--- Den mån 2010-10-11 skrev Kumara Bhikkhu <kumara.bhikkhu@...>:

<* The short 'a' at the end of a word is sounded as a weak "er". E.g., "kamma" as "kammer". (Thais and Burmese don't do this.)

Some linguists think this may be the original pronounciation, or at least a quite old one, in both Sanskrit and Prakrit/Pali; that final short a was weakened to a schwa (written in phonetical script with an inverted e) and finally, in modern North Indian languages, muted. (One may compare with final e in French, which is still sometimes pronounced as a schwa in poetry and singing, but is normally mute in prose and ordinary talk).

Gunnar