Bengali language has its own beauty of pronunciation basically influenced by Ardh Magadhi / Behari languages as Bhojpuri, Maithil etc. actually these all languages or dialects were originated Pali / Prakrit, hence as written, actually its not pronounce same in Bengali for example - -
written - - pronounce
smriti sriti
sandhya sonddha
arany oranno
jaab jabo
bhajan bhojon
andhakar ondhokar many more Sanskrit words in Bengali is written correctly as Hindi or other Indian languages but pronunciation during talking just changes and that influence is existed by Pali / Prakrit, and that beauty makes language more sweet and attractive, if we want to know more about that, then this following link helps a lot,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pali
written - - pronounce
smriti sriti
sandhya sonddha
arany oranno
jaab jabo
bhajan bhojon
andhakar ondhokar many more Sanskrit words in Bengali is written correctly as Hindi or other Indian languages but pronunciation during talking just changes and that influence is existed by Pali / Prakrit, and that beauty makes language more sweet and attractive, if we want to know more about that, then this following link helps a lot,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pali
Vowels and diphthongs
- Sanskrit ai and au always monophthongize to Pali e and o, respectively
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- Examples: maitrī → mettā, auṣadha → osadha
- Sanskrit aya and ava likewise often reduce to Pali e and o
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- Examples: dhārayati → dhāreti, avatāra → otāra, bhavati → hoti
- Sanskrit avi becomes Pali e (i.e. avi → ai → e)
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- Example: sthavira → thera
- Sanskrit ṛ appears in Pali as a, i or u, often agreeing with the vowel in the following syllable. ṛ also sometimes becomes u after labial consonants.
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- Examples: kṛta → kata, tṛṣṇa → taṇha, smṛti → sati, ṛṣi → isi, dṛṣṭi → diṭṭhi, ṛddhi → iddhi, ṛju → uju, spṛṣṭa → phuṭṭha, vṛddha → vuddha
- Sanskrit long vowels are shortened before a sequence of two following consonants.
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- Examples: kṣānti → khanti, rājya → rajja, īśvara → issara, tīrṇa → tiṇṇa, pūrva → pubba
Consonants
Sound changes
- The Sanskrit sibilants ś, ṣ, and s merge as Pali s
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- Examples: śaraṇa → saraṇa, doṣa → dosa
- The Sanskrit stops ḍ and ḍh become ḷ and ḷh between vowels (as in Vedic)
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- Example: cakravāḍa → cakkavāḷa, virūḍha → virūḷha
Assimilations
General rules
- Many assimilations of one consonant to a neighboring consonant occurred in the development of Pali, producing a large number of geminate (double) consonants. Since aspiration of a geminate consonant is only phonetically detectable on the last consonant of a cluster, geminate kh, gh, ch, jh, ṭh, ḍh, th, dh, ph and bh appear as kkh, ggh, cch, jjh, ṭṭh, ḍḍh, tth, ddh, pph and bbh, not as khkh, ghgh etc.
- When assimilation would produce a geminate consonant (or a sequence of unaspirated stop+aspirated stop) at the beginning of a word, the initial geminate is simplified to a single consonant.
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- Examples: prāṇa → pāṇa (not ppāṇa), sthavira → thera (not tthera), dhyāna → jhāna (not jjhāna), jñāti → ñāti (not ññāti)
- When assimilation would produce a sequence of three consonants in the middle of a word, geminates are simplified until there are only two consonants in sequence.
