`real' Sanskrit vs `conversational' Sanskrit

[Srinivasan Pichumani]

	In addition to Prof. Deshpande's observations, I have also noticed a
	"North Indian" pronunciation of ai as different from the "Dravida"
	pronunciation. But here I observe something different than Prof.
	Deshpande... I have noticed the word jaina pronounced "jane". (We
	"Dravidians" tend to give the dipthong its full pronunciation)
	cheers, Chandan Narayan.

Is it possible that this is so because the Southern languages 
recognize 2 varieties (e, E and o, O as opposed to just e and o
in Sanskrit/Hindi etc) in the preceding vowels ?

	> The basic distinction seems to be between north and south Indian
	> pronunciation.  The south Indian pronunciation handles these as sequences
	> of a short 'a' followed by i/y or u/v.  This is what makes a word like
	> vaiyaakara.na indistinguishable from vayyaakara.na.  This is evidenced by
	> errors in the manuscripts of this kind.  In the Hindi speaking area, these
	> are pronounced often as ae and ao, similar to vowels in the English words
	> 'at' and 'mall'.  Thus the word 'maithi(la)' in north Indian pronunciation
	> often sounds like 'Kathy'.  These differences also become evident when for
	> instance a south Indian person speaks Hindi.  

I am reminded painfully ;-)
of the parodies of South Indian speech in Hindi films... Mehmood
in "paDosan" springs to mind !

	> In these respects, the
	> pronunciation of the Maharashtrian Sanskrit users is more like their
	> southern neighbors (though in terms of the current political trends in
	> Maharashtra, we do not like to admit that We the Aryans have anything to
	> do with our Dravidian neighbors to the south!).
	> 	Madhav Deshpande

I have met certain KannaDigas who themselves disown any connection 
of their language to Dravidian !!!  And certain relatives of mine
swear, partly in jest, that they have Aryan blue blood flowing thru 
their veins... all I know is that these jokers are all hot-blooded ;-)

-Srini.