Page:A Comparative Grammar of the Modern Aryan Languages of India Vol 1.djvu/101

Rh as it embodies only the semivowel of its organ, whereas the ङ embodies the media.

ण is in use in all the languages, and its sound is clearly distinguishable from that of न in most provinces. In many parts of Hindustan and the Panjab, however, I do not think any ordinary observer would notice the difference, particularly in the countries bordering on the Ganges, where contact with Musulmans has softened down, with good effects, many of the asperities of the old Aryan utterance. So much so is this the case, that in ordinary Hindi न does duty for all nasals. In Sindhi ण has a deeper sound than in the other languages, and embodies the semivowel of its organ, producing a sound like nr, or the Pushtu نړ, as stated by Dr. Trumpp. It in this way presents an analogy to ञ, which also embodies the semivowel of its organ.

न and म call for no remarks, being pronounced as in other languages n and m.

§ 26. In the pronunciation of the compound consonants the various languages exhibit greater power than Sanskrit, in so far as, with a few exceptions, the modern Indians are able to pronounce every imaginable combination; while Sanskrit requires that the former of two consonants shall be modified so as to bring it into harmony with the latter. Whether this rule arose from inability to pronounce a nexus of dissimilar consonants, or was deliberately introduced with a view to produce euphony, need not here be discussed,—the result is the same in either case. But Hindi, by rejecting the final short a of all its words, obtains an immense variety of words ending with consonants; and as these words, whether as nouns or verbal bases, have to be followed by inflectional particles which begin with consonants, every conceivable combination of consonants occurs. Thus, we have a media followed by a tenuis in लगता, which is