____________ _abdabrahman: a linguistic introduction to Sanskrit; vol. I, Text and exercises

____________ _abdabrahman: a linguistic introduction to Sanskrit; vol. I, Text and exercisesThis new textbook provides a linguistic introduction to Sanskrit for university students and adult scholars. While it assumes no prior knowledge of the language, linguistics, or Indian culture, yet it provides thorough sophisticated introductions to each aspect of the language including its linguistic relation to Indo European, Sanskrit literature, phonetics and phonology, Devan_gar_ script, grammar and morphology, syntax, and discourse structures.

This new textbook provides a linguistic introduction to Sanskrit for university students and adult scholars. While it assumes no prior knowledge of the language, linguistics, or Indian culture, yet it provides thorough sophisticated introductions to each aspect of the language including its linguistic relation to Indo-European, Sanskrit literature, phonetics and phonology, Devan_gar_ script, grammar and morphology, syntax, and discourse structures. The material is appropriate for a thorough first-year university course at either the undergraduate or graduate level, or for independent study of educated adult scholars.

The product of the author's thirty years of experience in teaching Sanskrit at Brown University, various technical institutes in India, and most recently on-line through The Sanskrit Library, the book incorporates the best practices in language instruction. Topics are dealt with in a logical and comprehensive fashion progressing in a deliberate order from phonology, script, and sandhi, through verbal and nominal morphology to syntax, discourse structure and compounds. Information is presented in visually helpful tables, and access is provided to associated digital audio files to accommodate multiple learning styles. Points are illustrated with thoroughly explained examples drawn from original Sanskrit works. The vocabulary is carefully selected to include the most frequently occurring words to exemplify the various new grammatical points. Each lesson includes copious exercises that provide practice with new material. With the exception of the initial chapters, each exercise set culminates in a narrative adapted from Sanskrit literature.

The appendices to this volume are in Volume II, described and available separately.