[INDOLOGY] Hindi v Sanskrit

[Stella Sandahl]

Deepak Bhattacharya is right - the author of this article is certainly not a linguist! 
However, the long Sanskrit compounds actually correspond to the word order in Apabhramsha and NIA languages.
The best example are the long compounds in the songs of the Gitagovinda - it would not be difficult to render these
into a modern language adding necessary postposition/(and/ or/)endings. This explains the popularity of the Gitagovinda.
Even somebody not versed in Sanskrit could actually follow the meaning in the songs. Add to these that the songs only
have present indicative, usually 3rd person sing., or imperative. The past is expressed by the past participle in the songs.
Very much like an  Apabhramsha/NIA language. See my Le Giitagovinda. Tradition et innovation dans le kaavya,  (Stockholm 1977) 
unfortunately written in French and hence not very much read.
The Sanskrit compound is not at all as complicated as students (and even teachers) like to think.
Best
Stellla Sandahl
 

On Aug 14, 2015, at 11:09 PM, George Hart <glhart at berkeley.edu> wrote:

> (Sorry—I should correct this — I meant Hindi and English, not Hindi and Sanskrit).
> 
> Sanskrit compounds, even when they are several lines long, tend to reproduce very closely Dravidian syntactical order and usage. I remember reading a historical novel in Malayalam that had Sanskrit compounds of 10 or 15 words. Malayalis would have little trouble with these, as their own language works the same way — all they need is to know the vocabulary, which they do. Of course, Sanskrit compounds can seem difficult if one’s native language does not mimic their syntax. Both Hindi and English are right-branching, whereas Dravidian is left-branching. Naturally, people who speak those languages find Sanskrit compounds, which are left-branching like Dravidian languages, somewhat difficult. George Hart
> 
>> On Aug 14, 2015, at 4:41 PM, patrick mccartney <psdmccartney at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> An interesting article about an interesting study in Sanskrit compounds and why we prefer not to use them.
>> 
>> http://www.financialexpress.com/article/lifestyle/science/why-we-prefer-easier-hindi-over-complicated-sanskrit-language/119387/
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> INDOLOGY mailing list
>> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
>> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
>> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)
> 
> _______________________________________________
> INDOLOGY mailing list
> INDOLOGY at list.indology.info
> indology-owner at list.indology.info (messages to the list's managing committee)
> http://listinfo.indology.info (where you can change your list options or unsubscribe)



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://list.indology.info/pipermail/indology/attachments/20150815/e93afe17/attachment.htm>