Sanskrit and its development from Proto-Indo-Europeanabuch/14ws/Referat2.pdf · Sanskrit and its development from Proto-Indo-European Miriam Kennerknecht und Sonja Eberhardt 15.12.2014

Sanskrit and its development from Proto-Indo-European

Miriam Kennerknecht und Sonja Eberhardt

15.12.2014

Content

1 History of Sanskrit

2 Phonology

3 Morphology

3.1 nominal

3.2 verbal

4 References

1. History1.1 The Indians

• Original homeland of the Indians:

a region north-west of India

• Around the middle of the second millennium BC the forebears of the Indians moved into India

• The oldest Indic language:

Sanskrit

• Sanskrit is an Indo-European language

1. History1.2 The writing system

• first texts were transmitted orally

• The inscriptions of the ruler Aśoka in the third century BC were the first documentary evidence for Middle Indic

• The first direct attestation of Sanskrit: inscription of the ruler Rudradāman AD 150

• Sanskrit is written in the ‘devanāgarī’ script

1. History1.3 The Indo-Iranian language family• Consists of Indo-Aryan and Iranian and

the Kafir languages of the North-west India

• The speakers referred to themselves as ārya- (Aryans)

• is without doubt the most archaic of the Indo-European languages

1. History1.3 The Indo-Iranian language family

Indic (Indo-Aryan)• Oldest form is called Vedic• As of the fifth century B.C. we speak of

Middle Indo-Aryan• Languages of modern India:

→ Hindi, Bengali, Marathi, Gujarathi• The land of origin of the Rig Veda is the

Punjab→ From there the Indo-Aryan language

spread toward the south



Iranian• Old Iranian languages: Avestan & Old

Persian

• Modern Iranian comprises: Modern Persian (Farsi), Pashto, the official language of Afghanistan, Kurdish, and the Ossetic language spoken by a minority people of the Caucasus


• Sanskrit and Iranian share a number of common features

→ vocabulary is largely shared→ the nominal declension and verbal

flexion• There was a period of extensive contact

between the two languages• There subsequently occurred a process of

fragmentation

1. History 1.3 The Indo-Iranian language family

• differences between Sanskrit and Iranian:

→ in Iranian *(-)s- becomes (-)h-; in Sanskrit it is preserved

→ in Sanskrit the voiced aspirates *bh, *dh, *gh remain as such while in Iranian they lose their aspiration

→ in Sanskrit there appears a series of retroflex phonemes (t, th, d, dh, n, s) which do not exist in Iranian

1. History 1.3 The Indo-Iranian language family

The Kafir languages (Nuristani languages)• Ashkun and Prasun of Northeastern

Afghanistan

• Perhaps a third branch of the Indo-Iranian group

• Could also be derived from the Iranian languages

1. History1.4 The Hurrians

• The Aryans are the only IE peoples of whom linguistic traces remain outside their historical homelands:

in Asia Minor and Mesopotamia• The Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni was dominated by

an Aryan aristocracy→ The rulers of the Mitanni had names with a clear

Aryan stamp→ numerals and horsemanship terms are of Indian

derivation→ aika “one” (Skt. eka-), panza “five” (Skt. pan͂ca)

• The Aryan linguistic remains outside India resemble Sanskrit more than Iranian

→ aika “one” (Skt. eka) but Iran. *aiwa-

1. History1.5 The Aryan dialects

Vedic:• literary language of the vedic tradition• the oldest document:

→ the Rig Veda

→ goes back to around 1000 BC

→ a collection of hymns composed in the western regions of India

1. History1.5 The Aryan dialects• Early and Later Vedic

→ Early Vedic: based on a western dialect→ Later Vedic: more features deriving from

central dialects

• theory fails: → Some texts classed as later vedic are in

fact very ancient→ Central dialect features are also present in

the Rig Veda

1. History 1.5 The Aryan dialects

Sanskrit• Language of the classical literature of India• Heavily formalized and standardized

