LESSON 1 ORTHOGRAPHY ‘The Manichean Sogdian seript. The Manichean alphabet i a variant ofthe Syriac Estrangelo script. Its invention is sometimes atributed to Mani himself, bt the alphabet is probably older than thet ‘The order of the letters in the tale below is that ofthe Aramaic-Syriac alphabets, ‘Tue Manicuean Syriac (EsTRaNGr0) ALPHABET « > “ b Bete s > ot ' s : B . y a P 8 = k AA ' Y an x so cts aC 4 x 8 vam 4 m h a 1 wa ' * w wx m o 5 . 2 sa . x 1 a j [Notes onthe table. ‘The letter forms are quite constant, with some exception and have two different forms, the distribution of which may be according to scribe , , and have special forms in final position. ‘The Aramaic-Syria letter <$> (Arabic sd) is used in Sogdian scripts for and for Sogdian , ‘The letter is used to write both 8 and 6, On <> Cayn) see below. ‘The leter isnot found inthe Syriac version of the alphabet, but is peculiar to Sogdian, In the Middle Persian and Parthian versions of the script a with two dots above is used instead, ‘The leters . , , and <> are modified forms of ,

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, and needed to express distinct Sogdian phonemes (see below). ‘Transliteration and transliteration. ‘When we simply substitute English letters for the Sogdian ones we say we “tansliterate” the words, but ‘when we write out the word in English letters the way it was pronounced we say we “transcribe” the words, ‘To denote that we are simply transliterating we may enclose the transliteration in pointed brackets <>, ‘while transcriptions are indicated by italics. Example: tous transit. , transcr. mdr “mother”; mwagatt vdnd "house"; twas Sendir “dinar”; Seve me0" day.” 2710/03 7P.O. Skjervs. Manual of Sogdian Vowels. ‘Vowels are not written consistently in the Sogdian scripts, und itis therefore not always certain what they ‘were, although most of the time we can make educated guesses on the bass of orthography and linguistic ‘comparison with other Iranian languages. AAS the Sogdian alphabets are of Aramaic-Syriae descent they do not regularly express short vowels in ‘writing. In the Manichean script long vowels ae always written, using <°> ford; for &and j, and <> for 4 and i. Short vowels between consonants are usually written, using for eand iand for o and ‘The correct vowels have to be learned for each word. ‘The letter <°> is used initially (atthe beginning of « word) to express a, 2, or long d, but double <-> is ‘commonly written for d A the beginning of a word long & and are written or <‘y>, while short / and w are written and , Phoneme. We call “phonemes” the smallest units of spech that distinguish meanings. Phonemes are usally , possibly a combination of t+ (2)t, was dra()i or 2rtfis not clear. In this manual dri is used. With few exceptions, therefore, any word ending ina consonant must have a long vowel or accented d, etc. ‘The short /a/ cannot always be identified, as itis not clear which consonant clusters existed. In initial ‘consonant clusters, fr instance, (two or more consonants atthe beginning of a word) we do not know if ‘vowels were inserted or not. The fact, however, that the orthogrephy in many instances vacillates between nothing and <> or indicates that short vowels were sometimes not pronounced, In these eases, comparison with other languages leads one to posit one or two “central” vowels [2] (so-called schWa), a vowel like the ein English perhaps, and [3], a vowel sounding like the frst in English between. Thus, ‘onslaa may have been pronounced pataydi- in slow and accurate speech, but in normal speech either p75. or—after a vowel —p'y04- (witha “super-short” 2), and—after consonant even apr76 ‘This [0] may also have been influenced by its phonetic context, e.g, before palatal consonant we seem to have 2] ~ (e] in aS fat ~ aes fet or Bit. In this manual 2 will be used to indicate either of the unstressed vowels [a] and [6]. The 2is always indicated in the transcriptions, although the principles underlying its inclusion are admittedly impressionistic, ‘Short f/ may have been realized as (u, [ua [wa or [wa] depending on the context. This analysis based mainly upon the fact that words with original initial Cu-can take a prosthetic 2.2.4 dqayee < akurl= fokwat,akwutt, skuts]. Other examples are dificult to find ‘To simplify the transcription, inthis manual w and willbe used, occasions wa and ya. When wi, tun, and in oceue in beavy stems they will be marked as stressed: dir, ee. 2, Long vowels. ‘The long vowels /, 8, 0/ may have been long only in stressed position and short in unstressed position, “The variant spellings ofthe verbal endings may reflect this. ‘The short /e/ and fo/ were probably not separate phonemes opposed to RY and /6/. Short fe] seems to be supported by alternances such as in the ending <-yny-> ~ <-ny>, ic, end ~ -ané 2710103 9P.O, Skjera. Manual of Sogdian ‘There are no similar pairs for [0 In this manual is used (eg., Bénd- “to bind”), but w instead of 0 (e-., raxén“light,” not rosin), Whetter there was an opposition between final stressed /-é/ and fj, is also very uncertain, In this ‘manual the traditional transcription with final short-é in some forms of light stem nouns (adjectives, pronouns) and verbs as opposed to -éand -é < *aka is maintained for pedagogical reasons. 