Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/67

 inflection; the rules of external combination may better be left untouched until he comes to dealing with words in sentences, or to translating. Then, however, they are indispensable, since the proper form of the words that compose the sentence is not to be determined without them.

a. The general principles of combination underlying the euphonic rules, and determining their classification, may be stated as follows:

113. Hiatus. In general, hiatus is forbidden; every syllable except the initial one of a sentence, or of a word or phrase not forming part of a sentence, must begin with a consonant (or with more than one).

a. For details, and for exceptions, see 125 ff.

b. In the earlier language, however, hiatus in every position was abundantly admitted. This appears plainly from the mantras, or metrical parts of the Veda, where in innumerable instances and  are to be read as  and, and, less often, a long vowel is to be resolved into two vowels, in order to make good the metre: e.g.  has to be read as ,  as , and so on. In the Brāhmaṇas, also, we find, , described as dissyllables,  and  as trisyllables,  as of four syllables, and the like. See further 129 e.

114. Deaspiration. An aspirate mute is liable to lose its aspiration, being allowed to stand unchanged only before a vowel or semivowel or nasal.

115. Assimilation. The great body of euphonic changes in Sanskrit, as elsewhere, falls under the general head of assimilation — which takes place both between sounds which are so nearly alike that the difference between them is too insignificant to be worth preserving, and between those which are so diverse as to be practically incompatible.

116. In part, assimilation involves the conversion of one sound to another of the same series, without change of articulating position; in part, it involves a change of position, or transfer to another series.

117. Of changes within the series, the most frequent and important occur in the adaptation of surd and sonant sounds to one