Early life and education
George Cardona was born inCareer
In 1962–63, Cardona went to Gujarat state,University of Pennsylvania
Cardona taughtAchievements and honors
He has been formally recognized for his achievements numerous times: he was granted The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship while working on his PhD; in 1971-72, he was admitted as a fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Palo Alto; was selected as the Collitz Professor at the Summer Institute of the Linguistic Society of America at the University of Illinois (1978); was elected in 1984 and 1997 to theResearch
Background
Cardona's career began in the 1950s and '60s as indological studies, especially studies in traditional Sanskrit grammar, burgeoned throughout the United States. Cardona entered the scene of indological studies at the closing of a disciplinary era dominated by the legacies of Bopp, Whitney, and Bloomfield ‒ which triad of thinkers had established a discipline that relied less upon, and on occasion pointedly opposed, native Indian tradition itself, in order to accomplish overtly historical and comparative objectives. Thus the emerging indological discipline of Cardona's early career differentiated itself by rejecting what it saw as the unappreciating and therefore skewed appraisal of Indian tradition by early Western indological tradition (i.e. comparative linguistics and, a bit later, philological indology), instead emphasizing an approach it characterized as historically descriptive interpretation of Indian thinkers and their works ‒ that is, to get at what Indian thinkers "sought to achieve in their writings, and how they went about doing it". The disciplinary orientations of both early and late Western indology remain discernable throughout Cardona's career, as when, in a methodological controversy, J.F. Staal characterizes Cardona as a historically motivated ''philologist'', but identifies himself (Staal) as, above all, a ''linguist'' in the tradition of Whitney (with respect to Whitney's methodological approach). On the whole, Cardona has been widely recognized as a champion of the indology that seeks an interior ‒ if not a simply historical ‒ understanding of the intentions and aims of Indian grammarians. This is evidenced, for instance, by Cardona's sometimes unorthodox commitment to interpreting Indian grammatical treatises in line with the traditional treatment of the ''munitraya'' (lit. 'the trio of sages') ‒ Pāṇini,Perspectives
Indology
Indology as a discipline involvesIndian linguistics
As a field, Indian linguistics is concerned with the examination of Indian linguistic methods and inquiry insofar as Indian thinkers have fielded linguistic insight ‒ thus, from a conventional standpoint, the fact that these linguistic methods have to do with India is incidental. Indian linguistics is Cardona's primary area of activity and expertise. Rocher identified the central concern of this field when she observed (writing in 1975) that Cardona's then in-progress ''Panini: His Work and Its Traditions'' (1988, 1997) would "reflect the fact that present day research is essentially ied upwith methodology."= Pāṇini's Method of Linguistic Description
=Meta-terminology and Meta-rules Linguistic description necessarily employs technical and metalinguistic terminology. On this matter, Cardona has defended the view that the immediate context surrounding a term should determine its meaning. This stands in contrast to the perspective held by his direct teacher, Paul Thieme, who argued that technical terms have a "single interpretation" and that their meaning remains consistent across commentaries and grammars. Related to the defining of technical terminology is examining how it operates (in a given text). In his article, ''Studies in Indian Grammarians, I: The method of description reflected in the śivasūtras'', Cardona discusses the metalanguage employed therein and how it accomplishes Pāṇini's methodological aim, namely, economy. In a review of this work, Rocher takes, in fact, as Cardona's chief contribution "the refinement brought to the principle of economy." In other words, what Cardona has accomplished here, Rocher elaborates, is a conscientious investment into and explication of the (intellectual) procedure of generalization as it features within the practice of descriptive economy (of grammar) itself; thus, infers Rocher, the terse concision of the grammarians ought to be the object itself of further study. All in all then, Rocher attributes to Cardona originality insofar as he keeps to the Indian tradition in methodology, which enables Cardona to translate, so to speak, the scholastic vernacular of ancient India into modern Western parlance. Cardona himself concludes, after much elaboration, that his achievement in this paper is to have situated "how the ''śivasūtras'' fit into the general method of description followed by Pāṇini", which leads to a related, but distinct insight, namely, that Pāṇini's contribution to the Indian grammatical tradition was primarily methodological, otherwise being quite conservative within his (Pāṇini's) intellectual milieu. Not all scholars have commended Cardona's ''The method of description reflected in the