SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The thesis is based principally on the prose parts of the Sutta Pitaka but peculiarities of the syntax of gatha literature have been dealt with in comparison with the former. This study is made in seven chapters each of which discusses one case with a variety of examples showing its fundamental notions, general and special applications, and points of contact with other cases. The morphology of cases in relation to syntax has been treated in a separate introductory chapter, which forms a supplement to Geiger's presentation in his Pali Literatur und Sprache. In dealing with syntactic facts observations have been made in three ways, viz. the grammatical, the logical, and the psychological point of view. Syntactic categories are established according to the available material in comparison with those valid for Vedic and Class. Sanskrit wherever it was possible, with special consideration of points of similarity with the Vedic usage. In following this historical and comparative method paralellisms with the older idiom and divergences from it have been noted by references to Speyer's conclusions in particular and to those of other authorities such as Brugmann in general. The syntactic notions of local grammarians, chiefly of Panini, Moggallana and Kacchayana, have been critically examined and discussed in relation to Nikaya concinnity. As far as possible their method of looking at fundamental syntactic problems has been considered with reference to the scientific point of view. From the Pali Commentaries Buddhaghosa's observations on the cases, especially those with regard to archaic and sporadic uses, have been collated and compared with those of orthodox grammarians as well as of modern scholarship.