judgment. except. i t instead of is. which serve to den cite. preceding. exclamation. indiscriminately. superseded. But. adds.

page 23, line 1 read m o t i o n . 26, 13 » t e r m i n a t i o n s . . 26, 24 » p r e c e d e s . •26, » 27 higher t h a n . n 33, » 6 » t o denote. n 34, » 14 V l e t t e r - w r i t i n g . 36, m 1 n The t e r m s most See. 36, y> 16 » high person s p e a k i n g of h i m s e l f . » 38, » 11 ghan. 39, 31 14 » you m a y . » 40, n 7 » verbs. » 40, » 21 » an Accusative. 40, » 25 » n e u t r e . * 41, 10 f o r m instead of shape. 41, » 11 i, f o r m s instead of shapes. 22 n the "Perfect p r e f e r s . 42, n 1 y> P e r f e c t . 42, 16 r e c o g n i s e s instead of acknowledges. « 43, » 20 » i d e a instead of notion. » 45, n 14 with the exception. » 46, » 6 w h i c h will a l w a y s be. 46, 10 to one. 52, y> 15 » it e x p r e s s e s . 53, n 11 » f o u n d . » 53, n 24 passive s e n s e , o p p o s e d to &c. 55, 7 affixes. JÌ 58, V 12 » that it. 61, » 12 îï k i n g ' s . 64, » 8 ?î i n t e n d e d . »

„ „

„

„

„

„

„

„

„

„ „

„

„

„

„

„ „

„

„ »

66,

15

„

, p r i n c i p a l l y , very';

Part I. Phonology. The Tibetan Alphabet w a s adapted

1. The Alphabet from the Lahia

form of the Indian letters by Ton-

misam-bho-ta gam-po 56).

minister of king

&ron-tsan-

( I p q ^ g p - S f ) about the year 632 (a. Kopp. I I , The Indian letters oat of which the single Tibetan

characters were formed are given in the following table in their Nagari shape. surcL

sonant

aspir.

nassL

gutturals. .

Tj* *

ka

F

Ka

1

ga

•

ria

palatals. . .

5* ^

ia

s-

W ca

1

ja

T

na

dentals. . .

tj

^

da

T

na

labials.

CT

Sf ** pa

q* 1

ba

5T T ma

£

fsa

t

dsa

IJJ* A tea

ha

3•

za

W

V ya

T

ra

or

m la

IT sa

V

sa

. .

palatal si-1 bilants. .J

semivowels

&

H ta pa tea

Jiachk«, Tibeun Grammar.

*

fa

T

I

ha

2

1. The Alphabet.

It is seen from this table that several signs have been added to express sounds that are unknown in Sanscrit. The sibilants

& e£* evidently were differentiated from the

palatals. But as in transcribing Sabscrit words the Tibetans substitute their sibilants for the palatals of the original (as for ^ n ) ,

we must suppose that the sibilisation of

those consonants, common at present among the Hindus on the Southern slopes of the Himalaya (who speak tsar for ^ r ^ , four etc.), was in general use with those Indians from whom the Tib. Alphabet was taken (cf. also the Afghan and ^ likewise sprung from ^ and from

ijlj" is differentiated

which itself often is pronounced v, as shewn in

the sequel; in transcribing Sanscrit, ^ and ^ both are given, generally, by ^ only.

seems to be formed out of

to which it is related in sound. inverted E.'.

3" evidently is only the

corresponds with Sanscrit

is newly

invented; for its functions see the following §§. — The letters which are peculiar to Sanscrit are expressed, in transcribing, in the following manner, simply

by inverting

p* "Z, P" putting £

V.

f

a) The Unguals,

the signs of the dentals: W.

thus,

b) The sonant aspirates, by

I ' under the sonants: thus,' TT H ' ET ^ S > £

I'

q n . - )

*) A very clear exposition of the ramification of Indian alphabets by Dr. H a a s is tc be fomul in the Publications of the l'alaeographical Soci«-»T Oriental Series IV, pi X L I V .

•J. Remarks. 3. Wwels.

3

1. Regarding the pronunciation of the

2. Remarks.

single letters, as given above, it is to be born in mind, that sards T|* y

CJ" are uttered without the least admixture of

an aspiration, viz. as k, t, p are pronounced in the words skate, stale, spear;

the aspirates p*

harder than the same in Kate,

5J" forcibly, rather

tale, peer;

like g, d, b in gate, dale, beer.

the sonants ^j"

2. The same difference

of hardness is to be observed in -5" £>' E° or curs in church; and in

c, the same without aspiration; ) in

¿fs' Ei* or ts, ts, ds.

tion of « or the s in leisure palatal).

c , ) ( c oc-

3.

is the soft modifica-

(French j in jamais,

4. C is the English

judge)

in sing,

but more

but occurs in

Tibetan often in the commencement of a syllable.

5.

h

is the Hindi •)(, or the initial sound in the word nevo, which would be spelled Vf hu. 6. In the dialects of Eastern or Na Chinese-Tibet, however, the soft consonants ^ Ei', when occurring as initials, are pronounced with an aspiration, similar to the Hindi

yj, ay, yy, or indeed so that

they often scarcely differ from the common English k, t, p, ch; also and i f

§§

and 5 '

aie more difficult to distinguish from

than in the Western provinces (Exceptions s.

