Comparative Indo-European Philology 2022/2023

About the Subject

The oldest documents of the Indo-European language family are dated to the second millennium BC. Among them are found the Vedic texts in Sanskrit (see Indology). Those texts represent the, perhaps, most comprehensive picture of an early Indo-European language. Hence, Comparative Indo-European Philology is by tradition linked to the study of Sanskrit. This branch of language research illustrates the history of Indo-European languages, and it has developed and been renewed, both methodologically as content-wise by the documents interpreted during the 20th century (in Anatolian Hittite, Tokharian, and Linear B in Greek). The image of the history and structure of the languages build upon data from individual languages and language groups with a common heritage. Important parts of the studies are formed by coursework in Sanskrit and in the phonology, morphology and syntax of the Indo-European languages.

Comparative Indo-European Philology also provide us with an increased knowledge about the population groups who spoke these languages, and about their societies far back in time, and together with archaeology, it contributes to the image of the early history of Europe and Western Asia.

Contact

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