________________
VARIANT FORMS OF THE LOCATIVE IN
MIDDLE INDO-ARYAN
L. A. Schwarzschild
A. INTRODUCTION The concept of 'free variation' in linguistics (e.g. Lyons 1969: 72) is very old. The Sanskrit grammarians were fully aware of optional rules called vibhāsā (Pāṇini) and vikalpa, quite apart from the much-discussed free word-order of Sanskrit (Staal 1967). The term vibhāṣā is used 112 times by Pāṇini, which is surprising in view of the well-known economy of wording, and this shows clearly the importance attached to this concept in Sanskrit grammar. But these optional rules only refer to very minor points: the majority are rules of limited application referring to certain compounds. A typical example of this restricted application is furnished by the very first rule involving vibhaşa in Pāņini (I.1.28):
Vibhāṣā diksamāse bahuvrīhau ‘Pronominal adjectives of the type sarva may optionally follow the pronominal declension if they occur in a bahuvrīhi compound designating a region'.
Optional rules of this kind are frequent, but there is little free variation over the major features of Sanskrit phonology and morphology; among the most prominent examples one could quote are the oblique endings of the neuter of adjectives in -i, -u, both in the singular and the dual. In Middle Indo-Aryan the position seems to be totally reversed, and there appear to be numerous free variants, particularly in morphology. Some of these forms are not really in free variation with one another, they might at least originally have been regionally and chronologically separate. But often, even within one single text there seem to be
77
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org
