A New Computational Schema for Euphonic Conjunctions in Sanskrit Processing

Abstract

Automated language processing is central to the drive to enable facilitated referencing of increasingly available Sanskrit E-texts. The first step towards processing Sanskrit text involves the handling of Sanskrit compound words that are an integral part of Sanskrit texts. This firstly necessitates the processing of euphonic conjunctions or sandhi-s, which are points in words or between words, at which adjacent letters coalesce and transform. The ancient Sanskrit grammarian P??ini’s codification of the Sanskrit grammar is the accepted authority in the subject. His famed s?tra-s or aphorisms, numbering approximately four thousand, tersely, precisely and comprehensively codify the rules of the grammar, including all the rules pertaining to sandhi-s. This work presents a fresh new approach to processing sandhi-s in terms of a computational schema. This new computational model is based on P??ini’s complex codification of the rules of grammar. The model has simple beginnings and is yet powerful, comprehensive and computationally lean.