Indian Antiquary Vol 61

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

Page 378

§ 125 ]
ON THE MODERN INDO-ARYAN VERNACULARS
The Arabic q becomes k or kh; ex becomes h; and ḥ becomes h. 8, jz, uz, and, all become j, although in old poetry is usually represented by d. In Gujarati, however, these four sounds are frequently represented by a special character, viz., ., i.e., the character for jha with a diacritical dot added, and are all pronounced z. bis represented by t, and and by 8. & is represented by 8 or é, according to the genius of the language. f is usually represented by ph, and is not represented, hiatus vowels being contracted. Thus maʼlum, known, becomes mālum, and muallim, a teacher, becomes the mālim, vulgo Mallum Sahib,' or Chief Officer of a P. and O. steamer. έ y becomes g or gh, but more usually the former, as in , way aira, et ceterâ,' which becomes G. vagere. English t and d are represented by and d, respectively. Thus G. dyuk ov badphard, with ph pronounced as f, represents the Duke of Bedford,' and G. depayutesan, a deputation.
ε
125. In reading poetry (when not in borrowed Persian metres), the above rules of pronunciation are not at all carried out. The stress accent is less observed, and quantity measured according to the rules of prosody takes its place, although this is less the case in Bg., which has developed a metrical system of its own. Owing to the weakening of the stress accent, the necessity for the use of the neutral vowel disappears, and it is replaced by the full sounded a from which it took its origin. So also the final a, which in the prose of most languages is not pronounced, reappears, and is pronounced fully as in Skr. This rule is most strictly followed in Eastern Hindi and Bihāri. Further to the West it is nowadays customary, when reading poetry, to pronounce a final a very lightly, so as to be hardly audible. This short a will be written as a full a in the following examples, as the custom is not universal. Take the following verse from the Sat-saiya of Bihari Lal in Hindi (Br.) :
ار لاتے
किती न गोकुल-वधू काहि न कि
शिख-दोन
कौने तीन कुल गल्ली है मुरली सर लीन ॥
If this were prose, it would read as follows, the stress being put on the accented syllables :Kiti na gókul-kul-bádhu kahi na kihi sikh-din;
It being in poetry, it is read as follows, the Kiti na gökula-kula-vadhu
mātri.
Kaunē táji na kul-gáli hwai múrali-sur lin. stress, if any, being on the long syllables :kāhi na kihi sikha-dina hwai murali-sura lina
Kaune taji na kula-gali
It should, however, be remarked that in verses of this kind, in which the last foot is a trochee () it is usual to pronounce the final short vowel of the line, and only that, as if it were the neutral vowel; thus, dina, lin".
To take a Marathi example :
निषत्र-राजा नळ नामधेय होता । वीरसेना चा तनय महा होता ॥
[FEBRUARY, 1932
In prose this would be Nisadh-rúja Na! nam"dheya hota, Virséna-tsä tánaya mahāhôtā, but in try it becomes :-Nisadha-rājā Nala nämadheya hötä; Virasēnā-tsā tanaya mahāhōtā. Theatre of this consists of a foot of three matras, one of six mātrās, plus two of three 1, plus a spondee.
Agai
Le Panjabi, in the Nagari character:---
चनोचली हरदम रहे इस मेले-दे बीच ।
परमेसुर-दे भगत बिन सारा मेला नीच ॥
In use this would be calocáli hara dám ráhe is mélē-dē bic, Paramésur-de bhagat bin súra mélā nic. In poetry we have :
Calocali haradama rahē Paramesura de bhagata bina
1 Le., possibly kiti, but certainly not kiti.
60
isa mēlē-dē bica sārā mēlā nīca