Assimilation Of Conjuct Consonants In Prakrit And Greek

Author(s): Haripriya Mishra
Publisher: Z_Jain_Vidya_evam_Prakrit_014026_HR.pdf
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/250446/1

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Assimilation of conjunct consonants in Prakrit and Greek Dr. (Mrs.) HARIPRIYA MISRA In a recent book published in a couple of months back, a renouned scholar of Indo-European Linguistics rightly remarks that the Middle Indo-Aryan studies have been comparatively neglected for Indo-European comparative grammar. In the same centext the same scholar further says that from the point of view of linguistic change Greek is comparable to Middle Indo-Aryan. But in that book no actual comparison is instituted perhaps because there was no scope for the same. In the following paper I propose to take up one important aspect of linguistic change i.e. assimilation of conjunct consonants which will substantiate the above view. With this end in view for the first time a comparative study of assimilation of conjunct consonants in Prakrit and Greek is presented here. As a rule in Middle Indo-Aryan no heterogenous conjunct is allowed. They are either assimilated or divided by anaptyxis. In Greek several heterogenous conjunct are allowed but many are assimilated. The process of assimilation works according to certain principles in Prakrit and Greek which are discussed below. The general rule for assimilation in Prakrit is that between equals the second prevails and between unequals the stronger prevails. In Greek also between two equal plosives the second prevails. Moreover the consonants can be arranged according to their strength in decreasing order as follows as for as assimilation in Prakrit is concerned. (i) Mutes (ii) nasals (iii) d (iv) S (v) V (vi) y (vii) r. But Greek shows the reverse order of strength as far as assimilation of unequal consonants is concerned. Now a comparative study of Prakrit and Greek is taken up considering the rules of assimilation given above. According to the above rule between equals the second prevails i. e. k+t>tt, g+dh > ddh, d+g>gg etc. Scording to the solution parisaMvAda-4 16

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jainavidyA evaM prAkRta : antarazAstrIya adhyayana e.g. Skt. yukta > Pkt. jutta Skt. dugd ha > Pkt. duddha Skt. ud gama > Pkt. ug gama Similar phenomenon is also noteworthy in Old Greek where in a combination of plosive + plosive the second prevails i, e. d/t+p> pp. e.g. Gk ho p pos < *hod. pos In a combination of mute +-nasal, mute prevails in Prakrit and nasal is assimilated. i. e. g+n> gg, ghtn > ggh etc. e.g. Skt. agnih > Pkt. aggi Skt. orghna > Pkt. viggha But Greek does not agree with Prakrit in this respect, because in case of mute+nasal, nasal prevails in Greek and the plosive becomes a class nasal. i.e. pb/ph-tm > mm e.g. gramma (<-ph-m-) and bn > mn e.g. amnos (<*abnos) and gn < gn (written gn) e.g. gignomai (<* gignomai) In case of a combination of mute+l, mute prevails and 1 is assimilated in Pkt. e.g. Skt. valkala > Pkt. vakkala * Skt. al pa > Pkt. appa But Greek shows the reverse example of this principle. In Greek in a combination of plosive + liquid, liquid prevails. i. e. dl > ll in Greek. e. g. helli'< *sedla In a combination of mute and sibilant when sibilant comes first it is assimilated and the mute is aspirated in Prakrit. i. e. st atthi. But when the sibilant follows the mute they become cch. i. e. ts cch etc. e.g. Skt vatsa < Pkt vaccha Skt mat sara > Pkt macchara parisaMvAda.4

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Assimilation of Conjunct Consonant in Prakrit and Greek Skt apsara > Pkt acchara But S+mute is not assimilated in Greek e. g. gkt esti (< IE esti), gk basko IE gwmsko etc. Mute+sibilant is sometimes assimilated in Greek. i. e. dental (t/th/d)+s> ss in Gk e. g. pod + si possi ornith+s ornis (< *orniss) 'bird'. V with a mute is assimilated and the mute prevails in Prakrit. i. e. kukk and jov > jj etc. e.g. Skt pakva > Pkt pakka Skt ujjala Pkt ujjala But in Greek unassimilated v is lost or becomes u. In most of the conjunct in V, v is lost. In a few cases it has a clear trace of assimilation. (It should be noted that in conjuncts o always follows another consonant, it does not precede. That is the case with 1) 227 i. e. IE kw> pp in Greek and tw> dialectally ss or tt. e. g. IE ekwos>Gk hippos IE qewares > Gk tessares, tettares r with a mute is assimilated and the mute prevails in Prakrit. i. e. kykk and bhybbh etc. e.g. Skt canakya> Pkt canakka Skt abhyantara Pkt abbhantara r with a mute is assimilated in Gk and it has various treatments depending on the preceding consonants. i. e. t/th>ss in Gk and k/kh+y > dialectally tt/ss. e.g. IE med hyos>*methyos > Gk messos mesos. *pikya> pitta pissa in Gk. r with a mute is assimilated and the mute prevails in Prakrit. i. e. rggg, kr> kk etc. parisaMvAda-4

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228 janavidyA evaM prAkRta : antarazAstrIya adhyayana e.g. Skt marga>Pkt magga Skt cakra > Pkt cakka etc. But r with a mute is not assimilated in Greek. e.g. IE pro> pra in Gk IE rud hros> eruthros in Gk. There are also other cases of comparison of assimilation between Prakrit and Greek. Only the important ones are dealt with in this paper. Others are omitted for the time being. Thus Middle Indo-Aryan and Greek both have assimilaled consonants. The difference lies in the fact that the strength of consonants differ in MIA and Gk as shown above. Furthur it is also observable that Gk does not assimilate some conjuncts like first MIA where conjuncts with , and s are not assimilated in some dialects. (e. g. Asokan Inscription asti bramana etc). So Greek is more like Prakrit than Sanskrit, since Skt does not assimilate any heterogenous conjuncts in internal sandhi, Smith Clyde Pharr Satya Swarup Misra Satya Swarup Misra Satya Swarup Misra Bibliograpby : Greek Grammar : Homeric Greek : Comparative Grammar of Sanskrit, Greek and Hittite : Fresh Light on Indo-European Classification and Chronology. : New Light on Indo-European Comparative Grammar. : Introduction to Prakrit : Grammatik der Prakrit sprachen (Eng Tr. by. S. Jha) : Comparative Grammar of Middle Indo Aryan : Middle Indo-Aryan Reader. Lecturer in Greek Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, VARANASI. A. C. Woolner R. Pischel Sukumar Sen S. Chatterji and S. Sen parisaMvAda-4