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Sure, it's a fact of Sanskrit that of all the well-attested classical IE languages it's done the best job of preserving PIE's case system. But what's this have
by lgessler 6y ago
Sure, it's a fact of Sanskrit that of all the well-attested classical IE languages it's done the best job of preserving PIE's case system. But what's this have to do with the question of whether Sanskrit has some especial status as a tool for thought, AI, or whatever people are claiming in this paper and elsewhere? Is it that using inflection for indicating grammatical relations is somehow superior to using adpositions? I'd be very interested to hear an argument that makes the case for this for something more than aesthetics, but I can't imagine one myself.
- stan_rogers 6y agoIt's that grammatical specificity that is the core - and, truth to tell, the entirety - of the argument, as if it makes Sanskrit somehow equivalent to Loglan/Lojban-type constructed languages or a purpose-built computer language. Well, that and the prevalent idea in some nationalistic circles that Sanskrit is the original, perfect language, and that everything else is just a corrupt, fallen version of it. It's wishful thinking. Woo. It's the Lysenkoism of linguistics.