Sanskrit grammar

Sanskrit grammatical tradition (vyākaraṇa, one of the six Vedanga disciplines) began in late Vedic India and culminated in the Aṣṭādhyāyī of Pāṇini.

The oldest attested form of the Proto-Indo-Aryan language as it had evolved in the Indian subcontinent after its introduction with the arrival of the Indo-Aryans is called Vedic. By 1000 BCE, the end of the early Vedic period, a large body of Vedic hymns had been consolidated into the Ṛg·Veda, which formed the canonical basis of the Vedic religion, and was transmitted from generation to generation entirely orally.

In the course of the following centuries, as the popular speech evolved, there was rising concern among the guardians of the Vedic religion that the hymns be passed on without 'corruption', which for them was vital to ensure the religious efficacy of the hymns.[lower-alpha 1] This led to the rise of a vigorous, sophisticated grammatical tradition involving the study of linguistic analysis, in particular phonetics alongside grammar, the high point of which was Pāṇini's stated work, which eclipsed all others before him.[2][3][4]

Pāṇini's Aṣṭādhyāyī,[lower-alpha 2] a prescriptive and generative grammar with algebraic rules governing every single aspect of the language, in an era when oral composition and transmission was the norm, is staunchly embedded in that oral tradition. In order to ensure wide dissemination, Pāṇini is said to have preferred brevity over clarity[6] – it can be recited end-to-end in two hours. This has led to the emergence of a great number of commentaries of his work over the centuries, which for the most part adhere to the foundations laid by Pāṇini's work.[7][2]

About a century after Pāṇini, Kātyāyana composed vārtikas (explanations) on the Pāṇinian sũtras. Patañjali, who lived three centuries after Pāṇini, wrote the Mahābhāṣya, the "Great Commentary" on the Aṣṭādhyāyī and Vārtikas. Because of these three ancient Sanskrit grammarians this grammar is called Trimuni Vyākarana.

Jayaditya and Vāmana wrote a commentary named Kāśikā in 600 CE. Kaiyaṭa's (12th century AD) commentary on Patañjali's Mahābhāṣya also exerted much influence on the development of grammar, but more influential was the Rupāvatāra of Buddhist scholar Dharmakīrti which popularised simplified versions of Sanskrit grammar.

The most influential work of the Early Modern period was Siddhānta Kaumudī by Bhaṭṭoji Dīkṣita (17th century). Bhaṭṭoji's disciple Varadarāja wrote three abridged versions of the original text, named Madhya Siddhānta Kaumudī, Sāra Siddhānta Kaumudī and Laghu Siddhānta Kaumudī, of which the latter is the most popular. Vāsudeva Dīkṣita wrote a commentary named Bālamanoramā on Siddhānta-Kaumudī.

European grammatical scholarship began in the 18th century with Jean François Pons and others, and culminated in the exhaustive expositions by 19th century scholars such as Otto von Böhtlingk, William Dwight Whitney, Jacob Wackernagel and others.

The following is a timeline of notable post-Pāṇinian grammatical figures and approximate dates:[8]

• Kātyāyana – 300 BCE
• Patañjali – 150 BCE
• Bhartṛhari – V CE
• Kāśikā – VII
• Śākaṭāyana – IX
• Kaiyaṭa – XI
• Hemacandra – XII
• Śaraṇadeva – XII
• Vopadeva – XIII
• Bhattoji-dīkṣita – XVII

The Sanskrit sound system can be represented in a 2-dimensional matrix arranged on the basis of the articulatory criteria:[9][10]

The table below shows the traditional listing of the Sanskrit consonants with the nearest equivalents in English (as pronounced in General American and Received Pronunciation or wherever relevant in Indian English), French, Spanish, Russian or Polish, along with approximate IPA values.[11]

(Further information: IPA chart (vowels and consonants) – 2015. and IPA pulmonic consonant chart with audio )

It should be understood that, while the script commonly associated with Sanskrit is Devanagari, this has no particular importance. It just happens currently to be the most popular script for Sanskrit. The form of the symbols used to write Sanskrit has varied widely geographically and over time, and notably includes modern Indian scripts. What is important is that the adherence to the phonological classification of the symbols elucidated here has remained constant in Sanskrit since classical times. It should be further noted that the phonology of modern Indian languages has evolved, and the values given to Devanagari symbols in modern Indo-Aryan languages, e.g., Hindi, differ somewhat from those of Sanskrit.

