sandhi

epenthetic vowels

Some consonant-combinations, for instance šr are harder to pronounce correctly (in this case not turning the /Sr/ into a retroflex /S/ for instance) than others. To prevent muddling, one may split the combo by inserting an epenthetic vowel, the shape of this vowel depends on the shape of the next vowel.

Epenthetic vowels
Vowels
Following Epenthetic Examples
a a or e ešš + ra > eššera, eššara
o o or u
y y
e e or i
u u
i e or i

epenthetic consonants

Epenthetic consonants

sandhi

Vowel+vowel

If identical given a iambic rythm: areca + -aþ > /areca'aþ/ and in hurried speech geminated: areca + -aþ > /areca:þ/, this is not reflected in the orthography.

If different pronounced as any other vowel-cluster, atei + -aþ > /atei.aþ/

For convenience:

V+V sandhi
a e i o u y
a ae ai ao au ay
e ea ei eo eu ey
i ia ie io iu iy
o oa oe oi ou oy
u ua ue ui uo uy
y ya ye yi yo yu

Consonant+consonant

If same, geminated, the geminate made ambisyllabic. If different, the voicing of the consonant of the suffix assimilates to the voicing of the consonant of the stem fiàx + -d'a > fiàxt'a, unless the stem consonant is a nasal or r/l. As final consonants usual are n, l, r or v, this isn't much of a problem.

Voiced stops in final position

To prevent devoicing of voiced stops in final position, an epenthetic -e is appended or the final is aspirated. This is always reflected in the orthography, and the dictionary-forms are the strengthened forms: uísge has the underlying form *uísg, dub' the underlying form *dub. /g/ tends to get the svarabakhti -e while /b/ and /d/ tends to be aspirated.

The 'V' is the epenthetic vowel as described above

Unless otherwise indicated, if the final and initial are of the same quality,they are merged into an ambisyllabic geminate. C+C > C:

C+C sandhi
Stem finals
b š d ð f g h ž k l m n p q r s t þ v x z H
Suffix initials zero bh
be
dh
de
ge
gh
b mb
š šVr
d nd
ð
f
g qg
neg
h h
ž
j
k qk
nek
'rk
l xl
m mm mm Ham
n nn nn Han
p mp
q
r šVr žVr str
sVr
zdr
zVr
H
s
t nt
þ
v
x qx
qVx
qx
qVx
H
z
H H