_Phonetics._[6]--In the standard dialect the vowels are the same as in Sanskrit, but _r_ and _l_ only appear in words borrowed directly from that language (_tatsamas_). Final short vowels (_a_, _i_ and _u_) have all disappeared in prose pronunciation, except in a few local dialects, and final _i_ and _u_ are not even written. On the other hand, in the Nagari character, the non-pronunciation of a final _a_ is not indicated. After an accented syllable a medial _a_ is pronounced very lightly, even when the accent is not the main accent of the word. Thus, if we indicate the main accent by ', and subsidiary accents (equivalent to the Hebrew _methegh_) by `, then the word _kárawat_, a saw, is pronounced _kár^awat_; and _kàlakálane_, to be agitated, is pronounced _kàl^akál^an_e. In Konkani the vowel _a_ assumes the sound of o in "hot," a sound which is also heard in the language of Bengal. In dialectic speech _e_ is often interchangeable with short or long _a_, so that the standard _sangit^al_e, it was said, may appear as _sangit^ala_ or _sangit^ala_. The vowels _e_ and _o_ are apparently always long in the standard dialect, thus following Sanskrit; but in Konkani there is a short and a long form of each vowel. Very probably, although the distinction is not observed in writing, and has not been noticed by native scholars, these vowels are also pronounced short in the standard dialect under the circumstances to be now described. When a long _a_, _i_ or _u_ precedes an accented syllable it is usually shortened. In the case of _a_ the shortening is not indicated by the spelling, but the written long _a_ is pronounced short like the _a_ in the Italian _ballo_. Thus, the dative of _pik_, a ripe crop, is _pikas_, and that of _hat_, a hand, is _hatas_, pronounced _hatas_. Almost the only compound consonants which survived in the Prakrit stage were double letters, and in M. these are usually simplified, the preceding vowel being lengthened in compensation. Thus, the Prakrit _kanno_ becomes _kan_, an ear; Pr. _bhikkha_ becomes _bhik_, alms; and Pr. _putto_ becomes _put_, a son. In the Pisaca (see INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES) and other languages of north-western India it is not usual to lengthen the vowel in compensation, and the same tendency is observable in Konkani, which, it may be remarked, appears to contain many relics of the old Prakrit (Saurastri) spoken in the Gujarat country before the invasion from the Midland. Thus, in Konkani, we have _put_ as well as _put_, while the word corresponding to the Pr. _ekko_, one, is _ek_ as well as the standard _ek_.