Die Bedeutung von abhinidhāna in den Prātiśākhyas

Abstract

In Indo-European linguistics and Indo-Iranian studies, the term abhinidhāna, as used in the phonetic treatises of Ancient India, is usually considered to refer to unreleased stops. However, the phonological scope of abhinidhāna and the phonetic properties that the indigenous phoneticians ascribe to it render this interpretation difficult, as do cases where the application of abhinidhāna interferes—and sometimes even conflicts—with the application of other, related terms in the Prātiśākhyas. After reviewing the previous research on the meaning of abhinidhāna, I survey its usage in the ritualistic literature and especially in the Prātiśākhyas. On the basis of this survey, I interpret all the attestations of abhinidhāna within the Sūtras of the Prātiśākhyas in the light of modern phonetics. As a result, I argue that abhinidhāna not only denotes unreleased stops but rather refers more generally to the closing phase of stops or the approximation phase of fricatives and approximants during their respective articulations. The new interpretation proposed for abhinidhāna renders the non-release of stops an epiphenomenon that merely emerges under certain phonological conditions shared by both abhinidhāna and unreleased stops alike. Hence, the closing phase of unreleased stops represents only a subset of the phonetic meanings covered by abhinidhāna. In addition, my interpretation accords perfectly with the current insights of phonology, the meaning of the word abhinidhāna as inferred from its usage in Vedic literature outside of the Prātiśākhyas, and its word formation. Therefore, abhinidhāna provides another example of the detailed and comprehensive knowledge that the indigenous phoneticians of Ancient India acquired by diligent observation of the articulation and pronunciation of Vedic Sanskrit during the ritualistic recitation.