Indian Antiquary Vol 61

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

Page 379

FEBRUARY, 1932]
Preceding Vowel.
ALPHABETS AND PRONUNCIATION
Special rules for the pronunciation of the vowels in Kasmiri.
126. In all the Dardic languages the pronunciation is seriously affected by epenthesis (also called 'umlaut'), a subject which has only been thoroughly investigated in reference to Kašmiri. It is well understood by Kašmiri Pandits, who have endeavoured in various ways to represent the results in writing. In such a matter, every writer is, however, a law unto him. self, and there is no standard system of spelling yet adopted. The most consistent system is that of the late Isvara Kaula, whose Kašmiri Grammar in Skr.-the Kasmirasabdámytahas been published by the ASB. under the editorship of the present writer. Upon his system is based the system adopted in the Ks. Gr., Man., and Dicy. By epenthesis is meant that the sound of a vowel is changed owing to the presence of another vowel in the following syllable. Thus, in the Kš. bad", the a is pronounced as o owing to the presence of the " in the following syllable, and the word is pronounced bod". There are two ways of indicating this in the Roman character. We may either spell the word as it sounds, as in bod", or we may write the original letter, placing a diacritical mark under the letter, the sound of which is altered, and giving general rules as to how each is to be sounded. Thus, bad", preceded by a general rule that a when followed by " is pronounced as o. The former system is that employed with more or less rigidity in KS. Gr., Man., and Dicy., but in the present work the latter system will be followed, because it is better adapted for comparison of Kašmiri with other languages in which epenthesis does not play so marked a rôle. It is therefore necessary to give here the general rules for the pronunciation of these epenthesized vowels. The vowels which epenthetically affect a preceding vowel are the following, a, a, i, i, ", u, and. In Ks. the very short vowels above the line are known as mäträ-vowels. Thus, a is called a-mātrā, is called i-mātrā, and so on. By far the most important influence is that of these mäträvowels. The influence, on the other hand, of i and u is only sporadic. Further, in Kašmiri, a-mātrā and e-mātrā are both really modifications of a-matra, and only affect preceding vowels because they were originally a-matra. Hence, for the purpose of these rules, they may be considered as equivalent to a-mātrā. A-mātrā is simply a-mäträ, itself epenthetically affected by a following mäträ-vowel. In Ks. e is simply a development from (y)a, so that e-mātrā is really y. The changes of pronunciation affected by each mäträ-vowel are shown in the following table. When no entry is made it should be understood that the sound of the vowel remains unaltered. In the few cases in which i or u affect a preceding vowel, they are the same as those made by the corresponding mäträ-vowel.
g
a-mātrā (including a- and e-mātrā).
Something like a short German ö, as in ader, pr. almost öder, moist.
ö, as in kaner, pr. köner, make one-eyed
Pronunciation when followed by
i-mātrā.
o, as in mari, mör, killed masc.).
61
u-mātrā.
a', as in kar, pr. o, as in kar", pr., as in kara, pr. kairi, made (pl. kor", made (sg. kürü, made (sg. masc.). masc.) fem.).
pr. (pl.
[§ 126
å, as in mar, pr. mår", killed (sg. masc.).
yu, as in liw, pr. lyuw", plastered (8g. masc.)
ü-mātrā.
ö, as in mar", pr. mür, killed (sg. fem.).
vi, as in ", pr. v", plastered (sg. fem.).