INDO-ARYAN LANGUAGES

A Grammatical Sketch of Kurdish with Special Reference to Central Kurdish (Sorani) Amir Karimipour Ferdowsi University of Mashhad This work presents a grammatical sketch of the Kurdish language with special emphasis on Central Kurdish (Sorani). The study examines the linguistic structures of this dialect across six main chapters. The first chapter introduces the Kurdish language, its genetic classification, geographical distribution, and dialectal groups. The second chapter analyzes the phonological system of Sorani, including vowels, consonants, syllable structure, and phonological processes. The third chapter explores nominal morphology, focusing on nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and numerals. The fourth chapter addresses verbal morphology, examining the tense and aspect system, passive constructions, and the weakened ergative features characteristic of Sorani. The fifth chapter analyzes syntax, including word order (SOV), noun phrase and verb phrase structures, and various types of simple and complex sentences. The sixth chapter discusses lexical composition and word formation processes. Distinctive features of Sorani include: loss of grammatical gender, reduced ergativity, use of pronominal clitics, the Ezafe construction, and analytic formation of perfect tenses and passive voice. The grammar is supplemented with comprehensive appendices containing complete verb paradigms, noun declension patterns, and an extensive Kurdish- English wordlist. This study draws on native speaker data and previous research in Kurdish dialectology, providing a systematic description of Sorani's phonology, morphology, syntax, and lexicon, while highlighting both its shared features with other Kurdish dialects and its unique characteristics within the Kurdish language family. ISBN 9783969392829. Languages of the World/Materials 519. 126pp. 2026. Ossetian Bela Hettich University of North Dakota Ossetian, a language of the Northeastern group of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European stock of languages, has not received as much linguistic attention as it deserves. A few major studies on Ossetian were written in the 19th and 20th centuries, most of them in Russian. While these works are a solid foundation in the study of Ossetian, its description is not complete. The present work, written in English, offers Ossetian to a wider international audience. Relying on new developments in linguistic theory, it reexamines phenomena in the inflectional morphology of Ossetian. The preliminary chapter on phonology provides an overview of the phonemic inventory of Ossetian. In the chapter on nominal morphology, the variety and nature of case and number suffixes are reanalyzed, and they are described as phrasal affixes. In the chapter on verbal morphology, the forms previously described as infinitives are discussed and one of them is reanalyzed as a derived noun or adjective; the majority of verbs is regarded as having one stem form; tense is analyzed as a suffix that attaches to the stem; mood, person, number and transitivity marking is analyzed as one fused suffix. A native speaker of Ossetian, Bela Hettich is currently Academic Director at ELS Language Centers on the campus of University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, ND, USA. ISBN 9783929075229. Languages of the World/Materials 475. 115pp. 2010. A course in modern Hindi through TV for advanced students Genady Shlomper Tel Aviv University A lot of Hindi-teaching books for beginners have been published, either serious text-books, or simple self-teaching guide- books. Unfortunately very little is done for the advanced students. This book is designated for the advanced students who completed their initial steps in mastering Hindi and are familiar with Hindi grammar. It is a unique course, because it is based exclusively on video news in Hindi. Not a single teaching book can reflect all the dimensions of the language. Meanwhile we chose only one, but a very important field of the social life. The subject of this book is Hinduism, the prevailing religion in India. Indian society is very religious. Religious ceremonies, traditions, beliefs, festivals are an integral part of the spiritual life of the most Indians. This is not a course in Hinduism, but a book that acquaints students with the vocabulary of Hinduism. Without it the knowledge of Hindi is incomplete. The book consists of five chapters (Temples, Pilgrimage, Festivals, Saints, Hinduism and the modern society) and 37 lessons. Each lesson contains three video clips. This teaching book will not only provide you with the necessary vocabulary, but will teach you to understand speech, because it abounds with video exercises. It can be useful for every student of Hindi and helpful for Hindi teachers. ISBN 9783969391396 (Hardbound). LINCOM Studies in Asian Linguistics 98. 224 pp. 2023.