Q: Sanskrit Alphabetical Order

[thompson at jlc.net]

While I agree with Saverio Sani's response to N. Ganesan's query, it
occurred to me that a more detailed response might be of use to N. Ganesan
and to the rest of us. First of all, not being competent myself in
Dravidian linguistics, I would ask those who are to recommend literature on
the relationship between Skt. grammarians and their Dravidian counterparts.
I suppose the question that is on Ganesan's mind is the direction of
influence [if any]: which way?

As for the arrangement of Skt. vowels and consonants, that is a very
impressive achievement indeed [presumably of the Skt grammarians, without
anybody's influence].  The vowels are arranged by point of articulation
[back of the vocal apparatus to front], as are the consonants [from
gutturals to labials: also back to front]. Of course, consonants are also
grouped by manner of articulation [first the voiceless variant followed by
its aspirate, then the voiced variant, followed by its aspirate, and then
the corresponding nasal].  I confess that I do not remember who said what,
but it has been frequently observed that credit for the transparent and
lucid structure of Sanskrit should *not* be credited to the language
itself, but rather to the grammarians who took the trouble to make that
structure transparent by analyzing it so lucidly [the same applies to the
scripts, as Gail Coelho and others have already suggested]. The point [not
mine] is that the phonology of Sanskrit is not more logical and coherent
than that of other languages.  Rather, it is the analysis of the Sanskrit
grammarians that is
more incisive and penetrating.  The answer to Ganesan's question, tnen, is
that this sort of linguistic sophistication does not  appear to be an
inheritance from IE, nor a borrowing from Dravidian grammarians [as far as
I know], but is attributable directly to the Snaskrit grammarians
themselves [descendents, I would argue, of the Vedic poets, also
connoisseurs of Sanskrit].

W.S. Allen's book "Phonetics in Ancient India" touches on many of these issues.

best wishes,
George Thompson