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A Comprehensive and Critical dictionary of Prākrit Languages (Introduction)
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covered by it.
10. Interjections (intj.) which semantically are expressive of emotions and feelings and syntactically form independent sentences like the Vocative Case. 5. Meaning-analysis, Homophony and Polysemy
Meaning analysis is the very core of a dictionary. But no general principles can be laid down for it, because it differs from language to language and even in the same language from word to word. Both historical
gical considerations play an important role in the relations which subsist between different meanings of a word. Similarly no hard and fast line can be drawn between what may be called the overall meaning and a specific meaning. In the field of semantics, each word has its own history and it must be explained on the basis of its use in a given language. Semantic universals are hard to find and hence can be of limited use.
The apparent multiplicity of homonyms in Prākrit need not be indicated by the use of index numbers because in the majority of cases its source in Sanskrit, which is given throughout, makes it obvious. Only in rare cases where the Sanskrit equivalent itself is homophonous, can we use index numbers for this purpose. . The inherent ability of a language to make distinctions in meaning to any degree of nicety makes it necessary to analyse it on the evidence of the actual use of the word in literature. This is true especially in the case of classical languages where an appeal to the intuitive judgement of the speaker cannot be made to decide its precise meaning. In this connection, two things must be constantly and clearly kept in mind. The semantic spectrum of the target language and that of the language of explanation may not be the same, and in fact is usually different. Secondly, only such distinctions in the meaning can be made which are caused by the influence of the linguistic environment only.
In this dictionary the different meanings of a word are indicated by the use of numbers in serial order and no complicated system is used to show close and distant relationships of the meanings. When one meaning directly leads to another this is indicated by the use of the word hence. In the case of technical terms of different branches of knowledge, great care is taken to explain them fully, but no attempt is made to coin new words for this purpose.
In this part of the entry syntactic usage is given full representation and