Saturday 25 July 2015

PRONUNCIATION IN BENGALI LANGUAGE

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

Vowels and diphthongs

  • Sanskrit ai and au always monophthongize to Pali e and o, respectively
Examples: maitrīmettā, auṣadhaosadha
  • Sanskrit aya and ava likewise often reduce to Pali e and o
Examples: dhārayatidhāreti, avatāraotāra, bhavatihoti
  • Sanskrit avi becomes Pali e (i.e. aviaie)
Example: sthavirathera
  • Sanskrit appears in Pali as a, i or u, often agreeing with the vowel in the following syllable. also sometimes becomes u after labial consonants.
Examples: kṛtakata, tṛṣṇataṇha, smṛtisati, ṛṣiisi, dṛṣṭidiṭṭhi, ṛddhiiddhi, ṛjuuju, spṛṣṭaphuṭṭha, vṛddhavuddha
  • Sanskrit long vowels are shortened before a sequence of two following consonants.
Examples: kṣāntikhanti, rājyarajja, īśvaraissara, tīrṇatiṇṇa, pūrvapubba

Consonants

Sound changes

  • The Sanskrit sibilants ś, , and s merge as Pali s
Examples: śaraṇasaraṇa, doṣadosa
  • The Sanskrit stops and ḍh become and ḷh between vowels (as in Vedic)
Example: cakravāḍacakkavāḷa, virūḍhavirūḷha

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.
Examples: prāṇapāṇa (not ppāṇa), sthavirathera (not tthera), dhyānajhāna (not jjhāna), jñātiñāti (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.
Examples: uttrāsauttāsa (not utttāsa), mantramanta (not mantta), indrainda (not indda), vandhyavañjha (not vañjjha)
  • The sequence vv resulting from assimilation changes to bb
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
Examples: duḥkṛtadukkata, duḥkhadukkha, duḥprajñaduppañña, niḥkrodha (=niṣkrodha) → nikkodha, niḥpakva (=niṣpakva) → nippakka, niḥśokanissoka, niḥsattvanissatta
  • In a sequence of two dissimilar Sanskrit stops, the first stop assimilates to the second stop
Examples: vimuktivimutti, dugdhaduddha, utpādauppāda, pudgalapuggala, udghoṣaugghosa, adbhutaabbhuta, śabdasadda
  • In a sequence of two dissimilar nasals, the first nasal assimilates to the second nasal
Example: unmattaummatta, pradyumnapajjunna
  • j assimilates to a following ñ (i.e., becomes ññ)
Examples: prajñāpaññā, jñātiñāti
  • The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate to a following stop, nasal, sibilant, or v
Examples: mārgamagga, karmakamma, varṣavassa, kalpakappa, sarva → savva → sabba
  • r assimilates to a following l
Examples: durlabhadullabha, nirlopanillopa
  • d sometimes assimilates to a following v, producing vv → bb
Examples: udvigna → uvvigga → ubbigga, dvādaśabārasa (beside dvādasa)
  • t and d may assimilate to a following s or y when a morpheme boundary intervenes
Examples: ut+savaussava, ud+yānauyyāna
Regressive assimilations
  • Nasals sometimes assimilate to a preceding stop (in other cases epenthesis occurs)
Examples: agniaggi, ātmanatta, prāpnotipappoti, śaknotisakkoti
  • m assimilates to an initial sibilant
Examples: smaratisarati, smṛtisati
  • Nasals assimilate to a preceding stop+sibilant cluster, which then develops in the same way as such clusters without following nasals
Examples: tīkṣṇa → tikṣa → tikkha, lakṣmī → lakṣī →lakkhī
  • The Sanskrit liquid consonants r and l assimilate to a preceding stop, nasal, sibilant, or v
Examples: prāṇapāṇa, grāmagāma, śrāvakasāvaka, agraagga, indrainda, pravrajati → pavvajati → pabbajati, aśruassu
  • y assimilates to preceding non-dental/retroflex stops or nasals
Examples: cyavaticavati, jyotiṣjoti, rājyarajja, matsya → macchya → maccha, lapsyate → lacchyate → lacchati, abhyāgataabbhāgata, ākhyātiakkhāti, saṁkhyāsaṅkhā (but also saṅkhyā), ramyaramma
  • y assimilates to preceding non-initial v, producing vv → bb
Example: divya → divva → dibba, veditavya → veditavva → veditabba, bhāvya → bhavva → bhabba
  • y and v assimilate to any preceding sibilant, producing ss
Examples: paśyatipassati, śyenasena, aśvaassa, īśvaraissara, kariṣyatikarissati, tasyatassa, svāminsāmī
  • v sometimes assimilates to a preceding stop
Examples: pakvapakka, catvāricattāri, sattvasatta, dhvajadhaja
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
Examples: paścātpacchā, astiatthi, stavathava, śreṣṭhaseṭṭha, aṣṭaaṭṭha, sparśaphassa
  • 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
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)
Examples: vatsavaccha, apsarasaccharā
  • A sibilant assimilates to a preceding k as an aspirate (i.e., the sequence kṣ becomes kkh)
Examples: bhikṣubhikkhu, kṣāntikhanti
  • 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.
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.
Examples: āmra → ambra → amba, tāmratamba

Epenthesis

An epenthetic vowel is sometimes inserted between certain consonant-sequences. As with , 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
Example: ratnaratana, padmapaduma (u influenced by labial m)
  • The sequence sn may become sin initially
Examples: snānasināna, snehasineha
  • i may be inserted between a consonant and l
Examples: kleśakilesa, glānagilāna, mlāyatimilāyati, ślāghatisilāghati
  • An epenthetic vowel may be inserted between an initial sibilant and r
Example: śrīsirī
  • 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
Example: ārya → arya → ariya, sūrya → surya → suriya, vīrya → virya → viriya
  • a or i is inserted between r and h
Example: arhatiarahati, garhāgarahā, barhiṣbarihisa
  • There is sporadic epenthesis between other consonant sequences
Examples: caityacetiya (not cecca), vajravajira (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
Examples: tṛṣṇataṇha, uṣṇīṣauṇhīsa, asmiamhi
  • The sequence śn becomes ñh, due to assimilation of the n to the preceding palatal sibilant
Example: praśna → praśña → pañha
Examples: jihvājivhā, gṛhyagayha, guhyaguyha
  • h undergoes metathesis with a following nasal
Example: gṛhṇātigaṇhāti
  • y is geminated between e and a vowel
Examples: śreyasseyya, MaitreyaMetteyya
  • Voiced aspirates such as bh and gh on rare occasions become h
Examples: bhavatihoti, -ebhiṣ-ehi, laghulahu
  • Dental and retroflex sounds sporadically change into one another
Examples: jñānañāṇa (not ñāna), dahatiḍahati (beside Pali dahati) nīḍanīla (not nīḷa), sthānaṭhāna (not thāna), duḥkṛtadukkaṭa (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.
  • āryaayya (beside ariya)
  • gurugaru (adj.) (beside guru (n.))
  • puruṣapurisa (not purusa)
  • vṛkṣa → rukṣa → rukkha (not vakkha)
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