Vedic And Sanskrit Historical Linguistics

This volume contains 10 articles based on papers presented at the Linguistics sessions of the 13th World Sanskrit Conference (Edinburgh, July 2006) and shows the engagement of scholars with all aspects of Vedic Grammar, including phonology, inflectional and derivational morphology, syntax, semantics, lexicography, and stylistics. In many cases the articles constitute integral parts of long-term research projects of their authors that are ongoing even at this date of publication and therefore present the broad sweep of the field of Vedic linguistics as it is currently being practiced. The contributions include two on phonology (Kobayashi and Kummel), two on morphology (Garcia Ramon and Tucker), three on syntax (Bubenik, Hettrich, and Hock), one on the semantics of tense and aspect (Dahl), one on lexicography (Krisch), and one on stylistics (Klein). In several instances these papers fit integrally into the research agendas of their authors, representing parts of larger projects reflected in recent publications (Bubenik, Dahl, Garcia Ramon, Hettrich, Klein, Kobayashi) or deal with issues touched on repeatedly by their authors over a number of years (Hock). In one case (Krisch), the work announced has in the interim begun to appear and represent a broad reflection of research projects currently underway in Sanskrit Linguistics. That all but one of the papers focus exclusively on Vedic is simply a reflection of the reality that in Western countries the study of Sanskrit has frequently been treated as an entree to Indo-European linguistics, and it is especially the oldest texts that have been mined for whatever nuggets they can yield relative to our understanding of the proto-language. Already Published :- Vol. I : Scientific Literature in Sanskrit - Eds. S.R. Sarma & Gyula Wojtilla Vol. II : Battle, Bards and Brahmins - Ed. John Brockington

Presents Sanskrit language studies in a new setting-that of `socio-linguistics'. Illustrate how some of the missing links in traditional Sanskrit studies can be understood if the evolutionary aspect of language studies is connected with the study of socio-cultural history of the speech The new model of socio-historical linguistics is for the first time conceived and developed as a variational, dynamic and developmental model. Neatly planned and richly illustrated, this book breaks a new ground in modern linguistic studies showing how socio-linguistic studies can be enjoyed not only as sources of new hypotheses in historical studies but also as source of rich cultural contexts lost from material archaeological discoveries. Language, pleads the author, preserves a rich cultural archaeology of a community. The formulation of the scientific methodology of language studies from this point of view has to be the logical sine qua non of all historical linguistic studies which have been in a state of revival since 1965.

This book has the rare distinction of being both an introductorybook and a new ground-breaking study. It is an introductorybook because the reader gets an accurate overview ofthe language, and it is also a ground-breaking study becauseFilliozat s approach harmonizes two different and complementarystands that often have been at war: the Western historicaland comparative approach and the indigenous pa!Çitatradition. Sanskrit is described here from these two points ofview: what the native speakers knew and felt about theirlanguage, and what the foreign scholars discovered in theirhistorical and comparative quest.

This volume brings together eight contributions of Professor Madhav M. Deshpande relating to the historical sociolinguistics of sanskrit and Prakrit languages. The studies brought together here represent his continuing research in this field after his 1979 book: Sociolinguistic Attitudes in India: An Historical Reconstruction. The main thrust of these studies is to show that patterns of language, including grammatical theories are deeply influenced by political, religious, geographical, and other sociohistorical factors. This is true as much of ancient languages as it is for modern languages.

This Sanskrit Grammar is on a somewhat different plan from those already in use. It presents the facts of the language primarily as they show themselves in use in literature and only secondarily as they are laid down by the native grammarians. It also includes in the presentation the forms and constructions of the older language as exhibited in the Vedas the Brahmanas the Epics and the Puranas. The author has cast all statements classifications, etc; into a form consistent with the teachings of linguistic science. With the practical needs of the students of the language in mind different sizes of type have been used to make the work very useful to the reader whose object is to acquire a knowledge of classical Sanskrit. Historical treatment of the facts of the language has also been made.

Historical linguistic theory and practice consist of a large number of chronological "layers" that have been accepted in the course of time and have acquired a permanence of their own. These range from neogrammarian conceptualizations of sound change, analogy, and borrowing, to prosodic, lexical, morphological, and syntactic change, and to present-day views on rule change and the effects of language contact. To get a full grasp of the principles of historical linguistics it is therefore necessary to understand the nature of each of these "layers". This book is a major revision and reorganization of the earlier editions and adds entirely new chapters on morphological change and lexical change, as well as a detailed discussion of linguistic palaeontology and ideological responses to the findings of historical linguistics to this landmark publication.

The Groundbreaking Studies Contained In This Volume Present A History Of Sanskrit Philology And Comparative-Historical Linguistics That Is Fully Integrated With German Political And Intellectual History Ranging From The Enlightenment To Cold War Eras. The Authors Engage And Extend The Intercultural `Dialogue` That Wilhelm Halbfass Powerfully Initiated In India And Europe: An Essay In Understanding (1988). This Volume Contains His Last Public Address, In Which He Challenges The `Otherness` Of German Indology, Seeing Germany As Fitting A European Pattern. These Thoroughly Researched Essays Examine The Accounts Of German Travellers To India, The Early Indological Project Of Friendrich Schlegel, The Politics And History Of The University Disciplines Of Indology And Comparative Linguistics, The Scholarly Reception And Reaction To The Bhagavadgita And Buddhism, Indology`S Relation To Racial Theory, And More.