SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The treatise is an attempt, for the first time in a modern language, to give a general conspectus of Indian phonetic literature. The introduction (pp. 1-91) gives a chronological survey of Indian works on phonetics, 55 of which have been examined (cf. p.49). of these, 16 are absolutely new, being MS works. The main body of the treatise (pp. 92-306) is a critical examination of some of the phonetic opinions expressed in Indian phonetic literature and in the works of Panini, Patanjali etc. The treatise consists of eleven chapters (for detailed plan of these chapters see pp. 30-32). Of these, the first four deal with the ayllabication of sound-groups. Chap. V. examines the opinions of doubling. Chap. VI. On the pronunciation of Y and V in different positions. Chap. VII. On svarabhakti and its bearing on the deilects. Chap. VIII. Examines the fundamental basis of the Indian theory of syllabication, viz. Abhinidhana or incomplete articulation. Chap. IX. Deals with nasalization a striking fact in the living languages. Chap. X. discusses the opinions on the nature of accent. Chap. XI. Describes the various views on quantity. It has been shown that these opinions were on the whole sound, and that some of them may be helpful to modern linguistics (cf. pp. 32-33).