Book Title: Indian Antiquary Vol 61
Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications
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$$ 118-120 ]
ON THE MODERN INDO-ARYAN VERNACULARS
(FEBRUARY, 1932
The cerebral c and have been noted only in the Dardio Şiņā, though traces of them have been observed in Pašai, and in the Eranian Ormuri, a language which is strongly infected by ancient Dardic. They are sounded by putting the tongue in the position for cerebral tord, and then trying to utter c or j, respectively."
The letter c generally represents an original surd consonant followed by r, As in $. pūc (Skr. putra-), a son, or an original ky, as in . aci (Skr. aksi-), the eye. The letter j generally represents an original sonant consonant followed by, as in üju (Skr, udra-), an otter; jā (Skr. bhrātr.), a brother, or an intervocalic ș, as in $. manūjo (Skr. mānuşu), a man.
Regarding d, see § 123. 1 Cf., e.g., N. B. Divatia, in GLL, I, 93, 116.
. For these sounds, see D. L. R. Lorimer, JRAS., 1924, 182 ff. The Ormuri sound corresponding to ç is written pr. See Grierson, Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. VIII, No. 1, p. 15 ($ 29).
118. The dentals require few special remarks. The letters 6 and 8 represent the sounds of th in thin' and 'then,' respectively, and occur only in Dardio, and rarely even there. As explained in 117, in some languages the difference between dental and cerebral sounds is obscured, so that one is apparently liable to be used instead of the other. I explain this by the fact that, in such cases, the sounds represented by the dental letters t and d are here not pure dentals, but are more nearly the alveolar sounds that we meet in English. Similarly, the sounds represented in these languages by the cerebral letters and d are not true cerebrals, but are really post-alveolars. In such circumstances the two sets of sounds can easily become confused. Regarding d in Sindhi, soe § 123. The aspirated nh is dealt with in & 122.
As for labials, Gujarati and sometimes Assamese pronounce ph as f. Similarly, in Bengali, of late years the fashion has been growing, and is now established, of sounding ph as f, and bh as v. Regarding b in Sindhi, see § 123.
119. The semi-vowels y, r, 1, and v require few remarks here. It should be noted that vis.generally a pure labial, not a dentolabial as in English. In English the lower lip is placed against the edge of the upper teeth in order to produce this letter, while in the IAVs, the lower lip is placed against the upper lip. The result is a sound which approximates both that of the English v and that of the English wo, but which is exactly the same as neither. As a rule it is nearer v than w, but this largely depends upon the following vowel. If that vowel is i ore, the sound generally more nearly approaches v, while if it is a, u, or o, it is generally more nearly w. Hence this letter will sometimes be represented by v and sometimes by w in the following pages. The letter ! occurred in Vedic Sanskrit, and was probably preserved in the Prakrits. It is only heard in Western and North-Western India. It is uttered with the tip of the tongue pressed against the soft palate.
120. As regards the sibilants, & is sounded like the English sh, or like the 88 in session.' In LAVs. the sound of occurs only in Tss, but is common in the Dardic şiņā. In the LAVs, when standing alone, it is generally, except in the EIAVs, and in Marathi, pronounced as kh. Thus, pastha is pronounced khaseth. Natives of India explain this sound of as an at. tempt reproduce the pronunciation of the letter by Pandits of Benares when reciting Vedic texts, and it is popularly known in Bengal as 'the Benares sound of pa.' In Bengal itself it is pronounced as sh, i.e., it is practically the same as the Bengali sounds of both é and 8. An example of the şiņā , is found in big (Skr. vipa-), poison. Its cerebralization in this language is so strong that it is apt (as in Sanskrit) to cerebralize neighbouring sounds by sympathy, as in the words Sinā, for "şini and $. gis (Skr. fira-), the head. The sounds of : and 1ooour only in LAV, words borrowed from Persian and in Dardic. In the latter, has the same sound as the Indian , but represents not only an Indian 6, but also an Eranian &. Cf. Skr. afia-, $. ago, a horse ; Skr. kasmira-, Kš. Kafir, Kashmir ; Avesta xovas, Bě. do, six. The sound represented by is the sonant of 8, and is the same as that of the Persian i.
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