Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 289

JANUARY, 1933]
IAV. A.
[ $191.193
191. At the same time, all those languages have gone further than Pr., and many in. stances occur of vowel changes from that language on the same lines as those of Pr. from Skr.
Former writers on IAV. phonology have adopted the historical method, --i.e., they have taken Skr. as the basis, and have traced the changes of each Skr. vowel downwards into the IA Vs. This is the principle followed in Bs. Cp. Gr. and in Hl. Gd. Gr. Sc, also, in my articles on the Phonology of the Modern Indo-Aryan Vernaculars (ZDMG, xlix, 393 ff., 1, 1 ff.) I have taken Ap. as the basis, and have traced its development into the IAVs. In the following pages a reversed process will be followed. Each LAV. sound will be taken as the basis of inquiry, and its origin traced to Pr. and Skr. No attempt has hitherto been made to enable a student to trace directly the origin of an IAV. word. Hitherto he has had first to assume the Sanskrit original and to trace that through its subsequent developments. It is hoped that, with the aid of the following pages, he will no longer bo put to this difficulty. As to the comparative philologist pure and simple, who wishes to trace the development downwards, ho will find ample materials in the three works mentioned above.
IAV. A. 192. IAV. * or a-matra-. This, the shortest possible sound of a, is always derived from that letter, and its shortness is generally due to the stress accent falling on the preceding syllable (S$ 105, 139). Except in S. it occurs only as a medial letter, as in M, kár wat, a caw, B. ghorowa, a horse ; H. dúbala, weak. Sometimes this medial , or neutral vowel,- as it is called in such cases ($ 105) does not follow an accented syllable. Thus, it follows the accented syllable in B. dekh lak, he saw, but in the long form of the same word, dékhalikdi, it is thrown forward to the penultimate (or antepenultimate if ai or ai is looked upon as two syllables) and immediately precedes the secondary accent on the kài. In polysyllabic words of this kind in B. the main stress accent is not so strong as in trisyllables like dekhalak. The whole word is in fact treated as if it were a compound of dekhal + kai, owing to false analogy, -the word dékhal being the past participle from which the whole word is formed.
In S. every final a becomes", as in khát, a bed. This, again is due to the accent.
It may be mentioned that in M. spoken south of Punā, the neutral vowel does not exist, a fully pronounced a being used instead (LSI. VII, 21). Thus visarala for visarela, he forgot.
193. All the Dardic languages probably possess a-mātrā, but only in Kāšmiri do we find positive information concerning it. It here appears in two forms, viz., (a) as simply representing a which for some reason is imperfectly pronounced, and (b) as an independent sound with a value of its own.
(a) In this case it is often employed in Anaptyxis ; as in khar'c or kharc, expenditure. In such cases its use is optional. Also, as in S., every final a is pronounced as ', owing to the accent on the penultimate syllable. Thus gárd, a house. This final 4 is often dropped in colloquial Kš. and in compounds, as in går-valu, the master of a house. Finally, in order to assist enunciation it is often added as a termination to a borrowed foreign word which properly ends in a consonant preceded by a long vowel. Thus Ar. jahāz, becomes K. jahāza, and the Prs, nišān (also Prs, nišāna) becomes nišāns. From Skr. phēna-, foam, we should expect sTs. phin, but the word is phina; the Ar. futur, languor, becomes phutūra. So others. In all these cases the is simply an a shortened for incidental reasons, and does not epenthetically affect a preceding vowel as do the mātrā-vowels proper in Kš.
(6) The independent a-matrā forms an integral part of the language, and epenthetically affects & preceding vowel (see $$ 126, 164). It may occur in an accented syllable and even in a monosyllable such as gør, awakening of energy, gʻ8, ordure, and others mentioned below. In Tadbhava words it usually represents an original u, as in v dan., Skr. dhūnöti, shake out dust; rad., Skr. rūdha., develop ; rran, Skr. lūna., be worn away ; r tsah., Skr. cüsati, suck ; tson, Skr, cūrnikā, charcoal. If totsh, a trifle, is derived from Skr. tuccha-, then we
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