(saṁskr̥ta “perfected”)• Classical Sanskrit: language coded by the

grammarian Pāṇini• Basis of Sanskrit: a dialect of the central region of

India (Madhyadeśa)• Sanskrit shares many features with Later Vedic


Differences between Sanskrit and Vedic:

• Vedic preserves very ancient IE features:injunctive, subjunctive, some verb endings, the

infinitive expressed with a noun of action declined according to its syntactic function

• Vedic exhibits a series of innovations:a) The -a- stem nominative plural –āsas (Sanskrit has -ās < *-ōs)b) the -a- stem instrumental plural –ebhis (Sanskrit has -ais < *-ōjs)c) the first person plural active ending –masi (Sanskrit has -mas < *-me/os)


The Prākrits• Belong to the Middle Indian tradition

(300 BC to AD 200)• Do not derive from Sanskrit but from a parallel

tradition going back to Vedic period• Some innovative features are shared by Vedic and the

Prākrits but not by Sanskrit

→ The -a- stem nominative plural -āsas

→ dative plural -ebhis


• The Prākrits do not go back directly to the dialect which formed Vedic, but rather to a parallel tradition (Vedic Prākrits)

• The most important of the ancient Prākrits: Pāli

→ language of the canon of the Buddhist faith

• The modern Aryan dialects of India go back to the spoken dialects on which the Prākrits were based

2. Phonology of Sanskrit

● 1860 – discovery of rules for sound changes

E. g. the assumption of analogy (cf. Beekes, 2011: 17) as

Sanskrit a becomes e in Greek

1. Skt. jánas Gr. génos (gender, race)

2. Skt. saptá Gr. heptá (seven)

2. PhonologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit● PIE vowels e, o, a > Skt. a

some examples

PIE Sanskrit Latin

*esti asti est

*poti- pati- potis (lord)

*akso- aksa axis (axle)

2. PhonologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit● PIE diphthongs *ej, *oj, *aj > *aj

*ew, *ow, *aw > *aw

→ Sanskrit monophthongs e and o

some examples

PIE Sanskrit Greek/Old Lat.

*ejti eti Gk eîsi (goes)

*wojda veda Gk (w)oîda (I know)

*lowko- loka OLat. loukom (free space)

2. PhonologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit● long diphthongs shortened 1st element in PIE

and then became in Sanskrit ai and

*naws > naus (ship) ● schwa → i: *pəter > pitar (father)

2. PhonologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit● PIE vowel triangle with symmetric long and

short sounds

2. PhonologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit

→ length phonologically not relevant, morphophonological variants of the bi-phonemic clusters ai and au (PIE)

development maybe from the three laryngeals *h

1,

*h2, *h

3

Two asymmetrical triangles emerged.

2. PhonologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit● PIE liquids l and r merge to Sanskrit r

Example with r:

*mrt- > Skt mrtyu- (mors, death)

● PIE nasals m and n become Skt a

Example with m:

*septm > Skt sapta (seven)

2. PhonologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit● Velars belong to the most important changes.

Pure (*k, *g, *gh) and labiovelars (*kw, *gw, *gwh) before *i and *e > a became c, j, h and stayed in other environments pure k, g, gh.

● Palatals *k, *g, *gh > s, j, h● Example for velars: *kwid > cit (Lat. quid),

*kwe > ca (Lat. -que) and *kwos > kas (Lat. quod)

2. PhonologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit

2. PhonologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit● Accentuation is only known in Vedic Sanskrit

due to representation via diacritics in Vedic texts.

● Probably the pronunciation of present-day Sanskrit (accent on penultimate segment as in Latin) goes back to the classical age (Wackernagel 1896).

● Regarding pronunciation: some tendencies like the change of word-endings depending on the beginning of the following word.

