Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c7.18

c7.18

I have already observed that when a following semi-vowel or nasal glides into the sound of the first consonant, this latter acquires prominence. But there are cases in which the semi-vowel य does not so merge into the preceding; and this takes place when it is preceded by a dental mute. The palatal य and the labial व have since remote times been often pronounced in two ways, one in which the organs approach each other so closely that it is difficult to distinguish them from ज् and व्; and another in which they are kept more distant. Hence the confusion between य and ज् and व and ब that we find so often in modern pronunciation and in the modern languages. The Bengali invariably makes ब of the Sanskrit व and in most cases ज् of य and the people of Northern India follow him to a great extent. In the Hindí we have many such forms as जमुना for यमुना, बांस for वंश, बांझ for वन्ध्या.