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(28) Words with Contrastive Short and Long Vowels
VOWELS WORDS
243
Lee: Issues in Bahing orthography development
Bahing IPA Bahing IPA English Gloss
अ [ʌ] हचो ['hʌʦo] to itch in the throat
अ:̅ [ʌ:] ह:̅चो ['hʌ:ʦo] to joke with
आ [a] राचो ['raʦo] to come
आ:̅ [a:] रा:̅चो ['ra:ʦo] to bring
ई [i] सीचो ['siʦo] to hold
ई:̅ [i:] सी:̅चो ['si:ʦo] to throw
उ [u] घ् लुन् चो ['glunʦo] to take out
उ:̅ [u:] घ् लु:̅चो ['glu:ʦo] to emerge
उ़ [ɯ] कु़ चो ['kɯʦo] to come up
उ़:̅ [ɯ:] कु़ :̅चो ['kɯ:ʦo] to bring up
ए [e] लेचो ['leʦo] to honor / to venerate
ए:̅ [e:] ले:̅̅चो ['le:ʦo] to sell / to return
ओ [o] होचो ['hoʦo] to catch fire
ओ:̅ [o:] हो:̅चो ['ho:ʦo] to poke
ओ़ [ɤ] सो़चो ['sɤʦo] to be dried
ओ़ः [ɤ:] सो़:̅चो ['sɤ:ʦo] to lose / to say
During the first orthography workshop in Okhaldhunga, the participants had decided to
use the virsaga – the double dot symbol, [ː] – to depict length in Bahing Devanagari.
However, after the participants saw the first printed drafts of their stories during the second
orthography workshop, and from the feedback of those on whom they did field-testing, many of