Page:The history of the Bengali language (1920).pdf/100

78 half-distinct nasal sound developed into a full-bodied nasal letter, when the sound in অ and আ was very long drawn to create, for instance, the plural form; this is why ভবতি became ভবন্তি, and we get in the Vedic speech জুহ্বন্তি as an additional plural form by the side of জুহ্বতি. How a দীর্ঘ sound naturally evolves a nasal, will be noticed presently. For want of any work on phonology, relating to the old Māgadhi speech, we cannot say, if the Prākṛta speakers of old Magadha displayed the peculiarity noticed in the case of the Vedic speech. It is, however, a fact that in the district of Bankura, as well as in the western portion of Burdwan, a final half-nasal occurs at the ends of such words as করিয়া, খাইয়া, etc., and they are pronounced as করিয়াঁ, খাইয়াঁ, etc. We also find that in some cases of our অপভ্রংশ words, where আ or any other vowel is accented to maintain the long sound, occurring in the original word, we put a half-nasal ঁ on the accented vowel, though the derivation of the word, does not justify the nasal. আঁটি (from S. অস্থি or অট্‌ঠি), জোঁক (from জলৌক), and সেঁতা (from সিক্ত) are some fitting examples. That in old Māgadhi Prākṛta a nasal was introduced in similar cases, can be presumed from some অপভ্রংশ forms; for example, from বক্র comes বঙ্ক, and from Vedic কুত্থ comes the form কন্থা; our vernacular forms বাঁকা and কাঁথা, I need hardly say, are from বঙ্ক and কন্থা respectively. We may note that বঙ্ক and কন্থা were adapted in Sanskrit from Prākṛta. সাঁপ from সর্প in Hindi may be compared with the above forms.

The nasal of আ.—I proceed now to show, that there is a natural basis in our very organ of speech, for the occurrence of this phenomenon, that আ carries at times a nasal sound with it. To do this, I have to also notice that আ is sometimes transformed into ই in the lengthening of the voice, as will also be pointed out presently.