1. INTRODUCTION1I wish to extend my sincere thanks to the reviewers of this manuscript.
⌅Pali is a
Middle Indo-Aryan language and is no longer actively spoken, though it
is the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism. As such, many still
seek out its grammar as it is the primary language used in Theravada
Buddhist chants, prayers, and scriptures. Though many detailed grammar
textbooks exist (e.g., Collins, 2006Collins, S. (2006). A Pali Grammar for Students. Chiang Mai, Thailand: Silkworm Books.
), the study of Pali linguistics has, until recently, lagged. Junghare’s (1979)Junghare, I. (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
study of Pali phonology served as an impetus for a greater
understanding of Pali as a linguistic system. Since then, a steady
stream of studies (Suzuki, 2002aSuzuki, Y. (2002a). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 1. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 75, 97-125.
,bSuzuki, Y. (2002b). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 2. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 76, 63-86.
; Gupta, 2003Gupta, M. (2003). Linguistics in Pali. New Delhi, India: Sundeep Prakashan.
; Schmeiser, 2008Schmeiser, B. (2008). A gestural approach to gemination and nasals in Pali. In E. Tummons & S. Lux (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 Mid-America Linguistics Conference: Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 30., 302-314. https://doi.org/10.17161/KWPL.1808.3924
; Dutta, 2017Dutta, H. (2017). Strength asymmetries and Pali geminates: An OT account. The EFL Journal, 8(1), 49-65.
) has directly treated issues in Pali phonology or others (Lahiri & Hankamer, 1988Lahiri, A., & J. Hankamer, (1988). The timing of geminate consonants. Journal of Phonetics, 16(3), 327-338. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30506-6
; Yu Cho, 1995Yu Cho, Y. M. (1995). In defense of juncture rules/constraints. 어학연구. Language Research, 31(4), 1-26.
; Cser, 2000Cser, A. (2000). Phonological models of sonority. The Even Yearbook, 4, 1-18.
; Wilson, 2001Wilson, C. (2001). Consonant cluster neutralisation and targeted constraints. Phonology, 18, 147-197. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0952675701004043
; Wright, 2002Wright, J. C. (2002). The Pali Subodhālankāra and Dandin’s Kāvyādarśa. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 65(2), 323-341. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X02000125
; Hock2 Hock (2010, p. 87) treats how consonant clusters in Sanskrit change to “aspirate” (his
quotes) clusters in Middle Indo-Aryan, of which Pali is a part. In his
study, he mentions a two-step process, proposed initially by Palaschke & Dressler (1999), in which gemination occurs and then postaspiration (e.g., Sanskrit asti to Middle Indo-Aryan atthi ‘is’). In addition, Hock (2010, p. 88) includes an intriguing connection to Andalusian Spanish (e.g., ‘estos casos’ [ethokhaso],
‘these cases’); though outside of the scope of the current study on
Pali, it bears mentioning and seems to merit further research. , 2010Hock, H. H. (2010). Middle Indo-Aryan “aspirate” clusters revisited. Studia Orientalia Electronica, 108, 87-102.
; Krishnaswamy, et al., 2019Krishnaswamy,
M., I. Dutta, & U. Banerjee (2019). Active cavity expansion through
lingual adjustments to place of constriction in voiced geminates. In Proceedings of Meetings on Acoustics 175ASA, vol. 33(1), p. 060002. Acoustical Society of America. https://doi.org/10.1121/2.0001024
; Goswami, 2021Goswami, A. (2021). Marked geminates as evidence of sonorants in Sylheti Bangla: An optimality account. Acta Linguistica Asiatica, 11(1), 99-112. https://doi.org/10.4312/ala.11.1.99-112
) have included the language in their discussion
pertaining to other languages on the Indian subcontinent; a common area
of interest in all these works is Pali gemination.
In Sanskrit, word-medial consonant clusters were often3 The exception to this is when a nasal is in coda position in a heterosyllabic sequence, as in Sanskrit: danta Pali: danta ‘subdued’. In these cases, the nasal blocks gemination. transmitted into Pali as geminates, as a result of either progressive or regressive assimilation, as in (1):
| (1) | a. progressive assimilation: Sanskrit: cakra ‘wheel’ → Pali: cakka |
| b. regressive assimilation: Sanskrit: sapta ‘seven’ → Pali: satta |
Near the turn of the 20th century (Childers, 1879Childers, R. C. (1879). On sandhi in Pali. The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of England and Ireland, 11, 99-121. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00017184
; Müller, 1884Müller, E. (1884). A Simplified Grammar of the Pali Language. Cambridge, Mass.: Andober Theological Seminary.
