II Structure
1. Introduction
1.1. General
Konkani is spoken in Goa as well as in parts of the neighboring states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala where Konkani speakers from Goa migrated mostly after the Portuguese conquest. This paper is restricted to Konkani dialects spoken in the states of Goa and Karnataka where the largest number of Konkani speakers are found. There are now more Konkani speakers in Karnataka than in Goa.
1.2. Dialects:
The Goan standard dialect of Konkani is based on Goa Hindu Konkani which was originally the speech of the Hindus from the New Conquests (i.e. areas conquered by the Portuguese in the latter half of the eighteenth century), but it is now spoken by Hindus all over Goa with minor variations. It is also spoken by the Christians of the New Conquests who form a small percentage of the Goan Christians. The vast majority of Goan Christians live in areas called the Old Conquests (areas conquered by the Portuguese in the first half of the sixteenth century). Their speech varies considerably from the speech of the Goan Hindus. They also speak two considerably different dialects: Bardes Christian dialect, spoken in Bardes and Tiswadi which form the northern part of the Old Conquests and Saxtti Christian dialect, spoken in Saxtti and Mormugao which form the southern part of the Old Conquests. However, these two dialects have certain common features which can be referred to as Goan Christian Konkani features. The major Konkani dialects of Karnataka are the Karnataka Saraswat dialect, spoken by the Saraswat Brahmans of the coastal districts of Karnataka, and Karnataka Christian dialect, spoken by Christians in the coastal districts of Karnataka. The Saraswats and Christians of Karnataka also speak considerably different dialects since they came to Karnataka from different parts of Goa and at different times. The Saraswats came from southern Old Conquests (Saxtti and Mormugao) in the sixteenth century because of Portuguese religious persecution. The Christians came in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries mainly from Bardes and Tiswadi.
1.3. Writings and scripts:
A good number of writings are available in four of the dialects mentioned above: Goa Hindu, Bardes Christian, Karnataka Christian and Karnataka Saraswat. The Karnataka Saraswat dialect includes the speech of the Gowda Saraswats as well as that of the Chitrapur Saraswats as the differences between these two varieties of speech are minor. Saxtti Christians generally use the Bardes dialect for writing. The Goan Hindus use the Nagari script in their writings but the Goan Christians use the Roman script. The Saraswats of Karnataka use the Nagari script in the North Kanara district but the Kannada script in Udupi and South Kanara. The Karnataka Christians use the Kannada script. The Nagari script has been adopted as the official script for Konkani in Goa. However, Goan Christians and the Konkani speakers of Karnataka are still unwilling to give up their old scripts in favor of Nagari.
1.4. The Goan standard dialect:
Among the various Konkani dialects, the Goan standard dialect, which is based on the Goa Hindu dialect, has clearly emerged as the dominant dialect. It has several points in its favor. It is spoken by the majority of the Konkani speakers in Goa with minor variations. It has the best literature if not the most abundant. It has already established itself as the school dialect in Goa. The textbooks all the way up to the university level are in this dialect. It is used in the government offices of Goa where Konkani has been adopted as the official language of the state. It does not show as much regional diversity as the Goa Christian speech. It also occupies a middle position among the Konkani dialects of Goa and Karnataka without too many archaisms, innovations, or non-Sanskrit loans that might hamper cross-dialectal communication. The information in this paper is based on the Goan standard dialect unless specified otherwise.
2. Phoneme inventory
2.1. Konkani phonemes (Goan standard dialect)
The phonemes of Konkani are given in Table 1.
