TRACING VEDIC DIALECTS - People.fas.harvard.edu

New Mexico Spanish, where exacto > esauto or esaito and of modern
Provençal, where -s unv.C/V-, but -i vC-.
Here we have to take into account the nature of Vedic a, which was of a closed
variety and this different from open ā. This is clear from Pāṇini's last Sūtra
and has recently been shown by K. Hoffmann, Aufs.p. 552 sqq. Pluṭi cases like
TS 3.2.9.5 śosā moda-iva [śsʌ mda-iuəә] @ < śasa madeva [śəәsəә
məәdaiuəә], ŚB 4.3.2.14 othā modaiva indicate that pluṭi lenghtening of a
resulted in [] which is different from normal ā []. - In analogy to -az vC, -az
a- must have developed, at a time when pre-RV/Eastern -az vC > -e vC (sede,
and az D(h)> voḍha), no longer worked, via -au a- [ əә u əә] to -o , as for
example: *devaz asti > devəә u əәsti > devōsti. @
By the time of Pāṇini this had taken place already, as is evident from the
Sandhi employed in his grammar and his own rules at 6.1.72, 6.109 sqq. (cf.
P.Thieme, Pāṇ. and the Veda, p.46 sqq.). A Padapāṭhakāra at Pāṇ.'s time
then had to decide, for every single case of -e/-o, whether the following word
contained an original a- or not. This is simple in cases like *aśvo vahati
(where aśvo av° is impossible), more difficult in some cases where privative a-
or, worse, the question of augment or no augment is involved (see K.
Hoffmann, Inj. p. 146 sqq.). The only way to indicate what was intended was
to insert secondarily from the Padapāṭha the Sandhi form -e /-o found before
vC and to restore the "lost" a- thus: aśvo vahati, devo asti, namo astu. A
pronunciation devosti [devsti]@ left no other choice, even though the early
grammarians noticed that not elision but substitiution of two sounds by one
had taken place.
Now it is interesting to note that Pāṇini still describes alternative opinions
about the way to pronounce this Sandhi at 8.3.17 sqq. The generally taught
rule had been taught at 6.1.109 sqq. (substitution of -e a. -o a by e,o) 234 . The
effect of this "rule" is found in all the Vedic texts, with a few ad hoc
exceptions (e.g., PSOr glides -y-, MS-Kps, see below). This testifies to the
effectiveness of the efforts of the redactors following this line of grammatical
thought in establishing the final canon of the Ṛgveda 235 and of the various
Vedic schools.
Pāṇ. 8.3.17--20: 236 (the examples are taken from the Kāśikā)
234 Treated in detail by P. Thieme, Pāṇini and the Veda, p. 46 sqq.
235 See K.Hoffmann, Injunktiv, p. 147 sqq. An older investigation of the cases can be found
at Bartholomae, Studien zur idg. Sprachgeschichte, Halle 1890, p. 81 sqq; cf.Oldenberg,
Prolegomena, pp. 389, 447, also 434 sqq.
236 Cf. the treatment of these rules by Bronkhorst, diss. Leiden 1980, p.101 sqq.
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