WylieWord/THDL phonetics scheme.txt

; THDL Phonetics rules for WylieWord.

; File format: there are two sections, for rules and exceptions.
;
; There is one rule per line.  Typically a rule has two parts,
; separated by a space.  The first part is a sequence of letters
; that, if it appears in a Wylie transliteration, is to be replaced
; by the second part in the phonetic transcription.  The second
; part can be missing, in which case the first part is simply 
; deleted from transcriptions when found.  
;
; A semicolon precedes a comment.  Blank lines are OK.
;
; The rules are applied in the order they appear in this file.
; Each rule is applied as many times as possible, but we never
; go back to a previous rule.  (This simple rewrite-rule grammar is
; not sufficient to implement all phonetic schemes, at least not
; compactly.  For example, it would be difficult to capture the
; effects of preinitial consonants on tone (as in the scheme used
; in Joe Wilson's book, for instance).)  Also note that not even the
; whole of the present scheme is implemented using these rules.  For
; example, the deletion of prefix and superscript consonants, 
; and of wa-zur, are done in program code, not using the rules here.

; This makes e come out <20> only when the last letter in a "word" (*not*
; syllable).  Our grammar engine is not nearly powerful enough to do
; this in a clean way.
<?Enable THDL final <20> kludge?>

; Another thing that is handled kludgily.
<?Enable nasalization before a-chung?>

; Miscellaneous prefix transformations
g.      ; delete this (representing g prefix, used before root y only)
dby y   ; must come before db->w, for dbyang
dbr r   ; must come before db->w, for dbral
db w    ; must come before by->j

; Removal of confusing 'h's
th t
ph p
tsh ts

; c and ch are both transcribed ch.  To get this we need a kludge
; (involving x), because the rule c -> ch would apply recursively.
ch c
c x
x ch

; Bad behavior from Y
py ch
phy ch
by j
my ny

; Retroflexes
kr tr
khr tr
gr dr
pr tr
phr tr
br dr

; Other bad behavior from R
mr m
nr n
sr s

; Uniquely random case
zl d

; Umlaut of a, o, u followed by d, n, l, s, and 'i
; Note: this must be done before suffix-stripping.
; Before actually doing the umlaut, we "hide" the n in ng, so that ng doesn't
;   induce umlaut.  This is gross; if we had a real grammar engine it wouldn't
;   be necessary.
ng x
ad e
an en
al el
as e
a'i e
od <20>
on <20>n
ol <20>l
os <20>
o'i <20>
ud <20>
un <20>n
ul <20>l
us <20>
u'i <20>
; restore ng
x ng

; Stripping of 'i from e'i 
; (It is stripped from a, o, u by umlaut rules, and from i by vowel-doubling rule.)
e'i e

; Stripping of suffix d,  s, and ' from i and e
; Note: this has already been done by the umlaut rules for some cases, 
;       which don't need to be repeated here.
id i
ed e
is i
es e
a' a
e' e
i' i
o' o
u' u

; Remove doubled vowels (e.g. pa'ang -> pang, not paang)
aa a
ee e
ii i
oo o
uu u

; Devoicing of suffix g, b
ag ak
eg ek
ig ik
og ok
ug uk
ab ap
eb ep
ib ip
ob op
ub up

<?Exceptions?>

; There is one exception per line.  Each exception consists of
; the transliteration (which may be several syllables separated
; by spaces), followed by a space, a greater-than, a space, and the
; pronunciation (which may also contain spaces).  A semicolon 
; precedes a comment.  Blank lines are OK.

; Exceptions to nasalization rule:
skyabs 'gro > kyamdro
rten 'brel > tendrel
lam 'bras > lamdr<64>

; Other exceptions:
sprul sku > tulku
rta mgrin > tamdrin
a mdo > amdo
chab mdo > chamdo
dpal ldan > penden
'bri ru > biru
sbra nag zhol > banakzh<7A>l
rdo rje > dorj<72>
o rgyan > orgyen
lha rje > lharj<72>
rgyal rtse > gyants<74>