3.1 Nominal Morphology3.1.1 Gender

• Three grammatical genders

→ masculine, feminine and neuter

→ is the result of an innovation

• The contrast between masculine and feminine has been generalized

→ all nouns in -a- (<*-o-): masculine

→ all nouns in -ā- (<*-ā-): feminine

• the distinction between masculine and neuter is often only expressed by the case endings

3.1 Nominal Morphology3.1.2 Case endings

Stems

• Vowel stems:

→ the short a thematic type:

→ ā and ī feminine stems

→ stems in i and u:

•


• Nominal stems in -a- (devas “god”)

•


Nominal stems in -a-


Consonant stems

• stems with: an-, ar-, ant-, vas- and as-

• Nominal stems in -n-: rājan- “king”


The dual

example: somone‘s two eyes → Skt. akṣī


3.1 Nominal Morphology3.1.3 Adjectives• The adjectives follow the noun flection

→ when the masculine is in -a (<*-o-), the feminine shows -ā- (pāpas/pāpā “bad”)

→ otherwise the feminine is formed with the suffix -ī- (uru/urvī “broad”)

• Extremely archaic are the several instances of suffixal suppletion where the masculine in -van contrast with the feminine in -varī (pīvan-/pīvarī “fat”)

3.1 Nominal Morphology3.1.3 Adjectives

• The comparative:→ suffix -iyas- added to the full grade root (<*-ios-): dūras “far” > davīyas-→ suffix: -tara- (< *-tero-) added to the adjectival

stem: dūra-taras “further”

• The superlative:→ suffixes: -isṭḥa (< *-istos-) and -tama (< *-tomo)→ In Proto-Indo-European the two types were

functional distinct: *-tero- und *-tomo- indicate a separative-spatial value, *-ios- und *-istos- a qualitative-dimensional value

3.1 Nominal Morphology3.1.4 Pronouns

Exhibit the following PIE characteristics• Frequent suppletion of the stem

→ aham “I”, acc. mām• In some cases, a special set of endings, different from those

of the nouns → n.nom.sing. ta-t “that” beside yuga-m

• Infixed elements →acc. ta-m “that”, abl. ta-sm-āt beside deva-m, devā-

t• Scope for expansion by using particles; some of these are

reanalyzed as inseparable parts of the pronoun → n.nom.-acc.sg. id-am


Demonstrative pronouns:• m. ayam, f. iyam, n. idam „this“

→ PIE: *h1e, f. *(h1)ih2, n. *(h1)id

• m. asau, f. asau, n. adam „that“

Relative pronouns• m. yas, f. yā, n. yat

→ PIE: *yos-, *yā -, *yod


Anaphoric pronoun:• sa, sā, tat

→ also used as a personal pronoun→ usually in the third person

• forms: → Sg.: nominative: sa, sā, tat / accusative: m.

tam, f. tām / genitive: m. tasya→ Pl.: nominative: m. te / instrumental: m.

tais, genitive: f. tāsām / locative: m. tesu→ PIE: *so, f. *seh2, n. *tod


Interrogative pronoun:• formed from the PIE interrogative-

indefinite stem *kwo-/*kwe-, *kwi-• m. kas, f. kā, n. kim (kat)

→ ka comes from *kwo-• *kwe-, *kwi- survive only in cana- and cit-

→ when added to the interrogative, it forms the indefinite

→ kas “who” > kas cit “someone”


Personal pronouns:

• aham “I” (acc. mam, instr. mayā) < *eĝ(h)om

• tvam “you” (acc. tvām, instr. tvayā) < *tw-om

• vayam “we” (acc. asmān, instr. asmabhis)

• yuyam “you” (pl) (acc. yuṣmān, instr. yuṣmabhis)

• for the third person sa is used

3.1 Nominal Morphology3.1.5 Numerals

Cardinal numerals:• from one to four: declined

for all three genders→ m. trayas, f. tiṣras,

n. trīṇi “three”• from five to ten:

declinable, but without distinction of gender

→ pañca, instrumental: pañca-bhis “five”

