Book Title: Jaina Philosophy of Language
Author(s): Sagarmal Jain
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

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Page 109
________________ The Jaina Philosophy of Sentence : (83) recognise the conscious or the physical aspect of a sentence as rational is acceptable to the Jaina philosophy also. To regard the psychic aspect and conscious aspect of the sentence as intellectual is accepted to Jainism and by this point of view this concept is not opposed to Jaina view. (7) First term (prathama-pada) is a sentence: concept and criticism Some philosophers are of the opinion that by the very pronunciation of the first term of a sentence, the total meaning of the sentence is expressed. The very first term makes the purpose of the speaker clear. The other terms only carry it. According to Vakyapadiya if the determination of case is possible by verb, then the verb can also be determined by the case. This theory though underlines the importance of the Karaka-pada (the term denoting case) in a sentence, but it cannot be regarded as the whole truth. Jainācārya Prabhācandra says, whether it is the first term of a sentence or is the last term, they make the meaning of a sentence clear always in relation to other terms. If only one term were capable of indicating meaning why should there be the need of other terms. In other words, their absence will always be noticed in the sentence. It is, of course, possible in many a cases where the very pronunciation of the first term may convey the sense. For example when a mason while preparing a wall says, 'brick', his helper understands well that he is asking for a brick. Here the very pronunciation of the first term carries the meaning of the complete sentence but it happens in certain context only. If the very same word was pronounced by, say, a police officer in a riot-situation, the word would have carried quite different connotation. Thus, we can safely say that pronunciation of the terms denoting case (kāraka-pada) cognise its meaning only in certain context and not in every context. It can not be made a rule. In addition, even in such cases the verb of the sentence is always implicit. Therefore, it is not advisable to regard the first-term (prathama-pada) as a sentence. The pronounciation of the word 'Rama' carries meaning in a particular context only, not always. If we will regard the first term as a sentence without any qualification, the other terms of a sentence will become irrelevant. But this is not the case. In fact, terms are always relative and their relative terms make an absolute sentence. Terms, no doubt, have an important place in a sentence but they cannot be called sentence individually. Jain Education International For Private & Personal Use Only www.jainelibrary.org

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