________________
CHAPTER TWO
SINGLE CONSONANTS 16 When a word passes from Sanskrit into ArdhaMāgadhi it is found to change either one or more of its consonants or vowels or both. This gives rise to consonantal and vowel changes.
The vowels are differentiated from each other only by a slight movement of the speech organs in forming the resonance chamber, and even a small change in their adjustment may cause a change in their quality. On the contrary the consonants are more stable and less prone to modification. The vowel may change its quality. (IE. *2= Sk. i, pitá, *ei= Sk. a, ásti) or its quantity gļhitá from gļh-i-tá; nīņám for ny-nám ; Pkt. pāvayaņa = Sk. pravacana). The consonants may, get voiced between two voiced sounds (Sk. tádasti = tát + ásti, Pkt. asoga= Sk. aśoka) and then drop its occlusion (Sk. sād- = *sazd- ; Pkt. maa = Sk. mada), or in rare cases may change its place of articulation (Sk. cakára from kȚ- reduplicated, Pkt. tigicchā= Sk. cikitsā).
17 The changes of the single consonant depend upon the position it occupies in the word. It may stand at the beginning; when it is called initial, or at the end, when it is called final, or somewhere between these two positions, when it is called medial. The changes of these three different types of consonants are guided by different rules.
The changes of the single consonants may be grouped into (i) those which are general without reference to the place in
