1c. Appendix 1c. The RTS System for Transliteration
1c. Appendix 1a. The RTS System for Transliteration
Writing about pronunciation is at best approximate. There are two difficulties here. First, how to describe sounds using words? Second, how to represent the sound in print? There are many transliteration schemes to represent, in Roman script, the sounds produced in any world language. We have chosen to adopt the RTS system because of the convenience it gives if one is confined to using the standard characters available on a standard keyboard – a convenience not to be taken lightly in these days of computers and desktop publishing. Also there are computer programs that can translate text written in RTS into Telugu using any of the popular Telugu fonts.
The RTS (Rice University's Reverse Transliteration System) for the transliteration of Telugu using Roman script, as used in Lekhini is defined below. Google uses a slight variation of this in Google Docs; the basic idea is the same.
Rule 1. Represent short vowels by the lower case English character and long vowels by the corresponding upper case character. Please note that there are alternate representations and exceptions.
Note 1. The sound produced by a stand alone aM (అం) has the distinct flavor of the bilabial stop ‘m”. However when this occurs in the middle of a word, it is almost always pronounced as an ‘n’. The people who designed the RTS system struggled with this issue and finally decided to use the ‘m’ sound.
Note 2. If you wish to produce a pure consonant sound in the middle of a word (such a need arises while transliterating English words using Telugu script), then use a carrot symbol right after the consonant. For example, use k^ for క్ . Try typing k^ and k in Lekhini and see the difference.
Rule 2. A pure unaspirated Telugu consonant is represented by a lowercase Roman character. Unaspirated consonant-vowel pairs are represented by a lowercase letter followed by a vowel. Aspirated consonants are represented by the the lowercase letter, followed by the letter ‘h’, followed by a vowel.
క్ = k, k^
ట = Ta త = ta ప = pa
య = ya, ర = ra, ల = la, ళ = La, వ = va
శ = Sa, ష = sha, స = sa, హ = ha,
Summary. Typically, lowercase Roman characters represent short vowels and the corresponding upper cases represent long vowels. The only uppercase consonants one encounters are L, M, N, D, T, R and S. Of these D and T are close to their respective English sounds.
ళ (La) and ణ (Na) represent sounds that are not commonly found in English; they can be produced by folding the tongue back and then trying to pronounce the English l and n. That leaves ఋ and శ. The closest శ sound is the one in Saxons or Sampson. The closest ఋ sound is that of ri in ‘Krishna’.
RTS representations of consonant-vowel combinations will be discussed in a later appendix.
1c. Appendix 1a. The RTS System for Transliteration
Writing about pronunciation is at best approximate. There are two difficulties here. First, how to describe sounds using words? Second, how to represent the sound in print? There are many transliteration schemes to represent, in Roman script, the sounds produced in any world language. We have chosen to adopt the RTS system because of the convenience it gives if one is confined to using the standard characters available on a standard keyboard – a convenience not to be taken lightly in these days of computers and desktop publishing. Also there are computer programs that can translate text written in RTS into Telugu using any of the popular Telugu fonts.
The RTS (Rice University's Reverse Transliteration System) for the transliteration of Telugu using Roman script, as used in Lekhini is defined below. Google uses a slight variation of this in Google Docs; the basic idea is the same.
Rule 1. Represent short vowels by the lower case English character and long vowels by the corresponding upper case character. Please note that there are alternate representations and exceptions.
అ = a
ఆ = A or aa
ఇ = i
ఈ = I
ఉ = u
ఊ = U or uu or oo
ఋ = R
ఎ = e
ఏ = E
ఐ = ai
ఒ = o
ఓ = O
ఔ = au
అం = aM
Note 1. The sound produced by a stand alone aM (అం) has the distinct flavor of the bilabial stop ‘m”. However when this occurs in the middle of a word, it is almost always pronounced as an ‘n’. The people who designed the RTS system struggled with this issue and finally decided to use the ‘m’ sound.
Note 2. If you wish to produce a pure consonant sound in the middle of a word (such a need arises while transliterating English words using Telugu script), then use a carrot symbol right after the consonant. For example, use k^ for క్ . Try typing k^ and k in Lekhini and see the difference.
Rule 2. A pure unaspirated Telugu consonant is represented by a lowercase Roman character. Unaspirated consonant-vowel pairs are represented by a lowercase letter followed by a vowel. Aspirated consonants are represented by the the lowercase letter, followed by the letter ‘h’, followed by a vowel.
Note 2. If you wish to produce a pure consonant sound in the middle of a word (such a need arises while transliterating English words using Telugu script), then use a carrot symbol right after the consonant. For example, use k^ for క్ . Try typing k^ and k in Lekhini and see the difference.
Rule 2. A pure unaspirated Telugu consonant is represented by a lowercase Roman character. Unaspirated consonant-vowel pairs are represented by a lowercase letter followed by a vowel. Aspirated consonants are represented by the the lowercase letter, followed by the letter ‘h’, followed by a vowel.
క్ = k, k^
క = ka చ = ca, cha
ఖ = kha or Ka ఛ = Ca, Cha
గ్ = g, g^ జ్ = జ్, j, j^
గ = ga జ = ja
ఘ = gha or Ga ఝ = Ja
ఙ = ~ma. ఞ = ~na
ట = Ta త = ta ప = pa
ఠ = Tha . థ = tha ఫ = pha
ద = Da ద = da బ = ba
ధ = Dha ధ = dha భ = bha
ణ = Na న = na మ = మ
య = ya, ర = ra, ల = la, ళ = La, వ = va
శ = Sa, ష = sha, స = sa, హ = ha,
Summary. Typically, lowercase Roman characters represent short vowels and the corresponding upper cases represent long vowels. The only uppercase consonants one encounters are L, M, N, D, T, R and S. Of these D and T are close to their respective English sounds.
ళ (La) and ణ (Na) represent sounds that are not commonly found in English; they can be produced by folding the tongue back and then trying to pronounce the English l and n. That leaves ఋ and శ. The closest శ sound is the one in Saxons or Sampson. The closest ఋ sound is that of ri in ‘Krishna’.
RTS representations of consonant-vowel combinations will be discussed in a later appendix.
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