Aims

The course, alternating with the course GLOR 1671, is an introduction to Classical Sanskrit, the traditional religious and literary language of India, intended to enable students to read texts in the original language.

Main themes

The first level is given over to gradually equipping students with the basic grammar of the language. After a brief historical introduction to the Sanskrit language according to both its Indo-European structure and its
Pâninian norm, the so-called nâgarî writing system will be described and there will be a systematic account of phonetics (with a special attention to the rules of euphonic combination, or sandhi), noun and verb morphology
(derivation and inflection) and the features of lexical composition and syntax. Grammatical outlines are illustrated with paradigmatic examples and accompanied by reading exercises of increasing difficulty which are also designed to provide students with a core vocabulary.
At the second level, students will gain more in-depth knowledge of the language through commented reading of texts extracted from the narrative (viz. kathâ genre) or epic (viz. Mahâbhârata and Râmâyana) literature. In addition to attending the lecture classes, each student prepares by himself a peculiar text of a reasonable length, and is also expected to read, as an introduction to Indology, both a history of Indian literature and an anthology of translated texts.

Content and teaching methods

The aim of the courses GLOR 1671 and 1672 is to provide an introduction to Classical Sanskrit, the traditional religious and literary language of India, intended to enable students to read texts in the original language. As such, the first level is given over to gradually equipping students with the basic grammar of the language. After a brief historical introduction to the Sanskrit language according to both its Indo-European structure and its Pâninian norm, the so-called nâgarî writing system will be described and there will be a systematic account of phonetics (with a special attention to the rules of euphonic combination, or sandhi), noun and verb morphology (derivation and inflection) and the features of lexical composition and syntax. Grammatical outlines are illustrated with paradigmatic examples and accompanied by reading exercises of increasing difficulty which are also designed to provide students with a core vocabulary.
At the second level, students will gain more in-depth knowledge of the language through commented reading of texts extracted from the narrative (viz. kathâ genre) or epic (viz. Mahâbhârata and Râmâyana) literature. In addition to attending the lecture classes, each student prepares by himself a peculiar text of a reasonable length, and is also expected to read, as an introduction to Indology, both a history of Indian literature and an anthology of translated texts.

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

Course entry requirements: none.

Other credits in programs