; Whitney, 1889Whitney, W. (1889). Sanskrit Grammar: Including both the Classical Language, and the Older Dialects, of Veda and Brahmana. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.
; Gray, 1899Gray, L. (1899). Certain parallel developments in Pali and New Persian phonology. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 20, 229-243. https://doi.org/10.2307/592331
; Duroiselle, 1906Duroiselle, C. (1906). A Practical Grammar of the Pali Language. Rangoon, Burma: Rangoon College.
),
neogrammarians began analyzing in detail the complexities of Pali
grammar. One area of great interest to them was Pali gemination, and
even more specifically, gemination found in a word-medial consonant
cluster. Building from their rigorous research of Pali grammar,
linguists in recent years have sought to explain Pali gemination in
linguistic terms. They have offered insight into the phonology of the
language to see how gemination was governed, with their research divided into four areas: Hankamer & Aissen (1974)Hankamer, J. & J. Aissen (1974). The sonority hierarchy. In A. Bruck, R. Fox, & M. La Galy (Eds.), Papers from the Parasession on Natural Phonology (pp. 131-145). Chicago: Chicago Linguistic Society.
and Junghare (1979)Junghare, I. (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
offered an explanation based on sonority; Selkirk (1980)Selkirk, E. (1980). Prosodic domains in phonology: Sanskrit revisited. Juncture, 7, 107-129.
, Rice (1990)Rice, K. (1990). Predicting rule domains the phrasal phonology. In S. Inkelas & D. Zec (Eds.), The Phonology-Syntax Connection, (pp. 289-312). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
, and Kessler (1994)Kessler, B. (1994). Sandhi and syllables in Classical Sanskrit. In E. Duncan, D. Fargas, & P. Spaelti (Eds.), The Proceedings of the Twelfth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) (pp. 35-50). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
viewed the phenomenon in prosodic terms; Suzuki (2002aSuzuki, Y. (2002a). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 1. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 75, 97-125.
,b)Suzuki, Y. (2002b). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 2. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 76, 63-86.
preferred to focus on consonant strength; and Schmeiser (2008)Schmeiser, B. (2008). A gestural approach to gemination and nasals in Pali. In E. Tummons & S. Lux (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 Mid-America Linguistics Conference: Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 30., 302-314. https://doi.org/10.17161/KWPL.1808.3924
used an articulatory framework. This body of work
has increased our understanding of Pali gemination, however it is
generally confined to the base-medial position in the language. Given
Pali’s morphological richness, however, it is surprising to note very
few studies (see Kessler, 1994Kessler, B. (1994). Sandhi and syllables in Classical Sanskrit. In E. Duncan, D. Fargas, & P. Spaelti (Eds.), The Proceedings of the Twelfth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) (pp. 35-50). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
) that consider morphological effects on Pali gemination.
The aim of the current study is to further our understanding of how the addition of affixes influences the phonological process of consonantal gemination. To achieve this, it is first crucial to understand how Pali gemination works in the base of a word and then see how the process is affected in derived words. The rest of the paper is designed as followed: §2 briefly discusses the language background and phonemic inventory of Pali, §3 considers Pali gemination as it pertains to the base of a word, §4 offers a discussion of Pali gemination in derived words, and §5 concludes.
2. THE PALI LANGUAGE
⌅2.1. Language background
⌅Pali is one of the thirteen unclassified Middle Indo-Aryan dialects derived from Sanskrit (Gordon, 2005Gordon, R. (Ed.) (2005). Ethnologue: Languages of the World. Dallas, TX: SIL International (15th Edition).
).
Pali has remained similar to Sanskrit, which in all likelihood is due
to its primarily spoken usage by Buddhist monks, from roughly the 6th
century BC to the 3rd century BC (Gupta, 2003Gupta, M. (2003). Linguistics in Pali. New Delhi, India: Sundeep Prakashan.
