[INDOLOGY] Fwd: Question on Diacritical Marks

[Herman Tull]

My reply just went to Jeff; here it is.

Herman Tull


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Herman Tull <hermantull at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 12:23 PM
Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Question on Diacritical Marks
To: Jeffery Long <dharmaprof108 at yahoo.com>


Hi, Jeff:

Long ago, I used to follow my former mentor Wendy Doniger on this.  To
paraphrase her position, Indologists will know what the Sanskrit words
really are, and non-specialists will not care. But, I no longer agree with
this.  For one thing, with the advent of on-line dictionaries, even
non-scholars (or non
​-​
Indological scholars) have the opportunity to look up terms (and without
the diacriticals those without Sanskrit, or those who have lost their
Sanskrit) are
​lost.
  For another, the ease with which diacriticals can be added
​using modern technology ​
makes it inexcusable to leave them out. (In the the 80s, using one of the
first personal word processing systems, I still had to add them in by hand
​ for my dissertation​
.)

Last but not least Sanskrit words are not
​"​
Sanskrit
​"​
at all without the diacriticals.  E.g., the letters "ṭ" and "t" are really
not the same
​
and
​mashing them up into
a single "t"
​ is nothing more than a misrepresentation, and
not using diacriticals turns the 48 sounds/letters of Sanskrit into
something they are not.

So, yes.  It is distracting
​ not to have them​
, a
​n​
d
​I think a lot
 more. I would demand the
​employment of ​
diacriticals of any scholar who uses Sanskrit.
​ ​

best,

Herman

On Mon, Sep 5, 2016 at 12:13 PM, Jeffery Long via INDOLOGY <
indology at list.indology.info> wrote:

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> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Jeffery Long <dharmaprof108 at yahoo.com>
> To: Indology List <indology at list.indology.info>
> Cc:
> Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2016 16:12:54 +0000 (UTC)
> Subject: Question on Diacritical Marks
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> I have a somewhat delicate question on which I would appreciate your
> candid opinions.
>
> Imagine a doctoral dissertation in the field of philosophy.  The
> primary audience for this dissertation is other philosophers, most of whom
> are likely to have little or no expertise in the field of Indology.  The
> dissertation does, however, engage quite extensively with Indic
> philosophical traditions and texts, and does so in a serious and
> responsible fashion.  Because the author him or herself is also, however,
> primarily a philosopher and not an Indologist, s/he does not deploy
> diacritical marks in presenting Sanskrit terms.
>
> How would such a dissertation be regarded by most of you?  Would the
> non-use of diacritical marks alone disqualify this work from being taken
> seriously?  (My own reaction: I would personally find it distracting and
> irritating, but not disqualifying if the scholarship were otherwise sound.)
>  Your thoughts?
>
> With thanks in advance,
>
> Jeff
>
> Dr. Jeffery D. Long
> Professor of Religion and Asian Studies
> Elizabethtown College
> Elizabethtown, PA
>
> https://etown.academia.edu/JefferyLong
>
> Series Editor, *Explorations in Indic Traditions: Theological, Ethical,
> and Philosophical*
> Lexington Books
>
> Consulting Editor, Sutra Journal
> http://www.sutrajournal.com
>
> "One who makes a habit of prayer and meditation will easily overcome all
> difficulties and remain calm and unruffled in the midst of the trials of
> life."  (Holy Mother Sarada Devi)
>
>
>


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