Table 1: Consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Retroflex Velar Glottal Stops -vce, -asp p, pˡ t, tˡ c č t̥, t̥ˡ k, kˡ -vce, +asp tʰ, tʰˡ cʰ čʰ t̥ʰ, t̥ʰˡ kʰ, kʰˡ +vce, -asp b, bˡ d, dˡ j ǰ d̥, d̥ʰ g, gˡ +vce, +asp bʰ, bʰˡ dʰ, dʰˡ jʰ ǰʰ d̥, d̥ˡ gʰ, gʰˡ Fricatives f, fˡ s š h, hˡ Nasals -asp m, mˡ n, nˡ ñ n̥, n̥ˡ +asp mʰ nʰ Flaps r, rˡ Laterals -asp l, lˡ l̥, l̥ˡ +asp l̥ Glides -asp w, wˡ y +asp wʰ yʰ
Vowels Front Back, unrounded Back, rounded High i, ĩ u, ű Mid -low e, e͂ ə, ə͂ o, o͂ +low ɛ,ɛ͂ ʌ,ʌ͂ ɔ,ɔ͂ Low a, a͂
2.2. Phonemes in other dialects
In the Goan Christian dialects (Bardes Christian and Saxtti Christian), there are fewer vowel phonemes as the vowels ǝ and ʌ have merged with o and ɔ respectively. See Table 2.
Table 2: Vowel rounding in Goan Christian dialects Bardes Christian Saxtti Christian Goan Standard Gloss dhor dhor dhǝr hold kɔw-ɔ kɔl̥-ɔ kʌl̥-ɔ bud
The Karnataka Christian dialect has the phoneme pʰ which freely alternates with ƒ. As n͂ occurs in words of Portuguese origin and it is found only in those dialects which have such Portuguese loans. The Karnataka Christian dialect has the phoneme ɲ as well which occurs among other words in koŋn̥i, the name of the Konkani language casually pronounced.
3. Phonetic details and phoneme distribution
3.1. General
The alveolar and palatal stops are affricates. However, the phoneme j is phonetically (z) except word-initially, in gemination, and after a nasal. The consonants in the palatal column are alveopalatal except for the glides which are truly palatal. The sibilants becomes retroflex before a retroflex consonant. The retroflex voiced stops are pronounced as flaps except word-initially, in gemination, and after homorganic nasals. The voiced/voiceless contrast is found only in the stops and affricates. The sonorants are all voiced and the fricatives are all voiceless (except, of course, for (z) which is a variant of j). The retroflex lateral l̥ does not occur word-initially and the retroflex nasal n̥ occurs initially only in a couple of numeral such as n̥ǝw ‘nine’ and n̥ǝwwǝd ‘ninety’.
In the Karnataka Saraswat dialect, all initial-syllable vowels in disyllabic words have longer variants before single consonants, e.g. tini (tīni) ‘three’, sun-ǝ (sün-ǝ) ‘daughter-in-law’, yek-u (yëk-u) ‘one’ M, mor-u (mör-u) ‘peacock’, pan-ǝ (pän-ǝ) ‘leaf’, etc. In all dialects, vowels have longer variants in monosyllables.
3.2. The aspirate/ non-aspirate contrast
The aspirate/non-aspirate contrast is found in all stops and affricates except for the voiceless labial stop as the old voiceless aspirated stop has changed into the fricative (f) in the Goan standard dialect. Some dialects have pʰ as well which freely alternates with ƒ. The aspirate/non-aspirate contrast is also found in the glides and in the non-retroflex nasals and laterals. The initial-syllable vowel is shortened after the aspirates and also after the fricatives. Aspirates in a non-initial position are usually found only in careful speech in the Goan standard dialect - mostly, in Sanskrit loans. In most dialects, aspirates occur only in the initial position. Even in the initial position, unaspirated consonants are substituted for aspirates in several dialects but the contrast is still maintained by retaining the shorter vowel in the initial syllable.
Table 3: Initial syllable vowel shortening after an aspirate Initial C Gloss Initial C Gloss unaspirated aspirated kar car kʰar (khăr, kăr) salty gal cheek ghal (ghăl, găl) put, throw dar door dhar (dhăr, dăr) edge mar blow mhar (mhăr, măr) Mahar (caste)
3.3. There is a palatalized/non-palatalized contrast in Konkani. The examples in Table 4 illustrate the formation of palatalized consonants. Palatali zation is indicated by [ ˡ ].