). Though there is much discussion regarding its origins, Junghare (1979)Junghare, I. (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
suggests that Pali has its origins in Northeast India, in the modern province of Bihar. Junghare (1979)Junghare, I. (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
also notes that it is the possible origin of the language, Māgādhi. It
is worth noting that, given Pali’s phonemic contrast in vowel duration,
Pali is written in the literature as either Pali, Paali, Pâli, or with the macron, Pāli.
Pali went from being a primarily spoken language to one known for its written form when it was used to write the Tipitaka, the body of work that comprises the early Buddhist scriptures (1st century BC). In modern usage, it continues to be the liturgical language of Theravada Buddhism, which comprises many Southern Asian countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. In short, Pali offers a unique linguistic context because it was a spoken variety of Sanskrit spoken by few and died out in its vernacular form, yet it holds the distinction of being the language used to write a canonical text for one of the World’s main religions.
2.2. Pali’s phonemic inventory
⌅Pali’s phonemic inventory consists of approximately forty-five phones - thirty-five consonants and ten vowels. As in Latin, vowel duration in Pali is phonemically-contrastive. The alphabet is phonetically-based in that every letter represents only one sound. The following table offers the consonant inventory.
In Table 1, take note that the dot below the retroflex consonants is at times represented to the left of the consonant (e.g., .l) in older texts. Similarly, the tilde (i.e., ~) may either be listed above or to the left (e.g., ñ or ~n).
I also have added the corresponding IPA phonetic symbol for those cases
in which the orthographical grapheme greatly differs from its phonetic
symbol counterpart. Finally, I note that Table 1 includes consonants without an oral stricture, h and ṁ (Suzuki, 2002a, p. 101Suzuki, Y. (2002a). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 1. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 75, 97-125.
); in the case of the latter, it is often represented as `n in Pali grammar texts. Duroiselle (1906, p. 6)Duroiselle, C. (1906). A Practical Grammar of the Pali Language. Rangoon, Burma: Rangoon College.
notes that this phone “has no classification; it is merely a nasal breathing found after short vowels.”
; Suzuki, 2002a, p. 101Suzuki, Y. (2002a). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 1. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 75, 97-125.
; Schmeiser, 2008, p. 304Schmeiser, B. (2008). A gestural approach to gemination and nasals in Pali. In E. Tummons & S. Lux (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 Mid-America Linguistics Conference: Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 30., 302-314. https://doi.org/10.17161/KWPL.1808.3924
)
| Manner | Labial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| voiceless stops | p | t | ṭ /ʈ/ | k | |||
| ph | th | ṭh /ʈh/ | kh | ||||
| voiced stops | b | d | ḍ /ɖ/ | g | |||
| bh | dh | ḍh /ɖh/ | gh | ||||
| fricatives | v | s | ṣ /ʂ/ | ś /ʃ/ | h | ||
| voiceless affricates | c /tʃ/ | ||||||
| ch /tʃh/ | |||||||
| voiceless affricates | j /dʒ/ | ||||||
| jh /dʒh/ | |||||||
| nasals | m | n | ṇ /ɳ/ | ñ /ɲ/ | ṁ /ŋ/ | ||
| liquids | l | r /ɻ/, ḷ /ɭ/ | |||||
| ḷh /ɭh/ | |||||||
| approx. | y /j/ |
Concerning the vowel inventory, Pali has ten vowels; of which eight are at the phonemic level, and two (the short mid-vowels, [o,e]) are unfaithful allophones of their long counterparts, ō, ē); Pali maintains phonemic contrast regarding vowel duration, otherwise. The following table offers the vowel inventory:
)
| Place of articulation | Vowels |
|---|---|
| front | i, ī, u, ū |
| mid | o, ō, e, ē, a /ɐ/ |
| back | ā |
Observe in Table 2 that the grapheme a is a mid-vowel when short in duration and a back vowel when long in duration. The written form of the other vowels coincides with their modern phonetic symbols. Finally, regarding both the consonantal and vocalic inventories for Pali, I note the great disparity found in the literature in the use of graphemes to represent the language’s different sound inventories; for this reason, I include the IPA phonetic symbols to avoid any confusion.
In the following section, we observe how consonants in heterosyllabic clusters interact when words are transmitted from Sanskrit into Pali.
