John R. Gardner (Iowa, USA)

Studies in non-linear sequence of Rigvedic chronology

In short, I am working to integrate the sort of research done by Witzel in "Tracing the Vedic Dialects" (1989) and similar presentations, with the thematic palette of the Vedic RSi's suggested by Elizarenkova—together with the most recent material I can manage (Witzel and Elizarenkova are fulltime undertakings!) on South Asian archeology-- with /.. . . .yes, I know I'm crazy . . . 3d imagery and VRML/HTML linking. In other words, to bring the historical material to spatial consciousness-- e.g. non-linear sequence of RV chronology--to bring linguistics into geographic relation with historical sequence (here's where the 3d part really gets tested with layers of maps nested and discursively HTML links attested); together with consideration for synchronic characteristics per Elizarenkova. The project would be a pilot-- I would only manage a few dozen RV hymns, 4 or 5 anomalies of linguistic type noted by Witzel, and one or two of Elizarenkova's categories (polysemy, synonymy, divine/human language, and phonetic marking); all of which are amply applied in my dissertation but none of which has yet been subjected to 3d rendering.