07-12-2008, 09:24 AM
The development of the z sound in Marathi is an endogenous one. I am not sure when it began but we can still argue that it is endogenous for the following reason:
Firstly we known that joShI comes from the saMskR^ita jyotiShI meaning astrologer. So the primitive sound was joSh. The evidence for this seen in mahArAShTri prakR^it the ancestor of Marathi which has transmitted to word to Tamil where it is pronounced as joShiyar. In Marathi we know that the cha sound is also similar transformed in the same fashion as ja. i.e. something in between cha and sa. The latter is missing in Urdu/Persian. So the same internal change has influenced both this sounds.
Firstly we known that joShI comes from the saMskR^ita jyotiShI meaning astrologer. So the primitive sound was joSh. The evidence for this seen in mahArAShTri prakR^it the ancestor of Marathi which has transmitted to word to Tamil where it is pronounced as joShiyar. In Marathi we know that the cha sound is also similar transformed in the same fashion as ja. i.e. something in between cha and sa. The latter is missing in Urdu/Persian. So the same internal change has influenced both this sounds.