I keep running across different spellings of musical terms, what is going on?
The variations of spelling make internet searches very difficult. After all, does one look up “rag”, “raag”, or “raga”; is it “swarup”, “svarup”, “swaroop”, or “svaroop”? These variations in spelling create many practical difficulties. There are several reasons for such wide variations. These include such diverse factors as variations in pronunciation, limitations and inadequacies of the Roman script, and the multilingual nature of India. Variations in pronunciation are a major factor. For instance, is potato pronounced “po-tay-toe” or is it pronounced “po-tah-toe”. In a similar way, different parts of India pronounce things differently. Inadequacies in the Roman script are also a factor. During the colonial period there was a tendency to transliterate words according to English concepts. One may still see these tendencies in old spellings such as “tabala” or “thabala”. With the rise in modern linguistics, there was a shift towards Germanic rules of pronunciation. Therefore “thabala” b
Related Questions
- We are going to have a wide range of people at our wedding different age groups, different families, different musical tastes. How will you get them all to dance?
- We are going to have a wide range of people at our wedding – different age groups, different families, and different musical tastes. How will you get them all to dance?
- I keep running across different spellings of musical terms, what is going on?
