Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 333

August, 1933]
ELISION OF CONSONANTS
[$S 302-303
of lāgan), Western Pahäri lānā. In S. and L. it will be observed that this is one of the rare cases in which a recursive consonant g (=gg) has been elided. Elsewhere in India the Pr. 99 has already become y.
In Sindhi d is occasionally syncopated in borrowed words, as in näkhu8 for Prs. näyudā, a ship master (S. Gr. xxii).
The one instance of the syncope of an IAV. nasal that I have noted occurs in Central Pahāri, mais, for mánupah, a man. Here the n has been weakened to anunäsika, the course of development having been mánuşhah, māns, mais. We shall see much clearer instances of the syncope of this letter in Dardic.
The semi-vowel y, in IAV. Tbhs., is in most cases only a euphonio letter inserted between two vowels as in Pr. For its influence in crasis, see $ 178.
302. We shall see (88 312 ff.) that, while in the EIAVs. and NWIAVs. r is a dental letter, readily interchangeable with a dentall, the r of Hindi and the allied intermediate languages is a semi-cerebral. In the EIAVs. and Dardie, (through l) is liable to be softened (mouillé) to y, but we do not find this occurring in the semi-cerebral of Hindi. In the latter language the semi-cerebral r is only clided when it forms a member of a compound consonant, as in Pr. (see § 307 post). But where the ris dental it not only tends to become y, but is often subsequently elided.
Where risa dental, the cerebral (d), and its close relation the cerebral?, tend to become dentalized to r, and then to disappear in the same way as that letter. As regards languages, the three Pahāri tongues follow the EIAVs. in their treatment of r. Marathi hesitates. The standard dialect prefers to retain r, d, and !, as semi-cerebrals, but in Berar and further towards the East we find ! showing a tendency to become r, y, and then to be elided (LSI. VII, 220). Dardic, as might be expected, agrees with Sindhi in the treatment of r, but carries it still further. S. does not elide r, though it frequently changes it to 1 (S. Gr. xxix), but in Dardic elision is frequent. Panjabi, Rājasthāni, and standard Gujaräti follow Hindi, and Lahndā as a rule follows Panjabi, but in both these two last-named languages we occasional. ly come across instances of Dardic elision.
As Dardic in respect of the elision of r is so intimately connected with the IAV. elision, I shall in this case depart from my usual custom and consider IAV. and Dardio together. 303. As examples of the EIAV. elision of r we may quote :
Skr. krtvā Pr. kária Mg. Pr. kália H.H. kári or kar, but B. kári or kai. So H. dhari, B. dhari or dhai, having placed ; H. par, B. pai, upon; A. painat (Skr. parinatal), mature.
In Rajbamsi and other dialects of Bengali medial r is often elided in words like maillām for mirilim, I died ; kalle (pr. köllë), or karilē, having done. It must, however, be stated that, except in the case of a few very common words, medial r is not often elided in the literary EIAVs. It is much more often weakened to l. Aphæresis of is more common. In the colloquial Bg. of rustics, is more frequently elided. As an example, I may quote my own experience. When I landed in India in 1873, I was familiar with literary Eg. but was quite ignorant of the rustic speech. I was posted to the District of Jessore, and was at once set to trying petty criminal cases. A name very commonly recurring in the depositions of rural witnesses was one which I wrote, as I heard it Shiddā.' It was not for some weeks that I discovered that it was written sardar. In other words, these rural witnesses cmitted a final r as we do in English. If either of the rs had been sounded I should certainly have recorded it.
In the Bhil dialects of Gujarati syncope of r is quite common. A list of references will be found in LSI, IX, iii, 2. Here we may quote the following:
kai, for kåri, having dono; kâini, for kårinē, having done ; máu, for mårū, I may die dūu, for dür, far; kå, for ghar, a house ; låhi, for bhåri, having filled; mäinu, for märinū, to
147