Table 4: Formation of palatalized consonants DIR SG OBL SG Gloss rup-ɛ͂ rup- ˡa silver ãb-ɔ ãb- ˡa mango kʰa-t-ɔ kʰa-t-ˡa eater matʰ-ɛ͂ matʰ-ˡa head pɛd-ɔ pɛd-ˡa soldier mɔt̥-ɔ mɔt̥-ˡa fat ADJ M pit̥ʰ-ɔ pit̥ʰ-ˡa powder čɛd̥-ɔ čɛd̥-ˡa boy pakʰ-ɔ pakʰ-ˡa butterfly nʌƒ-ɔ nʌƒ-ˡa profit jʌm-ɔ jʌm-ˡa collection dɛn̥-ɛ͂ dɛn̥-ˡa gift mɔn-ɔ mɔn-ˡa dumb ADJ M ul-ɔ ul-ˡa call kʌl̥-ɔ kʌl̥-ˡa bud diw-ɔ diw-ˡa lamp
In the case of sonorants, the palatalized/non-palatalized contrast is found only among the unaspirated consonants. Among the glides, only the unaspirated labio-velar glide shows this contrast. The palatalized/ non-palatalized contrast is found in all obstruents except for the alveolars and the palatals. Where a palatalized alveolar is expected according to the grammatical pattern, a palatal is found instead.
Table 5: Replacement of an alveolar affricate or fricative by a palatal one. DIR SG OBL SG Gloss mɔc-ɔ mɔč-a shoe uj-ɔ u ǰ-a fire pis-ɔ pis˘-a madman
In Konkani dialects other than Saxtti Christian, the palatalized consonants occur only before the vowels a, o, and occasionally before u. In the Saxtti Christian dialect, however, they also occur in the word-final position, e.g. watˡ‘candle’, marˡ ‘hit’ 2 SG IMP.
Palatalized consonants contrast with unpalatalized consonant + y clusters. Compare the OBL PL forms in Table 6.
Table 6: Palatalized consonants and unpalatalized consonant + y clusters DIR SG OBL PL Gloss DIR SG OBL PL Gloss kʰa-t-ɔ kʰat-ˡa͂ ‘eater’ mat-i mat-y-a͂ ‘soil’ matʰ-ɛ͂ matʰ-ˡa͂ ‘head’ potʰ-i potʰ-y-a͂ ‘book’ bʰal-ɔ bʰal-ˡa͂ ‘spear’ bʰal-i bʰal-y-a͂ ‘spear’ tal̥-ɔ tal̥-ˡa͂ ‘voice’ tal̥-i tal̥-y-a͂ ‘clap’ bor-i bor-ˡo ‘good’ dor-i dor-y-o ‘rope’
In Nagari and Kannada orthography, a palatalized consonant is often represented as if the consonant is followed by y, whereas a consonant + y cluster is represented as if the consonant letter is followed by iy. However, representing items like mat-y-a͂, potʰ-y-a͂, bʰal-y-a͂, tal̥-y-a͂, dor-y-o, etc. as if they consist of three syllables is misleading. According to their phonological behavior, these are disyllabic words and not trisyllabic. They do not show a shortening of the initial syllable vowel as polysyllabic words (words consisting of three or more syllables) do in the Goan dialects. (See polysyllabic shortening described in 3.5).
Palatalized aspirates occur mostly in Sanskrit loans and most of these are found only in the intervocalic position. So, dialects which have aspirate consonants only in the initial position cannot have palatalized aspirates except the few that occur initially.
