| Primer on Pali versification |
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Useful primers for Pali pronunciation can be found on-line at:
What is significant to underline in terms of Pali prosody is that, in the Pali language a vowel is either "short" (rassa) or "long" (dīgha). The short vowels are a, i, and u. The long vowels are ā, ī, and ū. As their names suggest, the short vowels are pronounced for a shorter duration than the long vowels, unless a short vowel is followed by a pure-nasal niggahīta (that is, aṃ, iṃ, uṃ). The vowels e and o can be either short or long: they are short if followed by two consonants (as in seyya or sotthi); otherwise, they are long. (Ānandajoti, 2004, pp. 271, 273; Warder, 1967, pp. 28, 53.) In Pali prosody, a syllable is either "light" (lahu) or "heavy" (garu). A light syllable contains a "naturally" short vowel (that is, a, i or u) followed by either another vowel or a single consonant (other than the niggahīta [ṃ]). All other syllables are heavy. In addition, the last syllable of a full verse line is always heavy, whether the vowel is short or long. In general, a heavy syllable is articulated for twice the duration of a light syllable. (In this primer and in chanting guide notes, light syllables are denoted by an o and heavy syllables are denoted by a —.) In Pali chanting, in addition to a heavy syllable's being chanted longer than a light syllable; in some chanting styles, a heavy syllable is chanted at a higher pitch and/or pronounced more loudly than a light syllable. (In this site's chanting guides, heavy syllables are printed in black and are bolded, while light syllables are printed in gray, unbolded.) Additional information regarding the versification of specific verses can be found at: |