Quantity of Vowels.
All vowels may be short or long, with the exception of the unmodified breathing (Rapp's "Urlaut "), which is always short.
The sound of the long a we have in psalm, messa (It.); short, in Sam. ود
" i "
ų دو وو neat, Italia; " fool, usarono (It.); knit. full.[1]
The sound of ě we have in bird. 23 دو work.
Diphthongs.
From the organic local succession of the three simple vowels a, i, u, it follows that real compound vowels can only be formed with a, as the first and most independent vowel, for their basis. The a, on its onward passage from the throat to the aperture of the mouth, inay be followed or modified by i or u. It may embrace the palatal and labial vowels, and carry them along with it without having to retrace its steps, or occasioning any stoppage, which of course would at once change the vowel into the semi-vowel. In Sanskrit. therefore, the palatal and labial vowels, if brought in immediate contact with a following a, relapse naturally into their corresponding semi-vowels, y and w, and never form the base of diphthongs. The vowels i+a, or u+a, if pronounced in quick succession, become ya and wa, but they will never coalesce into one vocal sound, because the intonation of the a lies behind that of i; the vocal flatus has to be inverted, and this inversion aniounts in fact to a consonantal stoppage sufficient to change the vowels i and u into the semi-vowels y and w.
The four Bases of Diphthongs.
According to our definition of diphthongs, their basis can only be guttural; but as the guttural a may be short or long, and as the two unmodified vowels (ě, ŏ) lie even behind the guttural point of contact, we get really a four-fold basis for diphthong sounds. Each
- ↑ The examples are mostly taken from Ellis, who distinguishes between the short a in messa and the stopped a in Sam; a distinction which, though essential in a theoretical analysis, does not require to be expressed in alphabetical notation.
