The Ashtadhyayi (Ạṣtādhyāyī, meaning "eight chapters") is the earliest known grammar of %20%20%20The%20Sanskrit%20language%20(%20%26%232360%3B%26%232306%3B%26%232360%3B%26%232381%3B%26%232325%3B%26%232371%3B%26%232340%3B%26%232366%3B%20%26%232357%3B%26%232366%3B%26%232325%3B%26%232381%3B)%20is%20one%20of%20the%20earliest%20attested%20members%20of%20the%20Indo-European%20language%20family%20and%20is%20not%20only%20a%20classical%20language%2C%20but%20also%20an%20official%20language%20of%20India.%20...
Sanskrit, and one of the first works on descriptive linguistics, generative linguistics, or linguistics altogether. It was composed roughly around %20%20%20(6th%20century%20BC%20-%205th%20century%20BC%20-%204th%20century%20BC%20-%20other%20centuries)%20(2nd%20millennium%20BC%20-%201st%20millennium%20BC%20-%201st%20millennium%20AD)%20%20%20%20Events%20%20Demotic%20becomes%20the%20dominant%20script%20of%20ancient%20Egypt%20Persians%20invade%20Greece%20twice%20(Persian%20Wars)%20Battle%20of%20Marathon%20(490)%20Battle%20of%20Salamis%20(480)%20Athenian%20empire%20formed%20and%20falls%20Peloponnesian%20War...
400 BC by the %20The%20Republic%20of%20India%20is%20the%20%20%20second%20most%20populous%20%20%20country%20in%20the%20world%2C%20with%20a%20%20%20population%20of%20more%20than%20%20%20one%20billion%2C%20and%20is%20the%20%20%20seventh%20largest%20country%20by%20geographical%20%20%20area.%20...
Indian grammarian %20%20%20%20The%20title%20given%20to%20this%20article%20is%20incorrect%20due%20to%20technical%20limitations.%20...
Panini, and it describes the grammar of Sanskrit completely. Its mathematical structure has been compared to that of the %20%20%20The%20Turing%20machine%20is%20an%20abstract%20machine%20introduced%20in%201936%20by%20Alan%20Turing%20to%20give%20a%20mathematically%20precise%20definition%20of%20algorithm%20or%20%5Cmechanical%20procedure%5C.%20As%20such%20it%20is%20still%20widely%20used%20in%20theoretical%20computer%20science%2C%20especially%20in%20complexity%20theory%20and%20the%20theory%20of%20computation.%20...
Turing machine.
Panini's work had a phenomenal success, and later Indian grammarians were essentially reduced to the role of his commentators. His work is still used, or at least referred to, in the teaching of Sanskrit today.
Panini's grammar consists of several parts, of which the Ashtadhyayi contains the morphological rules:
%20%20%20The%20Dhatupatha%20(dhatupatha)%20is%20a%20lexicon%20of%20Sanskrit%20verbal%20roots%20subservient%20to%20the%20Ashtadhyayi%20grammar%20by%20Panini.%20...
Dhatupatha (lexicon of verbal roots)
%20%20%20The%20Ganapatha%20(ga%26%237751%3Bap%26%23257%3B%26%237789%3Bha)%20is%20a%20list%20of%20groups%20of%20words%20used%20by%20the%20Ashtadhyayi%20grammar%20by%20Panini%20(scholar).%20%20...
Ganapatha (lists of classes of words)
The Ashtadhyayi consists of 3,959 sutrani or rules, distributed among eight chapters, which are each subdivided into four sections or padas.
From example words in the text, and from a few rules depending on the context of the discourse, additional information as to the geographical, cultural and historical context of Panini.
The rules
The first two sutras are transcribed thus:
1.1.1 vṛ́ddhir āT-aiC
1.1.2 aT-eṆ guṇáḥ
The capital letters and are so-called IT markers. The C and Ṇ refer to %20%20%20The%20Shiva%20Sutras%20(also%20Maheshvara%20Sutras)%20are%20the%2014%20sutras%20that%20form%20the%20basis%20of%20the%20A%26%237779%3B%26%237789%3B%26%23257%3Bdhy%26%23257%3By%26%23299%3B%2C%20the%20Sanskrit%20grammar%20by%20Panini.%20...
Shiva Sutras 3 and 4, forming the pratyaharas aiC, eṆ, i.e. they denote the list of phonemes {ai, au} and {e, o} respectively. The T appearing in both sutras is also an IT marker: It is defined in 1.1.70 as denoting that the preceding phoneme is not representing a list, but a single phoneme, (but encompassing all supra-segmental features (accent, nasality)), i.e. āT and aT represent {ā} and {a} respectively. The interpretation of the two sutras is thus:
1.1.1: the technical term %20%20%20Vrddhi%20is%20a%20Sanskrit%20word%20meaning%20%5Cgrowth%5C%20(cognate%20to%20English%20weird%2C%20Old%20English%20wyrd).%20...
vṛ́ddhi denotes the phonemes {ā, ai, au}.
1.1.2: the technical term %20%20%20The%20Sanskrit%20word%20guna%20(gu%26%237751%3Ba)%20has%20the%20basic%20meaning%20of%20%5Cstring%5C%20or%20%5Ca%20single%20thread%20or%20strand%20of%20a%20cord%20or%20twine%5C.%20In%20more%20abstract%20uses%2C%20it%20may%20mean%20%5Ca%20subdivision%2C%20species%2C%20kind%5C%2C%20and%20generally%20%5Cquality%5C.%20%20%20In%20Classical%20literature%20In%20Classical%20literature%20(e....
guṇa denotes the phonemes {a, e, o}.
I.e. they are definitions of terminology: guṇa and vṛ́ddhi are the terms for the full and the lenghtened %20%20%20In%20linguistics%2C%20the%20process%20of%20ablaut%20(from%20German%20ab-%20%5Coff%5C%20%2B%20Laut%20%5Csound%5C)%20is%20a%20vowel%20change%20accompanying%20a%20change%20in%20grammatic%20function.%20...
ablaut grades, respectively.
%20%20%20%20%20%20Wikisource%20is%20a%20sister%20project%20to%20%20%20Wikipedia%20that%20aims%20to%20create%20a%20free%20%20%20wiki%20compendium%20of%20%20%20primary%20source%20texts%20in%20any%20language%2C%20as%20well%20as%20translations%20of%20source%20texts.%20...
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The Ashtadhyayi (aá¹£á¹ÄdhyÄyÄ«, meaning "eight chapters") is the earliest known grammar of Sanskrit, and the earliest known work on descriptive linguistics, generative linguistics, and perhaps linguistics as a whole.
The Ashtadhyayi consists of 3,959 sutras (sutrani) or rules, distributed among eight chapters, which are each subdivided into four sections or padas (padani).
From example words in the text, and from a few rules depending on the context of the discourse, additional information as to the geographical, cultural and historical context of Panini can be discerned.
However, of late, there is a growing opinion in the computer science community, that much before the Backus-Naur form came into existence in 1959, the grammar of the Sanskrit language was defined in an extremely unambiguous and formal manner, almost akin to the definition style of most modern programming languages.
Panini (पाणिनि), a sage who is believed to have lived around the fifth century B.C., although other claims trace him to the 4th, 6th and 7th centuries, is credited with having created the Ashtadhyayi (अष्ठाध्यायी), or Ashtak (अष्टक), which is a grammar defining the structure and syntax of the Sanskrit language.
The Ashtadhyayi, written in eight chapters, divided into quarter chapters, distinguishes between the language spoken by the people of the time and the language used for classical literature, besides defining a syntax for the Sanskrit language.
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