PHONOLOGY 115 The main accent affected the pronunciation of the preceding syllable. This was pronounced lower than normal and it is termed by Panini sannatara-. The remaining unaccented syllables were termed anudtitta-. Thus out of one main accent of a word there arose four different varieties of pitch : udatta anuddtta-, svarita-, sannatara -. Since however all this variation is dependent entirely on the main accent, only that needs to be noted, as above. A separate notation is needed for the inde- pendent svarita (vrkyds, tanvds , etc.) but even that may be dispensed with for the Veda if the words are transcribed accord- ing to the pronunciation [vrkiyas, tanuvas ), The complications of the accent detailed above were respon- sible for an unnecessarily complicated system of notation adopted by the Vedic schools. According to the usual system, that adopted in the Rgveda for instance, the principle is to mark the syllable preceding the udatta, the sannatara, with a sub- script line, and the dependent svarita following the udatta by a vertical stroke above. The udatta itself is left unmarked. This achieves the same purpose in a less convenient manner than the method adopted in modern transcription, and by some Vedic schools. The modern recitation of the Rgveda follows the notational system to the extent of pronouncing the sannatara lowest and the svarita highest musically of syllables and ignor- ing the udatta altogether. This is a secondary development although it may be old, and at variance with the teachings of Panini which are in complete agreement with the findings of comparative philology. The system of accentuation described above has for centuries been totally extinct in spoken Sanskrit as it has in all forms of Indo-Aryan derived from it. When exactly the accent died out in ordinary spoken use it is impossible to say with certainty. It was certainly a living thing in the time of Patanjali and even later than Patanjali, Santanava treated of the subject in his Phitsutra . According to the author of the Kdsikd commentary (1 c . a.d. 700) the use of accentuation was optional in the spoken language, which probably means that in practice it was no longer used at this time. On the whole it is unlikely that the use of accentuation survived long after the Christian era. In Middle Indo-Aryan we may take it that the change occurred much earlier, at the very beginning of anything that could be called Middle Indo-Aryan.
