Theories of Language Comprehension:

India and Beyond

Dr Jayashree Aanand Gajjam

Centre of Excellence for Indian Knowledge System,

IIT Kharagpur

Elective Course
Autumn, 2022-2023

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Table of Contents

1 Pre-Introduction

2 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Pre-Introduction

Table of Contents

1 Pre-Introduction

2 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Pre-Introduction

The Details of the Course (1/3)

● What? What not?

● Why?
● How?

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 Pre-Introduction

The Details of the Course (2/3)

● Syllabus
● Teaching and Study Material

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 Pre-Introduction

The Details of the Course (3/3)

● Evaluation Scheme
1 Objective (MCQs, Fill in the blanks, and such)
2 Short Notes (2-4 Marks/Q)
3 Long Answers (5-8 Marks/ Q)
4 Essays/ Observations/ Reflections/ Interpretations/ Analysis (10-12 Marks/ Q)
● Expectations
1 Pay attention in the class
2 Read the study material
3 Practice- Daily-life examples
4 Inside and Outside View

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 Pre-Introduction

Some Preliminaries
● Knowledge of Sanskrit?
● IAST System

Figure: International Alphabet for Sanskrit Transliteration

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 Pre-Introduction

The Title of the Course

Theories of Language Comprehension: India and Beyond

● Theories
● Language Comprehension
● Indian Theories
● Western Theories

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 Pre-Introduction

The Emergence of the Concept

Theories of Language Comprehension: India and Beyond

Indian Philosophy:
● Philosophy: Metaphysics (Fundamental nature of existence and reality), Epistemology
(Nature of knowledge, and beliefs), Ethics (Moral values, logic, reasoning, inferencing)
● Epistemology: Knowledge, Knower, Means of Knowledge
● True Means of Knowledge: Perception, Inference, Analogy, Word
● Word= Verbal Testimony of an authoritative person
● Process of Verbal Cognition
● How does a language generate knowledge?

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 Pre-Introduction

The Emergence of the Concept

Theories of Language Comprehension: India and Beyond

Indian Philosophy: Western Psychology + Linguistics:

● Behaviorism- Late 19th C
● BF Skinner’s Radical Behaviorism (Environmental stimuli –> Behaviour)
● ’Verbal Behaviour’ (1958)
● Noam Chomsky’s Innatism
● Rebuttal of ’Verbal Behaviour’ in 1959
● Psycholinguistics and Biolinguistics

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 Pre-Introduction

Reading Material

1 A note on Pramana at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/pramana

2 A note on Shabda Pramana at: https://www.britannica.com/topic/shabda
3 Additional Reading: The articulate mammal: An introduction to psycholinguistics,
Aitchison, Jean, 2007 (Routledge)
4 Additional Reading: The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language, Pinker
Steven, 2003 (Penguin UK)

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Table of Contents

1 Pre-Introduction

2 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Language

Mode of communication: Emotions, feelings, ideas, thoughts

Medium: Vocal-Auditory Channel and Written-Oculomotor Channel

Is it exclusive to human? How?

Set of rules,
Arbitrariness,
Semanticity,
Displacement,
Turn-taking,
Structure-dependence,
Creativity,
Culturally transmitted,
Ability to read intentions...
[Aitchison2007, p. 28-35]

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Natural Language

A few Examples to ponder:

1 He saw the man with a telescope.

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Natural Language

A few Examples to ponder:

1 He saw the man with a telescope.
2 The car hit the pole while it was moving.

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Natural Language

A few Examples to ponder:

1 He saw the man with a telescope.
2 The car hit the pole while it was moving.
3 ‘After Nine Months, Women’s Body to Get a New Head’

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Natural Language

A few Examples to ponder:

1 He saw the man with a telescope.
2 The car hit the pole while it was moving.
3 ‘After Nine Months, Women’s Body to Get a New Head’
4 I made her duck.

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Natural Language

A few Examples to ponder:

1 He saw the man with a telescope.
2 The car hit the pole while it was moving.
3 ‘After Nine Months, Women’s Body to Get a New Head’
4 I made her duck.
5 The horse ran up the hill. It was very steep. It soon got tired.

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Natural Language

A few Examples to ponder:

1 He saw the man with a telescope.
2 The car hit the pole while it was moving.
3 ‘After Nine Months, Women’s Body to Get a New Head’
4 I made her duck.
5 The horse ran up the hill. It was very steep. It soon got tired.
6 The complex houses married and single soldiers and their families.

