On (the) sandhi between the Tamil and Sanskrit grammatical traditions

University of Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany

Abstract

This article provides a few observations on some of the theories that the Sanskrit and the Tamil grammatical traditions share about the contexts in which the sounds of words change and which kinds of changes these sounds can undergo. The study shows that even if Tamil grammarians freely rearranged the Sanskrit material and adapted it to their concerns, it is nonetheless plausible to claim that there was a transfer of ideas from the Sanskrit tradition to the Tamil one also in what we could call the field of phonology.

Résumé

Cet article livre quelques observations relatives à certaines théories que les traditions grammaticales sanskrite et tamoule partagent concernant les contextes dans lesquels les sons des mots changent, ainsi que les types de changements que ces sons subissent. L'étude montre que, même si les grammairiens tamouls réarrangent librement le matériel sanskrit et l'adaptent à leurs préoccupations, on peut néanmoins affirmer qu'il y a eu un transfert d'idées de la tradition sanskrite vers la tradition tamoule aussi dans le domaine que nous appelons « phonologie ».