[INDOLOGY] Traditional/ insider's view of language or dialect status of Prakrits

[Andrew Ollett]

Most of the responses take for granted that “Prakrit” is Sanskrit that is
(a) incorrect, or (b) at a further stage of linguistic development, and
interesting sociolinguistic and historical-linguistic insights come from
this definition.

But one way to reframe Dr. Paturi's question is: what are the schemas under
which “Prakrit” (or “the Prakrits”) was classified in ancient and medieval
India?

Regarding the use of the word prākṛta- in reference to a language (or
dialect), one can consult Pischel's grammar (§§1ff.), and V. Pisani, “On
the Origin of Prākṛtam and Pāli as Language Designations,” pp. 185–191
in *Felicitation
Volume Presented to Professor Sripad Krishna Belvalkar*, Benares: M.B.
Dass, 1957 (completely outdated when it comes to Pali). And my
dissertation, eventually. As far as I know, the earliest such uses, which
are still difficult to date reliably, are in the Nāṭyaśāstra (of pāṭhyam),
in the Gāthāsaptaśatī (of kāvyam), and in the Sthānāṅgasūtra (of bhaṇitī).
Dr. Paturi might be interested in the classification found in the Eastern
Prakrit grammarians, viz. bhāṣā, vibhāṣā, apabhraṃśa, and paiśācika.
Acharya’s ed. of the Prākṛtasarvasva has some discussion of this.

On Mon, Dec 29, 2014 at 7:51 AM, Michael Witzel <witzel at fas.harvard.edu>
wrote:

> In addition see the detailed discussions:
>
> ** Tracing the Vedic dialects.* in: Colette Caillat, Dialectes dans les
> litteratures indo-aryennes. Actes du Colloque International organise par UA
> 1058 sous les auspices du C.N.R.S avec le soutien du College de France, de
> la Fondation Hugot du College de France, de l'Universite de Paris III, du
> Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres, Paris (Fondation Hugot) 16-18 Septembre
> 1986.
> Paris (College de France, Institut de Civilisation Indienne) 1989; 97-264
>
> [where you can see that a particular local dialect feature (widely)
> spreads in the subsequent text levels]
>
>  ** Notes on Vedic dialects, 1. * Zinbun, Annals of the Institute for
> Research in Humanities, Kyoto University, 67 (1991) Kyoto 1991, 31-70
>
> ** Notes on Vedic Dialects, 2. *In : G. Schweiger (ed.), Indogermanica.
> FS für Gert Klingenschmitt. Indische, iranische und indogermanische Studien
> dem verehrten Jubilar dargebracht zu seinem fünfundsechigsten Geburtstag.
> Taimering: Schweiger VWT-Verlag 2005, 733-743.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Michael
>
>
> On Dec 27, 2014, at 1:18 PM, Hock, Hans Henrich wrote:
>
>  Language periodization, just like many aspects of textual periodization,
> is a perennial problem and only further complicates the picture. There are
> Prakritic forms as early as the Rig Veda (such as *vikaṭa* beside *vikṛta*,
> or *kitava* for expected *kṛtavat*).
>
>  Regarding Vedic “dialects”, there is an interesting paper by Emeneau: The
> dialects of Old Indo-Aryan. In: *Ancient Indo-European dialects*, ed. by
> Henrik Birnbaum and Jaan Puhvel, 123–138. Berkeley/Los Angeles: University
> of California Press, 1966.
>
>  Cheers,
>
>  Hans Henrich Hock
>
>
>  On 27-Dec-2014, at 3:38, Oleg Bendz <oleg.bendz at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>   2014-12-27
>
>  Dear All:
>
>  The "prakrit" of Gandhara (the Kushans) had an army, but maybe not a
> navy.
> Language periodization may be an important consideration.
> The problem of language and dialect may reside in the terminology itself.
> I should stop here.
>
>  O.Bendz
>
>
>   On Friday, December 26, 2014 5:48 PM, Matthew Kapstein <
> mkapstei at uchicago.edu> wrote:
>
>
> >Ultimately, a clear distinction between “language” and “dialects” eludes
> even modern linguistics, in spite of long discussions of this issue.
>
> As Max Weinreich elegantly put it: "A language is a dialect with an army
> and navy."
>
>
> Matthew Kapstein
> Directeur d'études,
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
>
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
> The University of Chicago
>
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>
> ============
>
> Michael Witzel
> witzel at fas.harvard.edu
> <www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm>
> Wales Prof. of Sanskrit,
> Dept. of South Asian Studies, Harvard University
> 1 Bow Street,
> Cambridge MA 02138, USA
>
> phone: 1- 617 - 495 3295, fax 617 - 496 8571;
> direct line:  617- 496 2990
>
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