Marathi repha

[Madhav Deshpande]

Ashok's observations are correct in that a cluster beginning with R' does
not make the preceding vowel heavy.  Phonologically a combination like R'y
can indeed be treated as a palatalized R.  In Marathi, this is not the
only palatalized consonant.  Many other consonants can be palatalized, but
are written as clusters without making the previous vowel heavy, e.g.
vahyaa "notebooks".  There are similarly nasal consonants which get
aspirated and are written as clusters, without making previous vowel
heavy, e.g. panha "drink made from green mango".  There is a discussion of
this phenomenon in Aparna Jha's booklet on Marathi phonology published by
Deccan College many years ago.
        Madhav Deshpande

On Thu, 30 Oct 1997, Jacob Baltuch wrote:

> Ashok Aklujkar wrote:
>
> >The sign seems to have phonemic significance in Marathi: daryaa, plural of
> >darii 'cave, cavern, valley,' pronounced without stress on "a" and written
> >as daR'yaa,  means something different from daryaa 'ocean, sea, pronounced
> >with stress on "a" and written as daRyaa.
>
> So the _only_ difference between R and R' is that a cluster beginning with
> R' does not make the preceding vowel heavy?
>
> Can that R' occur at the beginning of clusters of more than 2 consonants,
> and _if_ the answer to that is no, could one analyze the situation as if
> for example R'y was not a sequence of two phonemes but one single phoneme?
>