3. BASE-MEDIAL GEMINATION IN PALI CONSONANT CLUSTERS
⌅A
challenge in Pali for linguists is to fully understand one aspect of
internal sandhi, namely gemination. Crosslinguistic evidence suggests
that the presence of gemination in the intervocalic position is very
frequent (Kubozono, 2017Kubozono, H. (Ed.). (2017). The Phonetics and Phonology of Geminate Consonants (Vol. 2). Oxford: Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198754930.001.0001
). Recall from (1) above that it is generally the
case that consonant clusters in Sanskrit in a VCCV order become a
consonant geminate in Pali. Initially, grammarians such as Childers (1879)Childers, R. C. (1879). On sandhi in Pali. The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of England and Ireland, 11, 99-121. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00017184
and Müller (1884)Müller, E. (1884). A Simplified Grammar of the Pali Language. Cambridge, Mass.: Andober Theological Seminary.
suggested that the sound change within words was phonetically motivated. Later, Junghare (1979)Junghare, I. (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
based her linguistic analysis on Jespersen’s (1909)Jespersen, O. (1909). A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles. Part I: Sounds and Spellings. Heidelberg: Carl Winter,ç. Cited in I. Junghare (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203715925
sonority scale, listed in Table 3:
sonority scale (adapted from Junghare, 1979: 127Junghare, I. (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
)
| Category | Sonority Value |
|---|---|
| Low vowels Mid vowels High vowels Glides Nasals Voiced fricatives Voiceless fricatives Voiced stops Voiceless stops |
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |
Using Jespersen’s (1909)Jespersen, O. (1909). A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles. Part I: Sounds and Spellings. Heidelberg: Carl Winter,ç. Cited in I. Junghare (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203715925
sonority scale, she hypothesized that
assimilation occurs when the sonority value of the consonant with the
lower (or equal) sonority value is the one that “spreads” its feature of
place and manner of articulation, causing a geminate:
| (2) | a. stop + stop: | Sanskrit: bhakta |
| Pali: bhatta‘rice’ | ||
| b. liquid + stop: | Sanskrit: sarpa | |
| Pali: sappa‘snake’ | ||
| c. liquid + fricative: | Sanskrit: karsaka | |
| Pali: kassaka ‘farmer’ | ||
| d. liquid + nasal: | Sanskrit: karna | |
| Pali: kanna¡ ‘ear’ | ||
| e. fricative + stop: | Sanskrit: hasta | |
| Pali: hatta‘hand’ |
In the case of (2a), using Jespersen’s (1909)Jespersen, O. (1909). A Modern English Grammar on Historical Principles. Part I: Sounds and Spellings. Heidelberg: Carl Winter,ç. Cited in I. Junghare (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203715925
sonority scale in Table 3, we note the sonority value of the coda stop is equal (10) to that of the following onset, resulting in regressive assimilation4I know of no example in which an equal sonority value of the two consonants produced progressive assimilation..
In (2b), the coda liquid has a sonority value of 5, whereas the
following onset stop has a sonority value of 10. In (2c), the coda
liquid has a sonority value of 5, whereas that of the following onset
fricative is 8. In (2d), the coda liquid has a sonority value of 5,
whereas that of the following onset nasal is 6. Finally, in (2e), the
coda fricative has a sonority value of 8, whereas that of the following
onset stop is 10. In short, from the examples in (2), we observe that
the consonant with the lower (or equal) sonority value is that which
“spreads” its features of place and manner of articulation. In general, a
less sonorous consonant geminates and a more sonorant member of a
cluster deletes (Yu Cho, 1995, p. 596Yu Cho, Y. M. (1995). In defense of juncture rules/constraints. 어학연구. Language Research, 31(4), 1-26.
).
In Cser’s (2000, p. 5)Cser, A. (2000). Phonological models of sonority. The Even Yearbook, 4, 1-18.
review of models of sonority, he notes in relation to Pali gemination
that “...this highly general change can indeed only be coherently
described with reference to sonority, which, of course, also defines
permitted syllables in the same language(s). The change itself, however,
cannot be captured in terms of syllable structure” (See Kessler [1994]Kessler, B. (1994). Sandhi and syllables in Classical Sanskrit. In E. Duncan, D. Fargas, & P. Spaelti (Eds.), The Proceedings of the Twelfth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) (pp. 35-50). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
for counter argument). In Suzuki’s (2002aSuzuki, Y. (2002a). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 1. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 75, 97-125.
