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A Phonological Sketch of Apabhramsa
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bas no corresponding length. The exact phonemic status of 'r' however remains questionable. The text that has provided the data for our analysis never shows an occurrence of '. Hence for DJA. Y is considered irrelevant Cf Kara Kamça Cariu, 1964 edition by Hiralal Jain In metric scantion, a syllable is defined either as heavy or light The abbreviation for heavy is 'ga' and light is 'la' Metric quantities are classified into 8 groups cach of which is a trisyllabic, based on the minimally contrastive distribution of 'heaviness' and lightness' Each such group is called a "gaba' (literally meaning 'group' or 'set') and is referred to by an abbreviatory symbol These symbols are 'ma'. 'na', 'bha',
ya', 'ja', 'ra', 'sa' and 'ta' Their metric quantity assignment is as follows
ma ta rabba ya ja sa na 1st syllable 2nd syllable 3rd syllable where - marks 'heavy' andmarks 'light'.
The bidarity Principle underlying this metric formulation is worth noting Any two consecutive metric groups given in this set differ only in one feature Aay given metre is defined as consisting of a specific number of these metric groups plus an optional beavy or light syllable depending on the specific metre The general vowel pattern throughout the Middle Indo-Aryan period seems to be a 5 way quality contrast X a 2 way quantity contrast (10 case of the non-mid vowels). Thus
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In case of mid-vowels, some dialects bad long versus short as allophonic Thus in Pali le/ baving [e] in closed syllable
and [C] in open syllable, lol having [o] in closed syllable,
and [o) in open syllable. of Maharūpasiddhi, under 55
kvaci samyogapubbā ekārokară rassă iva yuccante' "In some instances, (1.0 within word ), cand o are pronounced as if short, when followed by a conjunct consonant"
