This set consists of 2 titles:
About the Author:
Dr. C.C. Uhlenbeck, Extraordinary Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology in the University of Amsterdam.
The idea of publishing an English edition of my Handboek der Indische Klankleer (Leiden , Blankenberg & Co. 1894) was suggested to me by others; but for that suggestion this translation certainly would not have been undertaken. In general I have followed the Dutch text: alterations have been made only, when there were positive inaccuracies in the Dutch edition or when an alteration had become necessary because of the progress of comparative philology since 1894. I have also considerably augmented the references to the scientific literature and somewhat enlarged the part on the accent. Some emendations are due to the recensions of Kern, Speyer, Zubaty [and Johansson], of whose observations and remarks I have made a grateful use.
I further need only repeat , what I said in the preface to the Dutch original: the purpose of my having composed this little handbook is to introduce the student into the compara- tive-phonetic study of Sanskrit. Though as a rule students of Classical and Germanic philology do not read Vedic texts, I have not hesitated to cite words and forms, which had already become obsolete in the epic and classical language, mentioning, of course, the fact, that such a word only oc- curs in Vedic. In general I have avoided to cite Iranic , Li- thuanian and Slavonic: I know, it is true, that this lessens the scientific worth of my book, but I do not think it desi- rable to trouble the student with several languages! which are either quite unknown to him or which he only just begins to learn.
May this edition be of some use to the students in England, America and India.
1. The Indogermanie family of Janguages. The great family of languages, to which Sanskrit belongs, is called the Indogermanic, Indoceltic or Aryan. I prefer the first. name , because it is the most usual, though the name Indoceltic may claim a greater accuracy, The word Indogermanic dates from a time, when it was not yet proved , that the Celtic dialects also make part of our family of languages, and indicates by the combined name of the utmost branches, Indian and Ger- manic, the whole territory of speech, to which they belong. Now that it is certain, that Celtic also is a member of our family, it would be accurate to replace the word Indogermanic by Indoceltic , because not Germanic, but Celtic is the utmost branch to the Occident. The name Indogermanic however is generally adopted and it. would be. impossible to supplant it by another. By the word Aryan is generally understood a certain subdivision of the Indogermanic family, viz. the Indo- Iranian, and therefore it would seam unsuitable to use this name also for the whole Indogermanic family. See G. Meyer, Idg. forschungen 2, 125 sqq. ahd Spiegel, Die Arische periode (Leipzig 1887) VI sq.
The Indogermunic family consists of the following nine groups : 1. Aryan, see 2. 2. Armenian. 3. Phrygian-Thracian, only known from proper names, glos- ses and inscriptions. 4. Albanian. 5. Greek, 6. italic, which comprises not only ancient languages of Italy (Latin, Oscian , Umbrian , Samnitic) , but also the mo- dern dialects, which have sprung' from popular Latin. 7. Celtic, which is divided into Gallic (the extinct language of ancient Galli a) , Britannian (Cymric or Welsh, Cornish, Bas-Breton) and Gaelic (Scotch, Irish, Manx). 8. Germanic, which is commonly divided into an eastern and a western group. The eastern comprehends Gothic and Scan- dinavian (Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish); to the western belong English (ill its oldest literary period called Auglosaxon), Frisian ana German (High- German and Low-German) 9. Balto-Slavonic , which consists of two groups, the Baltic and the Slavonic. The former is divided into Old-Prussian , Lithuanian and Lettish; the latter comprehends Southern- Slavonic (Ecclesiaetical-Slavonic , Slovenian, Servo-Croatian, Bulgarian), Russian (Great-Russian, White-Russian, Little- Russian) and Western-Slavonic (Polish, Wendish , Bohemian and the extinct Polabic).
About the mutual relations of these groups see J.Schmidt, Die verwand tschaftsverhaltnisse del' Indogermanischen sprachen (Weimar 1872) and cf. Brugmann , Zur frage nach den ver- wandtschaftsverhaltnissen der' Indogermanischen sprachen (Tech- mer's Internationale Zeitschr. fur allgemeine sprachwissenschaft 1, 226 sqq.),
2. The Aryan group. The Aryan group is divided into two subdivisions: 1. Indian, see 3. 2. Iranian.
Ancient Iranian is handed down to us in two dialects, viz. Avestian and Old-Persian. Avestian is the language of the Avesta , the sacred book of the Parsis. The oldest parts of this Zoroastrian bible date back to many centuries before Christ, and their language is more archaic than the classical dialect of the younger Avesta. This oldest Avestian is called the Gatha-dialect. In Old-Persian we have only the cuneiform in- scriptions of the Achaemenidian kings, the oldest of which is that of Darius Hystaspes at Behistan and dates from 520 before Christ. Numerous inscriptions are found on and near the ruins of Persepolis: the youngest of them is of the middle of the fourth century before Ghrist. See Bartholomae, Hand- buch der Altiranischen dialekte (Leipzig 1883), Vorgeschichte der Iranisehen sprachen (Grundriss der Iranischen philologie I); Williams Jackson, An Avesta grammar (Part I, Stuttgart 1892) Spiegel, Die Altpersischen Keilinschriften (Leip- zig 1881).
