[Note; The article is unfinished; if to benefit at all, please do so with proper

reference. Ahsan Wagha]

The Sanskrit (Sk.) phonological patterns in Siraiki (Sr.)
---Pan nin ;ni [Pan nin nis rules are random and not always in binary opposition ().]
Pan nin ni took notice of the samm hi ta yam [Lit. put together in sustenance] i.e. the
supra segmental phonemes (Pan n: xxiv). If that means phonological variables like
nasalization etc. having phonemic value i.e. semantic properties, presence of such
supra segmental phonemes in the forms of nasalization, aspiration and implosives
etc. can also be traced in the NIA, more frequently, in Sr.
[take to the section on Aspiration, Implosives and Nasalization ?].
--Stress;
Pan nin nis rule about accentuation of suffix tells that this may fall on penultimate
syl. subject to deviations (ibid: xxv). As we will see, in Sr. also, stress lands almost
on same part of the word with similar irregularity albeit in somewhat faded
intensity.
--In this chapter, we will investigate some of the common and the contrasting features
of the Sk. and NIA data applying the rules of phonetics which is the study of the
production of speech sounds by speakers, their perception by hearers and their
properties, and of phonology which investigates the ways in which speech sounds
are used systematically to form words and utterances (Katamba: 60).
Phonology is a complex discipline involving many interpretations of the question as
why and how a speakers mind so quickly decides to bring delicate segmental
change(s) in a piece of speech during articulation. A common answer is, our
cognition manages phonological adjustments to save effort. Another interesting
approach which reaches us through Jensen and which nears the Optimality approach
is that of conspiracies;
In - - - a conspiracy, a variety of different phonological processes have in common the avoidance of a
given configuration. McCarthy (2005: 25, 93) in discussing conspiracies, refers to Homogeneity of
Target/Heterogeneity of Process. (Jensen: 1).

Some of the topics we will take up in this chapter are: Sk.NIA segmental
alternates and the forms of intra-NIA phonological alternations which serve
semantic shift without alternation of the main body of wordthe vowel and the v.
length, the syllable, the stress pattern, the nasal and nasalization, the glide, the
aspiration and the implosivization. This account of phonological patterns will be
followed by presentation of minimal pairs formed on the basis of plus / minus of
the phonological features.
Some Sk.NIA phonetic and segmental alternates;
The location of the morphemic difference between the words of Sk. and their
resultants in the NIA, in many cases is in alternation of c.-clusters of the first, e.g.
the cluster -nnch- > -j- in Sk. pronnchati wipes off > NIA punjan/-na
to wipe. If we
m
agree that the phonetic features are elements of identity of a phonetic unit, this
identity is weakened when two consonants are clustered together. In many cases
probably it is this vulnerability which causes elision, or alternation of the clustered
sounds with the stronger sounds closer to them in place, and, or in manner of
articulation.
The question as why such clusters took place at first, has a probable answer in that
these might have been brought together by historical morphemic connections during
the extended word formation in the language when different morphemesroots,
stems, affixes, inflections etc.were put together to facilitate semantic relations,
e.g. in kar cut, dig, do + man think in karma act, work or samm (-kara) mixing,
putting together + skrtm spin in sammskrta
m put together [sasktam].
In Pan nin nis term, the morphemic combinations are two type: the verbal stems and
the nominal suffixes. The second type are then divided into: (i) krtm Lit. cut, spin,
do i.e. Primary type and (ii) taddhita Lit. his welfare, secondary type i.e. an
affix forming nouns from other nouns Pan n: xxiv; Mon: q.v.). There are historical
elisions in NIA where segments have been dropped without any apparent
phonological reason, e.g. Sk. ekastha standing together > Sr. kattha
m m together, in
union [H., P. ekattha].
mm
Some of the patterns in Sk.NIA segmental alternations;
Sk.
-ks m

>

Sr./NIA
NIA -kh

Process if any
aks mi eye > Sr., P. akh, H. aakh -

g
dm

Sr. gg (imp.)
Sr. dg (imp.)

garbhin mi pregnant > Sr. ggabban m -

d minga defective < Sr. dginga crooked. [The Retroflex voiced
plosive i.e. d m is scanty in Sr. most of Sk.-plos. d m > Sr. imp.]

NIA j,

-- d,

Sr. dg,

yatna effort > NIA jattan (Sr. n m) -

draghman length > Sr. drigh -
drsim power of seeing > Sr. dgis seeing, be seen (dgikh
appearance)

du

-- dg, dgu

du, in turn < dva two > Sr. doram double

--

NIA d/Sr.dg

dudhara two edged > H., P. dohra - (Sr. dguhar double cloth) dv

-- b,

dva two, dvitiya second > Sr. bia -, > H., P. d, do two

dy-

-- j,

vadyate is made to sound > Sr. vaj jde sounds, to sound

-rv

-- b,

charvati chews caban m to chew

sm

-- sh

s [the voiceless Dental fricative () has almost disappeared in most of NIA]

s

-- h,

spasa- fetter, noose > phah, phasi noose, hanging

-sati, -sayati

-- -haa de, -hea de, trasati trembles, is afraid > Sr. traa hde is frightened; trasayati
makes tremble, frightens > Sr. tarhea de frightens

-- b,

vasati stays > Sr. baahde sits

NIA/Sr. b (is rare)

Sr. v,

vismarati forgets > Sr. visrea de - (cf. vasa abode > vasi,
vasn mek inhabitant; pakhivas (paks min bird + vasa abode) one
who lives in makeshift shelters, a nomad

-- v,

bila hole, pit > Sr. - vila -

-- (NIA) b,

bura powder > NIA --, - (> Sr. b, bura -)

---

[Sk. s m and s > Sr. h is recurrent, e.g. maas ma bean > Sr. maah black pulse; Sk. maasa
moon, month > Sr. mah (also maah) -.

The shift hints at assumption that s m/s are phonetically borne from Alveolar
obstruction added on h i.e. the Glottal puff of air]

Having accepted effort saving as reason for logic Taking it for granted that
phonological alternations take place o why such alternations take place lies in the
rule of saving articulatory effort, to mention one, is the case of -ks m- > -kh- where
the alternation of s m, a weaker segment dragged from a remote place of articulation,
i.e. Postalveolar to join k at the Velar point, with h a non-obstruent segment saved
the effort of the main organ of speech i.e. tongue in moving from one place to the
other at a distance.
The vowel and the consonant;
Pan nini is extra particular about vowel sounds both in their quantity i.e. degree of
length and their quality in terms of tone. A couple of quotes are reproduced below
to have the idea;
The vowel;
Ua-kalah m aC hrasva-dirgha-plutah m (Pan n.2: 1.2.27: 38) the vowel-sounds are short,
long, extra long.
The Tone;
yajna-karman mi a-japa-nyunkha-samasu in a sacrificial act, (yajna- karman mi) the
enunciation [is monotone 33] except I (1) silent repetition (japa) (of a sacrificial
formula), (2) nyunkha insertion of (0) and (3) saman melody.(ibid.: 1.2.34: 40),
i.e. the tone in Sk. can appear at three degrees which are identified as: (i) no tone as
in japa silent prayer saying, (ii) from zero level upward as in nyunkha pleasant
voice [prob. > Sr. run mka low voice singing in ones own mood] and (iii) high as in
saman Lit. breathing, voicing in melody.
The nasals
(1) In vowels: = 1, i.e. mm
(2) In consonants = 6: n, n, n m, n, m, (Vedic) jn (Pan1n : xi). [does not include NIA nj
and ng which are thus historically evolved]
Phonology differentiates between the vowel features long-short versus tense-lax in
its intricate discussions. In this work however, these terms are used alternately.
Katamba defines this feature of vowel as below;

Tense vowels are produced with a tongue body or tongue root configuration involving a greater degree
of constriction than that found in their lax counterparts; this greater degree of constriction is usually
accompanied by greater length (Katamba: 48).

Although used alternately, the features tense and long are not binary
phonologically;
--This feature refers to the duration of a sound. Clearly, in purely physical terms this feature cannot be
binary since length is always relative and length is not inherent (ibid.: 52).

In terms of quantity, alternation in NIA of Sk. vowel from tense to lax, or reverse,
seems almost irregular. Compensatory v.-lengthening is the interpretation which can
be applied on few of many such processes where loss of segment(s) of a Sk. word
seems compensated by increasing quantity of preceding vowel such as Sk. a in
vartis journey, and vartra dike, dam > Sr., P. vat dam
between fields, path i.e.
m
-a- is lengthened in compensation for r in -var-.
Hiatus
Sanskrit has a variety of processes that avoid vowel hiatus (sequence of two tense
vowels in adjacent syllables) e.g.:
1. Glide insertion; Sk. avoids hiatus in many ways, one is glide insertion e.g. si-sri-e > sisriye ressort - - -.