The long syllabic l (ḹ) is not attested, and is only discussed by grammarians for systematic reasons. Its short counterpart ḷ occurs in a single root only, kḷp .[upper-alpha 1] Long syllabic r (ṝ) is also quite marginal, occurring (optionally) in the genitive plural of ṛ-stems (e.g. mātṛ, pitṛ ⇒ mātṝṇām, pitṝṇām).

i, u, ṛ, ḷ are vocalic allophones of consonantal y, v, r, l. There are thus only 5 invariably vocalic phonemes: a, ā, ī, ū, ṝ.[14]

Visarga ḥ ः is an allophone of r and s, and anusvara ṃ, Devanagari ं of any nasal, both in pausa (i.e., the nasalised vowel).

The exact pronunciation of the three sibilants may vary, but they are distinct phonemes. Voiced sibilants, such as z /z/, ẓ /ʐ/, and ź /ʑ/ as well as its aspirated counterpart źh /ʑʱ/, were inherited by Proto-Indo-Aryan from Proto-Indo-Iranian but lost around or after the time of the Rigveda, as evidenced due to ḷh (an aspirated retroflex lateral consonant) being metrically a cluster (that was most likely of the form ẓḍh; aspirated fricatives are exceedingly rare in any language).[16]

The retroflex consonants are somewhat marginal phonemes, often being conditioned by their phonetic environment; they do not continue a PIE series and are often ascribed by some linguists to the substratal influence of Dravidian[17] or other substrate languages.[16]

The nasal [ɲ] is a conditioned allophone of /n/, while /n/ and /ɳ/ are distinct phonemes (aṇu 'minute', 'atomic' [nom. sg. neutr. of an adjective] is distinctive from anu 'after', 'along'). Phonologically independent /ŋ/ occurs only marginally, e.g. in prāṅ 'directed forwards/towards' [nom. sg. masc. of an adjective].[16]

The phonological rules which are applied when combining morphemes to a word, and when combining words to a sentence, are collectively called sandhi "composition". Texts are written phonetically, with sandhi applied (except for the so-called padapāṭha).[18]

A number of phonological processes have been described in detail. One of them is abhinidhāna (lit. 'adjacent imposition'), (also known as āsthāpita, 'stoppage', bhakṣya or bhukta). It is the incomplete articulation, or ""repressing or obscuring", of a plosive or, according to some texts, a semi-vowel (except r), which occurs before another plosive or a pause.[19] It was described in the various Prātiśākhyas as well as the Cārāyaṇīya Śikṣa.[19] These texts are not unanimous on the environments that trigger abhinidhana, nor on the precise classes of consonants affected.

One ancient grammarian, Vyāḍi (in Ṛgveda Prātiśākhya 6.12), states that abhinidhāna only occurred when a consonant was doubled, whereas according to the text of the Śākalas it was obligatory in this context but optional for plosives before another plosive of a different place of articulation. The Śākalas and the Atharva Veda Prātiśākhya agree on the observation that abhinidhana occurs only if there is a slight pause between the two consonants and not if they are pronounced jointly.[20] Word-finally, plosives undergo abhinidhāna according to the Atharva Veda Prātiśākhya and the Ṛgveda Prātiśākhya. The latter text adds that final semivowels (excluding r) are also incompletely articulated.[21] The Atharva Veda Prātiśākhya 2.38 lists an exception: a plosive at the end of the word will not undergo abhinidhāna and will be fully released if it is followed by a consonant whose place of articulation is further back in the mouth.[22] The Cārāyaṇīya Śikṣa states that the consonants affected by abhinidhāna are the voiceless unaspirated plosives, the nasal consonants and the semivowels l and v.[23][lower-alpha 6]

Sanskrit inherits from Proto-Indo-European the feature of regular in-word, vowel variations known in the context of the parent language as ablaut or more generally apophony.

This feature, which can be seen in the English forms sing, sang, sung, and song, themselves a direct continuation of the PIE ablaut, is fundamental[lower-alpha 7] in Sanskrit both for inflexion and derivation.[26][27]

Vowels within stems may change to other related vowels on the basis of the morphological operation being performed on it. There are three such grades, named the zero grade, first grade, and second grade. The first and second grades are also termed guṇa[lower-greek 17] and vṛddhi[lower-greek 18] respectively. The full pattern of gradation, followed by example usage:[28]

As per the internal and historical structure of the system, the guṇa grade can be seen as the normal grade, whence proceeds either a strengthening[lower-alpha 12] to form the second grade, or a weakening to form the zero-grade. The ancient grammarians however took the zero-grade as the natural form on which to apply guṇa or vṛddhi.

