Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 372

99 107-110 ]
ON THE MODERN INDO-ARYAN VERNACULARS
DECEMBER, 1931
audible. It occurs in Bihāri and in Kašmiri, and in the former language it is found only as a final letter. Thus, B. dekhalanhi, he saw ; Ks. gúr, horses ; karithakh, thou madest them for them. To the unaocustomed hearer, this letter seems to give a sort of colour of the j. sound to the preceding consonant, and in Kš. this is so strong that the seems as if it were sounded very shortly both before and after it. Thus, guri sounds almost like guiri. In Sindhi it is generally said that a final i becomes, but this is hardly correct, as every final is pronounced. Thus, gále; a word, written gali; cholar, & girl, written chõlari. In Old Sindhi. however, as stated above, performs the office of svarabhakti.
107. The vowels and i are pronounced as in Skr., or as in the English 'put' and rule,' respectively. The vowel " is the shortest possible sound of u, 80 as to be hardly audible. It occurs in Bihāri, Sindhi, and Kašmiri, and in the two first is found only as a final letter. Thus, B. dékhath, let him see ; S. chó lar", a boy ;K;. guru, a horse ; kør" thakh. thou madest it for them. In K. few Europeans have ears sensitive enough to hear the sound of this letter, but a comparison with gur, will show that it is nevertheless important to be able to distinguish it. The same is the case in S.
108. The vowels , and occur principally in Kašmiri, but el is also occasionally heard in Western Pahări. The il has the sound of that letter in German, and represents the shortest possible utterance of the same sound. The latter occurs in Kašmiri only. As a final letter it is hardly audible, and is practically interchangeable with. It also occurs in the middle of a word. Thus, Kš. gáfuj* (written gátoj) or gaji, a skilful woman. The sound of ū is peculiar. It most nearly resembles & prolonged German ü, but few Europeans have succeeded in pronouncing it correctly. It occurs only in Kš. and WPh.
109. The vowel é is sounded as in Skr. in which it is usually transliterated e. In this work it is necessary to distinguish between the long and short sounds of the vowel. The long é is sounded like the vowel sound in the English they,' 'tale,' and the short e that of the e in the English men. The as usual, is the shortest possible sound of e. It occurs both as medial and as final in Kašmiri, and as a final in Sindhi; thus, Ks. bàñ rawun, to cause to be ; beñe, a sister; S. méhet, a mosque. In Kš. all these three vowels are often pronounced with a faint before them. Thus, w, ve, e. In 8..and e are written as i, thus méhet is written mihiti. The sound of e probably occurs in all LAVs., but, owing to there being no sign for it in any of the native alphabets, it is not always easy to be certain as to its existence. It certainly occurs in the Midland, Gujarati, Pahārl, and in all the EIAVs. In Hindi it is usually written as i, as in bețiyā, written bitiyā, a daughter. In Eastern Hindi and Bengali it is commonly written ya, as in Bg. bekti, written vyakli, a person,
1 See the note to $111.
110. There are two ai-diphthongs. The long at occurs only in Tss., and corresponds to the Skr. diphthong based on a + i, with the first member long. This diphthong had already disappeared in Prakrit, and does not exist in IAV. Tbhs. The short ai is common. It is a contraction of a + i or a + e, with the first member short. In ordinary writing and in many MSS. it is indifferently written and for (i.., ). It is sounded distinctly shorter than at There is, e.g., & marked difference between the ai of the Ts. bhairav,
Bhairava, and the ai of the Hindi Tbh. baithnă, to sit, or between the Ts, bair (Skr. vaina-), enmity, and the Hindi bair (Skr. barlara.), a jujube.
In Bengali, Assamese, and Oriya ai and ai are both pronounced like the oi in oil.' In Rajasthāni, Panjabi, and Lahndā, ai has often the sound of a, or, in Southern Labndā, even that of ē.
There seem to have been two ai in Sangkrit, one derived from a+s, and the other from 8+ i. So also for au. See Wk. 40, 41. So also in Prakrit, in some words ai, au, become e, 0, and in others ai, ai, respectively (Pr. Gr., pp. 55 ff.). Moreover, in writing, ai and ai were interchangeable (Pr. Gr., p. 55), just
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