Introducing Grammatical Notions (An Old and Rare Book)

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

This is slightly revised version of a set of 15 lectures that I delivered at the Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit.

University of Pune in July-August, 1999. I have tried to introduce, in these chapters, some of the important grammatical notions by examining aspects of Sanskrit grammar to begin with, and by showing how other languages, especially those of India, differ from Sanskrit in representing and utilizing those notions. My approach has been primarily functional in the sense that I have tried to describe the notions from the point of view of their function in language. This has allowed me to show how some of the languages that do not possess one or the other of these grammatical notions are able to manage with alternative strategies that do not require them.

India has a rich linguistic heritage, represented by languages belonging to four major language families, namely Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman and Austroasiatic (Munda). There are several interesting differences in the grammars of these languages. which represent alternative strategies that the languages use in their formation and use of linguistic expressions. For example, Sanskrit forms its noun phrases by juxtaposing two (or more) different nouns, whereas Kannada does so by placing one or more modifiers before a noun. Because of this difference in the basic strategy used, Kannada requires a distinct class of modifying words called adjectives for forming noun phrases, whereas Sanskrit does not. There are several other differences of this type among the languages of India. We would be able to appreciate the richness of our linguistic heritage only through a detailed typological or "comparative" study of the grammars of these languages.

Such a study is also helpful in understanding the grammar of our own language. Because it is only when we learn the possibility of using alternative strategies for carrying out one and the same linguistic activity that we are able to understand properly the way in which the strategy used by our own language functions. Linguistics have recently realized the importance of such cross- linguistic studies for an understanding of even individual languages. Such studies are also necessary for understanding what is called the Universal Grammar, i.e. the knowledge of grammar that human beings are genetically endowed with. The present study provides a general introduction to this exciting approach to language.

I am thankful to Prof. V. N. Jha, Director, C.A.S.S., University of Pune, for providing me with an opportunity to present these ideas to an interested audience by inviting me to deliver a series of lectures at his Centre. I am also thankful to the Sanskrit scholars who attended the lectures, for their many helpful comments. I am indebted to Prof. N. Radhakrishna Bhat for some of the data on Sanskrit that I have used in these chapters, and to the Director, Prof. N. Ramaswamy, of the Central Institute of Indian Languages and to its library staff for allowing me to use the library while writing this book.