Researchers have been pulling their hair out since the 5th century BC. A 27-year-old Cambridge University PhD student has solved a grammar problem in Sanskrit, a very ancient Indo-European language, the BBC and magazine report. Study findings.
The riddle was left by the Indian grammarian Panini, a master of this ancient language, some 2,500 years ago. Today, Sanskrit is spoken by only about 25,000 people in India. However, it remains the sacred language of Hinduism and has been used in Indian science, philosophy, and other literature throughout the centuries.
a new reading
However, multiple Panini rules can be applied simultaneously, often leading to incorrect grammar. And Rishi Rajpopat to come to this conclusion: Panini’s “goal rule” has been misunderstood from the start.
Therefore, he proposed a new reading. For the rules applicable to the left side and the right side of a word, he proposes a new reading, that of choosing exclusively the right side rule.
Result: the words are now grammatically correct, with almost no exceptions.
Of course, not everything was easy. In a statement published by the University of Cambridge, Rishi Rajpopat said that he wanted to stop everything after nine months.
Sanskrit soon on computers?
“I closed the books for a month (…) Then, reluctantly, I went back to work and within minutes, as I turned the pages, these patterns began to emerge and everything began to go wrong. A sense,” the young woman testified. men. Her work then took two and a half years.
For Cambridge University, Rishi Rajpopat’s discovery could now make it possible to teach computers Sanskrit grammar.
Source: BFM TV