3.4. There is a contrast between oral and nasal vowels in Konkani. See Table 7 for examples: Table 7: Nasal vowels Item Gloss Item Gloss mot̥ -i fat F DIR SG mot̥-i͂ fat N DIR PL mt̥-ɛ fat M DIR PL mɔt̥-ɛ͂ ability DIR SG tak buttermilk DIR SG ta͂k ability DIR SG sut̥ be free 2 SG IMP su͂t̥ dried ginger DIR SG
Konkani is said to be a nasal language. This description is not inaccurate. In relation to Marathi in which nasal vowels have undergone widespread denasalization, Konkani must sound very nasal indeed. In Konkani, nasality can spread from a nasal consonant or vowel through regressive assimilation across sonorants and glides through more than one syllable. In many languages, a nasal vowel is followed by a short homogranic nasal consonant before the following consonant. In Konkani this can occur even across a word boundary. Thus, un̥-ɛ͂ kǝr ‘decrease’ can sound like (un̥ɛ͂ ŋkǝr). Vowel nasalization has come about through progressive assimilation as well. A word final vowel becomes nasal when it is preceded by a nasal consonant. This neutralizes the contrast between an oral vowel and a nasal vowel in the word-final position after a nasal consonant. For example, ordinarily, a class 1 adjective in Konkani ends in an oral vowel in M PL and F SG and in a nasal vowel in N SG and N PL. However, in the case of un̥-ɔ ‘less’, the M PL and the N SG both end up the same at the surface and the F SG and the N PL and the N PL forms also end up the same at the surface because of the spread of nasalization from the nasal consonant to the word-final vowel. See Table 8.
Table 8: Neutralization of contrast M PL NSG F SG NPL Gloss tʰɔd̥-ɛ tʰɔd̥-ɛ͂ tʰod̥-i tʰɔd̥-i͂ few un̥-ɛ (un̥ɛ͂) un̥-ɛ͂ un̥-i (un̥-i͂) un̥-i͂ less 3.5. Temporal compensation
According to what the phoneticians call the principle of temporal compensation, units of speech such as words tend to undergo quantitative adjustment so as to approach equal duration in a given environment although they might vary in terms of number of syllables as well as number of segments. The relatively short units stretch and the relatively long units contract in this process. Konkani is a good candidate to exemplify this principle. See Table 9.
Table 9: Monosyllabic lengthening and polysyllabic shortening in Konkani ut̥ - ‘get up’ Item in Item in Gloss Phonemic form Phonetic form ut̥ (u͂t̥) 2 SG IMP ut̥-a (ut̥a) 2 PL IMP ut̥-t̥-a (ut̥t̥a) 3 SG PRES IMPERF ut̥-t̥-ʌl-ɔ (u͂t̥t̥ʌlɔ) 3 SG FUT
The morpheme ut̥ is perceptibly longer in the monosyllabic 2 SG IMP form and perceptibly shorter in the trisyllabic 3 SG FUT form than in the disyllabic 2 PL IMP and 3 SG PRES IMPERF forms. There is evidence from comparative data that this is a reflection of actual sound changes. The cognates of Konkani monosyllabic words like ut̥ do not show any perceptible lengthening in related languages such as Hindi. The perceptible polysyllabic shortening characteristic of the Goan dialects of Konkani is absent even in the non-Goan dialects of Konkani.
The fact that such quantitative adjustment is not limited to the initial syllable can be seen from the examples in Table 10.
Table 10: Temporal compensation as reflected in Konkani plural formation 1. F SG F PL Gloss b-i b-i(y) -o seed dor-i dor-y-o rope bʰakr-i bʰakr-y-o flat bread mhatar-i mhatar-ˡ-o old woman 2. N SG N PL Gloss j-u͂ j-u͂ (w͂)-a͂ yoke tar-u͂ tar-w͂-a͂ ship wasr-u͂ wasr-Ø-a͂ calf
Note the modification of the feminine -i nouns in the plural is 1. When the plural suffix -o is added, the stem-final -i remains a vowel in the case of the monosyllabic stems, but is reduced to a glide in the case of the disyllabic stems which have a single intervocalic consonant and to mere palatalization of the preceding consonant in the case of longer stems (i.e., disyllabic stems which have more than one consonant in the medial position and stems containing more than two syllables). The stem-final -u͂ behaves similarly in the neuter nouns in 2. When the plural suffix -a͂ is added, it remains a vowel in the case of the monosyllabic stems and is reduced to a glide in the case of the disyllabic stems which have a single intervocalic consonant. However, it is reduced to zero in the case of longer stems.
