Sound Change

Title: Sound Change Author: D. N. S. Bhat (D. N. Shankara Bhat) Language: English (academic) Year: 2001 (revised & expanded edition of 1972 original) Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass Publishing House, Delhi Series: MLBD Series in Linguistics, Volume 14 ISBN: 8120817664 / 9788120817661 Pages: 167 Google Books: books.google.com Archive.org: Not yet found Status: Not yet collected

Description

This is D. N. S. Bhat’s textbook on historical phonology — specifically the mechanisms, typology, and reconstruction of sound change across languages. It is designed as “an introductory textbook for students of linguistics,” with extensive examples, practical exercises, and suggested readings.

Bhat specifically tailored the content for Indian subcontinent students, drawing examples primarily from:

  • Dravidian languages (Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam…)
  • Indo-Aryan languages (Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi…)
  • Tibeto-Burman languages

This makes it uniquely valuable for Kannada historical linguistics — it explains sound change using Kannada examples rather than European ones.

Original 1972 Edition

The 2001 edition is a “substantially revised and expanded” version of an earlier 1972 work of the same title. The original 1972 publication was Bhat’s contribution during his Deccan College period — the same productive era that produced The Koraga Language (→ 19) and An Outline Grammar of Havyaka (→ 20).

Contents

  1. Characteristics of Sound Change
    • Regularity of sound change
    • Conditioned vs. unconditioned change
    • Neogrammarian hypothesis
  2. Effects of Sound Change
    • Assimilation and dissimilation
    • Phonological processes
    • Morphophonemic alternations
  3. Reconstruction of Sound Change
    • Comparative method
    • Internal reconstruction
    • Diachronic linguistic analysis

  4. Exercises

  5. List of Sound Changes (reference appendix)

  6. Index

Relevance to Kannada

Sound change is central to understanding:

  • Why Kannada doesn’t need mahaprana letters (→ 08) — those distinctions have been lost through phonological merger
  • The Dravidian sound correspondences between Kannada, Tamil, Telugu
  • Why Old Kannada (→ 14) looks different from modern Kannada
  • The ಉಲಿ-ಮಾರ್ಪಾಡಿನ ಗೆರೆಗಳು (→ 26) — Bhat’s Kannada-language article on sound change laws (2024)

Relation to Other Works

Work Connection
08 — Kannadakke Mahaprana Yake Beda Applied phonology: merger of aspirated/unaspirated in Kannada
14 — Nijakku Halegannada Vyakarana Historical: Old Kannada phonological system
19 — The Koraga Language Applied: comparative Koraga-Tulu-Dravidian phonology
26 — ಉಲಿ-ಮಾರ್ಪಾಡಿನ ಗೆರೆಗಳು Kannada popular version of the same theory

Collection Status

  • Locate PDF (check archive.org, Google Books preview, library)
  • Extract and upload full text
  • Cross-reference Kannada examples with other books in collection
  • Add to thematic index under “Sound Change” and “Historical Phonology”