Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/38



,, and -vowels. The Sanskrit has these three earliest and most universal vowels of Indo-European language, in both short and long form — अ and आ, इ  and ई , उ  and ऊ. They are to be pronounced in the “Continental” or “Italian” manner — as in far or farther, pin and pique, pull and rule.

The is the openest vowel, an utterance from the expanded throat, stands in no relation of kindred with any of the classes of consonantal sounds, and has no corresponding semivowel. Of the close vowels and, on the other hand,  is palatal, and shades through its semivowel  into the palatal and guttural consonant-classes;  is similarly related, through its semivowel , to the labial class, as involving in its utterance a narrowing and rounding of the lips.

The Paninean scheme (commentary to Pāṇini’s grammar i. 1. 9) classes as guttural, but apparently only to give that series as well as the rest a vowel; no one of the Prātiçākhyas puts  into one class with  etc. All of these authorities concur in calling the - and -vowels respectively palatal and labial.

The short is not pronounced in India with the full openness of, as its corresponding short, but usually as the “neutral vowel” (English so-called “short u”, of but, son, blood, etc.). This peculiarity appears very early, being acknowledged by Pāṇini and by two of the Prātiçākhyas (APr. i. 36; VPr. i. 72), which call the utterance, covered up, dimmed. It is wont to be ignored by Western scholars, except those who have studied in India.

The -vowels are the prevailing vowel-sounds of the language, being about twice as frequent as all the others (including diphthongs) taken together. The -vowels, again, are about twice as numerous as the -vowels. And, in each pair, the short vowel is more than twice (2½ to 3 times) as common as the long.

For more precise estimates of frequency, of these and of the other