A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c5.22

v1.c5.22

Many more isolated instances may be found, but few which run through all the seven languages. It cannot be laid down as a law, that the *a* of Sanskrit undergoes any regular or systematic transmutation into *i* in any dialect, or in any particular class of words. The Sindhi, however, and in a lesser degree the Gujarati and Panjabi, must be excepted from this remark. In the Introduction it has been stated that amongst those peculiarities of the seven languages which seem to depend on their relative geographical position, is the preference exhibited by the western languages for the palatal vowels *i* and *e*, as contrasted by that of the eastern languages for *u* and *o*. In the following list Sindhi converts *a* into *i*, and stands alone in so doing; the other languages retain the *a*. I give the Hindi alone as proof of this,—noting the other languages only when they do not conform to the Hindi in respect of this vowel.