Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/49

 (see APr. i., 31 note). The organs of utterance are described as being in the position of the mute-series to which each spirant belongs respectively, but unclosed, or unclosed in the middle.

The स्. Of the three sibilants, or surd spirants, this is the one of plainest and least questioned character: it is the ordinary European s — a hiss expelled between the tongue and the roof of the mouth directly behind the upper front teeth.

It is, then, dental, as it is classed by all the Hindu authorities. Notwithstanding the great losses which it suffers in Sanskrit euphony, by conversion to the other sibilants, to, to , etc., it is still very high among the consonants in the order of frequency, or considerably more common than both the other two sibilants together.

The ष्. As to the character of this sibilant, also, there is no ground for real question: it is the one produced in the lingual position, or with the tip of the tongue reverted into the dome of the palate. It is, then, a kind of sh-sound; and by European Sanskritists it is pronounced as an ordinary sh (French ch, German sch), no attempt being made (any more than in the case of the other lingual sounds: 45) to give it its proper lingual quality.

Its lingual character is shown by its whole euphonic influence, and it is described and classed as lingual by all the Hindu authorities (the APr. adds, i. 23, that the tongue in its utterance is trough-shaped). In its audible quality, it is a sh-sound rather than a s-sound; and, in the considerable variety of sibilant-utterance, even in the same community, it may coincide with the sh of some among ourselves. Yet the general and normal sh is palatal (see below, 63); and therefore the sign, marked in accordance with the other lingual letters, is the only unexceptionable transliteration for the Hindu character.

In modern pronunciation in India, is much confounded with ; and the manuscripts are apt to exchange the characters. Some later grammatical treatises, too, take note of the relationship.

This sibilant (as was noticed above, 46, and will be more particularly explained below, 180 ff.) is no original sound, but a product of the lingualization of under certain euphonic conditions. The exceptions are extremely few (9 out of 145 noted occurrences: 75), and of a purely sporadic character. The Rig-Veda has (apart