Preface

It cannot be necessary to write a formal preface to so small a book. But I may be allowed to make use of the space for two purposes. First, I have to express my thanks to Prof. W. J. Ashley, M.A., of Harvard University, and late Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, not only for the suggestion that a short account of the Indian village should be written, but for valuable advice and criticism in the course of writing it.

Secondly, I have to say a few words about the (not very frequent) Indian words (Hindi, Persian, etc.) which occur. I have avoided them wherever I could; but sometimes they are needed for the sake of readers in India, or because there is no satisfactory equivalent; partly also because they show that the thing indicated is, or is not, indigenous; that it has been borrowed from the Moslems, or is an older Hindu institution. Now, the only tolerable way in which such words can be given in print, is by transliterating into Roman character; and people then say “we do not know how they should be pronounced.”

But for practical purposes, it is quite easy to pronounce Indian words at least intelligibly. Only remember that they are not English, and in particular, that the letter “a” (without accent) which so commonly occurs must never be pronounced with the peculiar sound of the English “flat,” “that,” “many,” etc. It is uniformly like the u in “bun,” so that the Hindi syllables mani, e.g., are read like the English word “money.” Each vowel has a short or unaccented use, also a broad or accented, thus

a – â (as in English) “bun” – “ba(r)n”

i – î (as in English) “pit” – “peat”

u – û (as in English) “pull” – “pool”

(ê) is regarded as a diphthong, and is always with “ay” (têl = “tale”), ô is always long as in “post.”

These sounds are invariable. I have not marked the variations in the consonants, except to write q when the Arabic (k) is indicated. But it will be well to state the th is never sibilant (as in “this” or “thin”) in Indian dialects, it is only t with an aspirate; g is always hard, never as in “gin” (which would be j).

B. H. B-P.

Oxford, July, 1899.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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