Aims

Initiation into classical Sanskrit, the religious and literary language of traditional India, for the purpose of text-reading.

Main themes

Brief historical introduction to the Sanskrit language according to both its Indo-European setting and its Pâninian norm. Description of the nâgarî system of writing. Systematic account of the phonetics (with special attention to the rules of sandhi or euphonic combination), and the nominal and verbal morphology (derivation and flexion). Emphasis on the peculiarities of the lexical composition and the syntax. The grammatical outlines are exemplified through paradigms. Progressive exercices of reading, including the acquiring of a basic vocabulary, are proposed to the students who wish to continue their learning of the language beyond the elementary level.

Content and teaching methods

The aim of the course is to initiate the student into classical Sanskrit, the religious and literary language of traditional India, for the purpose of text-reading. Therefore, after a brief historical introduction to the language according to both its Indo-European setting and its Pâninian norm, the lectures are devoted to 1° a description of the nâgarî system of writing; 2° a systematic account of the phonetics (with special attention to the rules of sandhi or euphonic combination), and the nominal and verbal morphology (derivation and flexion); 3° an emphasis on the peculiarities of the lexical composition and the syntax. The grammatical outlines are exemplified through paradigms. Progressive exercices of reading, including the acquiring of a basic vocabulary, are proposed to the students who wish to continue their learning of the language beyond the elementary level.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisites: none.
Evaluation: the level of the examination will be different according as the student either only attends the lectures as a secondary choice within a program mainly non-indological, or prepares for being able to attend the class at the advanced level, which presupposes both the successful completion of the proposed exercices and a further training into the reading of texts.

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