Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/93

 65 lingual sibilant or semivowel or vowels — that is to say, by ष्, र् , or ऋ or ॠ  — : and this, not only if the altering letter stands immediately before the nasal, but at whatever distance from the latter it may be found: unless, indeed, there intervene (a consonant moving the front of the tongue: namely) a palatal (except य् ), a lingual, or a dental.

a. We may thus figure to ourselves the rationale of the process: in the marked proclivity of the language toward lingual utterance, especially of the nasal, the tip of the tongue, when once reverted into the loose lingual position by the utterance of a non-contact lingual element, tends to hang there and make its next nasal contact in that position; and does so, unless the proclivity is satisfied by the utterance of a lingual mute, or the organ is thrown out of adjustment by the utterance of an element which causes it to assume a different posture. This is not the case with the gutturals or labials, which do not move the front part of the tongue (and, as the influence of on following  shows, the guttural position favors the succession of a lingual): and the  is too weakly palatal to interfere with the alteration (as its next relative, the -vowel, itself lingualizes a ).

b. This is a rule of constant application; and (as was pointed out above, 46) the great majority of occurrences of in the language are the result of it.

190. The rule has force especially —

a. When suffixes, of inflection or derivation, are added to roots or stems containing one of the altering sounds: thus,, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,.

b. When the final of a root or stem comes to be followed, in inflection or derivation, by such sounds as allow it to feel the effect of a preceding altering cause: thus, from √,, , , ; from , , , , ,.

c. The form (RV.: 2d and 3d sing. impf.), from √, is wholly anomalous.

191. This rule (like that for the change of to ) applies strictly and especially when the nasal and the cause of its alteration both lie within the limits of the same integral word; but (also like the other) it is extended, within certain limits, to compound words — and even, in the Veda, to contiguous words in the sentence.