MacDonnell II - Wilbourhall.org

18 PHONETIC INTRODUCTION [167.,zh (cerebral) have entirely disappeared, they have generallyleft traces of their foi'mer existence in the phonetic changesthey have produced.i. The sound h was undoubtedly pronounced as a voicedbreathing in the Samhitas. The Pratisakhyas describe it asvoiced and as identical with the second element of voicedaspirates (g-h, d-h, b-h). This is corroborated by thespelling ^ 1-h (= dh) beside 36 1(=d).j.There are three voiceless spirants appearing only asfinals. The usual one, called Visarjanlya in the Pratisakhyas,is according to the Taittirlya Pratisakhya articulated in thesame place as the end of the preceding vowels. Its placemay be taken by Jihvamullya before the voiceless initialgutturals k, kh and ; by Upadhmanlya before the voicelessinitial labials p, ph. These two are regarded by the EV.Pratisakhya as forming the second half of the voicelessas h forms the secondaspirates kh and ph respectively (justhalf of gli, bh, &c.).They are therefore the guttural spirant(Greek) x ^^^^ ^^^ bilabial spirant f respectively.7c. Loss of consonants. This is almost entirely confinedto groups of consonants. When the group is final,the first element, as a rule, is dropped in pausa and inSandhi (28). In initial consonant groups a sibilant is oftenall butlost before a mute ; e. g. candra shining beside scandra ;stanayitnu m. beside tanayitnii thunder; tayii m. besidestayii thief; tr beside str m. star ; pasyati sees beside spasm. S2)y, -spas-ta seen. In a medial group the sibilants sand s regularly disappear between mutes e.; g. a-bhak-ta,3. s. aor. for a-bhak-s-ta beside a-bhak-s-i. A mute maydisappear between a nasal and a mute ;e. g. yun-dhi foryung-dhi.tt.Medially, voiced sibilants, the dental z, the cerebral z,and the palatal z, have disappeared before the voiced dentalsd, dh, and h, but nearly always leaving a trace of theirformer existence. Only in the two roots containing a,i