Tobias asked, “Can you explain how to type these special letters for Tipitaka English, like the “a” with a line above?”
These are called word declensions.
Words can be modified to change the tense (singular to plural), subject to object, etc by just changing the word itself.
In English also it is there to a certain extent. The word “bring” is present tense, but “brought” is past tense, for example.
– But in a “highly-inflected” language like Pali (or Eastern European languages), it is a common occurrence.
To be totally correct, the singular is gandhabbō and plural gandhabbā.
Bhikkhu is singular and the plural is Bhikkhū, for example.
– But it can get very complex quickly.
I have thought about writing about that, but there are more urgent things to do. Plus, it will take a lot of time.
– For those who are really interested, I would suggest Kurt Schmidt’s book, “Pali- Buddha’s Language.” Appendix B there has a good introduction.
However, a pronunciation guide is at “Pāli Glossary – (A-K)” under #1.