,b)Suzuki, Y. (2002b). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 2. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 76, 63-86.
thorough, two-part treatment of consonant cluster changes in Pali, he
argues against an analysis based on sonority and for one on the degree
of oral stricture. Among his assumptions in his analysis, he includes
his “consonant strength hierarchy of Pali assimilation”, listed in Figure 1:
)
In Figure 1,
‘T’ represents stops, ‘N’ for nasals, ‘S’ for sibilants, and ‘R’ for
semivowels. The hierarchy is “…based mainly on the degree of oral
aperture. In Pali assimilation one of the members of the input cluster
is chosen to maximize the contrast between the output and the adjacent
vowel(s). Thus, consonants with an oral closure (my emphasis), i.e., stops and nasals, are preferred to those without one, i.e., sibilants and semivowels” (Suzuki, 2002b, p. 64Suzuki, Y. (2002b). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 2. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 76, 63-86.
). He utilizes Optimality Theory as his framework, offering a series of Preserve (Pres) constraints, following Jun’s (1994Jun, J. (1994). A constraint-based analysis of place assimilation typology. Studies in the Linguistics Sciences, 24, 263-277. Cited in Y. Suzuki (2002b). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 2. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 76, 63-86.
, 1995)Jun, J. (1995). Perceptual and articulatory factors in place assimilation: an Optimality Theoretic approach.
Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles. Cited in Y.
Suzuki (2002b). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting
the phonological patterns: Part 2. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 76, 63-86.
work. The premise of these constraints is to preserve certain feature specifications. In Suzuki’s (2002aSuzuki, Y. (2002a). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 1. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 75, 97-125.
,b)Suzuki, Y. (2002b). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 2. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 76, 63-86.
view, assimilation occurs not in terms of sonority, but rather in terms
of consonant strength. In those cases between distinct stops or nasals,
the onset would dominate the coda.
His work is convincing, and
the data seem to suggest that oral closure/stricture does indeed play a
central role in Pali assimilation. However, if oral closure/stricture is
the central role, a framework based on gestures and their constriction
seems more apt to concisely discuss the issue at hand. Schmeiser (2008Schmeiser, B. (2008). A gestural approach to gemination and nasals in Pali. In E. Tummons & S. Lux (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 Mid-America Linguistics Conference: Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 30., 302-314. https://doi.org/10.17161/KWPL.1808.3924
) discussed Suzuki’s (2002aSuzuki, Y. (2002a). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 1. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 75, 97-125.
,b)Suzuki, Y. (2002b). Consonant cluster changes in Pali: Toward restricting the phonological patterns: Part 2. Journal of Inquiry and Research, 76, 63-86.
observations using Articulatory Phonology (Browman & Goldstein, 1989Browman, C. & L. Goldstein (1989). Articulatory gestures as phonological units. Phonology, 6, 201-251. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0952675700001019
, 1990Browman, C. & L. Goldstein (1990). Gestural specification using dynamically-defined articulatory structures. Journal of Phonetics, 18, 299-320. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30376-6
, et seq.Browman, C. & L. Goldstein
(1991). Gestural structures: Distinctiveness, phonological processes,
and historical change. In I. Mattingly and M. Studdert-Kennedy (Eds.), Modularity and the Motor Theory of Speech Perception (pp. 313-338). Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315807942
Browman, C. & L. Goldstein (1992). Articulatory phonology: An overview. Phonetica, 49, 155-180. https://doi.org/10.1159/000261913), making use of Byrd’s (1994Byrd, D. (1994). Articulatory Timing in English Consonant Sequences. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of California, Los Angeles.
, 1996)Byrd, D. (1996). A Phase Window framework for articulatory timing. Phonology, 13, 139-169. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0952675700002086
notion of a Phase Window. To summarize, Schmeiser (2008)Schmeiser, B. (2008). A gestural approach to gemination and nasals in Pali. In E. Tummons & S. Lux (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 Mid-America Linguistics Conference: Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 30., 302-314. https://doi.org/10.17161/KWPL.1808.3924
suggests that Pali gemination occurs when the oral constriction location of the coda consonant is not the velum. That is, if the cluster begins with velum widening, the
consonant with the lower sonority value is not able to “spread” its
feature, and thus gemination does not occur.
