Re: Disappearance of 'a' in compounds

Dear Phra Yuttadhammo,

<< I am still plugging away at a Javascript Pali Reader, and I have hit upon
the problem of recognizing words like "aacariyantevaasika" and "dosantara".
I am not sure about the second, but in the first, it looks like the aa has
become a.  I wonder if anyone has any information on when this occurs.  Are
there any rules (eg before "nt")?  The program currently will recognize
"aacariya-antevaasika", but not "aacariya-ntevaasika". >>

Kaccaayana's sandhi rule no. 12 (saraa sare lopa.m) applies to both of your
examples. It states that vowels obtain elision before a following vowel.
Hence, the final 'a' of 'aacariya' is elided before the initial 'a' of
'antevaasika'. However, the following 'a' becomes long (Kc 15 diigha.m) in
such cases as 'tatraaya.m'. Here, rule 12 still applies: tatra > tatr before
'aya.m' but there is a further step whereby the initial  'a' of 'aya.m'
becomes long. Usually, vowel lengthening does not obtain before a consonant
cluster (sa.myoga) but it does occur in such cases as 'saattha.m'
(sa+attha.m > s+attha.m > s+aattha.m > saattha.m)

Best wishes,
Jim

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