3.6. Glides before word-initial vowels
Word-initially, front vowels are preceded by the palatal glide and back rounded vowels are preceded by the labio-velar glide in the Konkani dialects of Karnataka. This is a phonological characteristic of the South Dravidian languages which earlier prevailed also in Goa since Goa was ruled by Kannada dynasties for several centuries before the advent of the Portuguese. The Konkani dictionaries prepared by the Portuguese missionaries in the seventeenth century reflect the presence of such glides in Old Konkani.
4. Phonological rules and alternations:
The major phonological rules along with the alternations are based on or described in the following paragraphs:
4.1. Vowel height assimilation
Lower mid vowels are replaced by higher mid vowels when a high vowel or higher mid vowel occurs in the next syllable; e.g. ‘fall’ (INTRANS) VB STEM pʌd̥-ʌ-, 3 SG SUBJ pǝd̥-ši (< pʌdɝši < pʌd̥-ʌ-ši), 3 SG PRES IMPERF pʌt̥-t̥-a (< pʌd̥-t-a < pʌd̥-ʌ-t-a); ‘break’ (INTRANS) VB STEM mɔd̥-ʌ-, infinitive mod̥-u͂-k, 3 SG PRES IMPERF mɔt̥-t-a < mɔt̥-ʌ-t-a); ‘break’ (TRANS) VB STEM mɔt̥-i, infinitive mod̥-u͂-k, 3 SG PRES IMPERF mot̥-t̥-a (< mod̥-t-a < mod̥-i-t-a < mɔt̥-i-t-a). This rule must apply prior to the vowel syncope rule with which it has a counter bleeding relationship.
4.2. Vowel rounding
In the Karnataka Saraswat dialect, the vowel ǝ is replaced by o when the vowel u occurs in the following syllable, e.g. ‘do’ 2 SG IMP kǝri, 1 SG OPT kor-u͂, infinitive kor-č-a-kʌ (< kor-u͂-č-a-kʌ < kɔr-uS-č-a-kʌ). In the Karnataka Christian dialect, the mid vowels ǝ and ʌ are replaced by o and ɔ respectively when a rounded vowel occurs in the following syllable, e.g. ‘do’ 2 SG IMP kǝr, 1 SG OPT kor-u͂, infinitive kǝr-č-a-k (< kǝr-u͂-č-a-k).; ‘bud’ DIR PL kʌl̥-ɛ, DIR SG kɔl̥-ɔ. In the Karnataka Saraswat dialect, the vowel rounding rule must apply prior to the vowel syncope rule, but in the Karnataka Christian dialect, it applies after the syncope rule.
4.3. Vowel syncope:
A vowel is deleted in a medial syllable (i.e., in the environment VC_CV) provided that there is no cluster of non-homorganic consonants next to it, e.g. ‘stone’ DIR SG fator, OBL SG fatr-a; ‘water’ DIR SG udʌk, OBL SG udk-a / utk-a; ‘firewood’ DIR SG la͂kud̥, OBL SG la͂kud̥-a; ‘lotus’ DIR SG sal̥ik, OBL SG sal̥k-a; ‘place’ (TRANS) VB STEM dǝwǝr-i-, 3 SG SUBJ dǝrw-i-t, 3 SG PRES IMPERF dǝwǝr-t-a. If a vowel at a morpheme boundary and another vowel in the same word both meet the conditions for syncope, it is the vowel at the morpheme boundary that undergoes syncope.
The syncope rule feeds many rules dealing with consonant replacement (see 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 4.11, 4.12, 4.13, 4.14) as it brings about consonant clusters which are then subject to various assimilatory processes.
