Folks you must have certainly come across the spelling hazards while writing and reading Roman-Manipuri. For instance, reading a mail or message from friends sometimes leaves us with ‘bubbles in the mouth’. No, it’s not because of the content in the mail or message! It’s the very fact that we simply couldn’t understand what’s written there. Different friends spell in different ways (hence, the reader faces hell and that’s every one of us at some point) such as eigi, egee, eegi, egi, igee for my or mine, or as ema, eema, emaa, ima for mother. Everyone is the master of his/her own mode of writing issatyl (style), but too many masters definitely spoil the language. No doubt, I had my fair share of acting the master...#:(
At present, we need a consensus to a way to write Roman-Manipur. ‘Warn you!’ like before we cannot bear another fight this time, which comes first - ‘the egg or the chicken’. This is not about narcissism either but more about having our own language.
Let’s ask ourselves some few basic questions before we go further.
WHY1 do we get confused while reading or writing Roman-Manipuri?
WHAT2 is needed to know to clear our confusion?
HOW3 do we write so that anyone can understand?
WHEN4 are we going to clear this confusion?
To the WHY: It is because
(i) We are not aware of our sound system properly
(ii) We are always influenced by English spelling
(iii) The authority concerned and the academics of the state are hardly aware of the chaotic problem of Manipuri spelling.
(iv) We use three different orthographies (Writing System) viz. Maytay Mayek, Bangla and Roman alphabet for writing.
To the WHAT: English vs. Manipuri Language:
(i) English and Manipuri (Maytaylon) belong to different ‘Language Families’
(ii) Manipuri has its own sound and way of writing
(iii) in English there are 5 vowel letters whereas there are 6 vowels in Manipuri
(iv) No ‘stress’ or ‘silent letter’ is used while speaking or in writing Manipuri (see example chart 2 & 3),
(v) In Manipuri, each vowel letters has fixed vowel sound (phonetic value) i.e. vowel letter doesn’t change sound (see example chart 1)
(vi) Last but not the least, DO NOT get confused between ‘writing Manipuri’ and ‘writing English’ with roman alphabet.
To the HOW:
Have you noticed the names of your favorite Korean or Chinese hero/ heroine written in the subtitle and the way it is pronounced in the dialog (speaking) in Korean or in Chinese? It’s different, isn’t it? It is because every writing system is based on one’s culture and their phonetic value (sound system) of the speaker. Therefore, we are the owner of our own sound system and we must write according to what we speak, for example:
Hindi word - ‘bada bidi’ read as ‘bara biri’ NOT bada bidi.
It is because the sound system is in Hindi even though it is written in roman alphabet. There are fault believes even among our academicians that ‘we are using English alphabet so we must write according to English Orthography’ (English spelling), which is completely wrong notion, and it can be seen see in the following lessons. So, follow your sound, the sound of the language that you speak! We cannot eliminate our own language and transform into something which are not ours. Please try to understand the system that we have.
To the WHEN: Today, right now. Why not?
However, it’s easier said than done, and it is true. Confusion could be lifted only when we understand our own language and we stop using, or rather, copying another writing system blindly. As I mentioned earlier, we need a consensus to a way we write. We should not forget that we started using Roman-Manipuri to communicate better and not to confuse one another.
Some lesson plans to discuss the possibilities and limitations of Roman-Manipur writing.
Lesson 1: Manipuri Sound System
According to Phonotactic rules, every language has its vowel sound and its uses. In Manipuri language (Maytaylon) there are 6 (six) vowel sounds - a, aa, e, i, o, u. (see Fig. 1). And, two semi-vowels ‘y’ and ‘w’ are used in writing (see, Use of semi-vowel).
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| Fig. 1 : Six Manipuri vowels and two semi vowels uses |
Use of semi- vowel ‘y’ & ‘w’
As mentioned earlier our writing is based on sound system. In Manipuri Language there are some vowel clusters e.g. au, ai, etc) which occur within the same syllable or across the syllable. Hence, to differentiate them, semi-vowel ‘y’ & ‘w’ are used so that one can identify / produced the two adjacent sounds. The use of ‘y’ and ‘w’ below may be noted carefully that they are being used as diphthongs at the end of a syllable.
