Abstract :
The Indian philosophy of language consists of an assortment of topics among which how human speech
descends from our thoughts to the vocal cords remains significant with a longer history. Vedic insights into the journey
of speech clearly impacted later philosophies to bolster their foundations to construct stronger arguments but Bhart?hari
(fl. 500 - 700 CE), in his grammatical chef-d'oeuvre entitled the V?kyapad?ya, brought to light a philosophically
justifiable way in which the language is stratified in terms of its origin and course. This study succinctly explores how
Bhart?hari presents the language stratification and some views of his contemporaries on it, while comparing his thoughts,
where applicable, with relevant positions of recent philosophers and linguists beyond Indian soil.
Keyword :
Indian philosophy of language, language stratification, articulation, Bhart?hari, V?kyapad?ya