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HISTORICAL PHONOLOGY
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5.65. In the Middle Gujarati period (15th to 18th century ) short i and u in open syllables merge with a. ai-> E-, au- > -in initial syllables, while elsewhere ai > e, au > 0. A few examples of this change are given below i>a: milai 'meets > male,
rāti night' > rāta
vidhai quarrels' > vadhe u > a: māņusa 'man' > mänasa
āju today'>āja while OG i and ü retain their quality :
mākhi "fly'> mākhi, dhani 'master'> dhani, pūrai fills'> pure,
chüțai .is released'> chute. ai > E: paisai 'enters' > Pese,
baisai. sits'> bese, lai (lii, analogically altered)
"takes'> 1€. au > 0: maudau late' > modo,
kaudau 'cowrie' > kodo, bhau 'fear' > bhɔ.
5.66.-au- > -)- in initial syllables, but in final position aŭ > -ū. (Sk. samargha-; saughau > so ghu cheap'. In monosyllabic words e- & and o- 9 contrast is distinctive.
V
5.67. Final vowel sequences with -i, -i and -u, -ü develop differently. The changes are : -ai > -ai e. g. bhāi. brother'> bhāi
khai chasm'> khai -ãi > -Īy e. g. bharāi . is filled ' > bharāy
gāi 'cow'> gāy -au e. g. gāū two miles' > gāu -au > -a e. g. rāu 'king' > rā
ghau.wound' > gha. -iu >-yu e. g. kariu m. did' > karyu m.
aviu m. came' >avyu m. -iu >-yu e. g. kariu n. > karyu n.
āviu n. >āvyu n. -jā >-ya e. g. kariä m. pl. > karya
āvia m. pl. >āvyā -ia >-yā e. g. kariā n. pl. > karyā
äviä n. pl. > ävya In the script of this period (and upto the beginning of the 20th century) there is no distinction in writing e-€, and o-,
5-68. As short i, u in open syllables merge with -a- (and since the length contrast of i and u was localised in open syllables ) length contrast of i-i, u -ü does not remain significant in this period.10
10. After vowel length ceases to be distinctive, there is a considerable confusion in Middle Gujarati documents about marking short and long i and u; this confusion itself is symptomatic of the change. For a more detailed discuss on of this cbange see P. B. Pandit, e and o in Gujarati, Indian Linguistics Vol. 15 Pp. 15-44, 1955; Old Gujarati Pronunciation, Vidya-Journal of the Gujarat University Vol. 2 Pp. 1-9. 1956.
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