Re: Virama

At 15:36 28.3.2000 +0200, Kristian Jensen wrote:

>Ah, that makes a lot of sense actually. _ai_ can be seen to be a lowered
>_e_, while _au_ can be seen as a lowered _o_. In fact, if I'm not mistaken,
>_ai_ and _au_ is often pronounced as [E] and [O] respectively in some
>languages.
Actually Sanskrit _e_ is historically _*ai_ while _ai_ is _*aai_, and
correspondingly for _o_<_*au_, _au_<_*aau_.

In Sanskrit vowel gradation (ablaut) there are (inter alia) the following
series:

_i--e--ai_
_ii--e--ai_
_u--o--au_
_uu--o--au-

i.e. _i_ and _u_ in the weak grade can be both short and long, but _e/o_ is
always middle grade and _ai/au_ always long grade.



It is true that _ai_ and _au_ are [E:] [O:] in Urdu and western Hindi.


/BP

"Doubt grows with knowledge" -Goethe