Wilson Philological Lectures on Sanskrit and the Derived Languages c9.83

c9.83

Thus the assimilation involved in the less open vowels ऋ and ऌ is of importance to some, but of little consequence to others; and they prefer the economy arising from the change of these vowels to अ, since this does not require any movement of the tongue or the lips. Here then we have two kinds of peculiarities. Again, if an ordinary change has a very comprehensive range or is almost universal in a language, and if other ordinary changes do not keep pace with it, and are to be found only in a limited number of instances, that ordinary change must be considered to be due to a peculiar vocal habit or incapacity. The assimilation of conjuncts and of the diphthongs in the Pâli and the Prâkṛits, and the elision of uninitial consonants in the latter, are changes of this nature. And finally, there is all the greater reason for attributing changes that involve no economy or necessitate greater exertion, such as the change of dentals to cerebrals or of sonants to surds, to vocal peculiarities. These several kinds of peculiarities give distinct individualities, so far as the external forms of words are concerned, to languages derived from one and the same primitive language. Thus then, some phonetic changes are special or peculiar, and others ordinary. We will now take up in order the instances observable in the Pâli and the Prâkṛits of these two kinds of changes and trace them in the vernaculars, and also endeavour to find out whether these dialects have preserved any of the Pâli and Prâkṛit peculiarities or developed new ones.