Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 295

JANUARY, 1933)
IAV. A.
[$$ 209-211
209. IAV. ä. This generally represents an original Tbh. ai. We have seen (&$ 177, 180) that in Gujarati ai is weakened to ä, written asē, as in Jaipur, pr. Jäpur, N. of a well-known town. This ä-sound is especially common in Lahndā ($ 180), as in hä, for hai, is; par for pair, feet; rähnā, for rahiņā, through raihni (cf. § 152), to remain. So G. bätho (H. baitha), seated : khä, consumption (Skr. ksaja.); chä, he is ; nän, an eye ; mädö, fine flour; mänā, a kind of bird, a mainā '; vän, voice. In all these cases, both in L. and G., the vowel is commonly written a, into the sound of which it has a tendency to merge (cf. Bhn. 146).1
As regards Rājasthānī, in Mārwārī ai has a sound varying between ä and . In LSI. · IX, ii, 20, the sound is said to be almost like the a in 'hat,' and Dr. L. P. Tessitori, writing
from Jodhpur in Mārwār, in a private communication said it sounded to him "something like the e in 'step,' let,' 'get,' complexion, etc.," and compared it to the sound of the Italian è, is. If we represent his sound by ä, then Mw. jinai-rai, to a person, is pronounced jinä-rä, and bhais, a buffalo, is pronounced bhās. As in this dialect ē is often interchangeable with ai, it follows that it, too, often has this sound, though written ē. The same sound is heard in the mixed Bāgri dialect, lying between Mārwāți and Panjābi (LSI. IX, ii, 148). In Central Pahārī ai has frankly become a ($ 211).
We have seen (180) that this ä derived from ai is sometimes, under the influence of the stress-accent, further weakened to a, as in Northern Lahndā gatān, for saitān or sätān, Satan.
ä<ē. Just as ai>ä >ē, so we find, in the Punci and sub-Himalayan forms of Northern Lahndā, a tendency for ē, although not derived from ai, to become a. Thus, Himalayan L. naukarä-ki, for standard L. naukare-ki, to a servant, däna, for dēnā, to give (LSI. VIII, i, 507).
The same occurs in the NWL, spoken near Attock and to the north, where we have dillävicc, in the heart, as compared with the Northern Lahndā (Pth.) dille-vicc (ib. 543).
1 Seo Div. in GLL. 116, 162 ff. Div. describes the sound of this Glottor as like that in the English 'bat.' and (p. 175) quotos with approval Tossitori's statement that it is a wido sound of tho e-vowel, corresponding to the wide sound of a in the English word 'hat.' "The difforonce is mainly in the quantity, the Mar. wāri (and Gujarati) vowel being more prolonged in pronunciation than the corresponding vowel in the English word. To my own ear, tho sound is something between that of a and æ, but nearer the former, and this I find is borne out by Turner in G.Ph., passim, who represents it by the phonetic symbol €. I thoroforo employ the sign ä and not a.
210. I have not observed the occurrence of ä in any Dardic language except şiņā, but probably it exists in most. In s. it is often interchanged with e, and may be long or short. Thus, mel or mäl, buttermilk; cäi (cf. H. cābi, Portuguese chave), a key; cüi or cei (? cf. Skr. stri), a woman; çä (Skr. trayah), three; lal, known; lal (? cf. Av. raoidita-, reddish), blood; äsä (Pr. ēassa), of him ; dēinä, thou (fem.) givest (S.Ph. 8, 9, 14). Sufficient materials are not yet available for determining the circumstances in which this sound has arisen in şiņā, but in at least some of the above examples it seems to have been due to the epenthetic effect of a following i ory.
211. IAV. m. This sound is principally heard in Bengali. It however also occurs in Central Pahāri (Km.) as the representative of a Tbh, ai. Thus, baith, be seated, is pronounced both (LSI. IX, iv, 113). In this connexion, reference may also be made to the pronunciation of ai in Rājasthāni (Mw.) dealt with in $ 209, where the sound is something between ä and e.
In colloquial Bengali, especially in Eastern Bengali and the neighbouring Western Assamese, an e in the accented syllable of Tbh. words is usually given this sound (LSI. V, i, 29, 203). This is particularly the case when the following consonant is t, y, l, or a surd which is not labial. Thus, Bg. ék, one, pr. dek; dekha, see, pr. dlho or dekho ; géla, he went, pr. gielo or gydelo; EBg. déo, pr. diéo, give. In EBg. this is even the case in unaccented
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