śivasūtras''. Harald Millonig, for instance, appraises Cardona's study of the ''śivasūtras'' as more or less comprehensive, but ultimately deficient in its attention to detail, particularly with regard to the relationships between the text and the '' pratyāhāra-sūtras''. Staal offers an even more critical review: he argues, first of all, that Cardona's explication of the ''śivasūtras'' is not especially imbued with originality. Nonetheless, Staal credits Cardona for a more explicit formulation of Pāṇinian economy. This explicit formulation, according to Staal, gets across the idea that Pāṇini engaged in the practice of abbreviation not for the sake of brevity for its own sake, but rather conceived of descriptive abbreviation as an instrument of mediating between ''sāmānya'' 'the general' and ''viśeṣa'' 'the particular'. Despite Cardona's more explicit formulation, Staal first points out that some post-Pāṇinian grammarians employed abbreviation more than Pāṇini did, in fact. Secondly, Staal observes that scholars H.E. Buiskool (1934) and Barend Faddegon (1936) were well aware that Pāṇinian methodology exercised abbreviation for the sake of insinuating functionality into and expressing generalization in grammatical treatment. Finally, asserts Staal, there are many instances of abbreviation in Pāṇini that do not evince Cardona's lofty characterization of Pāṇinian economy: non-functional abbreviation abounds. As a case in point, Staal cites the following: "1.1.3 ''iko guṇavṛddhī'' is a meta-linguistic statement dealing with the use of the technical terms ''guṇa'' and ''vṛddhī''. The next sūtra, 1.1.4 ''na dhātulope ārdhadhātuke'', with ''anuvṛtti'' of ''guṇavṛddhī'' from the previous rule, is a rule which treats a special case where ''guṇa'' and ''vṛddhī'', despite other rules, do not take place. Thus this case of ''anuvṛtti'' is entirely non-functional and ad hoc" (emphasis added).
How Grammar Relates to Logic An additional area of controversy relevant to the study of Pāṇini's method of linguistic description that has attracted Cardona's attention is how grammar relates to logic. His separate treatments of negations in Pāṇini and of the terms ''anvaya'' and ''vyatireka'' in the ''Mahābhāṣya'' have each sought to determine how Indian grammarians' usage of technical terms has evinced metalinguistic meaning. Once again, Cardona differs from Staal here ‒ the latter combines linguistic, logical, and philosophical usage in his analysis of the relationship between grammar and logic.
The ''Kārakas'' Controversy A disciplinary debate ‒ also having to do with Pāṇini's method of linguistic description ‒ arose during the '60s ( when syntax dominated linguistic studies) concerning the notion of ''kārakas'' (a concept in the grammar of Pāṇini, roughly similar to the concept of thematic role or theta role), as it "touches the core of syntax." Cardona has maintained the view (since the debate began) that the ''kārakas'' are essentially linguistic, syntactic-semantic categories ‒ not non-linguistic or extra-linguistic ones as put forth by Rocher and Al-George on the basis of a lack of correspondence between the Indian notion of 'agent,' a kind of ''kārakas'', and a fixed linguistic expression (compare the correspondence between the grammatical category of 'subject' and its linguistic expression, the nominative). A subset of this debate is Al-George's claim that ''kārakas'' issue from " Vedic ritual categories," which Cardona has criticized greatly. Whereas Al-George's supplies extraneous elements to his analysis of the ''kārakas'' (he invokes European structuralism), Cardona's position is rooted in Pāṇini's text itself.
General linguistics and Indian grammatical tradition
Beginning in the '60s, attempts at formalization of the ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'' developed. These attempts at formalization entailed the comparison of modern Western and ancient Indian grammatical traditions. Since formalizing Pāṇinian rules also amounts to translating them into a different language, so to speak, scholars such as Cardona explored the issue of how ‒ or even whether ‒ comparisons of this sort could be carried out. On this matter, Cardona is well known for having said: "I do not think we have yet arrived at a sufficiently detailed understanding of Indian grammatical methods to make a comparison with Western methods truly useful. After such an understanding has been attained, it will be both welcome and valuable to make comparisons." Back and forth with Staal on this point elicited a spirited response in Staal (1967). Staal attributes to Cardona a scholarly approach that is "historically" informed, and identifies him most essentially as a "philologist". On the other hand, Staal considers himself most essentially as a "linguist", approaching his subject "systematically". Staal then points out that " e scope for mutual contradiction between these two approaches is fairly narrow". This narrow scope, nonetheless, evidently affords Cardona the opportunity to wonder whether Staal thought that Pāṇini "started from scratch" in his composition of the ''śivasūtras'' (thus, from Cardona's point of view, Staal was ignoring one of Cardona's central theses that Pāṇini was deeply