4.4. Reduction of high vowels before another vowel
Under temporal compensation (see 3.5), it has been seen that the high vowels i and u are reduced to glides y and w respectively before another vowel when they occur in the second syllable after a single consonant. It has also been seen that they are further reduced to palatalization (of the preceding consonant) and Ø respectively when they occur before another vowel in the second syllable after a consonant cluster or in a later syllable. For examples, see Table 10.
4.5. Final vowel elision
In the Karnataka Saraswat dialect, any word taken in isolation ends in a vowel, but in connected speech all word-final vowels are elided in words containing more than one syllable when another word follows without a pause, e.g. haw͂ʌ takka appǝyta͂ (haw͂ʌ ‘I’, takka ‘him’, appǝyta͂ ‘call’) is pronounced as haw͂ tak appǝyta͂. Such vowel elision in connected speech is found in the Saxtti Christian dialect as well. In both dialects, if the elided vowel is a front vowel, the preceding consonant is palatalized.
4.6. Final vowel addition in Karnataka Christian
In the Karnataka Christian dialect, a short predictable vowel [ i̥ ] (high back rounded vowel) may optionally be added to words ending in a consonant. If the preceding consonant is y, this predictable vowel becomes i̥. If the preceding consonant is a labial, or if the vowel in the preceding syllable is rounded, the predictable vowel becomes u. See Table 11.
Table 11: Final vowel addition in Karnataka Christian Item Gloss Item Gloss kan ~ kaniˇ ear kar ~ kariˇ car muy ~ muyiˇ ant gay ~ gayiˇ cow lok ~ lokuˇ people kam ~ kamuˇ work
It has been pointed out earlier that vowels in monosyllabic words are lengthened. These long vowels remain long even when a short vowel is added to the monosyllabic words as shown here. See Table 12.
Table 12: Vowel lengthening in shorter words DIR SG OBL SG Gloss kan (ka͂n) ~ kanĭ (ka͂niĭ) kan-a (kana) ear muy (mu͂y) ~ muyĭ (mu͂yĭ) muy-e (muye) ant lok (lök) ~ loku͂ (lɔku͂) lɔk-a (lɔka) people
A word ending in a geminate stop must compulsorily add the predictable vowel at the end. Words do not normally end in a geminate stop except in some adjectives ending in a consonant. The final consonant can be geminated in order to convey an intensive meaning. Instead of a geminate, a homorganic nasal followed by the consonant is found in words in which the final consonant is preceded by a nasal vowel. See Table 13.
Table 13: Gemination of word-final stop ADJ gloss ADJ with Gloss intensive meaning dat̥ thick dat̥t̥i very thick cǝd̥ much cǝd̥d̥i very much sobit pretty sobitti very pretty la͂b long lambu very long ru͂d wide rundu very wide,
Yet another context in which such vowel addition is compulsory is the addition of the suffix -y ‘also’ or the emphatic suffix -c after a word. When one of these suffixes is added to a word, the word stress shifts from the initial syllable to the final syllable ending with one of these suffixes. If the word to which one of these suffixes is added ends in a vowel, no further vowel addition is necessary before the suffix, but if the word ends in a consonant then the predictable vowel must be added to it before adding the suffix. For example, nátu ‘grandson’, natúc ‘the grandson himself’, natúy ‘also the grandson’; nat ‘granddaughter’, natíc ‘the granddaughter herself’, natíy ‘also the granddaughter’. The consonant of the emphatic suffix is often geminated, in which case, another predictable vowel gets added after the suffix. For example, natúc ~ natúccu ‘the grandson himself’, natíc ~ natícci ‘the granddaughter herself’.
4.7. Final vowel preservation in an accented syllable in Saxtti Christian
What might look like vowel addition in the Saxtti Christian dialect before the suffix -y ‘also and the emphatic suffix -č, (corresponding to Karnataka Christian -c) and also at the end of a sentence with a yes-no question intonation, however, is not a case of vowel addition. See Table 14.
