Introduction To Prakrit By Alfred C Woolner

Introduction to Prakrit, by Alfred C. Woolner, ...

Introduction to Prakrit

Introduction to Prakrit provides the reader with a guide for the more attentive and scholarly study of Prakrit occurring in Sanskrit plays, poetry and prose--both literary and inscriptional. It presents a general view of the subject with special stress on Sauraseni and Maharastri Prakrit system. The book is divided into two parts. Part I consists of I-XI Chapters which deal with the three periods of Indo-Aryan speech, the three stages of the Middle Period, the literary and spoken Prakrits, their classification and characteristics, their system of Single and Compound Consonants, Vowels, Sandhi, Declension, Conjugation and their history of literature. Part II consists of a number of extracts from Sanskrit and Prakrit literature which illustrate different types of Prakrit--Sauraseni, Maharastri, Magadhi, Ardhamagadhi, Avanti, Apabhramsa, etc., most of which are translated into English. The book contains valuable information on the Phonetics and Grammar of the Dramatic Prakrits--Sauraseni and Maharastri. It is documented with an Index as well as a Students' Bibliography.

Sanskrit & Prakrit, Sociolinguistic Issues

This volume brings together eight contributions of Professor Madhav M. Deshpande relating to the historical sociolinguistics of sanskrit and Prakrit languages. The studies brought together here represent his continuing research in this field after his 1979 book: Sociolinguistic Attitudes in India: An Historical Reconstruction. The main thrust of these studies is to show that patterns of language, including grammatical theories are deeply influenced by political, religious, geographical, and other sociohistorical factors. This is true as much of ancient languages as it is for modern languages.