‘mau’ (trunk of a tree) and ‘maw’ (married women)
‘saaun’ (sound ) and ‘saawba’ (anger)
‘mai’ (mode of writing) and ‘may’ (fire)
‘haing’ (housefly) and ‘hay’ (fruit)
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| Fig.2 : To know more on sound system see the table below |
Lesson 2: Possible vowel sound Combination in Manipuri
Like any other Languages in the world we also have rules for using vowel letters in writing. The possible two vowel combinations in Manipuri writing (maytaylon) among its 6 vowels are given below:
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| Fig. 3: Possible vowel combination in Manipuri |
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| Fig. 4: Possible Vowel letter combination and vowel sign formed after combining two vowels |
The possible combinations of two vowel letters sound system in Manipuri are:
‘ay’/‘ai’, ‘aw’/‘au’,
‘aaw’/‘aau’, ‘aay’/ ‘aai’,
‘oy’/ ‘oi’, ‘uy’/‘ui’
NOT possible vowel sound system in Manipuri are:
So, such spelling should be abandoned: ‘eema’ ‘phee’ ‘Lei’ ‘Leiba’ ‘chaoba’ ‘louba’ etc as these are truly English spelling.
‘ee’, ‘ei’, ‘eu’, ‘eo’, ‘eaa’, ‘ea’, ‘iu’, ‘io’, ‘iaa’, ‘ia’, ‘uo’, ‘uaa’, ‘ua’,
‘ue’, ‘oaa’, ‘oe’, ‘oa’, ‘ou’, ‘aae’, ‘aao’, ‘aa.a’, ‘ae’, ‘ao’, ‘a.aa’.
So, such spelling should be abandoned: ‘eema’ ‘phee’ ‘Lei’ ‘Leiba’ ‘chaoba’ ‘louba’ etc as these are truly English spelling.
Use of dot (.) in writing Manipuri
In Manipuri, there are words which have same spelling, but different meanings. It is due to tone; a dot (.) mark is used to indicate the level of tone. In other word, when dot (.) is used that word is treated as separate entry. It is used to avoid confusion between the two similar words. See few examples below:
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Fig. 5: Used of dot (.) in Roman-Manipuri spelling |
Lesson 3: Using ‘IMPORTED WORD’ in writing
Imported words or loanwords are words adopted by the speakers of one language from a different language. To avoid writing mistakes, we must clear the origin sound of the particular word to avoid the error in the spelling i.e. whether it’s a Loanword or Manipuri word. Check this sentence below as an example:
“pot yonbaduna pot ama ‘phri’ haappak.e”
“pot yonbaduna pot ama ‘free’ haappak.e”
“may laak.oy “Kendan peket” amata layruso”
“may laak.oy “candle packet” amata layruso”
Here, ‘free’ ‘candle’ ‘packet’ are all imported words in its English spelling whereas ‘phri’ ‘kendal’ ‘peket’ is Roman-Manipuri spelling. We can use both the given spelling in general writings. However, disaster strikes when somebody starts mixing up Manipuri and English spellings or try to translate the words, such as ‘Imphal’ (read as ‘imfal’) instead of ‘Imphaal’, ‘Kangla’ instead of ‘Kanglaa’ etc and translation of Manipuri words in English e.g. ‘yong.chaak’ as monkeyrice or treebean, morokmetpa into chilli chatni or chilli pickle, sagolkangjay into polo and so on. This system not only lost our origined sound but also our language and culture.
Hence, DO NOT use English system of spelling in Manipuri writing, and do NOT translate the meaning into something else unless it is slang or a code between two people.
CONCLUSION
I am writing this blog in the interest of our people – Manipuri speakers, my father and for all the innocent children who also suffer and would be suffering from the uncharted writing hazard. I know friends, it will take time to let go of our old habits of writing (especially the adults who has already adapted a different writing method for so long). However, once our sound writing system is adopted, I am sure that our spelling woes would come to end. I earnestly request on behalf of all the Manipuri Speakers to our government, academics and all the concerned authorities to consider this matter (system of writing) seriously and to review and move forward with more practical results (if it is necessary bring out better system) for our people. For those who are keen to understand the given system they are always welcome and I look forward for your ideas, comments and enquiries. We can end this bulky system of Roman-Manipuri writing very soon, for our own sake and for the generations to come. My apology! If I am not able to satisfy you with the system given above, at least I feel happy for being able to draw your attention in the language (Manipuri Lon). "HAPPY WRITING"