Table 14: Old Konkani final short vowels in Saxtti Christian
Item Gloss Item Gloss put son SG put son PL put-ú-č the son himself put-ɔ́-č the sons themselves put-ú-y also the son put-ɔ́-y also the sons put-u? Is it the son? put-ɔ? Is it the sons? wat-́ candle wat-í-č the candle itself wat-í-y also the candle wat-i? Is it the candle?
The vowels involved here are i, u and ɔ. If a word ends in a palatalized consonant, the vowel that appears after it is predictably i. Elsewhere, the vowel u or ɔ might appear. These vowels, however, are not phonetically predictable. What is here is a case of retention or preservation of vowels which have been lost in all other environments. There is historical and comparative evidence from Old Konkani and the Karnataka Saraswat dialect (which preserves the word-final short vowels of Old Konkani) that these vowels are original as can be seen in Table 15.
Table 15: Historical evidence
Saxtti Christian Old Konkani Gloss yek, yeku yekŭ One M yɛk, yekɔ yɛkʌ one N yekˡ, yeki yekiĭ One F dew, dewu dewŭ god SG dɛw, dɛwɔ dewʌ god PL watˡ, wati tinĭ three
In the Saxtti Christian dialect, however, these vowels were lost except in an accented syllable. The phonetic environment that favors the retention of the vowels in this dialect appears to be accent; stress accent where a stressed suffix is added and pitch accent where there is yes-no question intonation. Since the vowel ĭ palatalized the preceding consonant before it disappeared, it appears predictably after a palatalized consonant. Note that in Saxtti Christian, there is no vowel ʌ since it has merged with ɔ. See Table 2.
4.8. Devoicing of stops
Voiced stops are replaced by voiceless ones before voiceless consonants; e.g. ‘bite’ VB STEM cab-ʌ-, 2 SG SUBJ cab-ʌ-t, 3 SG PRES IMPERF cab-t-a or cap-t-a (< cab-ʌ-t-a); ‘fart’ VB STEM pad-ʌ-, 2 SG SUBJ pad-ʌ-t, 3 SG PRES IMPERF pat-t-a (< pad-t-a < pad-ʌ-t-a); ‘grow’ VB STEM wad̥-ʌ-, 2 SG SUBJ wad̥-ʌ-t, 3 SG PRES IMPERF wat̥-t̥-a (< wad̥-t-a < wad̥-ʌ-t-a); ‘pray’ VB STEM mag-ʌ-, 2 SG SUBJ mag-ʌ-t, 3 SG PRES IMPERF mag-t-a or mak-t-a (< mag-ʌ-t-a).
4.9. Palatalization of alveolar affricates and sibilant
Alveolar affricates and the alveolar sibilant s are replaced by their palatal counterparts before front vowels and before palatal consonants; e.g. ‘bamboo’ DIR SG wa͂s-, DIR PL was-; ‘nephew’ DIR SG bhac-, DIR PL bhac-; ‘grandfather’ DIR SG aj-, DIR PL aj-; ‘burn’ (INTRANS) VB STEM las--, (TRANS) VB STEM las-i-, 2 SG SUBJ of both las-si (< las--si and las-i-si), participle N SG of both las-c- (< las-c- < las-u-c-).
4.10. Retroflection of dentals and alveolars after a retroflex consonant
Dental and alveolar consonants with retroflex counterparts (such as t, d, n, l) are replaced by retroflex ones ( t, d, n, l) after retroflex consonants; e.g. ‘wall’ DIR SG wnt, OBL SG wnt -i (< wnt-i < wnt-i); ‘turmeric’ DIR SG hld, OBL SG hld-i (< hld-i < hld-i); ‘break’ (TRANS) VB STEM mod-i-, 3 SG PRES IMPERF mot-t-a (< mod-t-a
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