Classifi cation of Sounds in the Phonetic Treatises of Ancient India
Keywords:
Ancient Indian phonetics, Vedic corpus, prātiśākhya, classifi cation of sounds, articulation, sound units, oral tradition, continuity, discontinuityAbstract
The paper investigates into the circumstances in which classifications of sounds emerged and began to be used in the works of Ancient Indian phoneticians. The classifications of such kind from the first half of the 1st millennium AC come into service in prātiśākhyas – ancient phonetic treatises. The position of the sound is based on the features of its articulation and is purposeful as opposed to the renowned ancient systems of writing. The appearance and the usage of such enumerations give evidence of the ability of Vedic priests to split up the text into the finest component parts and this could be related to the ritual actions during sacrifice. The phonetic treatises of Ancient India and classifications of sounds related to them were subjected to the didactic needs. The main purpose of them was the training of the proper recitation of sacred texts and they were of oral nature. The separation of the sound units as constituent elements of the language in Indian culture for a long time was not related to their graphic
representation.
