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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1895.
I take the responsibility of using all these signs, instead of the few used by the author. They do not exhaust all the numerous shades of vowel-pronunciation in Kasmiri, but they give the principal ones, and will be found useful by the learner. It must be understood that I am entirely responsible for the insertion of these diacritical marks.
12. The following are the Persian methods of denoting these sounds :ą, < (or sometimes --), e. 9., ** (343) thạz, high (fem.) 1,1 %, e.g., d u płntsą (not pántsi or púntse), twenty-five. 1, -, e.g., pá tami, by him.
, , but more usually omitted, e.g., y's GB) gur (guru ), a horse.
e, -, e. 9. 331 ader (fem.), damp; often, however, we find – incorrectly used. Thus, Big for Es, vye! (fem.), fat.
0, 2, ..., 6 sot, silly. 8, T (or incorrectly, - ), e.g., () mój, a mother, lô! (fem.), beloved.
13. It should be noted, once for all, that when Kasmiri is written in the Persian character, the greatest carelessness is exhibited in the use of 1 (a or ) and (i and e). These signs are continually, and capriciously, used, one for the other. The author has as a rule followed as nearly as may be the capricious spelling of Np., and I have throughout endeavoured to correct it in the transliteration.
14. Consonants. - The letters ch and chh have occasionally developed into a new sound ts, and tsh, pronounced as written. This has already been noted by the author. Tsh is to be pronounced as ts + h, not as t + sh. It is represented in the Persian character by E. A similar change occurs in Marathi.]
[Note by Translator on the Phonetio Laws of Kasmiri. 16. Some of the changes, both of vowels and of consonants, which are common in Kâśmiri, will be now to students of other Indian languages. The following remarks, partly condensed from those of Dr. Bühler, will tend to make them more intelligible: -
(1) The vowels i , e (6) are frequently confused. One is often written for the other Tis often pronounced as e, and é as i ori. So also there is a similar confusion between u. ú.o and 6.
(2) A medial a or e usually changes to u or o, under the influence of an original following 1. Thus karun to do, for *karanu ; hostu, an elephant, for hastu. The oblique form is hasti, in which the a is preserved, because there is no original following u. Again, vyolu, fat, for *vyetu, fem. viet or vyet.
(3) Similarly, a medial i before an original final u becomes yr, and the original u becomes". Thus, nyúlu, blue, for #nilu; but oblique nili. So also dyúthu, seen, for difhu; but feminine dichh, or dichh , in which there is no original final 16.
(4) In the formation of feminines, and in the conjugation of verbs, and also occasionally in declension, the following consonantal changes often oocur: - k becomes ch 2
e. g., holou, or hokhu, dry, fem, hoch or hochh. kh becomes chh S g becomes jor d, e. g., srugu, cheap, fem. sruj; longu, lame, land, or lanj. | becomes ch, e. g., (sot", cut, fom. tsach.
