Sphota

(“disclosure”) Crucial element in the
theory of language propounded by
Bhartrhari (7th c.). Bhartrhari was the
founder of the Grammarians, a philosophical school that conceived of
Brahman, the Supreme Reality, as being
manifested in sound, particularly the
sound of the spoken word. According to
this theory, a verbal utterance had three
elements: the sound or sounds produced by the speaker and heard by the
listener; a phonological pattern, of
which that utterance is an instance; and
finally the sphota, which was expressed
by the sounds and signified the object of
that utterance. According to Bhartrhari,
sphota had to be postulated to explain
how words could carry meaning. They
do so because they are connected to the
sphota, which designated a particular
object, and in producing the sounds the
speaker expressed that sphota.