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts

1 Jñāna, Dhīḥ, Bodha

‘...arthasaṃpratyayaḥ’- Patanjali
The cognition of meaning.
2 Śābdabodha
Understanding generated from linguistic utterance
Verbal understanding
Sentential cognition
3 padārtha:
Category of things, Ontology of the objects
Referent/ object/ vastvartha/ meaning
Semiotic triangle (Word- Meaning- Referent)
4 Śakti/ Power
‘śaktiś-ca padena saha padārthasya saṁbandhaḥ’ (Visvanatha’s
Nyaya-Siddhanta-Muktavali)
‘pada-padārthayoḥ saṁbandhāntaram eva śaktiḥ, vācya-vācaka-bhāv-āpara-paryāya...’
(Nagesha’s Laghu-Manjusha)

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts: Padam

1 Padam/ Word
What is a word?

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts: Padam

1 Padam/ Word
What is a word?

2 Definitions:
‘śaktaṃ padam’ (Annambhatta’s Tarksamgraha)
(A linguistic unit that has a denotative power.)
‘te vibhakyantāḥ padam’ (Gautama’s Nyayasutra)
(Those linguistic units that have case markers attached at the end.)
‘suptiṅantaṃ padam’ (Panini’s Ashtadhyayi)
(A linguistic unit ending either in nominal or verbal suffixe/s.)
3 Summary:
Word= A Meaningful unit
Word= A Minimal Meaningful, Independent, linguistic unit, in a particular language

4 Useful in tasks such as Speech synthesis, speech recognition...

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts: Padam

Words to ponder upon:

1 Vernaculars :
‘I’ma’, ‘Dunno’, ‘Gotta go’, ‘Hodor!’
2 Pseudo-words, Non-words, Unknown words:
‘transponster’, ‘zhitkdnlyswmirf’, ‘gleba’, etc.
3 Compound words:
‘Ram-Lakshman’, ‘Hair-band’, ‘bow tie’,
’Wissenschaft’- ‘Naturalwissenschaft’- ’Naturalwissenschaftliche’, etc.
4 Additions to the existing vocabulary:
Coined words such as gluten-free, brainwashing, blog, etc.
Borrowed words such as Guru, Yoga, Karma, Science, Government, Salon, Democracy,
pretzel, pizza, burrito, sultan...
5 Frozen metaphors:
‘silver fox’ (attractive, grey-haired man), ‘black swan’ (an unpredictable event)
6 Words in Unknown Language:
Ex: Kiliki or Dothrarki

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Classification of Words (1/2)

nāma, ākhyata, upsarga, nipāta [Yaska’s Nirukta]

1 nāma [noun/ substantive]

sattva- ‘thing’
Ex: ‘apple’, ‘snow’, ‘a cut’, ‘a dream’...
2 ākhyata [verb]
bhāva- ‘process’
Ex: ‘eat’, ‘fall’, ‘cutting’, ‘dreaming’...
3 upsarga [pre-verb or prefix]
Dependently meaningful
Modify, add, reverse the verb-meaning
Ex: pra,parā, apa, sama, anu, ava, nis, nir, dus, dur, vi, ni, ati, su, abhi, prati...
E.g.:
Sanskrit: hṛ- ‘to steal’, pra+hṛ- ‘to strike’, ā+hṛ- ‘to eat’, pari+hṛ- ‘to abandon’.
English: ‘disconnect’, ‘autotune’, ‘rewatch’, ‘overrule’, ‘cooperate’, ‘devalue’.
Indicative power (No denotative power)
4 nipāta [particle/ invariant words/ prepositions]
Ex: ca, ha, tu, vā, iti...
Heterogeneous group of words
Contextual meaning, no fixed meaning.
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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Classification of Words (2/2)

Yaugika, Rūḍha, Yoga-Rūḍha, Yaugika-Rūḍha
K. Raja’s Book (p. 59-63)

1 Yaugika= Conjoining, Derivative

Ex: Nāyaka (nai + aka), Pācaka (pac + aka), admirable, magical, desha-bhakti,
vidyalaya, ...

