Topics in Sanskrit Phonology
, A. M. Zwicky Jr. 1965
A set of ordered rules accounting for a wide variety of Sanskrit sandhi phenomena are presented and defended. It is demonstrated that these phenomena, which have traditionally been considered as quite separate and unrelated processes, are in fact intimately connected.
Chapter 1 contains a brief formal account of the linguistic principles underlying the analyses in the following chapters.
In Chapter 2 the rules of vowel sandhi are examined. It is shown that these rules must apply cyclically.
In Chapter 3 the traditional rules for the retroflexion of s and n and for assimilation of retroflexion are restated in terms of distinctive features.
Chapter 4 deals with the relationship of the retroflexion rules to other morphophonemic processes – to internal sandhi rules for roots in ks and to general spirant sandhi rules. Another set of cyclic rules is discovered, and the traditional treatment of these rules is examined and criticized.
Chapter 5 is concerned with the features of aspiration and voicing. Grassman’s Law and Bartholomae’s Law are formulated as synchronic rules of Sanskrit, and evidence for considering voiceless aspirates as clusters is adduced.
In Chapter 6 the relationship of sandhi rules for r and s to the rules in the preceding chapters is examined.
Thesis supervisor: Morris Halle
Title: Professor of Modern Languages
Table of Contents
1 Introduction 1
1 Purpose and scope 1
2 Sources 1
3 Linguistic framework 3
1 The input ot the phonological component 3
2 The classificatory distinctive features 6
3 Phonemes and segments 7
4 The operation of the phonological component 9
1 The form of the rules 10
1 General conventions 10
2 Abbreviatory notations 12
2 The ordering of the rules 19
4 Organization 22
5 Transcription 23
1 The retroflex consonants and r 27
2 Stridency 30
3 Tenseness 31
4 The glides 34
5 The syllabic liquids 35
2 Vowel Sandhi
1 Internal and external sandhi 36
2 Internal vowel sandhi 37
3 Cyclical rules 43
4 External vowel sandhi 47
3 Retroflexion 57
1 The retroflex spirant s 57
2 The retroflex nasal n 61
3 The retroflex oral stops 65
4 Assimilation of retroflexion 70
4 Roots in s, s, and ks 75
1 Internal sandhi 75
1 The problem 75
2 Spirant-shift rules 77
3 Cyclical rules 78
4 Roots in ks 83
2 Some assimilations of position 90
1 Internal palatality assimilation 90
2 External palatality assimilation 93
3 External spirant assimilation 96
4 The sàch rule 96
5 Spirant insertion 97
6 Visarga rules 99
3 Excursus on relative ordering 100
1 Types of ordering 100
2 Whitney and ordering 104
5 Aspiration and voicing 109
1 Grassmann’s Law 109
2 Bartholomae’s Law 112
3 Reformulation 115
4 Evidence 120
1 The union vowel 120
2 Consonants of reduplication 125
3 The roots jaks 127
5 Voicing assimilation 131
1 Internal voicing assimilation 131
2 External voicing assimilation 132
6 Appendix 132
6 The sandhi of r and s 137
1 External sandhi 137
1 Sandhi after noncompact vowels 138
2 Sandhi after a and a 142
2 Internal sandhi 148
Appendix: summary of rules and ordering 151