INITIAL SOUNDS IN DRÁJYÓR

In the following interactive table, partially inspired by the traditional Tibetan order of consonants, but adapted to the Drajyor phonetic transcription system, syllables are ordered in columns (1-6) and lines (1-14) according to the way they are pronounced. The columns (in lines 1-4, the first three of the 5th, 8th, and 9th) group sounds on the base of criteria such as voice (phonetics), tone (high or low), aspiration (absent, strong, slight) and prenasalization. (NOTE Prenasalisation is audible in Central Tibetan only when found between the two syllables of disyllabic words in which the first ends with a vowel and the second starts with a prenasalization. For example: མཁའ་འགྲོ་ wylie: mkha’ ‘gro, Drajyor: KÀDRÒ, roughly pronounced ‘Khandro’). In Eastern Tibet it is more evident also at the beginning of words).

The six columns contain respectively:

1. Unvoiced, high tone, non aspirated
2. Unvoiced, low tone, slightly aspirated
3. Voiced, low tone, non aspirated
4. Voiced, low tone, non aspirated, prenasalised (note that the intensity of prenasalization differs greatly in various Tibetan dialects)
5. Unvoiced, high tone, aspirated
6. Unvoiced, high tone, aspirated and prenasalized

The first 5 lines contain respectively:

1. The consonants pronounced in the throat (velars),
2. With the tongue touching the palate (alveo-palatals)
3. With the tip of the tongue behind the teeth (dentals)
4. Closing the lips (bilabials)
5. Alveolar affricates

Lines 6 to 8 contain:

6. Velar + ya sound

7. Palatal + ya sound

8. Apical postalveolar retroflex stops (😂) (curling the tongue backward)

The remaining lines contain various sounds which are easier to reproduce by listening to them rather than to describe them if that is not already the case with the ones described above.

A note on line 16. The first three letters of this line are: A is an ‘a’ vowel, starting from a closed throat (the common ‘a’ in western languages) HǍ is an ‘a’ vowel starting from an open throat HA is simply an aspiration

Accents

Accents, or their absence, have to be paid great attention: they define how the consonant before the vowel on which they sit is pronounced, not the vowel itself. In other words, the characteristics of a consonant in DRÁJYÓR are defined by the accent, or its absence, on the following vowel.

There are four possibilities:

1. No accent indicates a high tone, unvoiced, unaspirated consonant; except for lines 11-15 where consonants are in low tone.
2. Caron or háček accent ( ˇ at times seen as ˘ ) denotes a low tone, unvoiced, slightly aspirated consonant. The consonants marked with this accent (in column 2) become voiced when found in syllables beyond the first, in two or more syllable words (see below).
3. Acute accent ( ´ ) indicates low tone, voiced, non-aspirated consonants (third column, lines 1-9). In other instances see the heading.
4. Grave ( ` ) accent adds a pre-nasalisation to the consonant in the previous column (lines 1-9, silent in Central Tibetan).

Many DRÁJYÓR initial sounds correspond to several different spellings in Tibetan script. These syllables are pronounced in exactly the same way, but their meaning is different and they belong to completely different words.

(please click on the players to listen to the sounds)