For Schmeiser (2008)Schmeiser, B. (2008). A gestural approach to gemination and nasals in Pali. In E. Tummons & S. Lux (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 Mid-America Linguistics Conference: Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 30., 302-314. https://doi.org/10.17161/KWPL.1808.3924
, the cluster that involves a nasal in coda
position is kept intact (i.e., no gemination) to ensure optimal
perceptibility, given Downing’s (2005, p. 209)Downing,
L. (2005). On the ambiguous segmental status of nasals in homorganic NC
sequences. In M. van Oostendorp & J. Maarten van de Weijer (Eds.), The Internal Organization of Phonological Segments (pp. 183-216). New York: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110890402.183
argument that a nasal + stop sequence “is a
single articulatory and acoustic gesture…and tends to be perceived and
realized as reduced.”
Dutta’s (2017)Dutta, H. (2017). Strength asymmetries and Pali geminates: An OT account. The EFL Journal, 8(1), 49-65.
extensive work on Pali geminates and strength asymmetries is done
through an OT account; the author sums up Pali gemination regarding two
adjacent obstruents, “one in the coda position and another in the onset
position, the segment in the coda position assimilates to the following
consonant in the onset position and thereby establishes the claim of
positional privilege and onset/coda asymmetry in distribution” (p. 55).
In short, the aforementioned studies have suggested that base-medial Pali consonant gemination is much more predicable than previously thought, citing either prosodic, segmental, or articulatory conditions in their argument. In the following section, we view how morphology affects the phonology of the language; more specifically, we view how morphological effects produce different outcomes in Pali gemination.
4. DISCUSSION
⌅4.1. Morphological effects on Pali gemination
⌅Internal sandhi in Pali has long been a fascination to grammarians, especially when it results in consonant gemination. Childers (1879, p. 99)Childers, R. C. (1879). On sandhi in Pali. The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of England and Ireland, 11, 99-121. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0035869x00017184
initially offers a less hopeful response to
analyzing internal sandhi, “It would not only be a misapplication of
labour, but positively misleading, to work out the rules of internal
sandhi…”; he later adds that sandhi is “to a great extent optional.” (p.
100). Later, Müller (1884, p. 59)Müller, E. (1884). A Simplified Grammar of the Pali Language. Cambridge, Mass.: Andober Theological Seminary.
states, “…as the rules of internal sandhi form a part of the
phonetics…” and notes that what he terms as “word sandhi” is not as
imperative in Pali as it is in Sanskrit. He goes on to say that it only
“takes place in certain cases” and varies “greatly as to its use or
neglect” (p. 59). He also makes a very important distinction regarding
the style of language used. That is, he notes that in prose, it is
almost exclusively used in pronouns and/or indeclinables that are in
conjunction with a verb or noun. In short, for neogrammarians, though it
was a phonetically-driven phenomenon, it was, it seemed, one that was
left not fully-explained or understood.
Kessler’s (1994)Kessler, B. (1994). Sandhi and syllables in Classical Sanskrit. In E. Duncan, D. Fargas, & P. Spaelti (Eds.), The Proceedings of the Twelfth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) (pp. 35-50). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
work on Classical Sanskrit suggests that phonological factors alone
might not be able to explain sandhi and suggests that morphological
factors might influence consonant cluster production5 Lahiri & Hankamer (1988, p. 336) found that Bengali geminates showed that
tautomorphemic and heteromorphemic geminates are indistinguishable
acoustically and geminates derived by total assimilation are
indistinguishable from other types of geminates. This might suggest that
morphology plays a lesser role in consonant cluster production and thus
serve as a counter argument.. Thus, the question that
begs to be asked is this: Is Pali consonant gemination altered in any
way when we add affixes to the stem? That is, will the addition of
affixes affect how we currently view gemination within the base? In what
follows, I analyze the effects that suffixes and prefixes have on
consonant gemination to determine if we do indeed need a separate
explanation for them or if our current understanding of Pali gemination
within a base extends to affixes as well.
