INTRODUCTION TO SANSKRIT AND INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES

The course of Indo-Aryan Linguistics falls within the characterizing teachings of the third year of the "Indian Subcontinent" curriculum of the course "Languages, Cultures and Societies of Asia and Mediterranean Africa". The aim of the course is to provide students with a theoretical framework and reference tools enabling them to develop necessary knowledge for the study of Indo-Aryan linguistics (diachronically and synchronically) and philology.

In particular, the course is divided in two parts. In the first part, students will be presented with fundamental concepts of the three major stages related to the evolution of Indo-Aryan languages (Old-, Middle- and New- (or Modern) Indo-Aryan), with special emphasis on the rich literature representing these diachronic stages and on the sociolinguistics of Indo-Aryan languages during the Middle Indo-Aryan period. Moreover we will pay attention to the main linguistic chianges during Old-, Middle- and New- (or Modern) Indo-Aryan. In the second part of the course we will focus on the history of Hindi language and on its standardization during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Through the attendance of the course and individual study, students will:

1. Knowledge and understanding
- Get to know the main aspects of Indo-Aryan diachronic linguistics and aquire analytical and metalinguistic reflection skills, also in a cross-linguistic comparative perspective;
- Get to know the main aspects of Indo-Aryan synchronic linguistics and aquire analytical and metalinguistic reflection skills, also in a cross-linguistic comparative perspective;
- Get to know the basic linguistic terminology and understand the texts that make use of it.

2. Ability to apply knowledge and understanding
- Know how to make a linguistic analysis of different aspects of the Hindi language and to compare it with Italian;
- Contestualize and solve theoretical problems related to translation and linguistic mediation activities;
- Know how to use correctly linguistic terminology at all stages of application and communication of the acquired knowledge.

3. Communication skills
- Know how to communicate the reflection on linguistic phenomena using an appropriate terminology.

No preliminar knowledge required. A basic knowledge of English is helpful for the purpose of consulting additional reference sources, such as dictionaries and textbooks/papers on Indo-Aryan linguistics.

1) Basic notions of general linguistics and historical linguistics
1a) Basic notions of general linguistics
1b) Diachrony vs. synchronicity;
1c) Diachronic variability vs diatopic, diastratic, diaphasic and diamesic variability;
1d) The phonological, morphological, morphosyntactic and syntactic change.
1e) Lexical change.

2) Basic knowledge of ancient Indo-Aryan literary languages;
2a) Basic notions of phonology: the phonological system of Sanskrit and Indo-Aryan languages;
2b) Basic notions of morphology: the phonological system of Sanskrit and Indo-Aryan languages;
2c) Basic notions of syntax and morphosyntax.

3) Introduction to the linguistic-literary contextualization of Sanskrit and therefore to the linguistics of ancient Indo-Aryan
3a) Linguistic families of India;
3b) Indo-Aryan languages;
3c) The evolutionary stages of Indo-Aryan.

4) The ancient Indo-Aryan
4a) The literary varieties of ancient Indo-Aryan: the language of the Veda and Sanskrit;
4b) the grammatical tradition of Sanskrit.
4c) the distinctive features of Sanskrit, in comparison with Vedic.

5) Middle Indo-Aryan
5a) Middle Indo-Aryan literary varieties;
5b) the phonetic changes in the transition from ancient to middle Indo-Aryan.

6) Further linguistic changes of Middle Indo-Aryan
6a) The morphological and morphosyntactic changes of the Middle Indo-Aryan;
6b) The evolution of the Middle Indo-Aryan past tenses and the birth and evolution of the Indo-Aryan absolutive-ergative system.

7) For a sociolinguistic approach to Middle Indo-Aryan
7a) the evidence of non-Sanskrit linguistic features in the literary varieties in use in Middle Indo-Aryan;
7b) The reciprocal influence between Sanskrit and Pracrit;
7c) The deshi varieties in the Middle Indo-Aryan.

8) The Hindi language in the 19th and 20th centuries and its Sanskritization process
8a) The Hindi-Urdu question;
8b) The process of sanskritization of the Hindi language in the second half of the 19th century and in the first half of the 21st century;
8c) The revitalization of Sanskrit in modern and contemporary India.

1) Burrow, Thomas, 1955, The Sanskrit Language. London: Faber & Faber (only chapter 1 and chapter 2);
2) Bubenik, Vit, 1996, The Structure and Development of the Middle Indo-Aryan Dialects (only chapter 1);
3) Masica, Colin P. 1991, The Indo-Aryan Languages, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (only the following chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, § 10.3 and appendix II);

All other material and indications concerning further reading will be provided by the course convenor during classes.

The verification of learning will be verified through a written test with multiple choice and 3 open-ended questions, an oral test and the possible preparation of a short written essay during the course.

Teaching in classroom with Power-point presentation.

Italian

Regular attendance at lectures during the semester is strongly recommended. A separate program is envisaged for any non-attending students: in this case, contact the teacher during the semester and/or at least 8/10 weeks before the exam date.

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