________________
W. S. Karunatilleke
Jauna sect. This work is considered to have been composed around the middle of the 11th century A.D. As the New Indo Aryan vernaculars bad arisen by the 10th century A.D? it must be assumed that the type of Apabhramša represented in our text is a purely literary variety that had gone out of colloquial usage at the time. Thus the variety of Apabhramsa described in this paper is literary Jaina Apabhramsa of the Digambara sect ( to be abbreviated as DJA), which belongs to the southern group region-wise s 1 Phonemic loventory
Only the segmental phonemes and their distribution within the word are discussed here
The followirg segmental phonemes can be posited for DJA.: Vowels
The vowels of DJA' are considered here under two sub systenis (a) vowels that contrast both for quality and quantity :
sliort front *** central back front central back lugh 1
1. low (b) vowels that contrast only for quality : front
back mid Consonants
labial dental retroflex palatal velar Voice-punaspirate p t
long
u
a:
Hos Taspirate
para
Stops
punaspirate
b
d
Voiced Lasprite
bb
dhe
Nasals lateral trill spirants
v
8
