Indian Contribution to Linguistics—Panini
The Origin of Indian Linguistics
[Strictly speaking, Panini is a
grammarian, but his influence is far-reaching. There is hardly any field of
study untouched by his innovative ideas. All students of English Literature
must have some idea about Panini. The picture will become clear when you
realize that Ferdinand de Saussure, Swiss linguist and semiotician, widely
considered to be one of the founders of 20th century linguistics, spent
his life-time as a Professor of
Sanskrit at the University of Geneva. Similarly many linguists and literary
theoreticians like Edward Sapir, Leonard Bloomfield and Noam Chomsky were
influenced by Panini.]