Whilst with the 1-grade-based system it is possible to derive the 0-grades thus:

• ghóṣ·a·ti ⇒ ghuṣ·ṭá-
• sráv·a·ti ⇒ sru·tá-
• sváp·a·ti[lower-alpha 13] ⇒ sup·tá-

the approach used by the ancient grammarians does not always work:

• sup·tá- ≠ *sóp·a·ti

To overcome this, the ancient grammarians, while formulating most roots in zero-grade form, make an exception for some, and prescribe a treatment called samprasāraṇa on these:

• ghóṣ·a·ti, ghuṣ·ṭá- ⇒ ghuṣ-
• sráv·a·ti, sru·tá- ⇒ sru-
• sváp·a·ti, sup·tá- ⇒ svap-

Thus, unlike most others, the root 'svap-' does not hold a 0-grade vowel, and is subject to samprasāraṇa before the past participle 'sup·tá-' can be formed.[29][30]

Besides *r̥, *l̥, Proto-Indo-European also had *m̥, *n̥,[lower-alpha 14] all of which, in capacity of zero-grade vowels, participated in the gradation system. Whilst the latter two did not survive in Sanskrit (they ended up as a instead), their effects can be seen in verb-formation steps such as just seen above.[29][31]

Therefore, it is possible to analogically expand the above vowel-gradation table thus:

The proto-forms of ga·tá- and ha·tá- would thus have *m̥ and *n̥ respectively: *gʷm̥·tó-[lower-alpha 15] and *gʷʰn̥·tó-[lower-alpha 16]

Sanskrit inherited a pitch accent (see: Vedic accent) from Proto-Indo-European, as well as vowel gradation, both of which, in Sanskrit, just as in the parent language, go hand in hand.

As a general rule, a root bearing the accent takes the first (guṇa) or second (vṛddhi) grade, and when unaccented, reduces to zero grade.[32]

• i- ⇒ éti (0 ⇒ 1st grade)
• i·tá ⇒ áy·anam (0 ⇒ 2nd grade)

The gradation examples given in the previous sections demonstrate several more instances of this phenomenon with verbs.

With nouns, the pattern does not always hold, as even from the earliest stage of the language, there has been a tendency to fix a single form, thus while kṣam has kṣā́mas (2-g) and kṣmás (0-g), vāc has 2nd-grade forms throughout.[32]

Nouns whose stem vary between strong, middle and weak forms may correspondingly reflect 2nd, 1st and zero-grade vowels respectively. This may not always be matched by the accent:[32]

• rā́jan, rā́jānam, rā́jnā (1, 2, 0 grades)

The above system of accent disappeared completely at some point during the classical stage. It was still alive in Pāṇini's time and even after Patañjali.[lower-alpha 17] The author of the Kāśikā commentary (c. 700 CE) declares its use optional, and it might have disappeared from popular speech in the early centuries of the Common Era.[33]

Sanskrit has inherited from its parent the Proto-Indo-European language an elaborate system of verbal morphology, more of which has been preserved in Sanskrit as a whole than in other kindred languages such as Ancient Greek or Latin.

Some of the features of the verbal system, however, have been lost in the classical language, compared to the older Vedic Sanskrit, and in other cases, distinctions that have existed between different tenses have been blurred in the later language. Classical Sanskrit thus does not have the subjunctive or the injunctive mood, has dropped a variety of infinitive forms, and the distinctions in meaning between the imperfect, perfect and aorist forms are barely maintained and ultimately lost.[34][35]

Verb conjugation in Sanskrit involves the interplay of five 'dimensions', number[lower-greek 19], person[lower-greek 20], voice[lower-greek 21], mood[lower-greek 22] and tense[lower-greek 23], with the following variables:[36]

Further, participles are considered part of the verbal systems although they are not verbs themselves.[37] Classical Sanskrit has only one infinitive, of accusative case-form.[38]

The starting point for the morphological analysis of the Sanskrit verb is the root. Before the final endings to denote number, person etc can be applied, additional elements may be added to the root. Whether such elements are affixed or not, the resulting component here is the stem, to which these final endings can then be added.[39][40]

Based on the treatment they undergo to form the stem, the roots of the Sanskrit language are arranged by the ancient grammarians in ten classes [lower-greek 33], based on how they form the present stem, and named after a verb typical to each class.

