Ahāmatya: Difference between revisions

'''1. A consonant before a vowel, or a consonant cluster at the beginning of a word, forms the syllable onset.'''

* A singular consonant forms the onset of the syllable.  

* A consonant cluster of arbitrary length (maximum four) at the beginning of a word forms the onset of the syllable.

* A word affixed with an arbitrary number of prefixes retains its syllabic structure independent of those syllables appended to it, and the affix retains its own syllabic structure.

* Word initial clusters formed via the cliticization of '''[m, n, v, l, s]''' may either meld into that consonant cluster, forming the coda of the word initial syllable, or may carry syllabic weight themselves.

'''2. Consonant clusters tend to be broken word internally.'''

* Lengthened consonants are always separated, with the first consonant joined with the preceding vowel forming the coda of that syllable, and the second consonant joined to the following vowel, forming the onset of that syllable.

* Word internal clusters are regularly separated, and the first consonant of the combination is joined with the preceding vowel, forming the coda of that syllable.

* Cluster onsets in syllables of the form CrV, CrjV, ClV, CljV are considered a single unit, and are not separated, and are thus exempt from the above rule.

Finally, of note, is that there exist two diphthongs that, if they were to exist in a non-stressed syllable, they will then collapse into a long vowel (or short vowel, in the context of plurality, see below). Which diphthong collapses into which vowel is shown here: