Sabine Ziegler: Klassisches Sanskrit (Kurzgrammatiken indogermanischer Sprachen und Sprachstufen 1) (original) (raw)

2017, Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics

This is the first volume in the series of Indo-European short grammars announced by the Publishing house Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, "Kurzgrammatiken indogermanischer Sprachen und Sprachstufen", or KiSS for short. This collection of grammars aims to provide basic information about the grammatical system and textual documentation of Indo-European languages in condensed form, that can be used for advanced study of the corresponding languages and for beginners alike. This new series will thus compete with another collection of Indo-European short grammars of similar format (though more diachronically oriented), Brill Introductions to Indo-European Languages, started in 2014 with the concise Avestan grammar by Michiel de Vaan and Javier Martínez (a review will appear in one of the coming issues of this journal). As the author Sabine Ziegler, Professor at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, explains in preface (p. 1), this grammar is based on her long-term experience of teaching Sanskrit to the students of Indo-European and Indology. The book consists of thirteen chapters. Chapter 1, "Einleitung" (pp. 3-8), opens with a very short, two-page, overview of the differences between Classical and Vedic Sanskrit. It is followed by a survey of Old Indian literature, from the earliest Vedic texts, R̥ gveda, onwards up to Classical Sanskrit literature, poetry (Mahākāvya) and narrative literature (collections of tales). Chapter 2, "Phonemsystem und Schrift" (pp. 9-23), presents the Sanskrit phonological system and writing system, Devanāgarī. The next short Chapter 3, "Betonung und Silbenstruktur" (pp. 24-25), explains the rules of accentuation of Classical Sanskrit forms, which are basically identical with those known from Latin (accent on the penultimate syllable unless this is short; in this latter case, the accent is on the antepenultimate). I am not sure this marginal issue (of little value for Sanskrit grammar proper, let alone Indo-European linguistics in general) deserves a separate, even short, chapter; moreover, the notation of the type bhárati, bharánti, illustrating this rule, appears quite confusing, being at odds with Vedic accentuation. A compromise notation might use underlining without accent marks (bharati, bharanti).