Pronunciation of word final "a" in sanskrit

Robert Zydenbos zydenbos at BIGFOOT.DE
Thu May 27 21:11:47 UTC 1999


> Date:          Wed, 26 May 1999 09:49:17 -0700
> From:          Periannan Chandrasekaran <perichandra at YAHOO.COM>

> Maybe Madhuresan should have taken care to specify that these mappings
> apply
> for naming conventions before "modernization" due to influence from
> Hindi or the northern culture.
> Wouldn't the Kannada names have been narAyaNa, ranganAthA etc., until
> a few generations ago?

Yes, approximately just one generation ago. A very cursory reading of
a variety of  Kannada texts will reveal that this clipping of the
final 'a' is very recent. It seems typical of the middle and lower
classes of the more urbanised areas of southern Karnataka; not in
rural areas, nor so much in northern Karnataka, nor among the more
highly traditionally conscious segments of the population. It is not
a caste-bound phenomenon.

> I have also been curious about the "age" of names such as anil, sunil
> among kannadigas. Were these popular say till the end of the last
> century?

It does not seem so. This is probably a combination of factors: (a)
increased popular familiarity with northern India as a consequence of
the Independence movement, (b) Hindi cinema, (c) names recently
'imported' from the north, without a local history, are not
associated with particular castes and therefore favoured by people
who do not want to stress their caste background. If your name is,
for instance, Basavaraju, Lingaiah, Gururaja, Hayagrivacharya or
Ankegowda, you are virtually branded as belonging to a certain caste.

RZ





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