Ah, yes, the schwa.

The same thing happens in Malay language, much of which is based on Sanskrit. The final a is commonly pronounced as a schwa only in the area in and around Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. This is however regarded as not standard, and not used in very formal settings, where it's pronounced as 'ah'. (What would be the phonetic name for this?)

As it's easier to pronounced the weaker way, I can understand why, in spoken language, it can easily evolve that way.

kb

Gunnar Gällmo wrote thus at 22:32 11/10/2010:

>--- 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
>
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