No discoverable grammatical principle has been found for the ordering of these classes. This can be rearranged for greater clarity into non-thematic and thematic groups as summarized below:[41][42][43]

As in kindred Indo-European languages, conjugation is effected across the tenses, moods, voices, persons and numbers stated, yielding, in Sanskrit, a huge number of combinations.[46][47]

Furthermore, Sanskrit has so-called Secondary conjugations:[49]

• Passive
• Intensive
• Desiderative
• Causative
• Denominative

The non-finite forms are:

• Participles [lower-alpha 26]
• Infinitive
• Gerund

Declension of a noun in Sanskrit involves the interplay of two 'dimensions': 3 numbers and 8 cases.[50] Further, nouns themselves in Sanskrit, like its parent Proto-Indo-European, can be in one of three genders.

In addition, adjectives behave much the same way morphologically as nouns do, and can conveniently be considered together. While the same noun cannot be seen to be of more than one gender, adjectives change gender on the basis of the noun they are being applied to, along with case and number, thus giving the following variables:[51][52]

The oldest system of declension was in Proto-Indo-European, inherited by Sanskrit, to affix the endings directly to the nominal root. In later stages, a new system developed wherein an intermediary called the thematic vowel is inserted to the root before the final endings are appended: *-o- which in Sanskrit becomes -a-, producing the thematic stem.[53][54]

Substantives may be divided into different classes on the basis of the stem vowel before they are declined on the above basis. The general classification is:

• a-stems
• i- and u-stems
• ā-, ī- and ū-stems
• ṛ-stems
• Consonant stems

When the nominal endings are being affixed to a noun of each class, they may undergo, in some cases, some changes, including being entirely replaced by other forms.[55][56][57]

Sanskrit pronouns and determiners behave in their declension largely like other declinable classes such as nouns, adjectives and numerals, so that they can all be classed together under nominals. However, pronouns and determiners display certain peculiarities of their own compared to the other nominal classes.[58][50]

Furthermore, personal pronouns have an additional dimension not present in the other nominals, but shared by verbs: person.[59]

Pronouns[lower-greek 34] are declined for case[lower-greek 35], number[lower-greek 36], and gender[lower-greek 37]. The pronominal declension applies to a few adjectives as well. Many pronouns have alternative enclitic forms.

Sanskrit inherits from its parent Proto-Indo-European the capability of forming compound nouns[lower-greek 40], also widely seen in kindred languages such as especially German, Greek and also English.

However, Sanskrit, especially in the later stages of the language, significantly expands on this both in terms of the number of elements making up a single compound and the volume of compound-usage in the literature, a development which has no parallels elsewhere.[62][63]

In Sanskrit, a preposition[lower-greek 42] is an indeclinable with an independent meaning that is prefixed to verbs and their derivatives with the result of modifying, intensifying, or in some cases, totally altering the sense of the roots.[66]

In Sanskrit, adverbs are either inherited as set forms from the parent language or may be derived from nouns, pronouns or numeral.

The typical way of forming an adverb is to simply use the accusative singular neutral form[lower-alpha 27] of nouns and adjectives.[67]

Particles are used either as expletives or intensives.[68]

The most common ones are:[69]

1. a-, an- – generally the same meaning as English 'un-' and 'a-', but with some extended senses
2. sma – when used with the present form of a verb, it conveys the past tense
3. kā-, ku- – prefixed to give a negative, inadequate or pejorative connotation.

The following is an enumeration of the main types of Sanskrit conjunctions:[70]

1. atha – marks the beginning of a work
2. Copulative – atha, atho, uta, ca, etc
3. Disjunctive – vā, vā... vā, etc
4. Adversative – athavā, tu, kintu, etc
5. Conditional – cet, yadi, yadāpi, net, etc
6. Causal – hi, tat, tena, etc
7. Interrogative – āho, uta, utāho, kim, etc
8. Affirmative and negative – atha kim, ām, addhā, etc
9. Conjunctions of time – yāvat-tāvat, yadā-tadā, etc
10. iti – marks the end of a work

The main ones in Sanskrit expressing the various emotions are:[71]

1. Wonder, grief, regret, etc: ā, aho, ha, etc
2. Contempt: kim, dhik, etc
3. Sorrow, dejection, grief: hā, hāhā, hanta, etc
4. Joy: hanta etc
5. Respectfully calling attention: aho, bhoḥ, he, ho, etc
6. Disrespectfully calling attention: are, rere, etc

A few nouns have only one inflection and thus behave like indeclinables. The most common ones are:[72]