Codifying Language
Bringing order to sound
One of the greatest creations of humankind is Language. Language is, by itself, complex comprising multiple grammatical rules, writing techniques, and different writing styles such as poetry and prose.
Language is the outcome of wonderful design. The greatness of its design is that it is sustainable and indeed, future-proof. An apt example of such sustainable timeless design is that of Indian languages. This is quite extraordinary and unique when compared to other languages spoken across the world.
Language groups in Indian subcontinent
The languages spoken in this subcontinent, especially their written form, can be grouped into two broad categories. Devanagiri script, that is popularly seen in languages such as Sanskrit, Hindi, Marathi and other languages, has its origins from the Brahmi script. Interestingly, it is said to be visually similar to the script of South Indian language variety that is said to be based on Nandinagari script.
If you observe any language closely, you would notice that they consist of several vowels and many consonants. For example, almost all Indian languages have vowels such as A, Aa, E, Ee, U, Ooh… and consonants that include Ka, Kha, Ga, Gha and so on.
An interesting pattern
Have you noticed an interesting pattern here? This is about grouping certain consonants in one sequence and grouping few others in the next. This grouping is done based on what parts of vocal chords are used to utter the consonants.
For example, the first sequence involves consonants such as Ka, Kha, Ga, and Gha. A major effort here involves usage of the epiglottis only and not the tongue.
The next sequence involves consonants such as Cha, ChCha, Ja, and Jha. To utter every consonant, you have to hit the tongue to the roof of the mouth. The next sequence involves the consonants ?a, ?ha, ?a, and ?ha. A substantial effort will involve using epiglottis as well as tongue to hit the roof of the mouth hard. The next sequence is Ta, Tha, Da, and Dha. All the consonants require more or less similar effort. The final piece involves the consonants Pa, Pha, Ba, Bha, and Ma. Here there is a need to open and close the lips each time to utter these consonants.
The creator of the language system has observed this carefully and placed similar consonants together so as to improve the receptivity of the learner.
Indian languages were developed thousands of years ago but imagine how a simple design phenomenon of patterns has gone into its genesis! Languages have not only flourished for ages, but have helped in the creation of timeless literature, novels and epics such as the Mahabharata and the Ramayana and holy books like the Bhagwad Gita, to name a few.
For anything to become sustainable and flourish for ages to come, Design is critical.
---------
Author is also a deep researcher of culture, tradition and social fabric that shaped the thinking of different communities and faith systems. He works closely with the Gram Panchayat system to bring a design mindset for sustainable change. His years of research work in connecting Design Thinking elements in various sectors is now captured in a comprehensive book UnMukt: Science and Art of Design Thinking which can be downloaded for free from https://d-thinking.com/registration/register.php
---------
Independent Filmmaker | Founder Monomyth Enchantment Inc. | Gold REMI Award Winner | Serial Entrepreneur |
4 年Arun Jain, according to a survey conducted in 1989 by P.Padmanabha , B.P.Mahapatra , V.S.Verma , G.D.McConnell (Office of the Registrar General, India, Laval University Press) there are hardly about 50 Indian languages which are considered as written. These fifty and odd languages share between 10 to 13 different writing systems. These different Indic writing systems are of Brahmi, Kharoshti, Arabic (Kashmiri, Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu) origins. It is understandable, that there is a considerable amount of confusion (among common people and scientists) on the relation between language and script. In a way, language and script belong to different systems and they should be kept apart. Most of the theories on Indian paleography were developed after the discovery of A?okan inscriptions which at that time were considered as the earliest attestations of writing in India. These theories remain sadly unchanged, and have not updated their hypotheses based on recent archaeological findings.? Several hundred inscriptions, pot shed graffiti have been discovered in Tamil Nadu and analysed. These graffiti in Tamil Brahmi or Tami?i date back to the 5th BCE. This dating, obtained by radiometric technique, thus, pushes back the date of Tamil Brahmi to the 5th BCE and shows that there were evidence of writing in Tamil Nadu well before the Asokan edicts.? (K. Rajan and V.P.Yatheeskumar, New evidences on Scientific dates for Brāhmi script as revealed from Porunthal and Kodumanal Excavations, Prāgadhārā No. 21-22, 2013, pp. 279-295; K. Rajan, Early Writing System: A journey from Graffiti to Brahmi. Pandya Nadu Centre for Archaeological Research, 2015, 439 P.; Dilip Chakrabarti, Book review of K. Rajan, early Writing System.., Indian Historical review, Vol.44, issue1, 2017, pp. 136-139). As you have mentioned, ‘the script of South Indian language variety’ has no any relation with the Nandinagari script. Why? Nandinagari, a Brāhmī based script of course, was introduced in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, sometime in the 11th CE for writing manuscripts and inscriptions in Sanskrit? (Richard Salomon, Indian Epigraphy A guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Pratkrit, and other Indo-Aryan Languages, Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 41; Sivaramamurthy C. Indian Epigraphy and South Indian Scripts, Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum, New Series, Vol.3, No. 4. pp. 184-93). Also, this variety of Nandinagari had not gained any significant place in South India. Reinhold Grünedahl says “In spite of of the abundance of manuscripts written in Nandinagari, this variety of the Northern Devanagari is perhaps the least-documented South Indian script used for writing Sanskrit texts” (South Indian Scrpts in Sanskrit Manuscripts and Prints, Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2001 pp. 201-210). Inscriptions in Kannada and Telugu appeared as early as the end of the 6th century CE. The proto Telugu-Kannada script was attested under the Cālukya king Mangalesa at Halmidi as early as the the 6th CE (598-610 CE) (According to some scholars the Halmidi inscription is dated on 450 CE.?). The inscriptions in Telugu appeared around the end of 6th CE. The old Kadamba-Chalukya script was used to write both Kannada and Telugu between 4th and 7th CE. Between 11th and 14th CE the two scripts, Kannada and Telugu, evolved as separate writing system.? In any case, it is highly improbable that Nandginagari which appeared only around the 11th century CE, might have had any relations or influence on Kannada and Telugu or any of the South Indian scripts as stated in the post. I write this in the spirit of what D.K. Chakrabarti said: “Archaeological discoveries when they upset the traditional beliefs should be matters of great rejoicing” (2017:139). I write this, to request you to research a bit more. I write this in the hope, that after your research, if you find what I say to be true, ?that you will disseminate this knowledge with the help of your reach and network.?
Accounts Manager
4 年Excellent
Instructor LINC, PBLA (In-person/ Avenue.ca)
4 年I am a language instructor and couldn't agree more. Language a medium of communication and they also shape the way we think.
Founder & CEO at KPSK Consulting Group
4 年I think you are a Distinctive Thinker by Design ! :-)
Cofounder & CEO GlobalLinker
4 年Brilliant perspective Arun Jain. While the clusters have been created based on phonetics, even the sequencing of characters within a cluster creates a phonetic pattern with greater use of force as you move from say ka to kha. Truly well thought of design principles at work. Extending that logic, some acronyms have also come to become part of our extended vocabulary and have proven invaluable in remembering relatively complex rule sets. These also illustrate design thinking - who can forget BODMAS and how it helped in solving maths equations