Did Sapan write on visarga?

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MiphamFan
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Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:46 am

Did Sapan write on visarga?

Post by MiphamFan »

I really dislike the "echoing" pronunciation of visarga in modern Sanskrit.

Did Sapan comment on whether Sanskrit speakers in his time also echoed the preceding vowel or pronounce it as just an aspiration?
MiphamFan
Posts: 1097
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:46 am

Re: Did Sapan write on visarga?

Post by MiphamFan »

I notice visarga is not really pronounced at all in Tibetan
MiphamFan
Posts: 1097
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:46 am

Re: Did Sapan write on visarga?

Post by MiphamFan »

Pali cognates to Sanskrit words with visarga regular drop it or assimilate it to a succeeding consonant.

I guess that means circa 4th century BCE visarga was already very lightly pronounced if at all in daily practice. The modern pronunciation of "aha" "ihi" is completely ahistorical and ruins the metre of verses.
MiphamFan
Posts: 1097
Joined: Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:46 am

Re: Did Sapan write on visarga?

Post by MiphamFan »

Apparently there is a Vedic school of recitation surviving to the present that pronounces visarga as /f/:

https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=CK ... ls&f=false

It is even in Panini!
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