Re: Pa.n.natti/pa~n~natti

Dear Bhante Nyanatusita,

> Are there any rules in the Kaccaayana or  Saddaniiti with regards
> the assimilation of ~n and  .n?

I haven't checked for specific rules of assimilation for ~n and .n but
you may be interested to know that the Saddaniiiti gives the following
two rules involving substitution (aadesa) of .n for ~n:

89. pa~n~nattti-pa~n~naasaana.m ~n~nassa .n.no.
90. pa~ncaviisatiyaa pa~ncassa pa.n.no.

However, I don't see these rules in Kaccaayana which would suggest
that forms like 'pa.n.natti' were unknown to Kaccaayana. The fact that
Aggava.msa gives these rules for substitution shows that the words
with ~n belong to an older period than the ones with .n.

On cerebrals or retroflexes, A.A. Macdonell has the following
interesting comment in his _A Vedic Grammar for Students_:

"8. The cerebrals are entirely secondary, being a specifically Indian
product and unknwn in the Indo-Iranian period. They are probably due
to aboriginal, especially Dravidian, influence. They are still rare in
the RV., where they never occur initially but only medially and
finally." --p.8

My comment: unlike classical Sanskrit, both Vedic and Pali have the
consonant /.l/.

Best wishes,
Jim

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