deriv SD cv (9) ashtadhyayi.com hei.de L 9 ETT STT a 1.2.27 ALPH OLDHOMEPAGE NEWHOMEPAGE

U-kAlo 'j jhrasva;dIrgha;plutaH

ऊॱकालो ऽज्झ्रस्वॱदीर्घॱप्लुतः ONPANINI 12027

Vowels with the duration of u उ U ऊ U3 ऊ३ are called /hrasva /dIrgha /pluta (short, long, extralong).

The short vowels are five: a i u R L अ इ उ ऋ ऌ.

The long vowels are the other eight: A I U RR e ai o au आ ई ऊ ॠ ए ऐ ओ औ.

The extralong vowels are A3 I3 U3 RR3 e3 ai3 o3 au3 आ३ ई३ ऊ३ ॠ३ ए३ ऐ३ ओ३ औ३. Grammarians mention L3 ऌ३ too but i'd say that its existence is mainly theoretical.

This sUtra says that long vowels last longer than short vowels, and extralong vowels last longer than long vowels. But according to tradition, short vowels last one /mAtrA, long vowels last two /mAtrA, and extralong vowels last at least three /mAtrA, where the /mAtrA "meter, measure, moment" is a unit of time whose length depends on how fast you want to talk.

The RR ॠ is the lengthened version of R ऋ. No dictionary words have RR ॠ. This RR ॠ sound only appears when a few grammar rules lengthen an R ऋ —

pitR- पितृॱ + /su → **pitRRNAm पितॄणाम् "of fathers", lengthening courtesy of nAmi

pitR- पितृॱ + /zas → **pitRRn पितॄन् " o fathers", lengthening by prathamayoHp...

As no L ऌ is ever grabbed by those rules, there is no long version of /L. See long L for details.