2 Rūḍha = Conventional
Ex: ghaṭa (pot), paṭa (cloth), mango, time, kapda (cloth), ghar (home), etc.

3 Yoga-Rūḍha = Derivative-conventional
Ex:
Paṅkaja (Derivative meaning: something that grows in the mud, Conventional meaning:
lotus),
taila (Derivative meaning: Oil extracted from sesame seeds, Conventional meaning: any
oil),
Himalaya (Derivative meaning: A mountain covered in snow, Conventional Meaning: a
particular mountain),
Pitambara (Derivative Meaning: someone wearing yellow clothes, Conventional meaning:
Lord Vishnu)

4 Yaugika-Rūḍha = Either Derivative or Conventional (Based on the context)

Ex: Udbhid (something that springs from the earth), Aśvagandhā (having a smell like a
horse)... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts

Vākya/ Sentence (1a/5)

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts

Vākya/ Sentence (1a/5)

1 What is a sentence?
How many words make a sentence?
Can there be a single-word sentence?
Can there be a sentence without words?
Is verb important to form a sentence?
Is a capital letter indication of the beginning of a sentence?
Should it always end with a punctuation?
Is it mere a combination of words, or
A combination of meaningful Words, or
A combination of meaningful words that are syntactically connected, or
A unit that gives a complete idea...?

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts

Vākya/ Sentence (1b/5)

1 Examples to ponder upon:

Mommy come, Eve read, Car go... (Child’s language)
‘jevle’ (I have eaten), ‘chusko’ (Pay attention! Beware!), ‘Done!’, ‘eating’... (Single-verb
sentences)
yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam, ‘sevā paramo dharmaḥ’, jñānaṁ paramaṁ dhyeyam, ‘On the
table’, ‘Landing now’... (Nominal Sentences/ No-verb Sentences)
‘Cow sheep home go evening black fat...’ (Words without syntactic connection)
‘Eat, Pray, Love!’ (Many verbs)

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts

Vākya/ Sentence (2/5)
Definitions:

1 ‘pada-saṅghātajaṁ vākyam’ (Rk Pratishakhya)

‘padasamudāyo hi vākyam’ (Nyasa)
‘padasamūho vākyam’ (Tarkasamgraha)
‘ekārtha-padasamūhaḥ vākyam’ (Kasika)
‘viśiṣṭ-aikārtha-prātipadika-nirākāṅkṣa-padasamūho vākyam’
(Paygunde’s Commentary)
‘padasamūho vākyam-artha-parisamāptau’ (Kautiliya Arthashastra)
‘suptiṅantacayo vākyam’ (Amarakosa)
‘kārak-ānvita kriyābodhaka suptiṅantacayo vākyam’ (Nagesa)
‘vibhaktyantaṃ padaṃ vākyam’ (Candraloka)

2 Summary: A linguistic unit, a combination of meaningful words, that

are syntactically connected, give a single idea/ meaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts

Vākya/ Sentence (3/5)

Definitions:

1 ‘ākhyātaṃ-sāvyaya-kāraka-viśeṣaṇam vākyam’ and ‘eka-tiṅ vākyam’

(Katyayana’s Varttikas)
‘arthaiktvād-ekaṃ vākyaṃ sākāṅkṣam ced vibhāge syād’ (Jaimini’s
Mimamsa Sutra II.1.46)

2 Summary:
A linguistic unit, consisting of a verb, particles, word playing thematic
roles, adjectives, etc.,
All words having mutual expectancy of each other,
Gives a complete idea.

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts

Vākya/ Sentence (4/5)

Definitions:

1 ‘vākyam tu ākāṅkṣā-yogyatā-sannidhi-matāṃ padānaṃ samūhaḥ’

(Annambhatta’s Tarkasamgraha)
‘vākyaṃ syād-yogyat-ākāṅkṣ-āsatti-yukta-padoccayaḥ’ (Visvanatha)

2 Summary: ...

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

A few key concepts

Vākya/ Sentence (5/5)

Definitions:

1 ‘eko’navayavaḥ śabdaḥ’, and ‘buddhyanusaṁhṛtiḥ’ (Bhartrhari’s

Vakyapadiyam)

2 ‘sabdaḥ’

3 Summary:
The meaning principle in the mind of a listener, devoid of any parts,
The single-whole meaning unit in the mind, having no expectancy.

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Key Takeaways:

1 Emergence of the concept of ‘Language Comprehension’- Indian

Philosophy, Pramāṇa, Śabda Pramāṇa
2 What are the exclusive features of human language? (Features, and
examples)
3 Preliminary concepts: Jñāna, Padārtha, Śabdaḥ, Śakti, Śābdabodha.
4 Define the following concepts: Padam, Vākyam (Give Examples.)
5 Mention the classification of words/ Padam.

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 Introduction: Key Concepts

Jean Aitchison.
2007.
The Articulate Mammal: An introduction to Psycholinguistics.
Routledge.

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