Oh my aching head!
The other day in script class, we were taught the rules of half letters. Half Letters? Yes, half letters! There I was struggling to remember all 36 regular consonants... and then I find out that there are THREE rules for forming half letters!
Rule One: Consonants that have a main line should be written without the main line unless a part their squiggle crosses the main line. (There are 24 letters that do this)
Rule Two: Consonants that cross the main line are written with only half of the squiggle to the right of the main line. (There are three letters that do this - thank goodness)
ex.
We got to rule three and I said, " Wait a minute, there is nothing to take away here!" The guru said, "That is true, so what should we do?" I muttered, "Add something." She beamed, "Ekdam Rammro! That is correct!" My classmate whispered, " Guru pet." How was I to know? I am just tired."
So Rule Three: If there is no main line to erase and there is no squiggle to half...draw a small mark at the bottom of the consonant. The name of the small mark is 'halanta.' (There are 8 letters that do this)
The other day in script class, we were taught the rules of half letters. Half Letters? Yes, half letters! There I was struggling to remember all 36 regular consonants... and then I find out that there are THREE rules for forming half letters!
Rule One: Consonants that have a main line should be written without the main line unless a part their squiggle crosses the main line. (There are 24 letters that do this)
ex.
Rule Two: Consonants that cross the main line are written with only half of the squiggle to the right of the main line. (There are three letters that do this - thank goodness)
ex.
ex.
Now, you can see why my head hurts! Oh, and by the way, all of these rules do not apply to the "ra" consonant... there are three more rules of making an "r" into a half letter.
So what is a half letter? And what do they use it for?
ReplyDeleteA half letter is used when two consonants are said back to back with no vowel sound to break them up. An example would be the verb, "Bhannu" which means 'speak.' The two 'n's have no vowel sound between, so the first 'n' would be written as a half letter, as in Rule 1.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of verbs with half letters.