3. Diphthongs. ‘The existence of short-vowel diphthongs is uncertain, as we have litle means of determining whether the ‘old diphtongs ai and au remained before consonants or had become é and 6. Its possible that they were stll diphthongs at an early stage of Sogdian, as suggested by the Sogdian script onhography, but were simply long vowels in the stage represented by the Manichean and Christian texts, ‘In this manual only Jong vowels éand 6 will be used before consonants, thus *flaw- + «am > Powam, but paw -1> Bt, ‘The situation in final position is even less certain, 4."Long diphthongs.” The sequences V +i, u, rm, m (is du dr, ee) are perhaps more conveniently analyzed as combinations of P+ ys wy rsmcm, thus /yC/ = [AySC],/wC/ = [Ewa fn = [ana], etc With considerable reservations one may posit the following possible system of (attested) vocalic phonemes and allophones for Sogdian: stressed unstressed +h +h tht +i ay fa) ol fal @ wl fb of et @ ee ele al a i fit fom om bl ow ) 0) fo} fat (a) [u) fal Me) wl [wo] {u] (no examples?) Examples of light and heavy stems: Light stems Heavy stems Boy “god” ‘Blay “piece of land, garden” re “pleasure” Bari “god's” wind “lute” 58 “copper” ut-f “Buddha” pur “rotted” imary-femey-y> “bit ‘mary “meadow” ak(ar)tck(@)ey> “(eas) made” ‘marty “man” wirk-fewyrey> “woll” atimirr “is (being) counted” purn-fepwrn-y> Notes: “Heavy stems with irand ur are very rare. 2/0103 ‘Bendam "I bind bird “where”Lesson 1 Consonants phonemes, ‘Stops Affricates—“Fricatives—-Nasals-»——Continuants—_Sibilants, Unvoiced pyk —— &{t8] £0x st Voiced tbe) {5} (ea) Bay mata ow ye at In Joanwords we also find and The arcates€ andj are pronounced like English ch in child and in judge. ‘The fricaives are pronounced as follows: asin English; as English zh in thing: xs German ch in Lochtor Spanish Spanish (not American Spanish jin roo, & yare pronounced lke Spanish bd after vowels,e..robar, nada, haga. The siilants and # are pronounce like English sin shut and sin leisure, espetively {a}, pronounced ike English ng in thing, isthe phonetic realization ofm before kg, and x. Its not & separate phoneme in Sogdian, only an alophone off. {by 8} and {J} are ellophones of fp, tk, &/ after the voiced cononants 8, & ym. ‘Special scribal habits. {As the Sogdian alphabets were not created specifically for Sogdian, there is some lack of interna logic in the way leters correspond to sounds. Thus some phonemes ate not distinguished inthe alphabet (<8> = 8) ‘and 8/), while others can be written with two different leters. Such optional spellings occur in two situations: 1. both spell and <> both spell 2. As voiced and unvoiced stops are not distinguished after a voiced cononant, either consonant may be uused—for instance, p or b after m, 2, and #; rand d after 9, 7m, 2, and ¥ (Bis not found in such combinations); and k and g after (2, and & Examples:<85'mpn> and = §2mban “lady, wife.” In the case of nd the most frequent spelling is , less frequently we find , lest frequently , Thus, the present participle -andé may be written <-ndyy>, , of , Before p and b the opposition between and m is also neutralized and either or can be used. Some sound and spelling combinations that occur frequently are the following: spb thd the +87 e Acp> r ney ” nd ent, nd, ndt> ng (ug] fe, n> 2 det, 24, 26> rectg> i sii ‘Some letters can be and are frequently written dovble: <> (when =); and , especially at the end of words; for both Sand @, for n, and or fort (d). Final <> alternates withch>, and a ch> can be added after final <>, , and, occasionally, ‘without affecting the form of the word. Note: There is no grammatical significance to these alterations. Thus, both foyi and mary can be written with final ,, or . ‘The only grammatical correlation is found in the use of final , which is frequently used with fe nouns, pronouns, and adjectives, eg, = , = . 2/0103 nP.O. Skjzrvs, Manual of Sogdian TABLE OF CORRESPONDENCES SOUND ~ SPELLING “Transcription Spelling Transcription Spelling 10) are dispensed with; letters are written single, not double; k and tare used for q and ; ~ oF nothing i used for-h (fr? not Ph, mrty not mrtyyh, et) EXERCICSES 1. Read and transcribe the following words: tas tea Neaaaeadoe, cottige sweat canis, thee wats Raat, woleytawaat ste, 2. Suggest spellings forthe following transcribed words, and write them in Manichean seript: potari Sibortik potsdr nda axieipat 65a smané Boypate ruxindyaraéinan 210/03 RGLOSSARY 1 Lear the following words by heart: > yk ayn temally yn doend: parable, sory “spay: horse Brt Bards: brother Ar Bit 67Bor- apart to give, given dora: ten Syn Sec (or rir dinar ‘fryity farésté: angel “wk yuk throne rnriy marty: man sny8m@0: day sey, my m6: has tote fem.: mother wk nt now wen today Pitter: father yw pst para - par: o hea, hears Pisrpatsd again, once more rx dna: lad happy wn won fer: te snd fe. house svt nt ord, king zrw'py zarwa-fay God Zurwan, the Father of Greatness zum zérn: gold 2710103, BP.O, Skjeerve. Manual of Sogdian 210103 4