Modern Linguistics in Ancient India

An accessible introduction to ancient Indian linguistics, this book assesses the impact of Indian linguistic thought on Western linguistics.

John J. Lowe (Author)

9781009364508, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 March 2024

278 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

The ancient Indian linguistic tradition has been influential in the development of modern linguistics, yet is not well known among modern Western linguists. This unique book addresses this gap by providing an accessible introduction to the Indian linguistic tradition, covering its most important achievements and ideas, and assessing its impact on Western linguistics. It shows how ancient Indian methods of linguistic analysis can be applied to a number of topical issues across the disciplines of modern linguistics–spanning phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, and computational linguistics. Exploring the parallels, differences, and connections in how both traditions treat major issues in linguistic science, it sheds new light on a number of topical issues in linguistic theory. Synthesizing existing major work on both sides, it makes Indian linguistics accessible to Western linguists for the first time, as well as making ideas from mainstream linguistics more accessible to students and scholars of Indian grammar.

Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Glossary
Texts and Authors
The Sanskrit Transcription System
1. Introduction
2. The Astadhyayı at Work
3. Rule Interaction
4. Morphological Systems
5. Syntax: Argument Structure
6. Formal Language Theory and Computational Power
7. Semantics and Pragmatics
8. Phonology: Phonemes and Writing Systems
9. Conclusion
References
Subject Index
Author Index
Index Locorum
Word Index.

Subject Areas: Linguistics [CF]