deriv LSK ETT STT aSTA ALPH OLDHOMEPAGE NEWHOMEPAGE

@seldomness of soft liG

Nowadays, the flat soft liG is seldom used in practice, and the bent soft liG is never used.

(A) /pANini says (in liGAziSi) that the soft liG MUST be used for blessings and curses.

(B) grammarians agree that both the soft liG and the hard liG MAY be used for blessings and curses.

(C) in practice everybody uses the hard liG (most of the time when hard, all of the time when bent).

So, please don't use **lapsISTa लप्सीष्ट when you bless, use **labheta लभेत instead. Even though both are PC. If you say **lapsISTa लप्सीष्ट, some fluent speakers won't understand you, and others, more knowledgeable of grammar, will think that you are showing off your knowledge of arcane grammar rules.

Then why do you bother to teach the bent soft liG at all? Looks like I won't ever need to say it and I'll hear it hardly ever.

It does appear in the Vedas and the /ArSa. The /pANinIya is not a tutorial for beginners, it's for experts, and experts'r sposed to know all about Vedic rarities.