[INDOLOGY] Revision of ISO 15919 (transliteration of Indic scripts)

[Harry Spier]

Dominik wrote:

>
> As for ISO standards becoming freely available, I doubt that that will
> happen any time soon.
>

Note that the ISO standard document contains much more than just tables of
transliterations . There are three pages of rules and recommendations which
need to be known to apply the standard.

For example this rule about interpreting anusvara and this recommendation
about word breaks which also requires interpretation of the original
script. The standard even says about the recommendation " This will require
a good knowledge of the language in question".  But Rule 3a also requires a
good knowledge of the language in question.

Should a transliteration standard require a language expert to apply it?
Or should it be such that a typist with a knowledge of the script be able
to apply it?

Rule 3a also means that if you produced a diplomatic transliteration of a
manuscript (leaving anusvara as anusvara)  you would be deviating from the
ISO standard.

>From the ISO  standard document.
. . .

8.1 Special requirements

. . .

Rule 3.

. . .

a) In modern vernaculars, anusvara before a stop or class nasal shall be
transliterated as the corresponding class nasal; in other languages,
anusvara before a stop or class nasal shall be transliterated as the
corresponding class nasal unless it arises from sandhi (euphonic
combination) of final m with that consonant.


EXAMPLE 1 Sanskrit संग is transliterated as saṁga when it represents the
noun formed from sam + root gam, but as saṅga when it represents the noun
derived from the root sañj.

8.2 Recommendations

Where word boundaries are not shown in the original text (as happens
commonly in Sanskrit) and a word ends in a consonant, the transliteration
should show word division by a space; but when phonological processes
result in two words sharing a common vowel, no attempt should be made to
separate them. This will require a good knowledge of the language in
question.

Harry Spier
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