The vowel .r/ri in Sanskrit and Hindi

[DEVARAKONDA VENKATA NARAYANA SARMA]

On 9 May Georg v. Simson has written
 
>>Would you agree with the statement:
>>'Most Hindi speakers pronounce the vowel .r as if it were the ri in
rip.'
>>If you do then when do you think this change from the vowel sound .r to
ri
>>began to take place and is their a similar variation in Sanskrit?
>>thanks
>>Dr Peter G Friedlander
 
>In Buddhist Sanskrit (as attested in manuscripts from Central Asia and
from
>Gilgit), Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit and Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit .r and
>ri are very often confused; see F. Edgerton, Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit
>Dictionary, 3.94,95, and Th. Damsteegt, Epigraphical Hybrid Sanskrit,
>Leiden 1978, p. 22 f. This shows that the pronounciation of .r as ri must
>have been common already in the first centuries AD, but it may be much
>older, though perhaps not accepted by the Panini tradition.
 
>Georg v. Simson
 
In Paninn's Siksha
              " .r tu ra sha moordhanyaah"
the affinity of .r and consonant r is recognized. The guna of .r being ar
also indicates the same affinity.
 
Sarma.
"As the sphere of the known increases, the area which is in contact with 
the unknown also increases." -------  C.E.M.Joad     
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D.V.N.Sarma (Retired Reader in Physics, Osmania University, Hyderabad)
12-13-371, Street No.2, Tarnaka, Hyderabad, 500 017, INDIA
Telephone 091-040-7018158
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