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Abstract Details

Parallels to the Modern Understanding of Speech Production in Indian Philosophical History
Research Methodology, 好色先生, and History
P4 - Poster Session 4 (5:30 PM-6:30 PM)
4-053

To describe parallels between modern neurologists’ understandings of speech production, and those from Indian philosophical history.
Modern neurologists understand the production of speech as having several stages – the motivation to speak, the ideation of what to say and how to say it, followed by articulation and sound production. Similar ideas were arrived at by ancient and medieval Indian philosophers, who considered speech one of the foundational elements of the cosmos.
NA

The classification of phenomena into gross, subtle, more subtle and so on is a distinguishing feature of Indian thought, and the same was applied to speech, as follows:

  1.  
  2. 1. Gross speech, that one could hear, was termed Vaikhari. It involved moving the organs of voice production in a coordinated manner.

     

  3.  

  4. There were three other stages in the speech production process, which were “concealed in the cave”, meaning the human body.

  5.  
  6. 2. More subtle than Vaikhari, was Madhyama, at the level of mind and memory, involving the selection of appropriate words and arranging them in a grammatical way.
  7.  
  8. 3. More subtle than Madhyama, was Pasyanti, at the level of non-verbal motivation. This might be experienced as a visualization or feeling of what needs to be said, undifferentiated and without temporal sequencing.
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  10. 4. Most subtle of all, was Para, not considered part of the manifest world.
  11.  
When comparing these terms to modern ideas of speech production from aphasiology, one might equate a deficit in Vaikhari to that seen in severe dysarthria. A deficit in the Madhyama stage would likely be akin to a Broca’s aphasia. Akinetic mutism, as seen in severe prefrontal injury, might represent something like a deficit in Pasyanti.
Indian philosophers’ ideas about speech production, which bear some resemblance to those of modern aphasiologists, represent an understudied aspect of the history of world neurology. 
Authors/Disclosures
Anand Venkatraman, MBBS (Ocala Regional Medical Center)
PRESENTER 		No disclosure on file
Puneet Opal, MD, PhD (Northwestern University Med Sch) Dr. Opal has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Consultant for reata. Dr. Opal has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for ACTN. Dr. Opal has received personal compensation in the range of $5,000-$9,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for JCI. The institution of Dr. Opal has received research support from NIH. Dr. Opal has received intellectual property interests from a discovery or technology relating to health care.
No disclosure on file