Question- श द (Śabda) that is actually spoken is real.
कृ तs (prakṛtis), ययs (pratyayas) and
transformation-rules leading to the derivation of words are fictitious. Only condition while
deciding कृ तs (prakṛtis), ययs (pratyayas) and rules is that they should be ‘minimal’ as they
lead us to साधु (sadhu) usages. Following is small corpus of words provided to you. Make a
minimal database of कृ तs (indicating their meanings also), decide upon the minimal ययs
(indicating their meanings) and prepare a minimal rule-set in such a way that all the words can
be derived. Techniques like अनबु ध (anubandha) and अनव ु ृ (anuvṛtti) may also be used while
writing the rules. (10)
No. Word Meaning No. Word Meaning
1 पठ त (paṭhati) Reads (present 5 पठतु (paṭhatu) (He must)
tense) Read
2 पाठय त Makes (someone) 6 पाठयतु (He must)
(pāṭhayati) read (teaches) (pāṭhayatu) Teach
3 पठ यत Will read 7 अपठत ् (apaṭhat) Read (Past
(paṭhiṣyati) tense)
4 पाठ य य त Will teach 8 अपाठयत ् Taught
(pāṭhayiṣyati) (apāṭhayat)
Solution
B = {प – to read}
1. In causal sense replace प by पाठय ्
2. In present tense add अ त after B
3. In future tense add इ य ् between
4. In imperative mood replace अ त’s इ by उ
5. Remove in past tense
6. Add अ before B
Notes:
i. ‘B’ is sort of a धातुपाठ.
ii. 1 to 6 above are a part of the rule base, or सू पाठ.
iii. Though प is a धातु and अ त is a यय, there is no need to assign the nomenclatures धातु
यय etc. as this will not help in any way to minimize the derivational process for such a
small data set.
iv. Rule 1 could have been saved by adding one more entry of पाठय ् to ‘B’ however, I chose to
make a rule instead since the meanings of प (to study) and पा (to make someone study =
teach) are not entirely different.
v. In rule 3 there is अका ा or Expectancy - In future tense add इ य ् between which two
elements? That leads to the अनव
ु ृ of ‘B’ and अ त from the context of rule 2. This also tells
us that the element अ त is added to the धातु in future tense as well.
vi. Rule 4 tells that इ of अ त is replaced by उ. In that way it also tells us that अ त is to be added
(with some modification) in imperative mood as well.
vii. In rule 5, there is an आका ा – remove what? That leads to the अनुव ृ of the words ‘अ त's
इ’ from rule 4. This rule also points out that the element अ त is added (with some
modification) to the धातु in past tense as well.
viii. In rule 6 the element ‘in past tense’ is available by अनुव ृ .
Practice Questions –
1.
No. Word Meaning No. Word Meaning
1 प ठ वा Having Read 5 लेख Something that
is written
2 ल ख वा Having Written 6 ले खतुम ् For Writing
3 प ठतम
ु ् For Reading 7 प ठत य Worthy of
reading
4 पाठ Something that is 8 ले खत य Worthy of
read writing
2.
No. Word Meaning No. Word Meaning
1 पठ त Reads (present tense) 5 पाठय त Teaches (makes
someone read)
2 पठनीय Worthy of reading 6 पाठनीय Worthy of
teaching
(making
someone read)
3 पप ठषु One who is desirous 7 पपाठ यषु One who is
of reading desirous of
teaching
4 पठन Act of reading 8 पाठन Act of teaching
