French Grammars of Sanskrit and Word-Class Systems

2021

Published in "Beiträge zur Geschichte der Sprachwissenschaft" 20.1 (special issue ed. by É. Aussant and J.-L. Chevillard: "Extended Grammars"), 2020

2009

Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 2017

This is the first volume in the series of Indo-European short grammars announced by the Publishing house Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, "Kurzgrammatiken indogermanischer Sprachen und Sprachstufen", or KiSS for short. This collection of grammars aims to provide basic information about the grammatical system and textual documentation of Indo-European languages in condensed form, that can be used for advanced study of the corresponding languages and for beginners alike. This new series will thus compete with another collection of Indo-European short grammars of similar format (though more diachronically oriented), Brill Introductions to Indo-European Languages, started in 2014 with the concise Avestan grammar by Michiel de Vaan and Javier Martínez (a review will appear in one of the coming issues of this journal). As the author Sabine Ziegler, Professor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, explains in preface (p. 1), this grammar is based on her long-term experience of teaching Sanskrit to the students of Indo-European and Indology. The book consists of thirteen chapters. Chapter 1, "Einleitung" (pp. 3-8), opens with a very short, two-page, overview of the differences between Classical and Vedic Sanskrit. It is followed by a survey of Old Indian literature, from the earliest Vedic texts, R̥ gveda, onwards up to Classical Sanskrit literature, poetry (Mahākāvya) and narrative literature (collections of tales). Chapter 2, "Phonemsystem und Schrift" (pp. 9-23), presents the Sanskrit phonological system and writing system, Devanāgarī. The next short Chapter 3, "Betonung und Silbenstruktur" (pp. 24-25), explains the rules of accentuation of Classical Sanskrit forms, which are basically identical with those known from Latin (accent on the penultimate syllable unless this is short; in this latter case, the accent is on the antepenultimate). I am not sure this marginal issue (of little value for Sanskrit grammar proper, let alone Indo-European linguistics in general) deserves a separate, even short, chapter; moreover, the notation of the type bhárati, bharánti, illustrating this rule, appears quite confusing, being at odds with Vedic accentuation. A compromise notation might use underlining without accent marks (bharati, bharanti).

Histoire Epistémologie Langage

Middle Indian languages belong to the same linguistic family as Sanskrit. But their grammarians offer a surprising contrast: literary Prakrits are described by grammarians who use Sanskrit, the most famous prescriptive model, which is thus extended. Pali, on the other hand, the language of Theravāda

2024

This paper studies the different ways in which ancient Sanskrit grammarians presented nominal declensions. Based on twelve Sanskrit grammars (from Pāṇini’s Aṣṭādhyāyī up to Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita’s Siddhāntakaumudī) classified into three categories (“wholly generative” grammars, “partly generative” grammars and “pedagogical” grammars), it shows that though nominal paradigmatic sets were known from and used by various scholars – among whom grammarians – at a relatively early date, it is only with pedagogical grammars that they really enter the scene of grammatical description, i.e. as “official” grammatical or language teaching tools.

Published in "Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics". Ed. Mark Aronoff, New York, Oxford University Press, 2018

Indian linguistic thought begins around the 8 th-6 th centuries BC with the composition of Padapāṭhas (word-for-word recitation of Vedic texts where phonological rules are not applied). It took various forms over these twenty-six centuries and involved different languages (Ancient, Middle and Modern Indo-Aryan as well as Dravidian languages). The greater part of documented thought is related to Sanskrit (Ancient Indo-Aryan). Very early, the oral transmission of sacred texts-the Vedas, composed in Vedic Sanskrit-made it necessary to develop techniques based on a subtle analysis of language. The Vedas also-but presumably later-gave birth to bodies of knowledge dealing with language, which are traditionally called Vedāṅgas: phonetics (śikṣā), metrics (chandas), grammar (vyākaraṇa) and semantic explanation (nirvacana, nirukta). Later on, Vedic exegesis (mīmāṃsā), new dialectics (navya-nyāya), lexicography (nighaṇṭu and later, kośa) as well as poetics (alaṃkāra) also contributed to linguistic thought. Though languages other than Sanskrit were described in premodern India, the grammatical description of Sanskrit-given in Sanskrit-dominated and influenced them more or less strongly. Sanskrit grammar (vyākaraṇa) has a long history marked by several major steps (Padapāṭha versions of Vedic texts, Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini, Mahābhāṣya of Patañjali, Bhartṛhari's works, Siddhāntakaumudī of Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita, Nāgeśa's works) and the main topics it addresses (minimal meaning-bearer units, classes of words, relation between word and meaning/referent, the primary meaning/referent of nouns) are still central issues for contemporary Linguistics.

Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics 4.2, 2017

The journal provides a peer-reviewed forum for publishing original research articles and reviews in the fi eld of South Asian languages and linguistics, with a focus on descriptive, functional and typological investigations. Descriptive analyses are encouraged to the extent that they present analyses of lesserknown languages, based on original fi eldwork. Other areas covered by the journal include language change (including contact-induced change) and sociolinguistics. The journal also publishes occasional special issues on focused themes relating to South Asian languages and linguistics for which it welcomes proposals.

South Asian Languages and Linguistics 5.2, 2018

Periodicals Directory/ulrichsweb · WanFang Data · WorldCat (OCLC).