4.2. The suffixes -ta and -ya
⌅In Kessler’s (1994, p. 44)Kessler, B. (1994). Sandhi and syllables in Classical Sanskrit. In E. Duncan, D. Fargas, & P. Spaelti (Eds.), The Proceedings of the Twelfth West Coast Conference on Formal Linguistics (WCCFL) (pp. 35-50). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
study, he suggests that different rules are not needed for suffix
formation: “The situation is slightly obscured for stem-final consonants
because the most common case in the morphology is for that consonant to
form an onset with the ending.” The following example, (3), illustrates
this tendency, seen here with the suffix -ta, which is used to form either a past participle or change a comparative into a superlative.
| (3) | Sanskrit: sak + ta Pali: satta ‘attached’ |
In the above example in (3), both consonants have equal sonority and thus the regressive assimilation, the predicted answer, indeed occurs. From the example in (3), it would appear at first blush that the consonant in the suffix is the one that geminates, as in the examples found in (2).
The only exception is the noted case in Schmeiser (2008)Schmeiser, B. (2008). A gestural approach to gemination and nasals in Pali. In E. Tummons & S. Lux (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2007 Mid-America Linguistics Conference: Kansas Working Papers in Linguistics, vol. 30., 302-314. https://doi.org/10.17161/KWPL.1808.3924
of the nasal in coda position, as in (4):
| (4) | Sanskrit: dan + ta Pali: dan+ ta ‘subdued’ |
It is curious to note, though, that the suffix begins with a voiceless stop, which has the lowest sonority value in the consonant inventory and thus we ask, does the stop, as in (3), geminate (except when preceded by a nasal) because of sonority or because of a morphological effect? In addition, another question is, if the example in (3) follows the general trend for Pali gemination, does this trend extend to other suffixes?
Let us, then, consider another suffix, -ya ,
which takes place in the Passive Voice in the formation of verbal bases
of the 3rd conjugation, of some gerunds, and of numerous derived nouns (Duroiselle, 1906, p. 15Duroiselle, C. (1906). A Practical Grammar of the Pali Language. Rangoon, Burma: Rangoon College.
). Curiously, the consonant y either neutralizes with the previous consonant or fully assimilates to it, as in (5):
| (5) | a. | Sanskrit: mad + ya |
| Pali: majja ‘intoxicant’ | ||
| b. | Sanskrit: gam + ya | |
| Pali: gamma ‘gone’ |
In
(5a), the stop and the glide neutralize and then geminate, however, in
(5b), the geminate is formed with the preceding nasal. Unlike its -ta counterpart, the consonant in -ya does not geminate. O’Bryan (1971, p. 36)O’Bryan, M. (1971). Some problems with i-insertion in Pāli. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences: Illinois Working Papers, 1(1), 29-50. https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/26679.
points out that ya following a dental obstruent (e.g., mad + ya) results in a change from dy > jj.
In addition, in the case of (5b), we see progressive assimilation in that the stem-final consonant is that which causes gemination. Given that the nasal has a lower sonority value (6) than the glide (4), it is not surprising that we see progressive assimilation. In short, though it seems that sonority value continues to suggest a trend, the examples for -ta and -ya suggest that further analysis is needed to fully understand the complex nature of consonant assimilation in Pali, especially as it relates to suffixes. We will now move to prefixes to ascertain if a similar pattern emerges.
4.3. The prefix ud-
⌅The prefix ud- ‘out of,’ ‘from,’ ‘up,’ ‘above,’ ‘away,’ always evidences regressive
assimilation into a geminate, regardless of sonority. For example,
recall Junghare’s (1979)Junghare, I. (1979). Topics in Pali Historical Phonology. Delhi, India: Motilal Banarsidass.
approach based on a sonority value. The consonant with the lower
sonority value “spreads” its feature of place and manner of
articulation, as in (6):
| (6) | liquid + stop: | Sanskrit: sarpa |
| Pali: sappa ‘snake’ |
In (6), given that the stop has a lower sonority value than a liquid, we correctly predict that the stop will “spread” its features and thus the geminate will be pp, and not *rr. If we look, however, at a consonant cluster in the prefix environment, a different result occurs, as in (7):
| (7) | stop + nasal: | Sanskrit: ud + mujjati |
| Pali: *uddujjati ‘out from submersion,’ ‘rises out of water’ |
In (7), given that stop again has a lower sonority value than the nasal, we might6Recall that Sanskrit gam + ya gives way to Pali gamma ‘gone’. One might predict, based on gamma and the previously noted danta ‘subdued’, that a nasal either blocks gemination or is the consonant
that “spreads its feature” (i.e., it never undergoes gemination from the
neighboring consonant). incorrectly predict *uddajjati, and yet the actual realization is ummajjati. Dutta (2017, p. 56)Dutta, H. (2017). Strength asymmetries and Pali geminates: An OT account. The EFL Journal, 8(1), 49-65.