8). 3. Vowels. 1. Since every consonant sign implies, like

its Sanscrit prototype,

a following a , unless some other

vowel sign is attached to it, no particular sign is wanted to denote this vowel, except in some cases specified in the 1*

4

4. Syllables.

following §§. The special vowel signs are —, — — , pronounced respectivily as e, i, o, u are in German, Italian and most other European languages, viz. like ay in say, or e in ten; — like t in machine, tin; — like o in so, on; like u in rule, pull. It ought to be specially remarked that all vowels, including e and o (unlike the Sanscrit vowels from whom they have taken their signs) are short, since no long vowels at all occur in the Tibetan language, except particular circumstances, mentioned below (s. § 9. 5, 6). 2. When vowels are initial, is used as their base, as is t in Urdu, e. g. ama, ,mother'. 3. is originally different fromlfT, as the latter denotes the opening of the previously closed throat for pronouncing a vowel with that *

slight explosive sound which the Arabs mean by I

foj*^,

as the a in the words: the lily, an endogen, which would be in Tibetan characters

on the contrary is

the mere vowel without that audible opening of the throat (as Arabic ! without »), as in LAlian, In Eastern Tibet this difference is strictly observed; and if the vowel is o or u the intentional exercion for avoiding the sound of makes it resemble to wo and icu:

,the milk', al-

most like tco-ma, J V ^ j , < h e owl' - wug-pa.

In western

Tibet this has been obliterated, and Q," is there spoken just like Ifj" 4. Syllables. The Tibetan language is monosyllabic, that is to say all its words consist of one syllable only, which indeed may be variously composed, though the

5

5. Final consonants.

componend parts cannot, in every case, be recognised in their individuality. The mark for the end of such a syllable is a dot, called

fseg, put at the right side of the upper

part of the closing letter, snch as Tj" the syllable ka.

This

(teg most invariably be put down at the end of each written syllable, except before a bad (§ 10), in which case only [" na retains its fseg. If therefore such a dot is found after two or more consonants, this will indicate that all of them, some way or other, form one syllable with only one vowel in it: I f * / ka-ra,

Tj^' kar (cf. §§ 5. 8).

5. Final consonants. J^ df q- ST c^"

1. Only the following ten: Pj* C"

nr *T (and the four with affixed

,

•v. 5) occur at the end of a syllable. 2. It must be observed, that *T|"

as finals are never pronounced like the Eng-

lish g, d, b in leg, bad, cab, but are transformed differently in the different provinces. In Ladak they sound like k, t, p e. g.

= sock,

Tibet, moreover,

top. 3. In all Central

= got, final

and ), U:

catUe,

CJ^Tj'if cug-po, rich. S ^ ' W : ped, C : ce , half.

Examples.

10

CT^f W: jd-mo, C: Ja-mo, 3 hen. jxtyr W: na-nan, C: -nan, 3 i misery. ^Tpr tam,

cabbage.

fim(»),

PC'Sf -r

W :

nur-du,

C:

gf

* - i

»van-ma,

la, wages.

(tag (brag), rock. «ft^Zf >o

¡rul-po,

O^ST la-ma,

ragged. priest.

la-mo, easy. da-uia (s. § 11 note), moon.

•^VVv ndn-po,

C:

nom-po,

sharp.

Tfp'CJ" kari-pa, foot. W : aw», C: d»un, lie, S, !

untruth.

| C * p - jan-Uu (Ld. I f ) , green. |

(s)kom, thirst.

^ ^

I f (s)go, door.

f

C: d°y

straight.

\s fl

( P u r : gr%),

W: dan-po,

f-

child.

iJ^'ST

quickly.

jjV W : di, fti -I knife.

cold.

ran ma

fe-ma,

sand.

jgflT fed, tax.

judgement

^an-mo,

C: 3

W : sra•),

e

^

C : )pu, small hair.

W : (s)pin, C: cin, glue.

fc'CT 3 I

te-u, L d : hre-u. monkey.

war 9

medicine.

l

(/a (vulg : ra), sound, voice.

^ ' O ' ( O y y u r - w a , to alter, turn.

xrr- W: (s)man,

^

C : man,

W :

(»^od^pa, C : ¿ o pa, to behave.

W : C«6>uZ, snake.

C:

dui,

iQ^r^j- W: non-pa, C: nohl P

*) The concurrence of superadded

p a , mad. with a consonant already

S. Prefixed letters.

8. Prefixed letters.

11

1 The five letters « 7 ] ' q * 3T C^'

frequently occur before the real, radical initials of other words, but are seldom pronounced, except in similar cases as § 7. 6. *7|" occurs before 5" J

y

3" ttf

S[ &

^T ; ^ before the gutturals and labials with exception of the aspiratae;

before Tj"

the palatals, dentals and

palatal sibilants with the same exception as under

then

; 5J before the gnttarals, palatals, dentals

3'

and palatal sibilants, excepted the surds; Q^ before the aspiratae and sonants of the five classes.

In C.T., to pro-

nounce them in any case, is considered vulgar.

2. The

ambiguity which would arise in case of the prefix standing before one of the 10 final consonants, aa single radical, the vowel being the unwritten a, — e. g. in the syllable which, if ^ is radical, has to be pronounced dag, if prefixed g&, — is avoided by adding an