Sanskrit suppresses other (Indian) languages

  • Some languages have an oppressor - oppressed relationship. Eg: Arabic vs Egyptian. English vs Iniut. Though Sanskrit was a link language across Asia,this was not the case with Sanskrit and other languages. Rather, their relationship was of the nourisher-nourished type.
  • References: Balram Shukla’s answer here.

Enrichment of other languages

  • Sanskrit enriched local languages - with its special ability to coin new words.
    • A grateful acknowledgement of influence on Thai - YTTh2015.
    • Sanskrit enrichment of telugu - IF15.
  • Works were composed for the study of Prakrits and apabhraMsha-s in Sanskrit (of course, with an intention of *preserving* the prAkrits and their treasures). Examples: Hemachandra’s 8th chapter, kAshmIra-shabdAnushAsanam, etc..
  • Ancient local language poets acknowledged their debt to sanskrit and sanskrit literature.
    • Reasons why southern poets used sanskrit included - gravity, amplification, resonance, clarity, brevity, intertextual reference (depth), phono-aesthetics ( DS_YT )
    • Again and again, the Tamil shaiva saints speak of how shiva revealed truth in Aariyam and Tamil. 1, 2, 3
  • It is not the case that the substratum of India when Vedic Indo Aryans arrived was draviDian ( DS_YT ).

Grammar impact

Tolkappiyar, the author of Tolkappiyam Tamil grammar, says he is well versed in Aindram, ie, Aindram School of sanskrit grammar.

Oldest malayalam grammar book is called lilatilakam and belongs to 14th century. It calls the language itself as manipravalam. So no one can say that it is unaffected by sanskrit.

Sanskrit also borrows

  • Linguists say that Sanskrit *borrowed* from as well as lent words to other languages (a hallmark of living languages).
  • Sanskritization is often involved in the process of borrowing.
    • This involves coining newer more Sanskrit words that sound similar to the alien word.
      • Eg. sultan → सुरत्राणः chocolate→ चाकलेहः mughal → मौद्गल। (Hammira-kaavya)
    • Inspiration is drawn from the nirukta and the uNAdi sUtra-s of grammar tolegitimizethe use of these new words.
  • In classical sanskrit aesthetic works (eg: rAjashekhara) the poet is esteemed by his ability to compose in Sanskrit as well as prakrits; and aesthetic quality is considered to be not-very language-dependent. Most examples of very high-quality poetry (dvani-kAvya) in Sanskrit works came from Prakrit, even if the author chose Sanskrit examples for mediocre and poor poetry!!
  • In south India there works composed in a mixture of Sanskrit and the local language (eg: maNipravaLa).

Examples

  • Borrowed words from farsi - कलम। दीनार। (both used by kShemendra)
  • Borrowed from prAkRta-s .
    • भर्ता (Sanskrit) → भट्टा (Prakrit) → भट्ट (Later sanskrit - kShemendra). Similarly, (gRha, geha) and (mUDha, mugdha).
    • kumarIla bhaTTa seems to have argued how words like pika come from prAkRtas.
  • English words and etymological inspiration
    • 92 Hoch study here.
    • English words appearing in arjunwadekar’s poems