2. Vowel deletion; (short deletion): After final e or o, an initial a disappears - - vane atra > vane tra in the forest here - - - sas abravit > so bravit he said (imperf.)
bhano atra > bhano tra O sun (voc.) here - - -
3. The Sk. pattern of glide insertion is the i-vowels, the u-vowels, and r,m before a dissimilar vowel or
diphthong, are regularly converted each into its own corresponding semivowel y or v or r..
m

Sr. avoids Hiatus, i.e. turns one of the Tense vs. in sequence into Lax, usually, the
first, e.g. Sk. aghalayati rinses > Sr. aghalan m to rinse, Sk. ayati comes near (Pk.
ayan ma) > Sr. avan m to come; Sk. alapa speech > H., P. (music) alap pre song
humming, Sr. ala voice. R. avoiding Hiatus is also prominent in Persian loans,
e.g. in Per. Adj. -abad populated, dwelling also used as postfix in place names,
e.g. in islamabad capital city of Pakistan > Sr. islamabad].
The Consonants;
Holding assumption of the Sk. origin of the NIA languages, it is worth reviewing
some shifts from the phonetic structure of Sk. Below we discuss correspondence

between such Sk. and NIA where the latter have developed segmental difference.
Noticeable among these are emergence of a number of fricatives which seem
historical-permanents i.e. these are not subject to in situ phonological effects:
FRICATIVES;
1. f
the unvoiced Bilabial fricative is a non-Sk. segment thus a borrowing. A
difference has to be made between its general acceptance as loan in NIA and the
partial alternation of relevant Sk. sound (in this case ph) with f. Mostly, the f
appears in loan words in some of NIA, mainly the U. variety of H. In the other, the
Sk. phonetic structure dominates even in loan words e.g. Ar. faqir begger > H., P.
phaqir (with variance). The typical Sk. ph > NIA f is, for instance, P. fit bad,
cursed < phi(t)-m a wicked man, yet such alternations remain infrequent.
2. z
The non-Sk. voiced Alveolar fricative z is an alternation from Sk. voiced
Palatal fricative j, again depending upon context, i.e. not only that the latter is
retained but in varieties of H. and some other NIA in some cases it gets the first
assimilated thus Ar. zulmi cruel > H. julmi.
3. sh Sk. has three variants of unvoiced fricative s the Alveolar, the
Postalveolar and the Retroflex. The last has been lost in many NIA including Sr.
The NIA which retain these Sk. fricatives do so without any modification thus Sk.
bhasam speech and savela in time, early remain NIA (H.) bhasha language and
(Sr.) savel (H.) sawera morning respectively. What emerges with recurrence is the
Sr. and prob. Si. (said to have been derived from a particular Pk. historically) appear
closer to original Sk.
4. kh (IPA X)The voiceless Velar fricative is a purely non-Sk., predominantly a
loan-specific segment. However Sr. tends to fricativize the aspirated version of the
voiceless Velar plosive kh thus Sr. khachchar 'mule', khachchir f. < khaccara.
5. gh (IPA ) is the voiced version of the 4. above with similar definition. The
Sk. baga garden > Sr. bagh - is doubtful.
The grammatically explainable Sk.NIA shifts are not only interesting but
linguistically rewarding. For instance, phonological analysis of Sr., P. safna (i.e.
safna dream < Sk. svapna, in turn svap sleep, dream, and dreaming) as given
below;

The unvoiced segments i.e. the Alveolar fricative s and the Bilabial plosive p,
especially the first, in the combination svapna, might have forced assimilation to
devoicing of the voiced Bilabial fricative v thus sfapna. The general NIA tendency
to split c. clusters of distant places of articulation might have caused splitting of the
sf cluster to turn it safapna. Due to its auditory insignificance in the new sequence
of unvoiced s, f, and p, the p might have disappeared gradually exposing the medial
a to regressive nasal harmony from the dental nasal n which followed, and in turn to
redundancy for being a Lax v. nasalized (cf. Nasalization infra.). To conclude, it is
svapna > sfapna > safana > safna (cf. Sr. apn ma, H. apna belonging to, obtained by
oneself < ap for details of which see the list of the derivatives of ap in Whiteny
q.v.). As against ph > f alternations, e.g. P. fit bad, curse < phi(t)-m a wicked man,
p > f is rare.
Phoneme and features;
A sound unit is commonly recognized as phoneme which has a linguistic function - - in distinguishing (or contrasting) word meaning - - -. For functional difference,
the economical change a speakers innate knowledge of linguistics brings in does
not always require change of a whole speech or even a complete word but many
times just change of a phoneme. As the phonemes are made of phonetic features
which are binary, their plus/minus () in a phoneme can count for functional
alternation, i.e. alternation in meaning in which case the feature will become
distinctive feature of the phoneme, e.g. Bilabial, plosive unvoiced = p in pet >
Bilabial, plosive voiced = b in bet. Few more examples are given below;
The Minimal features in
Phoneme
+ Plosive, + alveolar, voice t,
+ Plosive, + velar,
voice k,
+ Plosive, + alveolar, + voice, asp. d
+ sonorant, + tense, nasal a,

Pair of the same phone

+ Plosive, + alveolar, + voice d,
+ Plosive, + velar,
+ voice g,
+ Plosive, + alveolar, + voice, + asp. dh
+ sonorant, + tense, + nasal aa,

NIA-Pairs of words
P. tin three / din day
H. kana one-eyed/ gana song
Sr. dan to give dhan rice grain
Sr. tar mto watch / taan m stretch

(cf. Katamba: 42-50)

Some of the Indian features of OIA phonology as compared to that of the IndoEuropean (IE) languages are: the excessive presence of semantically propertied
aspiration, implosives, nasalization of vowels and stress in off/on i.e. manner. One
word becomes two words of different semantic properties with change of just one
sound-segment or feature. Such words are called Minimal pairs (cf. Minimal pairs
infra.). As said before, change of segment, even of a single phonological feature

can bring change of meaning in words in NIA languages, more so in Sr. Major
among such semantically propertied phonological features are v.-lengthening, v.rounding, v.-nasalization, c.-aspiration, c.-implosivization, glide y insertion and
stress, or gemination.
The nasals and the nasalization;
Nasal are consonants like m and n as in NIA man heart, self < Sk. manas mind.
Nasalization is a supra-segmental nasal effect appearing on a v. because of a nasal c.
existing before, or in some cases, after it (Ref.?). All languages have nasal
consonants with difference of type and number. The nasals in Sk. are summarized
by Panini as follows;
(1) In vowels: = 1, i.e. mm
(2) In consonants = 6: n, n, n m, n, m, (Vedic) jn (Pan1n : xi).

R. L. Turner verifies this in one of his observations as follows;

Primitive Indian as represented by the language of the Veda possessed the following nasals: n, n, n m, m,
mm. Of these n and n are never found independently; - - - (Turner (1915: 18; cf. Writing system supra?).

The nasalization;
Nasalization is not frequent in Sk. and is rarely functional (semantic). One of fewer
examples is kaammsa (kaammsya) bell metal, made of bell metal > Sr. kaa ja pottery
made of bell metal and kasa cough > NIA khaa si -, and more clearly, ahammkara
[aham I, kara doing] self consciousness and sammkhaya . NIA nasalization
rarely has origin in Sk. Most of the NIA nasalized lexemes are derived from such
Sk. source words without
t nasal, e.g. maa ja sweeping broom < marja in compound words, cleaning.
Nasalization in NIA has quite of few patterns:
(i)
Is inherited from the source i.e. Sk., or Pk.
(ii) Compensatory, emerged as compensation to for a segment, or sound, or c.
cluster of the source word dropped in derivation. Such dropping of nasal c.,
or any c. is compensated after complete disappearance of the compensated segment,
i.e. in compensatory nasalization, organs of speech will clearly stand apart.

(iii) As part of NIA tendency for shifting from oral to nasal cavity [as babys
initial effort to distinguish between sounds].
(iv) Directionality of nasalization in NIA is casual, i.e. it is mostly regressive,
casually progressive, or even bidirectional.
(dropped Mostly irregular, i.e. is not rule based strictly.
(v) Is syl.-structured [in Sr. it appears on v. preceding a nasal placed in margin,
amma but not maa (instead ma)]. An initial rule is, it appears on nucleus of first syl.
of a polysyllabic word when the second syl. is relatively stressed. [to recheck]. Or
that stress which is weaker and relative in Sr. and therefore remains unmarked in
most cases in orientalists registers spreads prog. nasalization as in sani f. of animal
to became ready to be milked is sani the contrast, the example to how absence of
nasalization in minus stress cases is cana good < --? > canar good in eyes of
elders < -- ?. [the rule for loss of g in Sk. canga good? > Sr. cana is after turning
g into n through nasalization > -nn- the original nasal is lost, yet there is irregularity
as in vangaa bangles< ? and -ranga in veranga colorlss against rana I do color
< ? which requires further interpretation.]
****
And there are deviations, e.g. paa skin disease in animals < paman -.
[contrasts like samga and sanga are scribble; aspiration however makes difference
thus samga and sanga battle, contact > Sr. sang company, body of pilgrims, Sk.
samgha association, a company also > Sr., P. sang -.]
Nasalization is loose in NIA in general. In Sr., it is rampant, bidirectional and runs
across word boundary. In many cases nasalization is historical in NIA, i.e. has
emerged at some later stage, latter even than MIA i.e. without having trace in the
source language(s), Sk. or Pk. A few cases of such rootless nasalization hard to be
given a standard phonological explanation are H. aa kh eye < aks mi -, H. phaaa si
fetter, noose < spasa -, Sr. pua pus < puya - and Sr. paa n m quarter of the paropi
m a
wooden pot to measure of grains < paataka quarter of a village, or town also > Sr.
param -.
--Why v. is nasalized more frequently than other phonological shifts ? because nasals
being continuants provide easy way for drastic shift of cavity without gap in
sonority e.g. ca take, pick < vavayati causes to move > caa a bird < cas ma blue
jay, sniper.
2. Reg nasalization in Sr reaches any v. except when blocked by any c except the
nasal, or a semi v. e.g. punjan(jhan
m
m) to wipe < Pa. pronnchati, Pk. pummchi, Sk.
pronchati [forms of short v. nasalization in the source languages = mm ] wipes

offpunchati wipes vs. pujan m to honor, worship < pujayati -, puran m to fill a
ditch, to bury < purayati fills etc.
--1. Nasals gets its full segmental properties when in margin of syl. thus m in Sr. thaa
place, room < sthaman station, place and in ammaa mother < matr m - is more
extensive than the m in Sr. ma mother < matr m -.
2. Regressive nasalization is anticipatory and basic. Prog. nasalization is seepage.
3. There is compensatory nasalization without nasal c. around. Any c. dropped is
compensated in v. articulation of which is easier through nasal cavity because
velum raising is the first maneuvering we learn as baby in sucking milk.
4. There is historical nasalization in NIA without any trace of lexical nasal in
source, thus random.
--How c. clusters might have lead to phonological alternations over time, e.g. Sk tm >
N IA p in Sk. taman > atman self > NIA, K., pan human body, H. ap self.
Many a sound segments in the highly inflectional Sk. were put together against the
articulatory adjustment. Most problematic among these are the frequent c. clusters,
e.g. tm- as word initial in tman vital breath > NIA, K. pan human body, S. pan ma
reflexive prn.. A general phonological interpretation of the excessive nasalization
in NIA therefore might possibly be in terms of NIA easy compensation for the
elision of Sk. c. clusters. It might have been a way of skipping a Sk. complex c.combination of Oral cavity by opting for nasal cavity [as children do] thus Sk.
sthagha base, bottom > Sr., P. thaa pot, space.
After the general perspective given above, some traceable patterns of historicity of
nasalization of NIA derivatives of Sk., although inconclusive, will be as follows;
(i)

Syllabic interpretation; In Sr., nasalization gets its full segmental

properties
when margin of a syl., e.g. amma mother < ambaa -. Various derivative of this
root differentiate between alternations. In the one, the nasal c. is retained without
nasalizing v., e.g. Pa. amba, in the other the preceding v. is nasalized at the cost
the nasal c. as in Pk. ammba [i.e. aba], and in yet other, the v. is nasalized and the
nasal c. is retained as in Pk. ammma (cf. Tur. q.v.). This irregularity in the source
languages from Sk. to Pa. to Pk. might be another factor behind maximization of
the segment in the NIA like Sr.
(i)
Phonologically, Nasalization is a type of assimilation also called
Harmony.

