Harvard-Kyoto

[L.M.Fosse at internet.no]

Harry Falk wrote:

>good idea to initiate a Vedic bibliography - but using the Harvard-
>Kyoto transcription would result in a nightmare. Any z in a personal
>name or non-Skt term would be converted to /s, Jolly would end up
>as ~nolly etc. The usual aa>A conversion gives similar trouble if
>you think of Staal or Fujii. It might be advisible to use the Vienna
>codes or create something new, but any standard which does not lend
>itself to automatic conversion should be banished.

I agree with Harry Falk. May I suggest the Tuebingen-Zuerich format? It
allows for easy conversion, and interference with other graphic conventions
of the kind Hary mentions should be minimal. In the TZ-format, the Sanskrit
alfabeth looks like this:

a -a i -i u -u .r -r .l -l e ai o au .m .h k kh g gh ;n c ch j jh ?n .t .th
.d .dh .n t th d dh n p ph b bh m y v r l . /s s h

(Hope I remembered it all!) The advantage with this transliteration method
is that you're never in trouble when you want to change the graphic
appearance of the text. Conversion is easy. My own experience with this
kind of transliteration has been quite excellent.

By the way, Harry, what are the Vienna codes?

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



Dr. art. Lars Martin Fosse
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Tel: +47 22 32 12 19
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