Indo-Aryan Historical Linguistics

Aim of instruction

The aim of the course is to provide students with comprehensive knowledge of the methods, results, and current trends in historical linguistic research on Indo-Aryan languages.

a) Knowledge

Students will acquire comprehensive knowledge of the languages and language variants belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family, their grammatical systems and historical developments. They will acquire in-depth knowledge of the methodology of historical linguistics.

b) Skills

Students will be able to recognize phonological, morphological, and syntactic problems in Indo-Aryan languages and provide their historical linguistic explanation. They will gain practice in historical linguistic analysis and critical evaluation of linguistic data. They will be able to interpret Indo-Aryan linguistic phenomena from a historical linguistic perspective.

c) Attitudes

Students will develop a critical and methodologically conscious approach to historical linguistic research. They will be open to newer theoretical approaches while preserving the values of traditional historical linguistic methods.

d) Autonomy and responsibility

Students will be able to independently identify and solve Indo-Aryan historical linguistic problems in their own field of research. They will be able to conduct independent research, evaluate academic debates, and represent their own well-founded scientific opinions in the field of Indo-Aryan historical linguistics.

Topics

Comprehensive knowledge of the grammatical systems and the history of the languages and language variants belonging to certain periods of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family (depending on the student’s research topic, primarily Vedic Old Indian and Classical Sanskrit, and various Middle and New Indian languages); analysis of the various phonological, morphological, and syntactic problems of these language variants using the theoretical and methodological tools of current historical linguistic trends.

System of evaluation

Written/oral exam

Literature

Bloch, Jules (1934). L’Indo-aryen du Veda aux temps modernes. Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve.

Burrow, Thomas (1973). The Sanskrit Language. 3rd ed. London: Faber & Faber.

Cardona, George–Jain, Dhanesh (eds.) (2003). The Indo-Aryan Languages. London–New York: Routledge.

Mayrhofer, Manfred (1986–2001). Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Altindoarischen. I–III. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.

Wackernagel, Jakob–Debrunner, Albert (1896–1957). Altindische Grammatik. I–III. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.