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Re: Virama

From:BP Jonsson <bpj@...>
Date:Tuesday, March 28, 2000, 15:29
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