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MANIPURI PHONETIC RSADBR CENTRAL iNSTlTU'lll 01' lNDIAN LANOUAGES PHO.NiliTJC lltEAlltlk S~RIBS-12 Editor .Jt .G. MlSRA Fim PubUahed : Aa~r/11 1975 HJ97 ,!),.~, C Cellt1'al ltUlituu of !miian lAngwtgtJ, 1975 Prioe : R,a. 8 Publt•hld at tb C.mrsl !nltttute of had"-tl.LoilfJU•q-., Manau.q,la' oqotrt1 .Myeo,.-el70 000 by D.P. Pltiane:yai, tHre.ctor and prlnta4 Mit•, R. Ve•ant•, M.A., ManagiOQ Olt1iotor at Sam•~ rita SahUra Sad a,..., Mreor. .5 70 ot4. ltatna.t•k• $tet•, I.Dt~t•. FOREWORD The CentraJ Iru:t.ltute of IndiAn Languages was act up on the 17th July, 1969 with a vit."'W to nzi.sling and co-ordinating the development of Indian lan~llll;C3. ~ Institute was charged witb 1M responsibility of scrving u a nuclcU5 lo bTin~ teg)::ther aU the re~Carcb nnd litt:n~ry out·J)\•t frum the 9'ariOUJ linguisti<; me streams lo a common head and nArrowing gap between basic ruearch and devt:Jopmental research in the field! of and l;\ngu~ linpstiea in J nd ia. The Innh~te :tnd hs four n:gion~l C£"11~5 nre thut ef18agul in fcsetln:'b and leaching wJucb lead to the publication Ol II wide..rnnglng variety of materials. P:rcpamt:ion o( mnleriaD designed Cor teaching{lean1ing at diiTerent IeveJs and suited to spcci6c DCC(h is one of tbc major aTCll' of intcn:~t of the lnstitutc. Basi<: l"e55:.:l1ch relatina to tht acqui$itlon of l:mguage and study of language in iu rnnnifold prycho·soci:~-1 relations O<llljtitutc aootlJ.u bro."ld range of U.s Interest. TI~~t pubiJcation& will include materials produced by the members oJ tbo staff of thr. CemraJ lruliw tc of Indian Languages and it.s Rc:8ional .l..anguage Cbtltet and u;ociatcd :IChoi(lf'l r1u01 univcruliCS and instinulocu, both (ndian and foreign. The Qntrat lmtitute of Indian Languagt4 has lnlthued tbe Plt5nlli' R'"d" St,;lf in lndi11n languages with a vciw to VI p.re:~entlng the range of pl:tonedc -.-ariation obtaining iD thb sub-continent ilnd d¢mon11trati111g the dGscnen of language 01'1 the bruit! of phonetic p:tttc:rning. 1bcsc Ren.dtG nn.- uiased towardJ u kruuing the 60UJ1d systems of Lang\lllges. Thus it hoped that thia series will be of inrerest t01 both !>Cbolars who a_re imere~d in phonetic !ltudieti end pt<~ctlca1 lear.oers af Languages who wi1h to malce a beghmlng .in their language study. If these materials help ro}\.;ng the problems m the State and bclp in underatal\d111g the people speaking l1le lal'lg\Ja,ge, then our diortJ wi]J have been amply re>vnrded. PREFACE Ce:nsw of IndIa 196 I enun'll!rntes 16.52 mothe rtongua Th~ in the country Be.sid~ tile languages listed in the Eighth Schedule o! the I11diau C.onsti.tution there arn ~ languages with atbs!Aotl.'tl number of speaken. Some N<:h lanKU<'~CS have A long- Uct:rary tradition, and crentive works have ~ produced in tl10m for <lf'nturics. Manipuri, a lilrlg'll:!lgc belon[;ttl!; to the Kukr-Chin group of Lhc 1bcto-Chi~ :~u.b-f~mily, b auch n language. It has borro.,.,'Cd extenllively 0\'l!r the centuries rrom the neighbouring Ja.ngu~c1, nwnly lnda-Aryan l(l.Ogu&gc.t. due to goosraphical, hi$loricsl and cuhur-31 re!\~)$ Mrurlpuri ls spoken in the enstcm part of the country by 621244 speAkers. Majority of the M11nipuri speakers (50283~ pcnons) are in the Manipul" St."\te, Rcs't of the lpeaten are spread r rimarily in AJsam (89034 JlC[sons) and in T:ripura {27940 persons). Manipurl (also c.e.lled McitheiJ ill al pn::sent the a lltato langtl<'lgtl of Manipur and ia Ulled in cdu~tion, admininration and other .spheres of life in Manipur. It is u*!d .nJ medi&~rn or instru.GtiQII ~I the tehool stage Alld il nlliO u allol\'ed lU an optional mediu111 for college education. 1t n~ a &ubjed nf study a1 the ooUegc: nnd uni.,.