3.1 Nominal Morphology3.1.5 Numerals• from eleven to nineteen:

form of copulative compounds

→ ekadaśa “eleven” > lit. “one-ten

• The reconstruction of the PIE forms is not possible

”


Ordinal numerals:• formed with the suffix –ma• or the suffix –tama

→ pañcaśat “fifty” > pañcaśattamas “fiftieth”

• both suffixes are also superlative morphemes


3.1 Nominal Morphology3.1.6 Development from PIE to Sanskrit

• Still eight cases in Sanskrit

• three genders in Sanskrit

• No articles in PIE and Sanskrit

• No personal pronoun for the third person in both languages, a demonstrative is used

• Still singular, plural and dual in Sanskrit

• Proto-Indo-European nominal derivation is well preserved in Sanskrit

3.2 Verbal Morphology inClassical and Vedic Sanskrit

● Verb conjugation via processes and states with distinction of present and past tense

Representation of actions

Representation of states

present presentpolymorphism

(present) perfect

past characterized by augment+special set of endings

Imperfect (present stem)/Aorist (independent stem)

pluperfect


● 6 athematic and 4 thematic flection present stem classes of the Indian grammarians

(verbs can form more than one present stem)

Example (Engl. 'he bears')● Class 1): bhár-a-ti → full grade, root-accent

thematic vowel *e/o > a/ā betw. stem+ending ● Class 2): bharti → radical (*bherti), athematic

endings added directly to stem● Class 3): bi-bhar-ti → reduplicated

3.2 Verbal MorphologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit● Ablaut alternation in the stem of athematic

flection:

- *e > a, *ej > e, *ew > o (full grade in sg. active indicative)

- 0, i, u (reduced grade in the other forms)

Example

*es-ti > asti and *s-me/os > smas


● The scheme bears features of PIE and other languages which links Sanskrit, Iranian and Greek verbal systems.

● A Difference: Sanskrit imperfect indicates distant past and the aorist recent/immediate past

Augment: particle a- (*e-) as prefix to stem● Vedic and Sanskrit express future tense

grammatically

3.2 Verbal MorphologyDevelopment from PIE to Sanskrit

Primary and secondary verbal endings


● Moods:

1) Indicative: general present

2) subjunctive: action with certain realization

3) optative: action with possible realization

4) special case: injunctive: + preterite + modal values

5) imperative


● Numbers: singular, dual, plural● Voices: active, middle, passive

→ passive = innovation, the others from PIE


● Present tense (primary endings)● Aorist (root and sigmatic) and imperfect (secondary

endings)● Perfect: reduplication vowel *e > a + set of endings

→ The features are from PIE

4. Quellen

● Beekes, Robert S. P. (2011): Comparative Indo-European Linguistics. An Introduction. Second Edition. Amsterdam/Philadelphia. John Benjamins Publishing Company.

● Giacalone Ramat, Anna/Ramat, Paolo (1998): The Indo-European Languages. Routledge. London/New York.

● Jamison, S. W. (2008), Sanskrit. In Roger Woodard The Ancient Languages of Asia and Americas. Cambridge.

● http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.languagesgulper.com%2Feng%2FIndoaryanmap_files%2FModer%252520Indo-Aryan%252520final.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.languagesgulper.com%2Feng%2FIndoaryanmap.html&h=847&w=707&tbnid=rC3aHxWRTEku6M%3A&zoom=1&docid=M-uEQZVoERIy0M&ei=HaeFVPvnFMu6ygPY_oHgDg&tbm=isch&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=645&page=1&start=0&ndsp=19&ved=0CCYQrQMwAQ

Thank you for your attention.

Documents

Sanskrit and its development from Proto-Indo-Europeanabuch/14ws/Referat2.pdf · Sanskrit and its development from Proto-Indo-European Miriam Kennerknecht und Sonja Eberhardt 15.12.2014