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- Examples: uttrāsa → uttāsa (not utttāsa), mantra → manta (not mantta), indra → inda (not indda), vandhya → vañjha (not vañjjha)
- The sequence vv resulting from assimilation changes to bb
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- Example: sarva → savva → sabba, pravrajati → pavvajati → pabbajati, divya → divva → dibba, nirvāṇa → nivvāṇa → nibbāna
Total assimilation
Total assimilation, where one sound becomes identical to a neighboring sound, is of two types: progressive, where the assimilated sound becomes identical to the following sound; and regressive, where it becomes identical to the preceding sound.Progressive assimilations
- Internal visarga assimilates to a following voiceless stop or sibilant
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- Examples: duḥkṛta → dukkata, duḥkha → dukkha, duḥprajña → duppañña, niḥkrodha (=niṣkrodha) → nikkodha, niḥpakva (=niṣpakva) → nippakka, niḥśoka → nissoka, niḥsattva → nissatta
- In a sequence of two dissimilar Sanskrit stops, the first stop assimilates to the second stop
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- Examples: vimukti → vimutti, dugdha → duddha, utpāda → uppāda, pudgala → puggala, udghoṣa → ugghosa, adbhuta → abbhuta, śabda → sadda
- In a sequence of two dissimilar nasals, the first nasal assimilates to the second nasal
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- Example: unmatta → ummatta, pradyumna → pajjunna
- j assimilates to a following ñ (i.e., jñ becomes ññ)
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- Examples: prajñā → paññā, jñāti → ñāti
- The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate to a following stop, nasal, sibilant, or v
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- Examples: mārga → magga, karma → kamma, varṣa → vassa, kalpa → kappa, sarva → savva → sabba
- r assimilates to a following l
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- Examples: durlabha → dullabha, nirlopa → nillopa
- d sometimes assimilates to a following v, producing vv → bb
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- Examples: udvigna → uvvigga → ubbigga, dvādaśa → bārasa (beside dvādasa)
- t and d may assimilate to a following s or y when a morpheme boundary intervenes
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- Examples: ut+sava → ussava, ud+yāna → uyyāna
Regressive assimilations
- Nasals sometimes assimilate to a preceding stop (in other cases epenthesis occurs)
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- Examples: agni → aggi, ātman → atta, prāpnoti → pappoti, śaknoti → sakkoti
- m assimilates to an initial sibilant
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- Examples: smarati → sarati, smṛti → sati
- Nasals assimilate to a preceding stop+sibilant cluster, which then develops in the same way as such clusters without following nasals
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- Examples: tīkṣṇa → tikṣa → tikkha, lakṣmī → lakṣī →lakkhī
- The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate to a preceding stop, nasal, sibilant, or v
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- Examples: prāṇa → pāṇa, grāma → gāma, śrāvaka → sāvaka, agra → agga, indra → inda, pravrajati → pavvajati → pabbajati, aśru → assu
- y assimilates to preceding non-dental/retroflex stops or nasals
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- Examples: cyavati → cavati, jyotiṣ → joti, rājya → rajja, matsya → macchya → maccha, lapsyate → lacchyate → lacchati, abhyāgata → abbhāgata, ākhyāti → akkhāti, saṁkhyā → saṅkhā (but also saṅkhyā), ramya → ramma
- y assimilates to preceding non-initial v, producing vv → bb
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- Example: divya → divva → dibba, veditavya → veditavva → veditabba, bhāvya → bhavva → bhabba
- y and v assimilate to any preceding sibilant, producing ss
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- Examples: paśyati → passati, śyena → sena, aśva → assa, īśvara → issara, kariṣyati → karissati, tasya → tassa, svāmin → sāmī
- v sometimes assimilates to a preceding stop
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- Examples: pakva → pakka, catvāri → cattāri, sattva → satta, dhvaja → dhaja
Partial and mutual assimilation
- Sanskrit sibilants before a stop assimilate to that stop, and if that stop is not already aspirated, it becomes aspirated; e.g. śc, st, ṣṭ and sp become cch, tth, ṭṭh and pph
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- Examples: paścāt → pacchā, asti → atthi, stava → thava, śreṣṭha → seṭṭha, aṣṭa → aṭṭha, sparśa → phassa
- In sibilant-stop-liquid sequences, the liquid is assimilated to the preceding consonant, and the cluster behaves like sibilant-stop sequences; e.g. str and ṣṭr become tth and ṭṭh
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- Examples: śāstra → śasta → sattha, rāṣṭra → raṣṭa → raṭṭha
- t and p become c before s, and the sibilant assimilates to the preceding sound as an aspirate (i.e., the sequences ts and ps become cch)
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- Examples: vatsa → vaccha, apsaras → accharā
- A sibilant assimilates to a preceding k as an aspirate (i.e., the sequence kṣ becomes kkh)
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- Examples: bhikṣu → bhikkhu, kṣānti → khanti
- Any dental or retroflex stop or nasal followed by y converts to the corresponding palatal sound, and the y assimilates to this new consonant, i.e. ty, thy, dy, dhy, ny become cc, cch, jj, jjh, ññ; likewise ṇy becomes ññ. Nasals preceding a stop that becomes palatal share this change.
