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Iniernational Journal of Dravidian Linguistics
REVIEWS
A PRAKRIT READER (A Linguistic Introduction Based on Selections from Hāla's Sattasai] H. S. Ananthanarayana : Central Institute of Languages, Mysore, 1973, pp. x; 99, Rs. 6/
M. A. Mebandale
Poona
As the sub-title of the book states this is a modest attempt to introduce the reader to a dialect of Middle Indo-Aryan as reflected in, the Sattasai attributed to Hāla. The author, first, gives a clear picture of the phonology and the morphology of the dialect as seen from the verses. He treats phonology both descriptively and historically, but makes no historical statements with reference to morphology. The description of the dialect is followed by a selection of some hundred verses and a useful Glossary. In the text of the verses, detailed notes on individual words are given to help the reader to understand the text. But it is not clear why the author has chosen not to translate the verses into English. On the whole the Reader will be found very useful by the students of Prakrit for whom it is intended. A few comments may follow :
1) p. 6: The remark "The plosives occur medially as geminates and with a nasal" is misleading. It is likely to give the impression that the plosives, otherwise, do not occur medially. How then would one account for the medial plosives in words like kođaa, kapurisa etc.?
2) p. 10: The author could have pointed out specifically that as geminates, in the medial position only the semi-vowels 7 and v occur, but not r.
3. p. 10: The author looks upon my in cumvai as an instance of v with a nasal; but he considers mh in gimha as an example of a
Madhu Vidyā/642
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