Table Of ContentMANIPURI 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