Typically, it is anticipatory i.e. a Regressive nasalization can be marked as

language specific phonological feature. The other i.e. the progressive
Nasalization at its minimal degree is inescapable as the trongest of segments
seeps out from a nasal c. to Onset of the immediate v. which follows it thus we
hear a segmental difference in -i- in Eng. sid (i.e. seed) and -i- in sin (seen), the
second having nasalization audible thus sian (cf. Carr: ?)
[Data;
Sr. tikkha quick, sharp < tiks mn ma -, hot, pungent.
Sr.
There are cases of archaic Sk. nasalization i.e. where it continues from Sk. sources
e.g.
why should Sk. aksim eye, spasa fetter, noose and puya pus > H. aa kh -, H.
phaaa si - and Sr. pua - respectively. However, in cases where nasalization of the
NIA is rooted in the source language, is intensive in NIA in general and is rampant
in Sr.
As noted elsewhere, nasal(ization) is present in some derivatives whose Sk. source
has no such segment at all. It thus can be inferred that at some point in the historical
development of NIA (especially Sr.) nasal and nasalization was used as handy
escape in dealing with c. clusters frequent in Sk., e.g.[bring proper example]
[to be shifted; in Sr. Pavanda name of tribal people in the districts of Dera Ismail
Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan [< parvata belonging to the hills > H. parbat hill;
Tur., with Tense -a- only, Mon. entertains both parvata for mountain (parvati
mountain stream), and with Lax v. parvata knotty, rugged, (said of mountain). - , with; appears is ].
By definition, nasalization is always a consonant feature which is assimilated by
vowels notes Katamba and defines it further in terms of phonological process;
Nasalization is a process whereby an oral segment acquires nasality from a neighboring segment. Again
the articulatory motivation for this is self-evident. In order to produce a nasal segment it is necessary to
lower the velum (soft palate) and allow air to escape through the nose - - to produce an oral sound, it is
necessary to completely block off access to the nasal cavity by raising th velum as high as it can go. - typically some nasalization seeps through and effects an oral segment which is adjacent to a nasal
(Katamba: 93).

Nasal is seen as one of strong sound-segments. Once a nasal c. is present in the

vicinity, the neighboring non-nasal segments are contaminated one way or the
other;

To maintain an absolute distinction between oral and nasal consonants would require perfect
synchronization of velic closure with the other articulatory parameters of (a) Phonation (i.e. production
of voicing), (b) the Place of articulation and (c) the Manner of articulation. This is not always possible.
Typically some nasalization seeps through and affects an oral segment which is adjacent to nasal. In
some languages the nasalization is prominently audible (ibid.).

In Sk., Nasalization is not only present but well attended: Pan nin ni divides nasals into
Anunasika (Lit. after nostrils) i.e. nasal consonant and Anusvara (or svara, Lit.
after sound) i.e. vowel nasalized. Sk. orthography includes letter mm in its Alphabet
table to mark nasalized v. As against modern linguistic tradition (of English
language etc.) which treats nasalization as assimilation and retains both the segment
which spreads nasality and the segment which receives it, e.g. in grand > grand but
not *grad (Katamba: 168), the Sk. treats it as morphemic i.e. nasalization is shown
as part of segment (vowel) without trace of the source which it spreads from thus
kaammsa bell mettle and kan ma one eyed but not *kaammnsa and *kammn ma.
As far the questions, whether Anusvara is restricted to Tense vs., or also spreads on
Lax vs., and whether one way, or bidirectional, it appears that orthographic
evidence recognizes only reg. Anusvara [check] restricted to Tense v. and at the cost
of removal of the trigger, thus either Sr. saa g spear or sang - < sanku peg, spike.
However, phonological principle discovers unavoidable segmental nasalization both
reg. as well as prog. and on all vs. irrespective Tense, Lax. The only retrievable rule
in this complex phenomena is, reg. nasalization spreads back only when the trigger
i.e. Anunasika (nasal c.) is stressed, i.e. it sits in Margin of a polysyllabic word. This
Sk. pattern is present in Sr., e.g. Sr. kaa n ma < kan ma, and chummi a kiss < cumba
kissing.
**** 12-08-14
The typology of nasals and nasalization in Sk. is summarized in Pan nini under two
categories: (i) Anunasika (lit. anu- after, nasika nostril), which is a sound
segment uttered through the nose (as one of five nasal consonants, or a vowel, or
the semivowels y, v, l under certain circumstances - - -) as listed above and (ii)
Anusvara (lit. anu- -, svara- sound), the effect of a nasal c. which always
belongs to a preceding vowel. It is a penultimate vowel which is phonologically
tensed in a combination, and is nasalized. Anusvara, traditionally transcribed as mm/nj
(mm in Tur.), or with macron above the v. as in this work, e.g. bhaa naa share <
bhaj, divide, share, or in some works, by underlining the nasalized segment as n in
bjanjdh embankment < bandha bond. According to the Sk. specific rules,
nasalization is triggered by a nasal c. to appear regressively on a preceding (usually

long) v. Thus nasalization in Sk. is a-, i-, u- > aa -, ia-, ua - (consult Mon: Anunasika and
Anusvara q.v.).
In NIA nasalization can also take place progressively on the following v., short or
long, thus a-a, i-i, u-u > a-aa, i-ia, u-ua but less regularly. Thus the set of the variants
of nasal c. given above are Anunasika, and all the rest is phonological variants of
Anusvara. Neither the number of the Anunasika (the nasal consonants) nor the
nature of the Anusvara (v. nasalized) is exactly same among different NIA
languages. For instance, main varieties of H. lack Retroflex nasal n m and that of P.
are short of nasalization of final v., e.g. in canga good < Sk. canga of good
understanding. The Anusvara, i.e. nasalization, is dealt within the subject of quality
and quantity of vowel in Sk. and has developed into more complex type of
segments in NIA.
The phonology of nasalization of vowels in NIA varies from language to language,
for instance, the language in focus i.e. Sr. (and Sindhi) appear more sensitive to
nasal harmony as compared to, say P. and H. where spread of nasalization in some
relevant cases is either absent, or optional cf. Sr. cana, P. canga.
In NIA in general, and Sr. in particular, nasalization is both way, progressive i.e.
nasalizing the v. appearing after, and regressive, i.e. nasalizing the v. existing before
the nasal c. There are cases like H. +nas. maa mother < matrr- mother but Sr. nas.
ma < dit. - where the nasal c. m does not progressively extend nasal harmony on
-a in Sr. ma. This but abides some rules: (i) Sr. does not accept nasalization in mono
syl. lexemes unless nasalization was inherited from Sk. before elision and other
processes of derivation e.g. Sr. naava name > na - < naaman -.- before . As far
nasalization in the mono syl. tua (2sg prn.) you < tvam -, is possibly segmental
retention of the nasal m part of the source word and nasalization in Sr. kaa crow
prob. < karand cry and not < kaka - the general source for NIA kava - etc., or
the nasalization of Sr. kaa , as in many cases, will be irregular. (ii) Progressive
nasalization in Sr. is also blocked by v.-length in the v. appearing immediately after
the source nasal c., thus Sr. nala string for trouser < nadim tubular stalk of any
plant (Turner: q.v.) and not *naala. This must not be confused with Sr. maa maa
mothers brother < mama - where nasalization is regressive originated from the
medial -m-. To generalize, nasalization in Sr. appears both way progressive as well
as regressive and on long as well as short v. as in nava new < nava - and naa vaa
written name < naaman name.

