A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c5.38

v1.c5.38

It will be observed that in nearly all these cases the u is introduced in short unaccented syllables. In fact, in all those syllables in which from their extreme shortness the vowel is indistinct, the natural tendency of the Bengali is to give it a labial sound, just as that of the Sindhi is to give it the palatal. The Bengali short a sounds at all times so like a short o, that in obscure syllables it naturally glides into u; and many words which in writing have an a might, if we followed the vulgar pronunciation, be written with u. The same holds good to a certain extent of the Oriya. In many cases, too, the fact of one short syllable in a word having the short u as its vowel seems to have exercised a sort of attraction over the neighbouring vowel, making that *u* also.