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- Examples: tyajati → cyajati → cajati, satya → sacya → sacca, mithyā → michyā → micchā, vidyā → vijyā → vijjā, madhya → majhya → majjha, anya → añya → añña, puṇya → puñya → puñña, vandhya → vañjhya → vañjjha → vañjha
- The sequence mr becomes mb, via the epenthesis of a stop between the nasal and liquid, followed by assimilation of the liquid to the stop and subsequent simplification of the resulting geminate.
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- Examples: āmra → ambra → amba, tāmra → tamba
Epenthesis
An epenthetic vowel is sometimes inserted between certain consonant-sequences. As with ṛ, the vowel may be a, i, or u, depending on the influence of a neighboring consonant or of the vowel in the following syllable. i is often found near i, y, or palatal consonants; u is found near u, v, or labial consonants.- Sequences of stop + nasal are sometimes separated by a or u
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- Example: ratna → ratana, padma → paduma (u influenced by labial m)
- The sequence sn may become sin initially
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- Examples: snāna → sināna, sneha → sineha
- i may be inserted between a consonant and l
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- Examples: kleśa → kilesa, glāna → gilāna, mlāyati → milāyati, ślāghati → silāghati
- An epenthetic vowel may be inserted between an initial sibilant and r
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- Example: śrī → sirī
- The sequence ry generally becomes riy (i influenced by following y), but is still treated as a two-consonant sequence for the purposes of vowel-shortening
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- Example: ārya → arya → ariya, sūrya → surya → suriya, vīrya → virya → viriya
- a or i is inserted between r and h
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- Example: arhati → arahati, garhā → garahā, barhiṣ → barihisa
- There is sporadic epenthesis between other consonant sequences
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- Examples: caitya → cetiya (not cecca), vajra → vajira (not vajja)
Other changes
- Any Sanskrit sibilant before a nasal becomes a sequence of nasal followed by h, i.e. ṣṇ, sn and sm become ṇh, nh, and mh
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- Examples: tṛṣṇa → taṇha, uṣṇīṣa → uṇhīsa, asmi → amhi
- The sequence śn becomes ñh, due to assimilation of the n to the preceding palatal sibilant
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- Example: praśna → praśña → pañha
- The sequences hy and hv undergo metathesis
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- Examples: jihvā → jivhā, gṛhya → gayha, guhya → guyha
- h undergoes metathesis with a following nasal
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- Example: gṛhṇāti → gaṇhāti
- y is geminated between e and a vowel
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- Examples: śreyas → seyya, Maitreya → Metteyya
- Voiced aspirates such as bh and gh on rare occasions become h
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- Examples: bhavati → hoti, -ebhiṣ → -ehi, laghu → lahu
- Dental and retroflex sounds sporadically change into one another
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- Examples: jñāna → ñāṇa (not ñāna), dahati → ḍahati (beside Pali dahati) nīḍa → nīla (not nīḷa), sthāna → ṭhāna (not thāna), duḥkṛta → dukkaṭa (beside Pali dukkata)
Exceptions
There are several notable exceptions to the rules above; many of them are common Prakrit words rather than borrowings from Sanskrit.- ārya → ayya (beside ariya)
- guru → garu (adj.) (beside guru (n.))
- puruṣa → purisa (not purusa)
- vṛkṣa → rukṣa → rukkha (not vakkha)