The Sanskrit Language

by T. Burrow

The Sanskrit Language presents a systematic and comprehensive historical account of the developments in phonology and morphology. This is the only book in English which treats the structure of the Sanskrit language in its relation to the other Indo-European languages and throws light on the significance of the discovery of Sanskrit. It is this discovery that contributed to the study of the comparative philology of the Indo-European languages and eventually the whole science of modern linguistics. Besides drawing on the works of Brugmann and Wackernagel, Professor Burrow incorporates in this book material from Hittite and taking into account various verbal constructions as found in Hittite, he relates the perfect form of Sanskrit to it. The profound influence that the Dravidian languages had on the structure of the Sanskrit language has also been presented lucidly and with a balanced perspective. In a nutshell, the present work can be called, without exaggeration, a pioneering endeavour in the field of linguistics and Indology.

About the Author:

Professor T. Burrow was Boden Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford. He contributed to all the branches of philology, linguistics, and Dravidian studies. He was a seminal thinker and collaborated with Professor M. Emeneau in the preparation of Dravidian Etymological Dictionary--a magnum opus in the study of Dravidian languages and Indology. He also contributed to the study of Middle Indo-Aryan languages.