Lesson 6. A The symbols for the consonants inherently include a following a vowel, for example ^ (ba) is the symbol for the the consonant b together with a following short (hrasva) a. Thus the word bala (strength) is written ^IcV Note that the characters are written left to right, like the Roman, and that the horizontal line links the letters together. 6.A.1 Vowels after Consonants The short vowel a (3T) is never written unless it begins a word; for example abala (weakness) is written 3HCV (The 'a-' prefix to a noun usually means negation, rather like the English 'un-'.) All the vowel forms given earlier, occur only at the beginning of a word. Where the vowel following the consonant is other than a, this is indicated by an embellishment on the consonant itself. The written form thus resembles the oral form, maintaining the principle that a consonant can only be sounded together with a vowel. The forms indicating the various following vowels are: ^ ba Wt ba 1% bi ^t bT bu bu f br I br 1 bl
bl % be % bai
bo fr bau These vowel signs are used with all consonants (ka through ha), but note these exceptions:
ru r ru fe hr
