Kc 26

[Kaccāyanabyākaraṇaṃ, Sandhikappa, Tatiyakaṇḍa, Sutta 26]

26. 38. Rassaṃ (65, 179).

Sarā kho byañjane pare kvaci rassaṃ papponti.

When a consonant follows, vowels sometimes become short.

Bhovādi nāma so hoti (Khu. i, 71), yathā bhāvi guṇena so.

Examples:
bhovādi nāma: bhovādī nāma; bhovādi nāma (26).
bhāvi guṇena: bhāvī guṇena; bhāvi guṇena (26).

Kvacī ti kasmā? Sammā samādhi (Vin. īi, 14), sāvittī chandaso mukhaṃ,
upanīyati jīvitam appam āyu (S. i, 2).

Why say ‘sometimes’? To prevent the operation of this rule in the
following: Sammā samādhi, sāvittī chandaso mukhaṃ, upanīyati jīvitam
appam āyu.

Counter Examples:
sammā samādhi. Here and in the following counter example the final
vowels do not become short.
sāvittī chandaso.
upanīyati jīvitaṃ. Here the final ‘i’ of upanīyati is already
naturally short.

-- translation and notes by Ven. U Nandisena, 2004

-- posted (with some minor editing) by Jim Anderson, 4 July 2010 (on
the day of the last quarter  moon)