Colloquial speech

# FAST-SPEECH REDUCTIONS & SANDHI RULES

This reference outlines the major phonological processes occurring in casual or

rapid speech (duta-bhāṣa), specifically involving initial consonant loss,

final vowel elision, and glide-vowel contractions.

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1. WORD-INITIAL CONSONANT DELETION

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In connected speech, the initial consonant (C) of a following word is frequently

dropped across a word boundary (#).

Rule:

C → ∅ / # _

Environment:

Occurs at the start of a word during rapid articulation.

Examples:

• ḍraivŭ cey → ḍraivey

• iṭṭu vaccu → iṭṭēccu

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2. FINAL VOWEL ELISION (DROPPING)

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When a word ends in a vowel (V) and is spoken continuously into the next word,

the final vowel drops to allow fusion.

Rule:

V → ∅ / _ #

Environment:

At the end of a word preceding a word boundary or another vowel.

Examples:

• ceytu + koḷḷām → ceyt + oḷḷām → ceytōḷām

• pōkuka + vēṇam + eṭā → pōk + ēṇam + ḍā → pōkēṇam ḍā

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3. GLIDE-VOWEL CONTRACTIONS (aya → e / ava → o)

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Sequences containing glides (y, v) surrounded by low vowels (a) undergo

fronting or rounding assimilation, simplifying into monophthongs.

A. Palatal Fronting (aya → e / ē)

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Rule:

aya → e

Examples:

• iṭṭu vaccu → iṭṭēccu

B. Labial Rounding (ava → o / ō)

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Rule:

ava → o

Examples:

• paḻam āyi → paḻōy

• pōyi koḷḷuka vēṇam → poykkōḷaṇam

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SUMMARY TABLE

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Process Rule Input Output

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Initial Consonant Loss C → ∅ / # _ ḍraivŭ cey ḍraivey

Final Vowel Drop V → ∅ / _ # ceytu ... ceyt...

Fronting Contraction aya → e iṭṭu vaccu iṭṭēccu

Rounding Contraction ava → o paḻam āyi paḻōy

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