The Particle iva in Vedic Prose

This paper begins with summary of current interpretations of iva and review of Dieter Schrapel's reconsideration of the particle. A different interpretation is then proposed. The purpose of iva is to mark the word it follows as accurately descriptive, but as true in manner or to an extent which is undefined. Passages in which two iva-s occur, however, present special case. Each iva in such constructions still marks the word it modifies as indefinite, but together the two balance these words, often with adversative or distributive force. Finally, neva or na . . . iva (not . .. iva), it is argued, marks strong negation. This function is direct consequence of the basic meaning of iva. The reverse of the assertion that a sort of exists or that X is true in some way is that no sort of exists-a strong denial

Particle (ecology) · Geology · Historical Linguistics and Language Studies · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Natural Language Processing Techniques