What the NIA languages inherited from Sk. in feature nasalization is casual
functionality of this feature, i.e. in some cases, its plus/minus brings change of
meaning as in these Sk. lexemes: kaa sa shine, kasa name of a cast and kasaa to
cough (Mon. q.v.) and in NIASr. ta heat < tapa heat, glow and taa then,

consequence of, so, indeed < tatha so, in that way, or < tat thus, then.
Another important point to register is nasalization in NIA is predominantly
historical, i.e. a latter development as many NIA derivatives having feature
nasalization are derived from Sk. stems having no nasal or nasalization, e.g. Sr.
maa nja cleaning < marja to clean. Nasalization in NIA is a complex Phonological
process which cannot be exhaustively captured by rules. Yet, some basic patterns of
nasalization can be laid down as below;
>Needless to say, regressive nasalization is triggered by presence of a nasal c. in the
word, which nasalizes an adjacent long v. e.g. Sr. kann mdha call to wedding
ceremony < kuvvan mita sounded, and casually, a short v. e.g. Sr. kann mi a drop of
water, slight rain < kan ma- -. As far progressive nasalization, cf. above.<
In some cases nasalization in a NIA word takes place where the source is not
present within the lexeme, but in the root-stem in Sk., e.g. H., Sr. bua d drop <
bindu m. drop, spot. That in bua d it is nasalization and not a nasal c. can be
checked through articulation of the word which will show that the tongue does not
touch the Alveolar ridge or any part of the roof of mouth before reaching d. For the
history of bindu > bua d we can infer a chain of process: (i) assimilative alternation of
-i- with -u- (ii) loss of the final v. i.e. u compensated in lengthening of medial -u> -u- thus bund and finally (iii) loss of the nasal c. -n- after nasalization of the
lengthened, medial -u- > -ua -. The process thus might have been like Sk. bindu >
MIA bundu > NIA bund > bua d. If we term the process of nasalization as
assimilation, or harmony, it is fundamentally regressive, i.e. a vowel is nasalized in
anticipation of a nasal c. which is to follow, e.g. H. paac (panjc) five < panca - and
Sr. kann mdha (ibid.). Progressive nasal harmony is also seen but with some intra-NIA
inconsistency observed in multiple forms as in Sr. ma mother (above), but amma
- < matr m - and Sr. sama cause to sleep < svapayati to cause to sleep (Mon.
q.v.) as against H. maa - and samaa mutual fascination, charm < samm-vanana
propitiating, causing mutual fondness (Mon. q.v.); also cf. Sr. kama to work to
earn < karmayati to employ, to work, nikammaa idle, workless < nis mkarman
inactive and and kaa n ma one eyed < kan ma -. Except for partially applicable

syllabic explanation (infra.) it is irregularity governing the complex phonology of

nasalization in NIA.
If to form a rule, regressive nasalization is a pattern while progressive nasalization
takes place in some NIA including Sr. when the source i.e. nasal c. is placed in
margin of the first syl. followed by an open syl. which will receive nasalization, for
example, Sr. bhanna broken < Pk. bhagga broken in turn < bhajyate is broken,
but bhanak f. a breaker female, or destroys female i.e. no nasalization because the
rhyme i.e. -ak is a closed in the margin k. And yet nasalization remains irregular.
In NIA, nasalization is functional, i.e. the feature, in many cases, is semantically
propertied (serves change of meaning) e.g. Sr. n. pa quarter < pada foot versus n.
paa itch disease in animal < paman skin disease, and is more significant in Sr. vb.
pres.part. 2p infl. ea de versus 1p infl. -ea de as in vea de he/she goes < vyeti goes
away versus vea de you go < dit., -. Another, relatively less regular pattern is,
nasalization of v. prefers close v. and accepts close-mid or open v. if unrounded.
Therefore close-mid rounded nasalized i.e. oa as in hoa d being < bhavati becomes,
are scarce.
A set of selected lexemes is placed in table below which will help reach the
contrasts in nasalization in plus and minus (+/);
nasalized

+ nasalized parallel

H. panna page < parn ma plumage, foliage(of tree)

Sr. panna - < dit. -

Sr. ban ma make < vanati desires, makes ready

Sr. banna m. bridegroom, beloved < vanva desiring

Sr.bjanna (Tur. Sindhi bjano) small bank to keep
back water < bandha m. bond
Sr., H. bua d drop < bindu m. drop, spot
Sr. kuara m. unmarried < kumara boy (Mon; ku
deterioration, deficiency + mara death, easily dying
[seems problematic; may instead connote with deficient
chances of death]

Sr. cud m corner < cun mdati becomes small in turn

Sr. cud become fucked < codati copulates
< cunut narrow,
cut cut
off
m
m
Sr. cudh dim sight, bleary eyes < culla -
Sr. cua d ma womans hair < cudavati
plaits of hair of woman,
m
in turn < cuad ma protuberance, word for hair
Sr. cua d man m to eat by biting < cutati
m cuts off
Sr. bhu, bhuh chaff of grain < busa chaff (Tur.)
Sr. bjur pollen, husk of wood < bura power
[Add in above some clear contrast]

The nasal n and n ( and ) ;

With in situ phonological variations given, the Bilabial nasal consonant m, the
Alveolar nasal n and the Retroflex nasal n m, are relatively stable as compared to the
Palatal nasal n (IPA, ) and the Velar nasal n (IPA, ).
The IA languages vary in articulation of both the sounds. For his Bhasha, Pan nini,
recognizes n in combination with j which precedes the first, thus -jn-. Pan nini
describes the nasals in Pan nini (7.3.79) as nasal vowels = 1, i.e. mm, and nasal
consonants = 6, i.e. n, n, n m, n, m, (and Vedic) jn. (cf. supra.) About the last, i.e. jn
(and ng), he points to a process of phonological change in the sutra which together
with its narration reads as follows;
jna-jan-ja the substitute morpheme ja replaces [the whole of the ref. 1.1.55 i.e.
the sounds of anga-s, 6.4.1 of the verbal stems], i.e. 6.4.1 is anga sya, and 1.1.55
is aneka aL SIT a saravasy - -, implying that in the morphemes grouped as
anga type and as aneka which have Sk. phonetic properties of jn will be lost in
such and such conditions [also applies on N (ng)]. What remains to be checked is
the shift of the conditional jn and [and gn > n] to nj [and ng] in some NIA, is not a
misperception at any point (Pan2: xi, 7.3.79, 1.1.55, 6.4.1: 21, 933).
In above sutra (Lit. thread) Pan nini has given a rule about the change, or loss of the
Vedic -jn-. The sutra, however, does not explain the phonetic characteristics of the
segment but just phonology of its alternation. As far its presence as nj in the NIA, at
first it seems the two members of what we can call c.-cluster have swapped their
positions at some point in history, i.e. the second member of the Vedic jn appears
first in nj, for instance in Sk. sanjana act of fastening > Sr. sanjan m to fasten
saddle on horses back. As far n, as in srnm ga horn > Sr. sin -, it is also referred to
as member of the Pan ninis aneka group of nasals attended in 1.1.5 and in 1.1.6
(ibid.: 4, 26). Modern Sk. grammarians, such as Macdonell2 characterize the two
nasals as follows;
The guttural n appears finally only when a following k or g has been dropped, - - - medially n appears
regularly only before gutturals; e.g. anka m. hook; ankhaya embrace; anga m. limb; jangha leg.
(Macdonell2: 9)

Guttural being the old term for Velar, the above explanation indicates that in Sk.
Velar nasal n appears immediately before k or g [which means k and g being Velar
by place possibly cause regressive assimilation to turn the Alveolar nasal n in -nk-,
or -ng- combinations into Velar nasal n, thus -nk- or -ng-. A similar assimilation

process can be assumed in the case of n +j > nj. But it is not as simple as this
interpretation. To be precise, the phonetic description of n and n is: +palatal, +nasal
= n, and + velar, + nasal = n respectively, and as every nasal has to be, both are +
voice. In conventional transcription of NIA, these are marked both as n and n, and
also as nj and ng. And in some NIA these exist free from the condition of appearing
before k or g, for instance, in Sr. and Si. where these serve as independent sound
units thus Sr. sun deserted place < sunya empty and sin (above) and not sunj and
sing (cf. Wordlist infra).
A bit doubtful but possible phonetic interpretation of the two sounds is to consider
the nj and ng as c.-clusters with the first segments i.e. n/n weakened. The place of
articulation of the segments n and j is the same i.e. the Palate. It is also same in
articulation of n and g i.e. Velum. The only difference is, in articulation of n and n
the Velum is raised to let the air escape through nose to turn them into nasals while
in the case of j and k/g the Velum remains lowered blocking the air from going
through nose thus keeping them oral. The phonetic process of nj and ng thus is:
each starts as nasal with the Velum raised and the air let to flow through nose but is
released with the Velum lowered before the release changing the nasal n/n to nj/ng
without insertion of vowel lest provide time and space required for segmental
separation.
Contemporary phonetics does not recognize the popular NIA nj and ng as single
sound units. The IPA recognizes both as pure the nasals n() and n() without the
features of approximation, or that of being plosive found in j and g respectively.
Accordingly, these serve as independent sound units in many languages including
Sr. and Si. Some languages recognize Velar nasal as n but opt for the cluster in the
case of Palatal nasal nj e.g. Eng. thus king is marked in the column of pronunciation
in the Eng. dictionaries as ki but plunge, as plndz = planj. The Sk.-Eng. texts and
dictionaries have nj/ng predominantly with casual accommodation of n/n. Below we
describe some more NIA-Sr. patterns in nasals and nasalization.
A simple problem with nj and ng is these do not fit in the basic rule of Phonetics
which says a sound is one phonetic unit only if it is produced with single
articulatory action as n() and n() do. Plausibly, as against Sk. archaic n() and
n(), the nj and ng are latter development [successor of glide Sk. y or y-clusters] as
noticed by a Sanskritist in the context of j sanj = hang on, attach; j is a new
palatal. (Kanta: 259).

The case of Sk. canga of good understanding > Sr. canaa good, nice, P. canga -
provides with interesting example of the real nng alternation in Sr., Si., H., and P.
etc. The internal phonological process this lexeme goes through in its Sr. (and Si.)
version is possibly like this; the nasal n in original version of Sk. canga triggered
both progressive and regressive harmony on almost segments: nasalized the first v.
i.e. a which preceded it thus canga-, in harmony with the following Velar, +voice
plosive g, it altered itself from nasal c. n to Velar, nasal, +voice -n- (IPA, --) thus
canga-, nasalized the final v. i.e. a spreading on all segments of the word except for
the initial c. thus canga and finally, the features Velar and +voice preserved in n
itself, brought about redundancy of the Velar voiced plosive g thus Sr. canaa . The H.
and P. versions fall short of most of these processes retained the Sk. canga only by
adding quantity of the last v. a > canga. Turner (in Turner 1915 supra) noticed
similar phonological process in the history of the group ama > avaa > ava [day of
the new moon, time before dawn < amavasya- born on a new moon night].
In the phonetic contrast between n/n and nj/ng (cf. sun and sin above) the historicallinguists generalize the second i.e. nj/ng. Masica (1991), for instance, has
characterized the nasal type in nj and ng as the voicing of voiceless stops after
nasals and has added a brief list of the relevant Sindhi derivatives of Sk. which is
reproduced below;
Skt. (for Sk.)
Sk. aka mark
panca five
kantam thorn
danta tooth
campa name of tree

H.