indebted to the Indian grammatical tradition). Staal claims that Cardona has misinterpreted him. He then goes on to dispute, in fact, that there is not so much of a difference between himself and Cardona when it comes to studying the ''śivasūtras'' "in terms of 'the grammatical structure of the language' as analysed in the rules of the grammarians." The point of Staal's reasoning here is that while his own and Cardona's emphases may differ, these emphases nonetheless get at the same object of study (whether that be the ''śivasūtras'', the ''Aṣṭādhyāyī'', or other grammatical treatises) and with the same disciplinary intent, namely, to study "the grammatical structure of the language." Yet Staal criticizes Cardona's methodological prioritization of historically informed philology over systematically informed linguistics, citing Cardona as having remarked (above) that comparison of "Indian grammatical methods" with "Western methods" would be unprofitable since insight into the former remains limited. Staal sees this as "remarkably naïve" and invokes William Dwight Whitney's legacy, making a claim to the effect that actual comparison of Indian grammatical methods and Western methods is unwarranted in fact ‒ for, after all, Pāṇini's primary status as a linguist, and not as a philologist, demands that he be treated as such, in Staal's view. As a consequence, Staal maintains, scholars ought to aim at "a detailed understanding of Indian grammatical methods", insofar as that aids assessing Pāṇini as a linguist. Whether these attempts at comparison are premature is beside the point, according to some scholars, since people are performing this kind of comparison and they are doing it more often; what can be done is to assess the adequacy of these attempts. Cardona has persistently upheld the view, as referred to elsewhere, that translations (or 'comparisons') ought to be of a strict sort. To achieve this he has supplied four objectives upon which to carry out translation, namely: # the formalization should not merely be an adaptation of Indian grammatical terms into Western ones; # it should not obfuscate the differences between the method of Pāṇini and that of other Indian grammarians; # it should put on display how Pāṇinian commentators interpreted the same rules differently; # and finally, "modern interpreters should recognize their inability to arrive at a unique solution. These rules of thumb evince Cardona's concern with the tampering of Pāṇini's rules ‒ indeed, he argues that fidelity to the text and tradition in these respects supersedes the importance of absolute clarity. The criterion of scholars such as Staal, on the other hand, permits the incorporation of elements of general linguistic theory into formalizations on the basis of expediency. Other scholars hold the view ‒ which Cardona rejects outright as uncritical ‒ that Western grammatical terms on concepts can be directly imposed onto Indian ones. This approach seems to hold in light of the view that, long ago, Indian grammarians anticipated modern developments in Western linguistics. Cardona has dismissed this kind of historical precursorism.Collaboration with other scholars
Regier and Wallace (1991) observe Cardona's ire against Whitney and Goldstücker; for the former in particular, Cardona has criticized Whitney for his "linguistic prejudice" and "more than a little arrogance." Furthermore, Cardona seems to think that Whitney's assumptions inescapably tainted his methodology, hence the disagreement between Staal and Cardona, discussed above. On the other hand, Cardona has looked amiably upon the work of scholars Kielhorn, Renou, and Yudhiṣṭhira Mīmāṃsaka.Criticisms
Scholars other than Staal have criticized Cardona's work, especially in his earlier period. Durbin, for instance, claims that Cardona's ''A Gujarati Reference Grammar'' inadequately meets the author's own goals of serving 1) as an audio-lingual textbook for students, being "too sketchy, ill-organized, and defective" and 2) as a resource for linguists in Indic studies (Durbin claims this work would actually be more useful for the amateur needing a general grammatical overview of an Indo-Aryan language). In particular, she heavily criticizes Cardona's "disturbing" coverage on morphophonemics, which she claims is simply too small; ignores the interlinking of "different morphophonemic rules" to each other (which extends itself to a scanty description of rule ordering); and, lastly, incompletely specifies "the conditions of certain morphophonemic rules" such that a "rule becomes non-applicable in certain cases". As an instance of this last criticism, Durbin cites Rule ''1b10'' where /CəC-VC/ → /CCVC/ (i.e. a facultative phonologically conditioned rule where, in this particular kind of grammatical transformation of a word, schwa, 'əLegacy
