deriv LSK ETT STT aSTA ALPH OLDHOMEPAGE NEWHOMEPAGE

@shorten

When one of my translations says "lengthen" or "shorten", the original sUtras say "replace with a /savarNa long" or "replace with a /savarNa short".

These operations will not change a consonant, because only vowels can be short or long. They will not affect an /ec because they aren0t savarNa even to themselves. The lengthen operation will let a long alone, and the shorten operation will get a short alone.

So, "lengthening" turns the short vowels into long vowels —

a अ → A आ
i इ → I ई
u उ → U ऊ
R ऋ → RR ॠ

and "shortening" does the opposite —

A आ → a अ
I ई → i इ
U ऊ → u उ
RR ॠ → R ऋ

Why, shouldn't lengthening affect L ऌ too?

Yes, it should. But there are no examples in the real language, so NVM that.

You mean that there are examples in some irreal language?

Yes. Grammar jargon has nounbases like gamL गम्ऌ, which end in L ऌ. I guess you might wish to add /Am to that one. Then nAmi will lengthen the L ऌ. See long L for spelling.