P.

S. (for Si.)

a`k
ag
agu
pa`c
panj
panju
kata
kan mdam
kandom
dat
dg j and
dg j andu
cap
camba
cambao
(Masica 1991: 203; cf. Whitney, Turner, ibid.).

We could also follow above analysis in the Sr. san relation as mere loss of g i.e.
sangat companionship > san but the claim for loss of j in sun desolated place <
sunya empty does not confirm this view. A rather simpler explanation could be in
partial assimilation of the place of articulation by assuming movement of tongue
from place for n which is Alveolar to that of j and g which are Palatal and Velar
respectively. This rule but fails in cases like Sr. pandh distance, journey < panth
path, and ant end < anta end where nothing stops tongue from properly
reaching the place of articulation for n and instead compromising with > for
assumed *padh and *at respectively. The explanation left with us is as against j and

g, the place of articulation of t and d being in immediate neighborhood n in the

sequence, no articulatory maneuvering is required.
If to rephrase the problem in simpler words, it is: (i) The phonological features of n
and n when followed by Palatal plosives j and Velar plosive g respectively as in
kunji key < kuncika - and sang- togetherness, company < sanga battle, contact
(cf. sang- infra), in fact, are not the same as the perceived phonetic properties of n
and n as sound units but of their versions reduced to nasalization of preceding v. If
examined through spectrographs, it should emerge that in many cases where the
segments are traditionally scribed as nj and ng, what materializes is the nasalization
of preceding v. and not any form of the consonant n thus kuji and sag. This analysis,
however, cannot be taken for claimed deviation from the tradition. (ii) The sound
units viz. Palatal nasal n and Velar nasal n frequently appearing in Sr. (and Si.) are
independent sound units different from and in addition to the popular NIA nj and
ng. In the latter, segments j and g appear before release of the v. which follows them
and block the effect of the preceding nasal c. from reaching the v. which follows
them. To sum up, in this case, the v. before g and j is nasalized and the v. after g and
j is denasalized. The proper Palatal and Velar nasals i.e. n and n without segment j
or g added to them are features found in some of the NIA, mainly Sr. (and Si.) cf.
Sr. sun and san above. The Sr. versions of P. janj wedding procession < janya -,
and rang dye, color < ranga thus are jan and ran respectively. The n/nj and n/ng
contrasts in Sr. (and Si.) also exhibit functionality (properties of semantic variation),
for instance, kun snakes slough < kancu skin of snake but kunj put together,
corner < kuncana contraction and san (above) as against sang (above). Table
below presents some more cases;
[Brief; The process of Sk. ranga and sunya > Sr. ran and sun, nut P. rang and sunj
can be summarized as this: in Sr. derivatives c. clusters -ng- and -ny- squeezed into
single phonetic units n and n as against P. where the following Palatal and Velar
plosives g and j (< -ny-) simply dominated to freeze n/n and block nasalization.]
Table; Lexemes consisting the semantically propertied n/nj and n/ng contrasts;
n
__
NIA
Kun snakes slough

nj
__
<

Sk.
kancu skin of snake

NIA

<

kunj put together

kunj2 corner
kunji key
kunji key

Sk.
kuncana contraction
krunca -
kuncika -
kuncika -

jan wedding procession janya

pun charity, virtue pun mya
run desert region
arn mya
sun deserted place sunya

-
beneficial, pleasant panj five
panca -
foreign land
empty
sanjog/k) good chance sammyoga junction, union

van
-----

go
goese awy
moves
goese awy
moves

to go
-- possibly
----

vraj
< vyeti
-- vancati
-- vyeti
-- vancati

n
__
ran color, dye
-ranan m to color, to dye -san of animal ready -to be milked
sin horn
--

ng
__
ranga -
ranga -
sank doubt, fear

with Sr. variable rang

sang- togetherness < sanga battle, contact

srnm ga

with Sr. variable singh

--The over stretched complexity of nj and ng can finally be attributed to the multiple,
overlapping sources of NIA derivatives in Sk. The much adored NIA morpheme
sang (above), then will be seen as having gone through multiple alternations due the
nasal segment in it. Sk. sanga is an alternative if not derivative from the relatively
stable root sanj to cling, or stick or adhere to, or be attached to, or occupied with.
To another possibility, sanga is a compound formed from Sk. samm to drive
together and gama going as is preserved in NIA sangam meeting point of two
streams, or paths and sang (above).
Similarly, Sk. samm- is a widely appearing stem turned pref. in Sk., as in NIA. The
NIA lexeme samaj society but does not show a direct source in Sk. The
probabilities are: (i) is < sammajatiya homogeneous, of same cast, (ii) is <
sammavada speaking together, i.e. samaj is a compound < samm together and
vac to speak. A list of samm- derivatives in Sr. is given in the Table below;
Table; The derivatives of Sk. samm in Sr.
NIA

<

Sr. sanj
put together
Sr./H/ sanjog good chance
Sr./H. sang- together
H.
sangam meeting point

Sk

Meaning

sanj
cling, attached with
sammyoga junction, union
sanga
battle, contact
sammgama to drive together

H.

samaj

society

sammajatiya homogeneous

---Aspiration;
- - there is a slight delay between the release of the stop - - and onset of voicing of the [next] vowel. An
aspirated stop is released with greater force then a un-aspirated one. (ibid: 70).

The segment Aspiration is as unstable and fluctuant in its phonetic features and the
positions it takes in lexemes as is frequent in appearance. It appears both as
independent sound unit as haa heart < hrdaya
- and as feature attached to other
m
sound units as in dhovan m to wash < dhauvati washes. As against many other
languages such as Eng., aspiration is less accentual and more functional in Sk. and
the NIA. A wide range of minimal pairs is formed through use of the phonetic
means of +/ aspiration in NIA. A brief list of Minimal pairs on this feature is given
in the table below;
Table; Minimal pairs formed through +/ aspiration (Asp.)
Asp.

+Asp.

gjalh word, blame, abuse < garha blame.

gjalan m to cause to flow, press out < galyati causes to drip.
cattan
taste
m m m to lick, taste < cattm lick,
m
Sr. chattan
m m m to scatter < chattm scatter
m
Sr. dan to give dhan rice grain
Sr. rukk gold < rukta bright
Sr. rukkh tree < ruksam tree.

Sr. rukk gold [< r

[to here]
The Aspiration;
[ has to be taken up]

The Implosives
Stops made with the glottis ingressive airstream mechanism are called implosives (Katamba: 49).

Extract from Amna Latif;

4.1 Comparison of Voiced Implosives and Voiced Plosives
By comparing the spectrograms of voiced implosives and oral stops, it was
observed that the documented facts available were correct i.e. the amplitude of the
voiced implosives increased during the oral closure indicating the lowering of the
larynx. In addition to this the duration of oral closure of voiced implosives was less
than that of their plosives respectively. Refer to Appendix E for spectrograms of
voiced implosives and their respective plosives.
--Keerio;
Some of the unique acoustic-phonetic features of Sindhi highlighted in this study are determining the
acoustic features of the large number of the contrastive voiced implosives of Sindhi and the acoustic
impact of the language flexibility in terms of the insertion and digestion of the short vowels in the
utterance (Keerio: ii)
The phonology of bilabial voiced implosive bj, in this case resulting from regressive assimilation of -dm- with
bilabial unvoiced plosive p- is in addition to the known pattern of dv > bj (cf. Tur ?; cf. Sybtax supra).

[This is a rule that Pushing the vocal cords wide apart augments the airflow
through the glottis and inhibits voicing. The gesture which is associated with
voicelessness and aspiration, is absent in nonspread sounds (Katamba: 48). What
this entails is, the voiced stops when aspirated become voiceless, thus +v g when
added with aspiration h becomes v gh.]
The implosivization of the Velar voiced stop g exhibits complex parameters: (i) g
remains plosive when initial in an open syl., or in a closed syl. having a voiced stop
in coda thus g- in gadga cart< gad md ma - and in gadgvi water pot < gad md muka -. (ii)
In all other cases, the Velar voiced stop g, initial, medial or final, turns implosive
e.g. galh word < garha blame. And yet there appear deviants e.g. baga white, of
fair complexion < valga beautiful where g, although initial in an open syl., could
not be implosivized because of adjacency with the preceding Coronal voiced stop b
which remained plosive sharing the rule (i) above with g.

[ has to be taken up]

The glide insertion and the j development;
The glide insertion;
Among NIA, glide insertion is more prominent in Sr. with the rules almost
corresponding to the Sk. glide insertion rules given above (cf. Hiatus supra). Here
we briefly attend the process of glide y insertion which is recurrent in Sr. in
declensions, i.e. in verbs and nouns ending in semantically propertied inflections.
As per phonetic compulsions, y interacts with the Front close, and mid close i and e.
It is the affixes or inflections which Panini has termed vibhakti partition which is
defined in as defined by Monier;
inflection of nouns, declensions, an affix of declension, case (according to Pan n. a termination or
inflection either of a case or of the persons of a tense; certain Tadhita affixes which are used like case
terminations have also name Vi-bhakti - - - (Mon. q.v.)

The typical phonological case of glide y insertion between sequences of long v. are
the vb. pres.prt. ending in case infl. e and are added with a case affix reduced to a
v. of same quality i.e. -i or -e e.g. karea di f. sg. she does + pl. infl. -aa > karea diaa >
karea diyaa they do. A related process is reduction in value of the syl. taking the glide
i.e. -diyaa- = 1 syl. and not -di-, -yaa- = 2 syl. (cf. Syntax and the word order. supra).
in Pan In Panini rve as prn.-case with
multiple semantic propropertied with .used in middle which seems n Sr. the v.
sequences in with appearance in and e. Mid principle, The -y- appears in v.
sequences, other This phonological feature we include in the Functional
(semantically propertied features) features of Sr. However, glide insertion offers
some grammatical patterns such as,
The would syl. value of --

similar v.

