Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/39

 alphabetic elements, and for the way in which they were obtained, see below, 75.

23. The - and -vowels. To the three simple vowels already mentioned the Sanskrit adds two others, the -vowel and the -vowel, plainly generated by the abbreviation of syllables containing respectively a र् or ल्  along with another vowel: the ऋ  coming almost always (see 237, 241–3) from अर्  or र, the ऌ  from अल्.

a. Some of the Hindu grammarians add to the alphabet also a long : but this is only for the sake of an artificial symmetry, since the sound does not occur in a single genuine word in the language.

24. The vowel ऋ is simply a smooth or untrilled r-sound, assuming a vocalic office in syllable-making — as, by a like abbreviation, it has done also in certain Slavonic languages. The vowel ऌ is an l-sound similarly uttered — like the English l-vowel in such words as able, angle, addle.

a. The modern Hindus pronounce these vowels as ri, rī, li (or even lri), having long lost the habit and the facility of giving a vowel value to the pure r- and l-sounds. Their example is widely followed by European scholars; and hence also the (distorting and altogether objectionable) transliterations, ,. There is no real difficulty in the way of acquiring and practising the true utterance.

b. Some of the grammarians (see APr. i. 37, note) attempt to define more nearly the way in which, in these vowels, a real r- or l-element is combined with something else.

25. Like their corresponding semivowels, and, these vowels belong respectively in the general lingual and dental classes; the euphonic influence of  and  (189) shows this clearly. They are so ranked in the Paninean scheme; but the Prātiçākhyas in general strangely class them with the sounds, our “gutturals” (39).

26. The short is found in every variety of word and of position, and is not rare, being just about as frequent as long. Long is very much more unusual, occurring only in certain plural cases of noun-stems in  (371 b, d, 375). The is met with only in some of the forms and derivatives of a single not very common verbal root.

27. The diphthongs. Of the four diphthongs, two, the ए and the ओ, are in great part original Indo-European