The Architectural Foundations of Indian Linguistics: An Analysis of Ancient Grammatical Traditions and Contemporary Linguistic Development
Sr No:
Page No:
29-31
Language:
English
Authors:
Dr. Indu Rani*
Received:
2026-04-11
Accepted:
2026-05-10
Published Date:
2026-05-21
Abstract:
One of the oldest and most sophisticated intellectual legacies in the world, the Indian linguistic tradition predates Western
formal linguistics by over two millennia. This paper explores the philosophical and structural underpinnings of Indian grammar,
beginning with Pāṇini's seminal work Aṣṭādhyāyı, which established a generative framework compatible with both modern
computational linguistics and Chomskyan generative grammar. By examining the evolution from Vedic Sanskrit to the Prakrits and the
eventual divergence into the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian language families, this study highlights the unique phonological and
morphological characteristics—such as retroflexion and agglutination—that define the South Asian linguistic region. The article also
explores the connection between contemporary speech science and Indian grammatical theory, arguing that more recent structuralist
advancements were preceded by earlier concepts like "sphoṭa," or the psychological reality of the phoneme. The MLA-compliant
analysis of this study demonstrates that Indian linguistics is not merely a historical artifact but rather a living scientific framework that
continues to impact theories of universal grammar and language processing worldwide.
Keywords:
Indian linguistics, Panini, Ashtadhyayi, Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Sanskrit grammar, and structuralism.