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19
8. -a- preceding a cluster with a nasal as the anlaut
changed to iAbbreviations: DN. : Hemacandra's Deśināmamālā. IA. : J. Bloch’s Indo-Aryan (i.e. A. Master's English
Translation, 1965). IAL. : R.L. Turner's A Comparative Dictionary of the
Indo Aryan Languages (1966 and thereafter). PG. : R.Pischel's Comparative Grammar of the Prākrit
Languages (i.e. S. Jha's English Translation, 1965) The abbreviations of language names are after IAL.
Against the general MIA tendency of unchanged preservation of OIA a, sporadic cases of a > i have been noted by Prakrit grammarians, old and new (PG., $$ 101-103, IA., pp. 34-35). According to Pischel most of the cases relate to OIA a in pre-accentual position. For the rest he either resorts to analogy or advances alternative etymologies against the traditional ones. Bloch adds a few cases from Sanskrit and NIA, and suggests the influence of gutturals and particularly palatals'.
Evidently some of the instances of this change explained by Pischel on accentual ground find a more satisfactory explanation in analogy or some other factor (e.g. vocalization of -y-) Any way, it is quite obvious that no single factor can account for all the known cases. The problem is to identify separately the various factors and to specify the conditioning where the change seems to be phonological. Here I suggest that in a good number of cases, an earlier a preceding a cluster with initial nasal has been replaced by i. The nasal in such a position has affected the raising and fronting of the preceding a. The pertinent data is presented and and discussed below. At relevant places reference is given to IAL for fuller data. G. dādharāmgo and dadharimgo 'cussed' (going back to Pk. daddha- + ramga-, Sk. dagdha- + ramga-)
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