The j development;
Development of Sk. j is historical. Initially, y > j and the alternation is traceable
only through the forms where y remains preserved. A general rule is, y sequenced
after unrounded front, or middle v. i.e. iy-, -ey- > -ij-. This provides Sr. with
grammatical rule for construction of passive vice forms e.g., vikijan m to be sold <

vikriyate
to be sold, dgivijan m to be given< diyate is given. But ungrammaticality
m
of Sr. *ajat i.e. aade instead < Sk. ayati is to come is rare, (Cf. Turner (date?): 3105 for detailed analysis of y > j).
Assimilation, dissimilation and Elision;
For whatever cognitive reasons, languages go through syntactic as well as phonetic
and phonological change which is best recorded in the case of Indo European (IE)
languages, segment by segment e.g. - - because there is so little evidence for ProtoIdo-European b in the framework of obstruents, the phonological system of ProtoIndo-European was assumed to be changing (Lehmann: v). A general process in
historical phonological change from Sk. to NIA has been that of reduction in
segments which is understandable under the rule of effort-saving. Another general
rule is, segments of same or nearer place and, or manner of articulation go through
phonetic adjustments through processes such as: assimilation, dissimilation and
elision, which are defined below;
(i) Assimilation - - is the modification of a sound in order to make it more similar to some other sound
in its neighborhood (Katamba: 80).
(ii) By dissimilation, differences between sounds are enhanced so that sounds become more distinct
make speech perception easier (ibid.: 94.
(iii) Elision, or deletion is a way change of phonetic change where a segment gets elided (is not uttered
in certain cases (Carr: 41).

If we look at the inconsistencies in the phonological features which we tried to

grasp above, it is caused, mainly by one factor which is a phoneme is combination
of Allophones and each Allophone tends to be sensitive to adjacent allophone. The
effect Allophones accept from each other is called Assimilation (Sandhi joint in
Panini). Carr explains assimilation with case of the English word input;
The nasal in input is, however, uttered as an [m]: try it and you will see that one needs to use conscious
effort not to utter it this way. This is because the /n/ assimilates in place of articulation to the following
stop. What this means is that we must allow that the phoneme /n/ has an /m/ allophone. (Carr: 29)

[Come with a note on nature of v. length here]

but is verified in the International phonetic alphabet (IPA)

[the subchapter Nasal and nasalization better to be taken from the file, Temp]
Sr. is sensitive to nasal harmony. For example, Sk. canga of good understanding,

- Syllable pattern
[Sk. Letters are perceived as syl. thus ka and not as pure phonic/sound (impossible
to retrieve out of syl.). The alternate for syl. is matra (Lit. measure) weighs equal
to a Pluta i.e. a Lex. v.]
Syllable (syl.), is a unit between morpheme and segment. As far its relevance, it is
phrased by Katamba as follows;
One of the most basic functions of the syllable is to regulate the ways in which lower level units
(consonants and vowels) of the phonological hierarchy can combine. Knowledge of the phonological
system which speakers of a language have consists in part of knowledge of the phonemes of that
language and their allophones. (cf. Katamba: 164).

It is believed that the concept syl. and the relevant terms have been borrowed in
linguistics from music where foot-metrics is assessed on the basis of syl.-count.
The syllable has two constituents, namely the Onset which comes at the beginning
and the Rhyme which follows it (ibib: 153-5). The Onset can be absent from a syl.,
and can usually consist of a c., or a v., or more than one segment in any
combination (in Sr. up to three, e.g. in vana destroy [three, excluding the inherent
vowel in v-. ] < vinasayati causes to be ruined). The Rhyme is the second but
central part of syl. which can optionally have a Margin if the syllable has one more
segment in closing. Analysis of syllable informs as how words or morphemes of
similar number of phonemes can be phonologically different on the basis of
difference of their syllabic properties. If the syl. ends in v., it is called open syl., if
otherwise, it will be marked as closed syl. (cf. ibid.). For instance, in Sr. pakka [pk
a ] adj. cooked, ripe and paka [p ka] vb. cook < pakvaka cooking, the second
is different in its number of syl. which is one, than the first, which is two. The
feature which causes difference is stress (cf. Stress infra.). In the first case i.e.
pakka, the Onset of first syl. consists p followed by ak to form a Rhyme with k as
its Margin. The Onset of the second syl. starts from the second, unstressed part of
the k (normally marked as repeated k) followed by Rhyme a which having no
Margin makes the second syl. an open one thus [pa[k]]-[k[a]] and [pak[a]]. In the
first case, it is the stress on the first syl. which forwards part of segment k to make
onset of the second syl. There can be a syl. as small as a, or na which are less then,
or equal to one morpheme depending on the semantic context in which they appear,
and as large as Sr. bhanak adj. breaker, destroyer, problematic person < bhagna
broken, torn, lost (cf. Katamba: ibid., for Internal structure of Word see Carr: 335).

Stress;
The notion accent which stems from intonation overlaps with the notion
stress. Stress is defined as greater auditory prominence which is,
a syl. receiving pitch, loudness and duration more than other syl. in a
word. Such a syl. is called stressed syl. in contrast to the one which is
unstressed. However, observing that every syl. in a multisyllabic word
receives stress to greater or lesser degree, some linguists divided stress
into primary, secondary and week, only to conclude that prominence is
relational and stress is contrastive (Katamba: 221-24, 242).
Phillip Carr is precise on syllables and the sequence in which -stress syllables take
place in the English foot matrix;
Sequences of rhymes (and therefore syllables) consisting of a stressed syllable plus one or more
unstressed syllables are said to form constituents called stress feet. (Carr: 215).

Languages are divided into tone-languages and stress languages, the

matter is however more complex (Katamba: 208). If the division
matters, Sk. is the second type and so are NIA but with gradual historical
weakening of the feature. Intricate contrasts apart, accent, stress and tone are same
thing except that the tone is functional in Tone-languages in which a speaker
conveys some meaning or aspect of meaning by changing the tone. And yet
intonation also has attitudinal function i.e. a speaker may use tone to express
attitude (ibid: 208, 246).
In presence of the notions like syllable-stress, word-stress and foot-stress one
may like to be precise as where does stress lie?; the answer is, on the vowel. But
stress is not an inherent vowel feature. It is an autosegmental property of the word
(Katamba: 225). Tied in the joint of c. and v., it is v. where stress finds expression.
The dilemma that follows is, stress, which is marked in this work by way of
underlining the stressed segment(s), also sounds as if placed on the preceding
segment as in the case of pakka where stress which is on Rhyme of the first syl.
which is a, seems having regressive effect on preceding p. By paying a little more
attention one will observe that even if on p, the stress, and the p itself are realized
only after the inherent v. in p is released. In other words, stress appears on the v.
whether the inherent v. of p or the v. which immediately follows, i.e. the first a in
pakka. Counting in reverse order, stress appears on the second last, i.e. the

penultimate v. of the word pakka. This is precisely what is ruled by Panini about
accentuation (stress) in the Bhsha.;
The general rule for accentuation of affixes is stated under 3.1.3; however, in many polysyllabic affixes
it may fall on the penultimate syllable - - - (Panini2: xxv).

After dividing the multiply inflected thus complex Sk. vb. forms into preverb and
verb in his comparatives of Greek and Sanskrit, Ghosh has summarized the Sk.
accent/stress pattern in verb as following;
Of several preverbs prefixed to a finite verb-form usually only the last gets the accent in
Sanskrit. (Ghosh: 141).

Contextual fluctuations apart, accentuation is realized on penultimate v./syl. of the

word in Sk. and the feature is retained in almost all NIA. However, with exceptions
like the Mianwali, or the N variety of Sr. (and the Pashtu language), the stress in
NIA is not as prominent as in Sk. To understand it further, a couple of examples
form languages where stress is not on penultimate, but on anti-penultimate v. will
be relevant.
The anti penultimate v. stress in Eng. as in America and Canada and in Ar. as in
tarbiyat training, brought up > NIA, Sr. penultimate v. stress thus America and
Canada and tarbiyat respectively.
Stress on a segment then translates into stress on the syl. and then on the word in a
clause to the extent that in some cases word stress can become a factor in change in
semantic properties of a word, in turn of a clause.
To conclude, stress on penultimate v. is a general pattern in Sk., and
NIA thus Sk. gramdara village boy > Sr., P. graia -, and on the
same pattern, Sr. trakrim scale, tirvanjha fifty three (H. trippan -)
and Sr. angil-bhanna one whose finger is broken. This rule also applies
on loan words but not as consistently as on original IA data hence Sr.
tarbiat training, but U. tarbiat (< Ar. tarbiat).
Whereas gemination (a same consonantal articulation held for the duration of two
consonantal beats) e.g. -ss- in djassan m to tell < darsayati shows, c. cluster e.g.
-sr- in visran m to become forgotten < visamrim (vi- without, samrim memory) to
forget, be unmindful and intensification of vowel e.g. -a- in Sr. kiran ma grocery, H.
kariyana - < karayan ma- buying are most of the time perceived as synonymous to

stress, these feature may not necessarily entail stress in principle (cf. Katamba:
170).
The typical consonant-vowel sequence in Sk. allows appearance of tense v. in
adjacent syllables. To an extent, this continues in most of NIA, but in Sr. and P. such
sequences are avoided and altered with Tense-Lax, or Lax-Tense sequences e.g. Sk.
patala a region under earth > H. patal but Sr. and P. patal under earth, a feature
which makes part of syl.-pattern of respective languages. The feature of distinction
between primary stress and secondary stress being less prominent in Siraiki,
Shackle has defined this feature as follows;
The commonest word-pattern consists of disyllables with accented first syllable: this pattern, together
with than of monosyllables, accounts for the great majority of all words. (Shackle: 28).

