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In:History of Linguistics 2021: Selected papers from the 15th International Conference on the History of the Language Sciences (ICHoLS 15), Milan, 28 August – 1 September
Edited by Savina Raynaud, Maria Paola Tenchini and Enrica Galazzi
[Studies in the History of the Language Sciences 133] 2024
► pp. 145–158

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Chapter 10
The internal order of Sanskrit compounds

A dialogue between Pāṇini and generative grammar

 | Università degli Studi di Cagliari
Published online: 28 November 2024
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/sihols.133.10moc
In this study I show that the internal order of Sanskrit Noun-Noun endocentric compounds cannot be captured by means of the notion ‘head’, defined in semantic or morphological terms (§§1–2). Next, I outline the strategy devised by the Indian grammarian Pāṇini (4th century B.C.) to handle the internal order of Sanskrit compounds (§ 3). Finally, I argue that the notion relevant for determining the internal order of Noun-Noun endocentric compounds in Sanskrit can be identified by combining Pāṇini’s intuitions with the formalism developed within generative grammar (§ 4). In this way, this study provides an additional example of how useful the history of linguistics (specifically, the study of Pāṇini’s grammar) may be for solving a problem in contemporary linguistics (specifically, the puzzle as to how the internal order of a certain class of compounds is determined).
Article outline
  • 1.Heads and the internal order of compounds
  • 2.Compounding in Sanskrit
  • 3.The upasarjana in Pāṇini’s model of compounding
  • 4.A geometrical approach
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes
  • References
References (34)
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