Madhuvidya

Author(s): S D Laddu, T N Dharmadhikari, Madhvi Kolhatkar, Pratibha Pingle
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

Page 650

Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute
On p. 6, the lecturer gives the two words, Germau lass 'allow' and English lass, as examples of same words (meaning thereby words similar in sound) meaning different things. But the words are similar only to the eye, and not to the ear. On p. 8, the lecturer referes to duality by which he probably means the duality of patterning in language as a system; hut as he does not explain it, this point is not likely to be understood by many. On p. 10, Dr. Ghatage says that a language requires for its proper functioning only a limited number of sound units which should be discretely different from each other, easily produced and quickly identified. But is it not true that the sounds of any language are thought to be easy by the native speakers of that language? On p. 36, Dr. Ghatage says that by the use of Kymograph it is possible to record the vibratory actions of different vocal organs like the vocal cords, mouth, lips, nose etc. But shall we say that in the production of speech sounds we have the vibratory action of mouth and nose as well?
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Dr. A. G. Pawar, the Vice-Chancellor of the University has observed in his Foreword that the aim of founding the Extension Lecture series was to create "genuine interest among the University students for higher studies, acquaint the University Research workers with the recent thoughts and developments in different subjects of science and humanities and establish a constant link between the University and the intelligentsia of the region". It is not to be doubted that these objectives have been fully met. by the lectures under review.
M. A. Melendale
BALTS AND ARYANS, by Suniti Kumar Chatterji, Indian Institute of Advanced Study Simla, 1968, pp. 1-178 and Plates I-XIX, Price Rs. 20/- (£2 58., $8.00)
In this book Dr. Chatterji gives a lucid account of all aspects of the relationship between the forefathers of the speakers of the Baltic Languages and those of the speakers of the Indo-Aryan languages. He describes what may be called the character of the Balts aud shows how closely their culture and language are related to those of the Vedic Aryans. He elaborates on the beauty of the dainas, the national poetry of the Balts, which is preserved by them over the centuries by oral tradition. These songs are supposed to have preserved glimpses of preChristian life and culture-of a time when joy still walked over the earth'.
The Baltic and the Indo-Iranian, together with some others, belong to the eastern group of the Indo-European family of languages. The Baltic group is now represented only by the dialects of Lithuania
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