Sanskrit I/1

As part of the lectures students familiarize themselves with the descriptive and historical grammar of Vedic Sanskrit in juxtaposition with its younger variety of the post-Vedic period, i.e. Classical Sanskrit (historical phonology and nominal declension). They are equipped with the diachronically-based understanding of the development of Old Indic nominal morphology against the background of Proto-Indo-Iranian and, drawing on the comparative evidence of other relevant old Indo-European languages, the reconstructed system of Proto-Indo-European nominal morphology.

As part of the tutorial students are encouraged to use and expand their knowledge of descriptive and historical grammar of Old Indic. Through guided reading of easier and slightly adapted portions of original prose texts they build up the essential vocabulary and begin to assimilate the structure of the language. They gain competence in recognizing and applying the rules of sandhi and are able to read and write in the devanagari script.