Amrita Collected Papers by A M Ghatage

SR No.: 006968
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Kasturbhai Lalbhai Smarak Nidhi Ahmedabad
Total Pages: 530
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 10 MB

Page 22

The Apabhraísa Language
13
final i or u and long forms like jo to or je, te are again Prākritic borrowings. In forms like amhēhi, payārēnā etc. the phoneme in the penultimate syllable was either i or a and the writing is a mere imitation of the Prākrit forms. If we thus sort out the earlier survivals and the later developments we find the basic Apabhramśa phonology following the rule that vowel length was significant in the non-final syllables in case of a, i and u and nowhere else. This is in remarkable agreement with the Old Indo-Aryan system except that final length has disappeared. An unexpected result of this position is the chance to judge correctly the material which is handed down to us in scribal tradition and to reinterpret it in a linguistic sense. Thus in Paramappapayāsu chapter II we must interpret niyamim in 18 and mohim in 53, 55 as really standing for niyamē and mohē which has the further advantage of getting rid of final anusvāra which is so rare in Apabhramśa. So also in Hemacandra 343 we should read aggim in to tē aggim kajju as aggē. We are now in a better position to postulate three stages in the growth as regards the vowel length; a pre-Apábhramsa stage (Prākrit), the Apabhramśa stage proper and a postApabhramba or early New Indo-Aryan stage.
Nasalization in vowels is phonemic, but is confined to ā, i, ū and ě, among which ě is always long. Compare forms like tanahā, sokkhahā, mai, tahi, rayanai, hau, tuhū, duhū and daivě, daiē, kajjă etc.
It is much easier to set up the consonantal system of Apabhramśa. We have the following phonemes :
ctt. P ch th
kh
gh
jh
y
The following examples will prove their presence and status :
kuru, campa, tarkara, taņu, para, khagga, cholijjantu, thavai, thali, phedai, goradi, jehau, dongara, dadavada, bappiki, ghodā, jhaivi, dhollā, dhana, bhuvana, nāi, navi, mānu, raha, lacchi, hasiu, sāmalā, sāyaraho, viraha, jīva.