A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India v1.c7.3.1

v1.c7.3.1

contrivances, such as *sh'va*, for avoiding too great an accumulation of consonants, while in the Arabic, a group of a much later type, to use Renan's expression, "the consonants swim in a sea of vowels"; comparing Aramaic forms, such as *ktalt, ktaln, mektlan, khnun*, with the Hebrew *kĕtaltâ, kâtalnû, kâtêlenû, anakhnu*, and Arabic *katalatâ, katalnâ, inkiâlanâ, nakhnu*, the gradual increase of vowels is clearly seen. This instance is adduced merely as an illustration of what is meant by the power of articulation. To utter a series of consonants, each of which requires a separate contact, without allowing any vowel to intervene, is an effort of the organs of speech which can only be accomplished when those organs are vigorous and strong. Thus we find the Dravidians of the south of India unable to pronounce Sanskrit words containing a compound consonant without the insertion of one or more vowels. For instance, in Tamil, *istiri* = Skr. *strí*, *tânam* = Skr. *sthânam*, *kiruṭṭinan* = *kṛishṇa*, *appirayośana* = *aprayojana*, *tatuva* = *tatwa*. "The languages of the Indo-European class are fond of combining clashing consonants and welding them into one syllable by sheer force of enunciation; and it is certain that strength and directness of character and scorn of difficulties are characteristics, not only of the Indo-European languages, but of the races by which those languages are spoken.