Types of labels.mmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1428

The term "it" ( label) means a letter that is invisible, that is, a letter that appears in grammar jargon words such as pluG, zap, tip, but is not part of actual words.

Labels have several uses --

tellaparter labels just tell apart some terms from some others.

Example: su means "the s affix made by rule svaujas", sic means "the s affix made by clessic", and sa means just anyt s sound.

stopper labels tell rule Adirantyena when to stop.

Example: N of yaN makes yaN mean y v r l, because the zivasUtra have ya va raT laN.

switcher labels make some rules work or not work.

Example: k of kta makes kGitica work.

padding labels just make terms easier to say.

Example: u of yAsuT just keeps us from having to say yasT, which would be a tonguetwister.

Counterexample: u of matup makes rule ugidacA work, so it is a switcher, not padding.

The term pit means "that has p label", that is to say, anything that has a p label. For instance, the affixes zap tip sip mip are pit affixes.

The opposite of pit is apit "that lacks p label". For instance, mas is an apit affix.

A tellaparter label just tells one thing apart from another.mmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1429

Example 1.

There is an affix A that is added to aja- "goat" to make it mean "she-goat".

Then there is another A affix, that when added after parazu- "axe", makes parazunA "with an axe".

And there is another A, that added in front of gacchati "goes", makes Agacchati "comes".

The names of these three affixes are Ap, TA and AG. These names have had the label letters p T G added to them, so that we can conveniently say "replace TA with ina" instead of using longer expressions, such as "replace the TA that means 'with' with ina".

In translations of pANini written in European languages, you will often see that the translator has removed the label letters from the affixes. Then, to avoid confusion, instead of Ap, TA, AG, they have to say --

The feminine affix A

The instrumental singular noun ending A

The preverb A.

Example 2.

The s(a) mentioned in rule sasaju means "the letter s". Any letter s.

s(u) means the letter s that is mentioned in rule svaujas and is added after nounbases.

s(ic) is the letter s that rule clessic adds after most roots that are before luG.

s(ak) is the letter s that is added to some roots when they are before sic.

Back to types of labels .

stopper labelsmmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1430

A stopper appears in a list to show the point where rule Adirantyena must stop grabbing.

For instance, the zivasUtra have e oG ai auc. This c label is a stopper, because its only purpose is giving the terms ec, aic, ac, ic get their right meanings.

The G label at the end of tiptas list is just a stopper, used only to give the terms tiG and taG their proper meanings. This G does not make the affix mahi get a switcher G label. That mahi affix however will get a switcher G label when other rules say so.

Back to types of labels .

padding letters just make jargon easier to say.mmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1431

A label letter is padding when it makes pronunciation easier, but has no other use.

Examples.

The u in yAsuT serves no purpose other than making the affix easier to say aloud. Calling the affix yasT would also have made the grammar rules work, but yAsT would be very hard to say. This u is just padding.

The second u in tumun is just padding. Without it we would have to chant tumnNvulau instead of tumunNvulau.

Counterexample.

The u in matup is a switcher label, because it makes rules atvasa and ugidacA work.

Back to types of labels .

switcher labels make some rules work or not work.mmmmmmmmm ^ M- C+ 1432

An example of a switcher label is the k of the affix kta.

Rule hardsoft turns nI into ne before most verb affixes.

But nI stays nI before kta ktvA ktavatu lyap san, because rule kGitica says that hardsoft and other rules won't work before kit affixes.

(Note: san is kit after nI because ikojhal says so.)

Back to types of labels .