--The minimal pairs;

When two words are identical in all respects, except for one segment, they are referred to as a
MINIMAL PAIR. (ibid: 22)

For instance, read ~ lead, rice ~ lice, mice ~ nice and card ~ guard (cf. ibid: 23).
A useful method is testing the distinctive features/phonemes by listing words in
minimal pairs where difference of only a single segment/ feature will count for
functional difference of phonemes, in turn, of word to serve semantic alternation, as
the difference of t and d does in Eng. bet and bed (ibid.:21-2). Distinctive feature
made with alternation of phoneme is common place, e.g. Sr. ruk pure, shining,
gold < rukma - and luk disappear < luk (lunc/lup) a grammatical term for
dropping out, disappearance. A set of Sr. minimal pairs distinguished by
alternation of a single feature is produced below (the implosive off/on , however
scarcely counts for functional distinction);
Minimal pairs;
Feature

Word +feature

Word with -feature

glide y insertion

vaede you go

vedye while going < vrajati goes

nasalization

khavea you may eat

khave he may eat < khad eat

aspiration

-h

sukh comfort, ease

suk dry up

implosive

gj

gjol look for < goll -

--

jj

jjau pitch, wax < jatu lac

jau barley < yaya -

--

dj

djidhm one and a half < dvyardha -

d midhm [d mhid mh] belly, womb < dhid

m ha
m -

gol round

< suska
m dried

< gola ball

--

bj

bjanni f. forest < vana -

banni (also vanni) bride < vanva desirous

______
The semantic shift;
One of the stems, now suf. of wide use is NIA (H.) -vad speak for as in
Brahminvad (?) < vada speech, sounding a musical instrument, in turn < vas cry
with stems as vadaka- musician, a probable source of Sr. vajja, (NIA vaja, baja)
musical instrument. There is a thin line of s/s contrast between the Sk. vas cry
and vas dwell, Cf. vasa will, authority, power.
--The case; [Should go into subhap Syntax] >
The Sr. Syntactic and morphological structure having reasonably shifted from that
of its source language few initial aspects, among these the Pronoun (prn.), the Case,
the Affixes and the initial word order in declarative sentences will be attended
below.
Sr Case;
direct
oblique
possessive
directional
dative/accusative

1sg.
m a
-mdga
mdgo
mku

2sg.
tua
tae/tao
tdga
tdgo
tku

1.pl
2pl.
asa
tusa
--sadga
tuhadg*
sadgo
tuhadgo
saku/asaku tuhaku/tusaku
(Shackle: 58)

Some other cases in Sr. can be:

(i) Genitive;

jgan me da ghoram mans horse (for basic definition,

see Wilson: 8-10; for Definition see Radford: 439).

(ii) A morphophonological marker to distinguish the genitive case-forms from the

possessive case-forms is where the voiced alveolar plosive d of the free morphemegenitive case da m. sg. of, di f. sg., de m. pl., diyaa f. pl. turn bound morphemes in
the possessive case and are retroflexed and implossized when preceded by a back

vowel thus da in ua da 3p. sg., of his/her/its but -dg g a, -dg g i, -dj g e, -dj g iyaa in mdga
mine, tdga your sg., tuhadge your m. pl., tuhadgiyaa your f. pl.
(iii) Ablative; for example, in Sr. moho in moho ala do say by/from
mouth.
(iv) Instrumental; for example, Sr. postposition nal by means of > case infl. -ea as
in akkhrea bhir m takkarea na bir m fight with words do not fight with blows.
(v) Certain Sk. allomorphemes having gone through both change of form as well
semantic shift make it difficult to identify the connection, e.g. -vamm (Cf.
Macdonell:181) connoting perfectness in participle became NIA bound morph -vaa
to facilitate constructions such as the passive perfect, or the numerical adjectives
lukavaa made hiden < Sk. lupyate is lost and possibly is the same -vamm modified
and attached to Sr. satvaa seventh < Sk. saptama and satavamm, in turn sapta
seven.

____
Conjunctions;

taa then, as consequence of, so, indeed, then < tatha so, in that way, or <
tat thus, then

tore[-e]
although < todati
m
m to disregard; tud m split + jo (obl. jae) so, so
that, who < ya-, yasmin (for gen., loc., sg. nom) so, thus, which, which >
Sr. torejo
m although.
mattaa, mattan m (negative used in conj.) may, may not < maa negative of
prohibition, imperative, and used + conjunctive

vat again (vattan m to wander) < vartate turns, moves

vi also, even < api - > Sr. vatvi yet, even, in spite of that not
je (je inst. conditional) if < ya- (relative prn.) so that + kar act, do <
kr mto do, act > Sr. jekar if this being so

je,

as relative prn.) so, so that < ya- (relative prn.) so that

IMPORTANT, FROM PhD;

- Sk. t >
m Sr. r,m kukutam cock > kukkur m
y > j, yatna effort > jattan m
- dv- > b and b > Sr. (S.) b, dva two > S. ba, Sr. bia
- b > v, bila- hole, pit > vila
- b > b, bubba womans breat > ditto
- dy- > j, vadyate is made to sound > vajjde sounds to sound
- v > v, vismarati forgets > visrea de,
- v > b, vrkkam. kidneys > bukki f. kidney
m
- v > b (is rare),
- g > g (impl.) thus garbhin mi pregnent > gabban m,
- d > d, draghman- m. lenght > drigh
- d > dg, drsim seeing, ability to see > dis,
Sk v > NIA b,Sk. b and dv- > Sr. b
OIA v > NIA b a frequent occurrence, Sk. Vikrami > Bikrami, Sk. vanati
desiresires, gains, makes ready > Sr. ban man m, to be made ban mavan m to make
(H. banna, banana). As per findings, Sr. has very limited number of entries
containing the bilabial voiced plosive b (fewer like, and the rest will be loans
from Pers.Ar. stock). All the relevant Sk. roots from dv- and b went implosive
i.e. bj which offers scope for investigation into an interesting historical
development.


-->>
There has been little attempt to define exact phonetics of the widely occurring
nasals n and n IN Siraiki. Recognized in IPA as palatal nasal and velar nasal
respectively, each appears in two orthographic forms, i.e. as n/nj, and n/ng
respectively which has a reason. The NIA languages show in situ alternation
between phonetic properties of n which is propertied with nasal sonority in both, its
onset vowel and its concluding (release) vowel as in Sr. kun (Si. kuna) snakes
slough < kancuka snakes skin and the phonetic properties of nj which is
propertied with nasal sonority in its onset vowel but with oral sonority in its
concluding (release) vowel as in Sr. kunj to put together < kuncana contraction,
or < kuncati to make crooked (Monier q.v.). In other words, in n of kun Velum or
the soft plate is lowered to let the airstream pass through nasal cavity and remains
lowered until end of the articulation of n. In nj in kunj the Velum is lowered at the
start of the articulatory move to let the air stream pass through nasal cavity but is
raised to block the nasal cavity and turn the vowel into oral type in the end. The nnj alternation is neither universal, nor is always semantically propertied in
languages which have this feature. Similar is the case with the Velar nasal with
transcription undifferentiated between n and ng as in Sr. sanan m of animal to be
ready to be milked < sankte is afraid in turn < sank doubt, fear and Sr. sang
togetherness, company < sanga battle, contact (cf. sang- infra). Going by
phonetic parameters, the nj and ng do not fit in definition of phonetic unit. The IPAmarking is unambiguous hence correct. The inconsistency in transcription, in not
less than Turner (1966; q.v.), e.g. in L. maanja cleaning but maajan m to clean <
marja to clean and marjat rubs, cleans is possibly functional thus overlooked.
The data generated by these two nasals is in great volume with some interesting
cases given below;
Sr. n and n whether root based, or made by internal phonology of Sr. version, to
check
As far the nasals (and some Sr. specific sound segments such as y), these carry
semantic value, i.e. these effect change of meaning in NIA

more so in Sr. Major among such semantically propertied phonological features in

Sr. are v.-nasalization, v.-lengthening, v.-rounding, c.-aspiration, c.-implosivization
and glide y insertion.
Sr. is more sensitive to nasal harmony. For example, Sk. canga of good
understanding, H., P. canga > Sr. cana. What cannot be properly scribed except in
International phonetic alphabet (IPA) is the internal phonological process this
lexeme went through which is, the n triggered both progressive and regressive
harmony on all segmentsnasalized the first a which preceded it, thus ca-, changed
the Velar voiced plosive g to Velar voiced nasal -n- (--) thus can- and also
nasalized the final a i.e. spreading on all segments of the word except for c. But the
alternation of g with n left the n, the source of the nasal effect itself redundant, i.e.
no proper sound n left in cana. Turner (1915: 19) noticed this in the history of the
group ama > avaa > ava [day of the new moon, time before dawn < amavasyaborn on a new moon night]
The popularly scribed, n and n which have two different versions as we will
discussed below are marked as nj and ng without any differentiation between the
two types i.e. n and n and nj and ng such as by Masica who characterized these
nasals in the Sr. derivatives of Sk. as the voicing of voiceless stops after nasals.
His examples are;
Sk. anka mark > ang
panca five > panj
kantam thorn > kand ma
danta tooth > dg j and
campa name of tree > camba
(Masica 1991: 203; cf. Whitney, Turner, ibid.).
Starting by Pan nini, the Sk. original version of n appears reverse of the modern
adoption nj, i.e. in Sk. rendition is jn of which Pan nini does not explain phonetics,
but makes a phonological note of the conditions of its loss as follows;
jna-jan-ja the substitute morpheme ja replaces [the whole of the ref. 1.1.55 i.e.
the sounds of anga-s, 6.4.1 of the verbal stems], i.e. 6.4.1 is anga sya, and 1.1.55
is aneka aL SIT a saravasy, implying that in the morpheme grouped as anga type
and as aneka which have Sk. phonetic properties of jn will be lost in such and such
conditions [also applies on N (ng)]. What remains to be seen is the shift of the
conditional jn and n [and gn] to nj and ng in some NIA, is not misperception at any