Cardona's legacy is most felt in the discipline of Indian linguistics where he has exemplified ‒ indeed, championed ‒ an approach that seeks to describe and appreciate the techniques of the Indian grammarians. To an extent, Cardona may be characterized as 'historical' and 'philological' in his methodology. However, Cardona has concerned himself with the textual and historically explanatory aims of these approaches ‒ which were, in fact, the goals of earlier philological indology ‒ only insofar as they have enabled him to recover and uncover the linguistic science itself encoded in texts like Pāṇini's ''Aṣṭādhyāyī''. In other words, textual analysis and historical explanation are incidental to Cardona's central priority to treat Pāṇini as an Indian linguist. As fidelity to the tradition figures prominently for Cardona, he has been mostly critical of attempts to compare Pāṇini and the Pāṇinīyas with modern Western grammatical notions. This stance, moreover, has served as a wellspring for debate, most notably with J.F. Staal and Paul Kiparsky. Along these lines, Brian Joseph's depiction of Cardona as a "luminary" in Pāṇinian linguistics warrants an assessment of Cardona as a veritable Pāṇinīya, carrying on the age-old exegetical tradition of Pāṇini's ''Aṣṭādhyāyī''.Publications
1962 * R̥gvedic ''śrúvat''. ''Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda'' 12:1-4 1963 * Greek ''heîsa'' and Sanskrit ''sátsat''. ''Language'' 39:14-16 1964 * The formulation of Pāṇini. 7.3.73. ''Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda'' 14:38-41 1965 * A Gujarati reference grammar. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, pp. 188 irculated in duplicated form (pp. xv, 305), 1964* On translating and formalizing Pāṇinian rules. ''Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda'' 14:306-314 1966 * The Indo-European thematic aorists. University Microfilms. Pp. 159 octoral dissertation, defended in 19601967 * Negations in Pāṇinian rules. ''Language'' 43 (Bloch Memorial Volume):34-56 * Pāṇini's syntactic categories. ''Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda'' 16:201-215 1968 * On haplology in Indo-European. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press (=Haney Foundation Series 1), pp. 87 1969 * Studies in Indian grammarians, I: The method of description reflected in the śivasūtras. ''Transactions of the American Philosophical Society'', new series, 59.1, p. 48 1970 * Some principles of Pāṇini's grammar. ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'' 1:40-74 * The Indo-Iranian construction ''manā'' 'mama''''kr̥tam''. ''Language'' 46:1-12 * A note on Pāṇini's technical vocabulary. ''Journal of the Oriental Institute, Baroda'' 19:195-212 1974 * Pāṇini's kārakas: agency, animation and identity. ''Journal of Indian Philosophy'' 2:231-306 1976 * Pāṇini, a survey of research (Trends in linguistics, state of the art reports, 6) The Hague: Mouton, pp. xvi, 384 ew editions: 1980, 19981979 * Gujarati language and literature. Encyclopedia Americana 13:596 1988 * Pāṇini: His work and its traditions. Part I: General introduction and background. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, pp. xxiv, 671 econd edition: 19971989 * Pāṇinian studies. New Horizons of research in Indology, edited by V.N. Jha (Silver Jubilee volume of the Centre of Advanced Study in Sanskrit, Pune), pp. 49–84 1992 * Indian grammatical traditions and historical linguistics. in E. Polomé-W. Winter (eds.), Reconstructing Languages and Cultures. (Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter), pp. 239–259 1995 * On Pāṇini, Śākalya, Vedic dialects and Vedic exegetical traditions. Beyond the Texts: New Approaches to the Study of the Vedas, edited by M. Witzel, pp. 26–32 1999 * Recent Research in Pāṇinian Studies. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, pp. xi, 372 econd edition: 20042007 * On the position of vyākaraṇa and Pāṇini. Expanding and Merging Horizons, Contributions to South Asia and Cross Cultural Studies in Commemoration of Wilhelm Halbfass, edited by Karin Preisendanz (Beiträge zur Kultur- und Geistesgeschichte Asiens, Sitzungsberichte der philosophischen-historischen Klasse der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften), pp. 693 – 710 * Pāṇini and Pāṇinīyas on what is and is not possible. Colonel Henry Scott Olcott Death Centenary Commemoration Volume, ''Brahmavidyā, The Adyar Library Bulletin'' 68 - 70 (2004 - 2006):467 - 499 ee 2002 2011 * Indological Researches: Different Standpoints, edited by P. C. Muraleemadhavan. Kalady: Sree Sankarachary University of Sanskrit. 2014 * Pāṇinian grammarians on agency and independence. Free Will, Agency and Selfhood in Indian Philosophy, edited by Edwin Bryant and Matthew Dasti, Oxford/New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 85–111. * Some contributions of ancient Indian thinkers to linguistics. In Sanskrit and Development of World Thought (Proceedings of "The International Seminar on the Contribution of Sanskrit to Development of World Thought"), edited by Vempaty Kutumba Sastry, Delhi: D.K. Printworld and Rashtriya Sanskti Sansthan, pp. 1–22.Reviews
* * * * * Staal, J.F. 1970 Studies in Indian grammarians, I: The method of description reflected in the śivasūtras (review). ''Language'' 46: 2, part 1, pp. 502–507. * * * * * * * * * * * * Haag, Pascale. Madhav M. Deshpande et Peter E. Hook (éd.) : Indian Linguistic Studies. Festschrift in Honor of George Cardona. In: Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient. ''Tome'' 90-91, 2003. pp. 504–509. * * * *References
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