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I have to say, as someone who studied Sanskrit grammar in the paninian system, and also mathematics in University how mathematical the Paninian grammar is, incr

I have to say, as someone who studied Sanskrit grammar in the paninian system, and also mathematics in University how mathematical the Paninian grammar is, incredibly algebraic. Prefixes and suffixes combine to change and modify words, words can be joined together to create new words. Though I’m sure these features are found in other languages. Another interesting note is that Vedic mantras are sometimes traditionally learnt and recited in what is known as a Ghana patha. If i were to number the words in a sentence, “The cow jumped over the moon” as 1 2 3 4 5 6 and then if I were to recite the sentence now permuting the words as 1 2 2 1 1 2 3 3 2 1 1 2 3,, 2 3 3 2 2 3 4 4 3 2 2 3 4.... The complexity increases. This is because words can be joined together in Sanskrit. Furthermore each letter in Vedic Sanskrit has three ways of pronouncing it (similar to the Chinese four accents) and these can change as you permute and apply the sandhi rules as well. I haven’t seen such complexity in other languages (though it’s possible it may exist) but such complexity is why it wouldn’t surprise me that the effect could possibly be specific to Sanskrit.

satish-setty 9y ago
> Vedic Sanskrit has three ways of pronouncing it (similar to the Chinese four accents) Just a nitpick: Vedic Sanskrit has pitch accent, not tone. Chinese is tonal. And I'm a huge fan of ghana patha as well!
- pen2l 9y ago
  I was really sad the article didn’t have a video of the hymns it spoke of, I’m similarly really interested now w in seeing an example of pitch accent you speak of in action, could you please link a video which you feel shows it well in play? Thanks!
  - uptownfunk 9y ago
    Sure, here is an example of the rudram chanted in ghanam mode, there is a brief example given in the beginning similar to what i explained in my above comment. This is from the yajur Veda I believe, some scholars date these chants close to 3000 years old. https://youtu.be/5VP-NTPEjGg https://youtu.be/5VP-NTPEjGg
    - ing33k 9y ago
      Another video, 103 year old Ambattur Ganapadigal chanting ghanam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seCJU0zwHpY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seCJU0zwHpY
      - uptownfunk 9y ago
        A ghanam of the famous “Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya” of the ancient brihadaranyaka.
  - tmp1029384756 9y ago
    for something truly mindblowing, try sanskrit trance! shanti people - tandava (david garry x dion 2017 club edit) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8w3R5yEBhcY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8w3R5yEBhcY shanti people - mahishasura mardini (droplex remix) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4em0Wh8ZgR0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4em0Wh8ZgR0 it is a ukrainian group i believe, the singer gets very little pronounciation 'off', atleast in these two vids
- PavlikPaja 9y ago
  Some preserved forms of vedic sanskrit have three tones - high, low and falling, which makes it tonal.
QAPereo 9y ago
That quality of a language is known as agglutination, and I wonder if other such languages would confer similar benefits? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agglutination https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agglutination
reallymental 9y ago
I'm really curious to know, how you came about to study Sanskrit grammar in the Paninian system, that and how did you break from that into mathematics?. Can you expand on that? My email is in my profile if you'd prefer to tell me more about this offline.
dtornabene 9y ago
from my own (limited!) understanding the first recorded instances of what we would now call combinatorics was Sanskrit linguistics. I don't have a reference handy but theres been a fair amount of historical scholarly work on this.
murukesh_s 9y ago
The study hasn't concluded it is specific to Sanskrit. As it is difficult to obtain a sample close to the number resembling people chanting and memorising verses from such a young age for several hours a day. Previous studies involving other brain activities have shown improvement in grey matter before, for e.g. London Taxi driver in one study showed improvement in brain development. https://www.wired.com/2011/12/london-taxi-driver-memory/ https://www.wired.com/2011/12/london-taxi-driver-memory/
- rnabel 9y ago
  A good book on this topic, which discusses this particular study is "Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise" by Ericsson and Pool.
adrianratnapala 9y ago
It would not surprise me if Sanskrit had some odd features, because Sanskrit as we know it is derived from the language of the ancient hymns. For about 1000 years before writing starts in India, we have the language developing in the hands of bards singing for ritual reasons to audiences which increasingly could not understand the words. So for many centuries it was evolving under pressures very different from normal language. Eventually, it regained broader application, but still a an elite language and thus still had unusual evolutionary pressures.

satish-setty 9y ago

> Vedic Sanskrit has three ways of pronouncing it (similar to the Chinese four accents) Just a nitpick: Vedic Sanskrit has pitch accent, not tone. Chinese is tonal. And I'm a huge fan of ghana patha as well!

pen2l 9y ago
I was really sad the article didn’t have a video of the hymns it spoke of, I’m similarly really interested now w in seeing an example of pitch accent you speak of in action, could you please link a video which you feel shows it well in play? Thanks!
- uptownfunk 9y ago
  Sure, here is an example of the rudram chanted in ghanam mode, there is a brief example given in the beginning similar to what i explained in my above comment. This is from the yajur Veda I believe, some scholars date these chants close to 3000 years old. https://youtu.be/5VP-NTPEjGg https://youtu.be/5VP-NTPEjGg
  - ing33k 9y ago
    Another video, 103 year old Ambattur Ganapadigal chanting ghanam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seCJU0zwHpY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seCJU0zwHpY
    - uptownfunk 9y ago
      A ghanam of the famous “Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya” of the ancient brihadaranyaka.
- tmp1029384756 9y ago
  for something truly mindblowing, try sanskrit trance! shanti people - tandava (david garry x dion 2017 club edit) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8w3R5yEBhcY https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8w3R5yEBhcY shanti people - mahishasura mardini (droplex remix) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4em0Wh8ZgR0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4em0Wh8ZgR0 it is a ukrainian group i believe, the singer gets very little pronounciation 'off', atleast in these two vids
PavlikPaja 9y ago
Some preserved forms of vedic sanskrit have three tones - high, low and falling, which makes it tonal.

QAPereo 9y ago

That quality of a language is known as agglutination, and I wonder if other such languages would confer similar benefits? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agglutination https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agglutination

reallymental 9y ago

I'm really curious to know, how you came about to study Sanskrit grammar in the Paninian system, that and how did you break from that into mathematics?. Can you expand on that? My email is in my profile if you'd prefer to tell me more about this offline.

dtornabene 9y ago

from my own (limited!) understanding the first recorded instances of what we would now call combinatorics was Sanskrit linguistics. I don't have a reference handy but theres been a fair amount of historical scholarly work on this.

murukesh_s 9y ago

The study hasn't concluded it is specific to Sanskrit. As it is difficult to obtain a sample close to the number resembling people chanting and memorising verses from such a young age for several hours a day. Previous studies involving other brain activities have shown improvement in grey matter before, for e.g. London Taxi driver in one study showed improvement in brain development. https://www.wired.com/2011/12/london-taxi-driver-memory/ https://www.wired.com/2011/12/london-taxi-driver-memory/

rnabel 9y ago
A good book on this topic, which discusses this particular study is "Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise" by Ericsson and Pool.

adrianratnapala 9y ago

It would not surprise me if Sanskrit had some odd features, because Sanskrit as we know it is derived from the language of the ancient hymns. For about 1000 years before writing starts in India, we have the language developing in the hands of bards singing for ritual reasons to audiences which increasingly could not understand the words. So for many centuries it was evolving under pressures very different from normal language. Eventually, it regained broader application, but still a an elite language and thus still had unusual evolutionary pressures.