The mystery of grammar created by the ``father of linguistics'' is finally solved after 2500 years
Researchers succeeded in deciphering the grammatical rules created by
In Pāṇini We Trust: Discovering the Algorithm for Rule Conflict Resolution in the Aṣṭādhyāyī
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/332654
Ancient grammatical puzzle solved after 2,500 years
https://phys.org/news/2022-12-ancient-grammatical-puzzle-years.html
A 2,500-Year-Old Puzzle from Ancient India Has Finally Been Solved
https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxnamb/a-2500-year-old-puzzle-from-ancient-india-has-finally-been-solved
The Ashtadhyayi (Panini Literature), which is said to have been written around the 5th century BC, that is, 2,500 years ago, is a grammatical form of Sanskrit created by Panini, and summarizes morphology into about 4,000 rules. thing. However, in the Panini literature, there are cases where multiple rules are applied at the same time (rule conflicts), so grammarists did not understand which rule to apply.
For example, it seems that it was unknown how to write words such as ' mantra ' and ' guru ' in a specific format because 'rule conflicts' occur. Due to the mystery remaining in the Panini literature, it seems that millions of other Sanskrit words could not be expressed accurately.
Mr. Rishi Rajapat, a student at the University of Cambridge, solved the mystery that remained in this Panini literature for a long time. Sanskrit researchers have described Rajapat's findings as 'revolutionary.'
The Panini Literature has meta-rules that help determine which rule should be applied when a 'rule conflict' occurs. However, until now, grammarians have misunderstood the metarule on 'rule conflict' and have made grammatically incorrect expressions.
Many scholars have devised hundreds of new meta-rules to resolve 'rule clashes'. However, Rajapat points out that this is not suitable for solving the problem, and none of them are perfect enough to create exceptions. In addition, until now, Sanskrit researchers have defined meta-rules for resolving ``rule clashes'' in the Panini literature as ``when two rules of the same strength occur at the same time, the rule that comes later grammatically is I've interpreted it as 'win'.
However, Mr. Rajapat argues that the metarule of the Panini literature is to ``select the rule that applies to the right side of the word between the rules that apply to the left and right sides of the word.'' By interpreting the metarule of the Panini Literature in this way, it seems that it will be possible to generate grammatically correct words with almost no exceptions while applying all the rules that exist in the Panini Literature.
A specific example is the mantra (mantrabhis). A 'clash of rules' occurs when one writes in Sanskrit according to the Panini text 'Devāh prasannah mantraih' (the gods (Devāh) rejoice (prasannah) by mantraih). When writing ``by a mantra'', the rule applies to both the left ``mantra'' and the right ``bhis'' of the word ``mantrabhis''. By adopting the application method of metarule explained by Mr. Rajapat, the mantra will be correctly written as 'mantraih' by applying the rule to 'bhis'.
According to Rajapat, six months before he found the correct interpretation of the metarules on 'clash of rules,' his supervisor, University of Cambridge Sanskrit scholar Vincenzo Bergiani, told him, 'If the solution is complicated, , Perhaps it is wrong.' Shortly after that, Mr. Rajapat found the correct interpretation of the metarule on ``rule conflict'', and said, ``To see if the correct interpretation of the found metarule can really solve any ``rule conflict'' I spent hours in the library, and in the end it took me two and a half years to work on it.'
'Sanskrit is the ancient Indo-European language of South Asia. It is the sacred language of Hinduism, but has been used for centuries in many of India's great scientific, philosophical, poetry, and other secular literature,' Bergiani said. Although Sanskrit is currently spoken by an estimated 25,000 people in India, it is still of great political importance in India, and is part of many languages and literature around the world. It is believed that it has an impact, ”he emphasizes that this discovery has great significance.
'Some of India's oldest wisdom was produced in Sanskrit, but what our ancestors achieved is still not fully understood. We Indians often say, 'We are It's not important,' but I hope this discovery will give Indian students confidence, pride, and hope that they too can achieve great things.' said.
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