Preface
PART IV. ACCENT
It was in the year 1955 that I started to work on Sanskrit phonetics. First, I faced great difficulties in acqniring the ancient works on Sanskrit phonology such as the Śikṣās, the Prātiśākhyas and different Sanskrit grammars. It was also necessary to be acquainted adequately with the literature on modern phonetics. Consequently I attended the Summer Schools of Linguistics held in the universities of Saugor, Agra and Kerala where I gathered valuable directions and suggestions from a number of reputed scholars like Dr. Sunici Kumar Chatterji, Dr. Meenakși Sundaram and Dr. Sumitra Mangesh Katre regarding the subject matter of my research. For collection of materials from original sources I visited the Asiatic Society of Bengal, the National Library Calcutta, the Central Manuscript Library Madras, the Central Sanskrit Institute Tirupati and the Sarasvati Bhavan Varanasi. Now after a long time, the work is at hand.
The aim of this work is to present a phonetic experiment of Sanskrit language. For convenience of the study, the whole work has been split into three parts. Introductory portion deals with a brief history of phonetics in Sanskrit and its contribution to the study of modern phonetics. Later the analysis of Sanskrit sounds and technical terms of Sanskrit phonology are described. The first part discusses the mental and neural basis of speech under the heading-Evolution of Sound, according to different views of the Naiyāyikas, the Mimāmsakas, the Śikṣās, the Prātiśākhyas and the modern phoneticians. In the second part all the Sanskrit sounds are studied to the minutest details from the phonetic point of view. A study of Sanskrit phonetics cannot overlook the part Sandhi plays in it. The third part, therefore, discusses the principles of euphonic combinations and this is followed by the analysis of syllabic structure and the nature of accent. Matters on evolution of sound, features of Akşa, quantity, syllabic structure and accents would particularly be proved by the accuracy of the observation of the whole work.
Materials for preparation of the work have been collected from both original and secondary sources. The original sources comprise the Vedas, the Śikṣās, the Prātiśākhyas and different Sanskrit grammars while the secondary sources include authoritative works of reputed authors on phonetics.
I do not, of course, expect that the present treatise would entirely be free from mistakes both of omission and of commission. New facts are coming to light every day. Therefore, I would most thankfully receive any corrections and suggestions for improvement.
The study of phonetics formed part of the general discipline in ancient India. Śikṣā and Prātiśākhya were the two ancillary works, besides, of course, Vyākaraṇa and Chandas which were inveriably studied by the Vedic students. Further, to be a specialist in the entire Vedic field, one was expected to be familiar, if not well-versed, in all the six ancillary branches of knowledge Şadangas.
India's contribution to linguistics is vast and rich and the phonetic observations, made in the Prātiśākhya and Ślkşā texts, which were based on scientific study of the process of sound produce tion, have rightly drawn the attention and admiration of modern scholars in the field. India, in fact, was the original home or urheim of this science which has now become an important discipline of study in universities.
The vast range of literature on this subject available in books and manuscripts have not been thoroughly studied, though a good number of scholars, Indian and foreign, have already done some monumental works in this field. The present dissertation by Dr. Vidhata Mishra, Professor of Sanskrit, R. N. College Hajipur (Bihar University ), Bihar, makes an attempt to survey the litera. ture on phonetics in its entirely and records the results of his comparative and critical study and research on the subject.
In the first part of the work. Dr. Mishra makes a splendid attempt to describe the process of speech production as given by the ancient writers followed in the second part by a detailed study of the sounds themselves. In the third part he discusses the principles of euphonic combinations and analyses the syllabic structure and the nature of accent.
In his introduction, besides giving a brief history of phonetic and grammatical study in ancient India, as also an account of Sanskrit Sound System as described in ancient texts, Dr. Mishra deals with the technical terminology almost exhaustively. This will be found very useful for a clear understanding of the subject and would be a welcome supplement to the already existing contributions of Louis Renou and K. V. Abhyañkara in the field.
Dr. Mishra is one of the few young and promising scholars who has made a close study of the difficult ancient texts on phonetics on traditional lines. He has widened his knowledge in this field by undergoing training at the Summer Schools of Linguistics run by the Linguistic Society of India. He is thus well-equipped to treat the subject. I am very happy to note that he has done his job admirably well.
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