any point (Pan2: 7.3.79, 1.1.55, 6.4.1: 21, 933). In Sr. and Si., if we see anything is
loss of j and g from original jn and [gn].
.less attended problem
Sk. segment origin of the reverse to by him as e Panini
grouped as -jn- will be altered with j when 6.4.1. is jana now and - - - janborn] ja will replace jna- jan-ja
given its phonological given noted
popular type second from
What can be added is the rule is blocked by some irregular forms like panth
family < ?, ant end < anta end and some regular forms when the nasal
preceeding the voiceless stop is itself preceded by a tense v. thus kank cry of dog <
?, janc judgment < ?, dhanta pst. having had sowered < ?, kuhant camles
m
hump < ?.
The phonological behavior of the palatal nasal nj, and the velar nasal ng might
require some review particularly in the perspective of Sr. and Si.:
(i) The n and n when followed by Palatal plosives j and Velar plosive g respectively
as in kunji key < kuncika key and sang- togetherness, company < sanga battle,
contact (cf. sang- infra) in fact are not the sound sound units with the perceived
phonetic properties of n and n but their versions reduced to nasalization of
preceeding v. and the lexemes may better be written as kunjji and sanjg. (ii) The n
and n in Sr. and Si. show phonetic properties different from the general NIA nj and
ng where j and g segments are heard before release of the v. which follows them,
i.e. the v. before g and j is nasalized and the v. after g and j is denasalized. The
proper Palatal and Velar nasals i.e. n and n with the segments j and g added to them
are Sr. (Si.)-specific as these manifest in Sr. sun deserted < sunya empty and san
of animal to be ready to be milked < sank doubt, fear, vb. sankte is afraid. The
Sr. versions of P. janj wedding procession < janya ibid., and rang dye, color <
ranga thus are jan and ran respectively (i.e. these are minus j and g segments).
But representation of NIA nj and ng each as single sound units (mono-phthongs)
really does not fit in the basic rule of Phonetics which says a sound is one phonetic
unit if it is produced in single articulatory action which is n() and n() and not nj
and ng as each of the latter pair exhibits combination of two clustered segments.
The Sr. n() and n() again are Sk. archaics retained in Sr. but modified in P. etc. as
clued by an Sk. philogist in his grammatical note on a lexeme which reads; sanj =
hang on, attach; j is a new palatal. (Kanta: 259). There is alternate appearance of
ng and nj in NIA which is rooted in similar alternation in Sk. e.g. in NIA sangtogetherness, company and sanj put together, sanjog (Sr. sanjog) good chanc is

either < sanga battle, contact with (enemy), or prob. < sanj to cling, or stick or
adhere to, or be attached to, or occupied with.
Nasal , a powerful segment seems has complex forms in Sk. an d NIA phonology,
especially in Sr. .caused formatic shift in morphemes. The much adored NIA
morpheme sang- togetherness, company, for instance, went hrough alternations
due the nasal segment in it prob. Sk. sanga battle, contact with (enemy) is in turn
an alternative if not derivative from the relatively stable root sanj to cling, or stick
or adhere to, or be attached to, or occupied with. To another possibility, sanga is a
compound formed from Sk. samm to drive together and gama going as is
preserved in NIA sangam meeting point of two streams, or paths and sang
company. Similarly, Sk. samm- is a widely appearing stem turned pref. The NIA
lexeme samaj society but does not show a direct source in Sk. One of the
possibility is in sammvada speaking together, i.e. NIA samaj is a compound < samm
together and vac to speak (Cf. vad supra). Lastly, exhaustive investigation into
a phenomenon like nasalization remains near impossible where every rule is
challenged by some irregular case as in Sr. refusing to nasalize -a in ma mother as
against H., P. maa . The perception that nasalization of v. is condition with tense vs. is
not binding (cf. Shsackle: 201).
NIA
Sr.
sanj
Sr./H/ sanjog
Sr./H. sangH. sangam
H. samaj
----

Meaning

<

put together
good chance
together
meeting point
society

Sk

Meaning

sanj
cling, attached with
sammyoga junction, union
sanga
battle, contact
sammgama to drive together
sammvada speaking together.

From Temp;
The nasal;

The i-vowels, the u-vowels, and r n, before a dissimilar vowel or

diphthong, are regularly converted each into its own corresponding
semivowel y or v or r.(Whitney 1889: 44).
Pan nini:
Sutra 1.1.1

vrrd-dhir aT aiC
vrrd-dhi denotes the vowel phonemes long a(=aT) and the diphthongs ai, au(=aiC).
1. aT = long vowel class a (by 1.1.70 below) with supra-segmental of three accents
and + nasality. Unmarked vowels by marker T stand for their, associated with the
supra-segmental feature of length (=3): short (hrasva), long(dirgha) and extra long
or prolated (pluta) (1.2.27) and accent(=3): udaatta high pitched, anudatta low
pitched and varita rising and falling tone or circumflex (1.2.29-31), + nasality.
The short vowels have a duration of one Mora, the long of two and the prolated of
three Mora, while consonants have half a Mora each. By 1.1.70 aiC following the
marker T of aT represents the diphthongs ai, au, having a duration of two moras
only.
2. as a non-technical term vrrd-dhi denotes increase, growth, interest (or principal),
etc. Cf. 5.1.47. (Pan1n : 7).
[Ref. Pan1n ; Pan nini (1987, edn. 1989) As mtadhyayi
of Pan nini, transliteration and Eng.
m
translation by Sumitra M. Karte, Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi]
Pan n on v. distribution;
Ua-kalah m aC hrasva-dirgha-plutah m (1.2.27: 38).
-- on Tone;
yajna-karman mi a-japa-nyunkha-samasu in a sacrificial act, (yajna- karman mi) the
enunciation [is monotone 33] except I (1) silent repetition (japa) (of a sacrificial
formula), (2) nyunkha insertion of (0) and (3) saman melody.(Op.cite, 1.2.34:
40).
--Nasals in Pan nini;
(1) In vowels: = 1, i.e. mm
(2) In consonants = 6: n, n, n m, n, m, (Vedic) jn (Pan1n : xi). [does not scribe nj and ng
]

Sk. Letters are perceived as syl. thus ka and not as pure phonic/sound (impossible to
retrieve out of syl.) -Method of transliteration; compounds separated by hyphen when separated
components involve Sandhi. (cf. Note on System of transliteration: xi, Op.cit.)
--The nasal n and n;
Pan nini 7.3.79
jnaa - jan - ja (in certain contexts) jnaa is replaced by jan > j [As if Pan nini had
observed the trend to loss of Sk. -jn-.]
There has been little attempt to define exact phonetics of the widely occurring
nasals n and n in Sr. Recognized in IPA as palatal nasal and velar nasal
respectively, in general works, each appears in two orthographic forms, i.e. the /n/
as n and nj, and /n/ as n and ng which has a reason. The NIA languages show in situ
alternation between phonetic properties of n which is propertied with nasal sonority
in both, its onset vowel and its concluding (release) vowel as in Sr. kun (Si. kuna)
snakes slough < kancuka snakes skin and the phonetic properties of nj which is
propertied with nasal sonority in its onset vowel but with oral sonority in its
concluding (release) vowel as in Sr. kunj to put together < kuncana contraction,
or < kuncati to make crooked (cf. Monier q.v.). In other words, in n of kun Velum
or the soft plate is lowered to let the airstream pass through nasal cavity and
remains lowered until end of the articulation of n. In nj in kunj the Velum is lowered
at the start of the articulatory move to let the air stream pass through nasal cavity
but is raised to block the nasal cavity and turn the vowel into oral type in the end.
The n-nj alternation is neither universal, nor is always semantically propertied in
languages which have this feature. Similar is the case with the Velar nasal n () with
the usual transcription undifferentiated between n and ng confusing, for instance, Sr.
san of animal to be ready to be milked < sankte is afraid in turn < sank doubt,
fear and Sr. sang togetherness, company < sanga battle, contact (cf. sang- infra).
Going by phonetic parameters, the nj and ng do not fit in definition of phonetic unit.
Their as IPA-marking as and is unambiguous hence correct and the
inconsistency in transcription, in not less than Turner (1966, cf. L. kunj snakes
slough, q.v.) and Sumitra (1989) is possibly functional. The data generated by these
and other nasals appears in great volume. Some interesting cases given below;
<<<

---

(and some Sr. specific sound segments such as insertion of glide y),
--[regional innovation, a) shared by several contiguous languages, b) languagespecific, the first innovation, passage of v to b [notes in many languages except Sr.,
Si. which do have the alternation v > b, but indicates original v retention in Si, and
Lahnda which check, ; on p. 23 > the second localized innovation to be noted, the
voicing of voiceless stops after nasals - - - in the northwest (Punjabi, Sindhi, - -.):23., Masicas rule voicing of voiceless stops skips NIA cases like canga where
the voiced was part of the original. It is one of the most characteristic difference
between Hindi and Punjabi: gives table where adds S. (Si.) but ignores Sr. (his
Lahnda), is for which insert Ref. as cf. Masica: 202) ],
---[Sr. bjaddhan m 'to tie', prs.prt. bjadhea de, < badhyate, badhnate (Bahl:57). By adding,
to the above rules, the known precept that in many forms??]
n--n --n nng
Sr. cana < canga
Sr. ran < ranga
NIA
kun
kunj
kunj2
kunji
pun
sin
run
sun
van
--

Meaning
<
Sk
snakes slough kancu
put together
kuncana
corner
krunca
key
kuncika
charity, virtue pun mya
horn
srnm ga
desert region arn mya
deserted place sunya
to go
vraj
-vyeti

Meaning
skin of snake
contraction
--
key
beneficial, pleasant
--
foreign land
empty
go
goese awy

--vancati
moves
---(Cf. vad supra). Lastly, exhaustive investigation into a phenomenon like
nasalization remains near impossible where every rule is challenged by some
irregular case as in Sr. refusing to nasalize -a in ma mother as against H., P. maa .
The perception that nasalization of v. is condition with tense is not binding (cf.
Shsackle: 201).