Introduction to Pli Combination and examine their usefulness with examples

Sandhi is one of the major forms of word building in Indo Aryan languages. It means the
union or combination of two letters or sounds. It helps to utter words easily and simply
like Samsa compound noun, secondary derivative and primary derivative. In Pli there
are two classes of Sandhi. he first is Akkhara!sandhi "the combination of letters# and it
also called internal combination because it takes place with the same words. Another is
Pada!sandhi "the combination of words# and it also called e$ternal combination because
it takes place by joining two words. o combine words certain changes should be made in
the final letters of one word and the initial of letter of another word.
All the middle Indo Aryan speeches including Pli are marked by the simplification of
the sound system. Some of the old sounds were simply dropped. In the combination of
dissimilar words or sounds, they either changed to similar one or modified and replaced
by an easier and all together different sound. he phonetic changes in Pli as in other
languages may be broadly divided into two classes. Some changes can be e$plained with
the help of universal principles and others are attributed to local or provincial dialects.
he phonetic changes belonging to the second class takes place more or less owing to the
influence of other local or neighbouring dialects as they have their own federal mode of
pronunciation. In Sanskrit the combinations are very strong, rigid and highly formuli%ed
but in Pli it is free and unconventional.
here are many ways of combinations. Some of them are as follows
a & a '
a & '
& a '
& '
(or some e$amples )a & aham ' )ham.
Atha & aham ' Athham.
hese are in some ways
*. +lision ",opa#
e.g. ,oka & agga ' ,okagga,
-. Insertion " Agama#
e.g. Atta & attan ' Attadattam,
.. Substitution "Adesa#
e.g. Sam & yogo ' Sa//ogo,
0. ,engthening "12gha#
e.g. 3uru & upadesa ' 3ur4padesa,
5. Assimilation " Smikarana#
e.g. Atma ' Atta,
6. 1issimilation "Asmikarana#
e.g. 3uru ' 3aru,
7. 8eduplication "1vitva#
e.g. )i&mala ' )immala.
Another ways and names of combinations are as follows9
:*; Sara!sandhi or vowel combination is a combination of vowels.
e.g. <hikkhun2 & ovdo ' <hikkhunovdo
:-; =ya/jana!sandhi or consonant combination is a combination of a vowel and a
consonant.
e.g. 84pa & khandho ' 84pakkhandho
:.; )iggahita!sandhi is a combination of ) and a vowel or a consonant.
e.g. +van & me sutan ' +vammesutam
:0; =omissaka!sandhi or mi$ed combination.
e.g. Ati & antan ' aty & antan ' Acchantam
he ways of usefulness of Sandhi combinations are as follow9
Sandhi makes less effort,
It makes less time to speak,
It makes easy to utter,
It makes the language sweet,
It makes less the space in writing and
It avoids the gaps between words.
herefore, according to the passages e$plaining above it clearly understand that
Sandhi is useful in Pli as well as in Sanskrit languages.