INDOLOGY FAQ. Re. Varanasi

[Dipak Bhattacharya]

Dear All,
I enormously thank everybody for the enlightening debate. It just came to me that perhaps the problem is deeper.  A lecture is not intended by me and any silly utterance should  be forgiven. 
Anyone can note that as yet there is no theory that can fully identify, not to speak of a technique to teach, what Ducrot calls the ‘arbitraire linguistique fundamental ‘ as distinguished from the peculiarity of each phoneme. Learners are taught the latter while the former is just vaguely identified.  See Martinet’s remarks (économie… ) on the Farsi bad and the English bad.  This is why mastering the exact pronunciation is impossible at present.
The problem with classical languages is further complicated by the non-existence of the original speakers.  
Best for all
DB

--- On Tue, 16/2/10, Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at GMAIL.COM> wrote:


From: Dominik Wujastyk <wujastyk at GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: INDOLOGY FAQ. Re. Varanasi
To: INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk
Date: Tuesday, 16 February, 2010, 5:35 PM


So anyone can pronounce any word any way they like?  Surely you don't think
that?

I don't think it's being precious at all, Matthew.  Of course, as Einstein
proved, it's all relative (that's a joke).  But then again, it's not all
relative, and there is indeed right and wrong, in a particular framed,
situated locale (like spoken Sanskrit).  The criterion is what is received
as comfortable, acceptable, and immediately intelligible by the community of
other local speakers.  We're not launching a campaign, but answering
frequently-asked questions.  (Or will be, if anyone actually writes any of
this in faq.indology.info)

I am reminded of a big bust-up that I had with my English teacher once, at
school.  I was about 9 years old, and I was at Comboni College, Khartoum,
where my teacher was an Egyptian gentleman.  He was teaching us about
London, where I was born, and when he got to the name of London's river, he
told the class that it was the river /thaymees/ (like "rabies").  I put up
my hand and offered another opinion.  But he wouldn't have it.  I was
severely reprimanded, and the class was reassured about the correct
pronunciation.

Actually, most people quite like "getting the pronunciation right," as part
of a modest process of acculturation.  All they need is some information
about the history of word change, and they can make up their own minds
whether they want to emulate historical speakers of Sanskrit (who cared, and
followed a learned tradition of śikṣā, after all) or contemporary tourists
superimposing English speech patterns on written words in unhelpful
transliterations.

I'm absolutely certain I don't get my Arabic right, but I'd really like to.
Now, where's the FAQ.arabic.com? :-)

Best,
Dominik


On 15 February 2010 17:52, <mkapstei at uchicago.edu> wrote:

> Isn't every one being a bit too precious about all this?
> What do French speakers do with English names?
> What does everyone do with Chinese?
> How many of us get our Arabic quite right?
> Not to mention Thai, Tibetan or Khmer...
>
> The idea that one is going to launch a campaign to
> rectify the massacre of Indian names and terms in
> English is plain silly when you think about it.
>
> Matthew
>
> Matthew T. Kapstein
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies
> The University of Chicago Divinity School
>
> Directeur d'études
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris
>



      The INTERNET now has a personality. YOURS! See your Yahoo! Homepage. http://in.yahoo.com/