Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1839-01-30
M 1850 NARY.
From The Bap. Miss. Magazine.
Extracts from a Letter of the Mission
dated Sadiya, March L, 1888.

4fOHk Tue DUp. 41ISS maya LIHS.
Extracts from Letter of the Mission,
dated Sadiya, March L, 1888.
To present a more complete view of the condi-
tnos of the Shyan language, and especially of the
reasons for printing il in two distinct forms the
Burmese and the Roman, mentioned in the pre-
ceding Journal the missionaries at Sadiya have SUBJ
mtted to the Board further communication, from
which we make the subjoined extracts:
The Shyans have, properly speaking,
no character of their own-lhe Burman
being an exotic, introduced along with
their religion, at what precise period Is
unknown. Before that time there was
an al psabet in use among the Atoms, a
branch Of the Tai race, which somewhat
resembled both the Burmese and Tibe.
tan. This is now extinct, although we
have obtained several books written in it,
but Ineligible only to the Ahom pundits.
| The khamtis, and other Shyans, in their
! kyaungs teach not only the Burman char
acter, but the Burman books, although
not one in twenty of the priests themselves
understands the Burman language they
only read 1t, like parrots, and teach their
pupils to do the same. Absurd as this is,
it is the uniform method of teaching in
the kyaungs; and after the boys have
learned TO read the Burman, they are put
TO writing their own language in the
same character, which they are of course
obliged to modify, in order to express
their sounds-persons In different sectors
of the country spelling the language in
entirely different ways. This creates a
great variety Of systems, of which we can
select no one as a standard, which could
be understood by all.
But, however written, the Burman al
phabet is inadequate to the expression oil
the Shyan sounds. Many of the most
important of these sounds are wanting in
: the Burman. In writing the vowels in
l, Shyan, nearly every character is used to
express at least tao0 organically different
sounds; and of the fire tones applicable
to nearly every syllable, only one has a
. mark, which, however, is applied only in
' few cases. So that In more than hal
: the words, single form is susceptible Of
e ten varieties; that is. taOo organically dis
| tinct vowels, each pronounced with fr
D different tones. Ii is not indeed alway.
: the case that each of these ten sounds hal
: separate meaning; generally not NOR,
e than four or five, amongst the whole, ar,
d words in actual use. These are ambigu
i Gus. and The sense can only be m ade GU
by studying the connection in which they
t stand. This produces about the same dit
\ iculty in reading, as would be felt il
reading English if we should omit all th
e vowels and write only the consonants, o
1t in reading Hebrew without the vowe
points It's true that such a languag,
d can be read, but never fuenlly, unless
is book which has been rendered famil
t, lar by long study, as are many of tn
IT Shyan scriptures which are read in tn
kyaungs. Such language can nevel
v make lis way into common use, as an or
r gan OF communication among the people
1t as the process Of picking out the meanin,
e, is too laborious 10 be used for ordinar,
o purposes.
Our only alternative, therefore. is to re
v model the Burman character. so that
/ shall be adequate to express the Shyal
sounds, and add such characters to ex
! press the tones as Mr.. Wade has done il
\ the Karen or else to adopt the Roman
!, system. And when we consider that tn
|, Burman character is known to compare
\ lively so litlle extent, we feel satisfied tina
4 it is our duty, wherever our schools ex
- tend. to teach only the Roman character
- and for the priests and other persons il
- The interior, acquainted with the Burma
= letters, amongst whom our schools car
>, not at present extend, to print in the Bur
man character, imperfect as it is, as near
n y as possible after the manner in whic
=, the priests write it. without attempting /
i. introduce any notifications of our owl
which would ouly make it sill less int
ne liglble TO the people, and would increas
he the size to nearly the dimensions of S
: amese. the only character now in US,
sv which faithfully and fully represents ii
~ various sounds of the Tai.
De Letter OF Messrs. Brown and Cutter date
d. May 10, 1888.
er- MISSIONARIES For THE BRAHAAPUTR