Page Text
________________
A Basic Tendency of Prakrit Languages
Compared to Sanskrit, the Prakrit languages show a bewildering variety of changes in their phonology, morphology and syntax, and produce an impression of artificiality by the extent and regularity of such changes. On the other hand, we find them used for a vast literary activity with the avowed purpose of coming closer to the speeches of the populace. The way to reconcile these two positions can only be found in an attempt to trace some fundamental principle of linguistic change at the basis of all changes introduced in the Prakrits, which would render them more intelligible.
One such principle we may hope to find in the phonology of the Prakrit which would make us understand how such changes have occurred and made possible. In the whole range of the bewildering changes of sound both vowels and consonants, which one meets in the Prakrits, there appears to be one thing which remains constant and guides all these changes. This principle can be briefly formulated as the tendency to preserve the syllabic quantity of a word. We may now examine the working of this tendency in Prakrit phonology to appreciate the full extent of its operation and effectiveness.
The best illustration of this tendency may be found in the changes of the conjunct consonants. Thus whether the assimilation observable in them is progressive or regressive, the syllabic nature of the word remains in tact. So Sanskrit tapta becomes tatta and yatna may change into jatta, but the syllable values of the words are in no way affected. They continue to have a long syllable followed by a short one. In fact, a change involved in tapta becoming tatta can only be explained by a consideration of the following kind. The usual explanation that the first consonant -p-, being purely implosive, was less audible than the explosive second consonant -t- and so it had a better chance of surviving as it actually does and assimilates the first, is not the whole truth. We find not only the loss of the first mute but also the germination of
| SR No. | 006968 |
| Book Title | Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Jitendra B Shah |
| Publisher | Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad |
| Publication Year | |
| Total Pages | 530 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 10 MB |