Page:Sanskrit Grammar by Whitney p1.djvu/55

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III. Quantity of sounds and syllables.

76. The Hindu grammarians take the pains to define the quantity of a consonant (without distinction among consonants of different classes) as half that of a short vowel.

77. They also define the quantity of a long (dīrgha) vowel or diphthong as twice that of a short (hrasva) vowel — making no distinction in this respect between the guṇa- and the vṛddhi-diphthongs.

78. Besides these two vowel-quantities, the Hindus acknowledge a third, called pluta (literally swimming), or protracted, and having three moras or three times the quantity of a short vowel. A protracted vowel is marked by a following figure 3: thus, आ३ ā3.

a. The protracted vowels are practically of rare occurrence (in RV., three cases; in AV., fifteen; in the Brāhmaṇa literature, decidedly more frequent). They are used in cases of questioning, especially of a balancing between two alternatives, and also of calling to a distance or urgently. The protraction is of the last syllable in a word, or in a whole phrase; and the protracted syllable has usually the acute tone, in addition to any other accent the word may have; sometimes it takes also anusvāra, or is made nasal.

b. Examples are: adháḥ svid āsī́3d upári svid āsī3t (RV.) was it, forsooth, below? was it, forsooth, above? idám bhū́yā́3 idā́3m íti (AV.) saying, is this more, or is that? ágnā́3i pátnīvā́3ḥ sómam piba (TS.) O Agni! thou with thy spouse! drink the soma.

c. A diphthong is protracted by prolongation of its first or a-element: thus, e to ā3i, o to ā3u.

d. The sign of protraction is also sometimes written as the result of accentual combination, when so-called kampa occurs: see below, 90 c, d.

79. For metrical purposes, syllables (not vowels) are distinguished by the grammarians as heavy (guru) or light (laghu). A syllable is heavy if its vowel is long, or short and followed by more than one consonant (“long by position”). Anusvāra and visarga count as full consonants in