Posted on 12/15/2022 5:21:08 AM PST by BenLurkin
The 27-year-old accomplished the feat by decoding a rule taught by “the father of linguistics,” Pāṇini.
The discovery makes it possible to “derive” any Sanskrit word – constructing millions of grammatically correct words including “mantra” and “guru” – using Pāṇini’s famous “language machine.”
Pāṇini’s system — which includes 4,000 rules detailed in his greatest work, the Aṣṭādhyāyī — was written around 500 BC. Linguists say it works like a machine. Feed in the base and suffix of a word and it should turn them into grammatically correct words and sentences through a step-by-step process.
Until now, however, there has been a huge problem. Scientists say two or more of Pāṇini’s rules are often simultaneously applicable at the same step, leaving scholars to debate which one to choose.
Pāṇini...taught a metarule to help decide which rule is applicable in the event of a rule conflict. For the last 2,500 years, however, scholars have misinterpreted the metarule — meaning they often end up with a grammatically incorrect result.
In an attempt to fix the issue, many researchers worked hard to develop hundreds of other metarules.
Traditionally, scientists have interpreted Pāṇini’s metarule as meaning: “in the event of a conflict between two rules of equal strength, the rule that comes later in the grammar’s serial order wins.”
Dr. Rajpopat rejects this, arguing that Pāṇini meant that between rules applicable to the left and right sides of a word respectively. The PhD student believes Pāṇini wanted people to choose the rule applicable to the right side. Employing this interpretation, Dr. Rajpopat found Pāṇini’s language machine produced grammatically correct words with almost no exceptions.
The researcher says a major implication of this discovery is that scientists now have the algorithm that runs Pāṇini’s grammar, making it possible for advanced computers to learn this grammar.
(Excerpt) Read more at studyfinds.org ...
I just knew all that Trig would come in handy one day!................
Luckily we’re honkies, so we understand racist Trigonometry…
Here is hoping some ancient wisdom is revealed with this new breakthrough translating Sanskrit.
Thanks BenLurkin for posting the topic (cuz I'm basically lazy), thanks algore for sending a similar link (see below), and thanks Red Badger for the ping.
I'm sure there are Simpson fans out there, so, pullllease.
A grammatical problem which has defeated Sanskrit scholars since the 5th Century BC has finally been solved by an Indian PhD student at the University of Cambridge. Dr Rishi Rajpopat made the breakthrough by decoding a rule taught by “the father of linguistics” Pāṇini.
The discovery makes it possible to 'derive' any Sanskrit word – to construct millions of grammatically correct words including 'mantra’ and 'guru’ – using Pāṇini’s revered 'language machine’ which is widely considered to be one of the great intellectual achievements in history.
Leading Sanskrit experts have described Rajpopat’s discovery as 'revolutionary’ and it could now mean that Pāṇini’s grammar can be taught to computers for the first time.Ancient grammatical puzzle solved after 2,500 years | Cambridge University | 412K subscribers | 1,244 views | December 15, 2022
All of a sudden, grammar is important?
On April 1, 2000
Microsoft released a cuneiform hieroglyph language pack for windows.
I wish had kept a copy of it.
You can find the Ugaritic cuneiform in this app
https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/ugaritic-alphabet/9PHP9MTN6PZT
Caffe Rizza, yeah, I was a bussbuoy there when I wuz in kollagen.
PhD student solves 2,500-year-old Sanskrit problem
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg3gw9v7jnvo
That would be a great name for a model of car.
Lotta people here don’t like grammar.
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