Hello,

In response to this “phonetical” thread, the question persists for me why 
vocalic ṛ and consonantal ra are considered “savarṇas” in the mūrdhanya series. 
(Siddhānta Kaumudī I.10.) Currently. In all the Sanskrit regional “dialects" I 
know of they are pronounced, in whole or part, as alveolars. Are we to presume 
that somehow these once were actually cerebals. Or… was Pāṇini wrong, here?

Jim Ryan

> On Sep 26, 2021, at 11:36 AM, Madhav Deshpande via INDOLOGY 
> <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Thanks, Harry, for sharing these articles. Best,
> 
> Madhav
> 
> Madhav M. Deshpande
> Professor Emeritus, Sanskrit and Linguistics
> University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
> Senior Fellow, Oxford Center for Hindu Studies
> Adjunct Professor, National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bangalore, India
> 
> [Residence: Campbell, California, USA]
> 
> 
> On Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 11:26 AM Harry Spier via INDOLOGY 
> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> Dear all,
> There are two articles by SK Chatterji written 25 years apart titled "The 
> Pronounciation of Sanskrit" , same title, different articles.  I'm attaching 
> them for whoever is interested.  
> Harry Spier
> 
> 
> On Sun, Sep 26, 2021 at 1:28 PM Hock, Hans Henrich via INDOLOGY 
> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> Dear All,
> 
> As I recall, the issue of how Sanskrit is pronounced in modern (i.e. early 
> 20th-century) India is addressed in an article by Suniti Kumar Chatterji –
> 
> Chatterji, Suniti Kumar. The pronunciation of Sanskrit. Indian Linguistics, 
> (1961) vol. 21, pp. 61-82. Originally: K. B. Pathak commemoration volume, 
> 330-349. Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1934.
> 
> For the ancient period, there are the Prātiśākhyas of course (the source for 
> Allen’s and Verma’s publications; Vidhata Mishra largely repeats Verma). On 
> the earliest recoverable pronunciation of syllabic ṛ as [ara] (with both [a]s 
> a quarter mora), I have published a paper: Were ṛ and ḷ velar in early 
> Sanskrit? Vidyā-Vratin: Professor A. M. Ghatage felicitation volume, ed. by 
> V. N. Jha, 69-94. (Sri Garib Dass Oriental Series, 160.) Delhi: Sri Satguru 
> Publications, 1992
> 
> To teach retroflex to American students I ask them to pronounce their r and, 
> while they are doing so, press the tongue hard against the roof of the mouth, 
> which produces a retroflex stop ṭ that is quite distinct from their t sound.
> 
> In general, I have found it useful to adopt one of the regional variants of 
> modern Indian pronounciations (I use the northern one with ri for ṛ and gy 
> for jñ (while properly warning the students that these are modern 
> pronunciations). By becoming familiar with this way of pronouncing Sanskrit 
> students will find it easier to follow Indian Sanskritists when they are 
> speaking/pronouncing Sanskrit. I also urge students to keep their aspirates 
> and nonaspirates and their dentals and retroflexes as distinct as possible, 
> telling them that when I was beginning to study Sanskrit I sometimes spent 
> fruitless hours locating something in the dictionary because of looking up 
> under the “wrong t”.
> 
> I hope some of you will find these remarks interesting.
> 
> All the best – stay safe,
> 
> Hans Henrich
> 
> 
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