Re: KR Norman on by/vy alternation

In reply to Dr. Pind:
> In the case of Paninian Sanskrit it is absolutely impossible that Panini is
> describing an artificial language. There are obvious reasons for that.
> Anyway, what is an artificial language in the Indian context?

This is discussed at length in one of the articles in _Sanskrit &
Prakrit: sociolinguistic issues_ --one of the "conclusions" being that
Panini's understanding of Sk. is of "a living language, but not a
mother tongue".

This is probably not an adequate answer to the question of "what is an
artificial language in the Indian context?" --however, the article
provides a good discussion of many of the issues (and quotes critical
passages from Panini in lucid english translation/paraphrase --a
rarity, in my limited experience).

In Sanskrit's case, one of the strong indications of its artificiality
was that it was (supposedly) spoken by only one gender --male.  I do
not know if any definition of a "non-artificial language" that could
include a language in which husband and wife do not have disputations.
  I am being laconic --but this seems to me a significant indication,
even considered apart from the categories of "mother tongue",
"literary language", and so on.  By the same dubious standard, I
believe that Hebrew would have to be considered a "dead language" in
those times and places that only men studied it (as part of a
religious education); although that is one dead language that has been
vigorously brought back to life in the past century.  Likewise, I
would consider "artificial" the ritual language of the Australian
Aborigines as it was only spoken by men (i.e., even though it was
purely oral, with no written form whatsoever)  --sadly, that language
is now extinct, along with its spoken literature, and most of the
people who recited it!

Given that the Pali tradition itself concedes that even doctrinal
debate and original essay composition took place in other (possibly
artifical) languages (e.g., Paisaci) it would be very difficult to
identify Pali as anything other than artificial.  It is interesting to
me that the traditional Burmese texts brag that in their "golden age"
even Burmese women studied Pali grammar; it does seem to be positively
regarded (in traditional Theravada cultures) for women to learn Pali
--even if it is extremely rare due to the extinction of the female
lineage of monastics (etc.).

E.M.