Shabda - in Indian Linguistics

In Indian Linguistics

Katyayana stated that shabda "speech" is eternal (nitya), as is artha "meaning", and their mutual relation. According to Patanjali, sphoṭa ("meaning") is not identical with shabda, but rather its permanent aspect, while dhvani "sound, acoustics" is its ephemeral aspect.

Om, or Aum, a sacred syllable of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism is considered to be the first resonating vibrational sound within an individual being. It also denotes the non-dualistic universe as a whole. In Buddhism, Om corresponds to the crown chakra and white light.

Bhartrihari on the other hand held a shabda-advaita position, identifying shabda as indivisible, unifying cognition and linguistic performance, ultimately identical with Brahman. Bhartrhari recognizes two entities, both of which may be called shabda, one is the underlying cause of the articulated sounds, while the other is used to express the meaning. Bhartrhari thus rejects the difference posited by logicians between the ontological and the linguistic. His concept of shabda-brahman identifying linguistic performance and creation itself has parallels in the Greek concept of logos.

Language philosophy in Medieval India was dominated by the dispute of the "naturalists" of the Mimamsa school, notably defended by Kumarila, who held that shabda designates the actual phonetic utterance, and the Sphota school, defended by Mandana Mishra, who identified spotha and shabda as a mystical "indivisible word-whole".