-ersity stage in Manipur and in aoae other ulli"-cnitk s tn eancrn India. fn spite of rill lhi.s a cowprehen.si~ synchronic •rudy of Itt~ language along modern lingui.t-llc lirn:s iJ still not aV3ilablc:, The Ccnt.rnl lnnitute of Indian Langttll.g(s under• its lrlhal ilnd border languqgea researcl• pr<>&ramme has undcrtftke:n l\ ttUdy viii an of Manipuri lnnguage in its iUpecu.. It it visualiled to publish ll sync.hl'oni6 ~rrommar, n trilillffUnl. d~tionary and irutruc:donal m.rt.teriAh ror Mnnipuri besides the present Phonetic Reader. Tbc prcs:nt Af4nifnm· Pkt~rrtlie Rt•tltr desctibca tbe M...,.niput! sounds for two types of ~~~ : I. TI1.e lnnguoge w wher nnd the educatrd adult Lea meT. 2. The linguist. Taking mto conslderatiort the duAl purpose of d~C Phonetic Rc:u:ler an e.fio' n has boeu made 10 pracm the iOUnd sys1on of Mllnipmi with n..s Uetla tertnina)Qgi«tt compluity AS poM<ible while noc aacrilicing ~ufficient O.Dd accuraLe infortruJ.tion of MMipuri to\1nds The Phonetic Reader in its lutroduc:tion give' n general tk;$cription of lh stTuc&ure of the Re:lder. In tl:l,r first chapter a gc wral introducti<m of the JP«c.h orgal\J toSetbcr with :1 ll3gittal K"ClioJl of the apcech tract is given. This chapter also a brief accounl of the classiflcntion a.nd ~iva p'l'oducdon of speech sounds. '!'be second ch:lpter gi-1.'6 n elCissification and dc:Jeription of Manipuri spee<:h sounds.. [I pn:.sents rin t the: tonal fcaLUT't"ll and then S&:gm<mC.JI sounds Tile description of theJC 110undi singly and in clus.lcn i• lso given. TIIC third chApter g)ves an analy1is (){ M.an.ipuri phonemes.. It. briei'ly introduocs tbr: rcl~vant concepts and dilcl.IS30 some problems of phonemic aiUIIysis of Manipurl Likfl free ~arht.ion, nu<~Hatlon, etc. h ~ fol~ by n de!ICriptionofthe Ltllopbone• of the phoncmcJ and their dtnributionJ. The aemnd pan of this chapter give$ an occ.ouut of the: l)r'CJt:m MuruJluri writing rystrem wllich is 11n adopllon of the Bcr'Sllli writing syslcm. Cermio ix deficiencie,s In t.he prexnt day writing system ha~ been pointed oul and suggaliom tor modfica.tions Lhcreto are a.b() given. The last chapter gives ph(lnetic drills Cor inCJ,Jlcat:ing and the co:rre.ct pronunci:uion of Mardp.uri. pra~ls.lng The Phonetic Reader <kx:ls not claim be <:omplcte or tO perfect. are tertnin arw; still left unrouchcd. Thw ~ u them no dacription of the intonarional in the Phonetic feature~~ Reader. Although it i~ t.rue that the pronuneiation of a la:ng:ua.ge e;;m be morn dfootivcly learnt with the nid of the native speaking teacher the usefulrteJ~ of a Render like lhe present one ca.Dl!lOt be underestimatod. lt is hoped Lbat the Reader wUl be u:r.eful to learners snd tcacheD of Manipurl alike and a.lso tQ intei'C!lted linguist"-: sch0lars working on Manipuri. D. G. MISRA ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My tirrcere thnnks ore dun co Dr. D. P. Pottanayak, Oit cc;tor, OUL, Mysore for his inspira~o and encouragemmt. I am also thankful to Dr. H. S. Biligiri, Deputy Director (197Q-72), Cn L, Mysore for lm valul'lblc comments on the fu~ dmft of this n#~~r. T am grateful to Dr B 0 . Misn~, INputy Din:dor, GilL, M)'$0re for his valuable corn mcnt.S a.nd auggc:nioft$ which h.~ made wltik gob)g through the Oucl vcrsio11 ·of ~hi~ Rtr~4,,. I will be (piling in m · duty if I do DOl tb.-tnl the authoriciea of the Director.'lte of Educntil.kll, Jmph<~l, Manipur, who not only mack my stay nt Imptwl eonforuble !Jut were ~h~·~ eo-operative and heJpfuL My thnnk:~ an: due to Mr. HAJlro Chaudhu_n, Mr. L. Tocnd w Singh llnd Th. Madhu Smgh. I sincerely exptlSS my gratitude tO my lnfonnants Mr. L. SmNucndrn Singh, Mr. B Dinan •mi Singh, Mr. n,. Jogendrn Sinlo{h, 1Vlr. Ch.. Thoibl\ Sin~;h, Mr. S. Bijoy Sutgh and Mr. Brijmani Singh-all from lmJihaJ, Mr. Nar.tn • ingh, \.0 Mr. Goroch:lndrn Singh and Mr. PriyolutfMr of Kakdung ru:td to Mr. H. Kula Si1tgh of Moirt:~ng. l Dbo thunlt Dr. l<unJabih;m Singh, Mr. N. Khcl Ch.audm Singh, Mr Kalnchaml Smgh !'~lSlTi. Mr. Ncdakantn Sin~:h, Mr. L.. Narayan Shi\.mm, Mr. Nan<b iAI Sha nna, Mr. Dwijamani Shnrmn. Mr. Uahnm Chetan Singh, ~·l1 . H. Guno Singh, Mr. A K. lh<»wmhi Singh, Mr. E. Rajanikanca