states in a footnote that this is an exception to the general pattern
and leaves it for future research. Moreover, as seen below in (8), the
prefix ud- uniformly undergoes assimilation:
| (8) | a. | Sanskrit: ud + cinati |
| Pali: uccinati ‘chooses’, ‘picks out’ | ||
| b. | Sanskrit: ud + khipati | |
| Pali: ukkhipati ‘raises’, ‘throws up’ | ||
| c. | Sanskrit: ud + sāha | |
| Pali: ussāha ‘endeavor’, ‘effort’ | ||
| d. | Sanskrit: ud + loketi | |
| Pali: ulloketi ‘looks up’, ‘looks for’ |
In (8), in a sonority-value analysis, one observes that only in the case of the voiceless stop in (8b) would we expect ukkhipati,
in that a voiceless stop has a lower sonority value than a voiced one
(in this case, /d/). In the other examples, we would incorrectly predict
the gemination to involve the voiced stop, if we are to base our
argument on the sonority value of the segment. This, however, is not the
case, as the voiced stop assimilates to an affricate (8a), a fricative
(8c), and a liquid (8d). In short, the prefix ud- is seemingly
problematic for recent analyses because the morpheme boundary only
allows the consonant of the base to geminate, and never the consonant
that is part of the prefix, regardless of its sonority relationship to
its adjacent consonant. That said, it is a well-known observation in the
morphophonological literature that prefixes interact differently with
roots and stems than suffixes (Fábregas & Krämer, 2020, p. 1Fábregas, A., & M. Krämer (2020). Why prefixes (almost) never participate in vowel harmony. Evolutionary Linguistic Theory, 2(1), 84-111. https://doi.org/10.1075/elt.00016.fab
). Therefore, it is not entirely surprising that
prefixes in this language pattern differently than suffixes. In (8), we
see that a general pattern based on the sonority pattern does not work;
in these examples, the prefix blocks7A
counter argument, though unlikely, could be made solely on place of
articulation in that the prefix ends in a dental consonant and the
following onset is always behind in the vocal tract. The rule, then,
would be that the consonant that geminates is always the one further
back in the vocal tract. this pattern, and instead, the onset of the base always geminates.
In short, the data from these affixes in the current study seem to suggest that morphology affects Pali gemination differently than in a base of a word and thus we need to formalize an explanation that concisely captures its full effects. As concerns suffixes, they produce a variety of results; in one case, a nasal in coda position before a dental obstruent blocks gemination (e.g., danta ‘subdued’), yet in another, a nasal before a glide (e.g., gamma ‘gone’) produces progressive assimilation; finally, in a third case, majja ‘intoxicant’, we see neutralization of the dy cluster. Future research will need to consider the role that prosody, sonority, articulatory factors, and/or perhaps even grammatical function play on Pali gemination in the suffix environment.
Regarding prefixes, the data suggest that they pattern differently than their base-medial and suffix counterparts. That is, regressive assimilation always results in words that contain the prefix ud- regardless of sonority. It should be noted, however, that the vast majority of Pali prefixes end in a vowel; future research will need to investigate if there are any exceptions to what the data suggest in the current study.
5. CONCLUSIONS
⌅Pali is a highly-inflected, morphologically-rich language. Pertaining to gemination, Duroiselle (1906, p. 14)Duroiselle, C. (1906). A Practical Grammar of the Pali Language. Rangoon, Burma: Rangoon College.
notes that it “takes place mostly in the formation of the passive
voice, the passive perfect participle, the base of verbs of the third
conjugation, of the infinitive, gerund, potential passive participle and
in the formation of the desiderative, also under the influence of
certain suffixes in the derivation of words.” Future research will need
to address each of these areas in detail to ascertain morphological
effects on Pali gemination.
The current study has treated the effects on gemination in the morphological categories of affixes: two suffixes and one prefix. The study has suggested that previous accounts of the base of a word do not suffice when treating cases that involve morpheme boundaries. In addition, it has argued against a previous analysis based solely on syllable structure to capture morphological effects on Pali gemination. Finally, it called for future research to consider the interaction between phonological and morphological factors on Pali gemination.