Old Tibetan Annals. A Comprehensive Text Grammar
Dr. Joanna Bialek
A DFG project since 2016
The research project addresses one of the most underrepresented fields in Tibetan Studies and particularly in Tibetan linguistics, namely the grammar of the oldest documented Tibetan language and one of the oldest documented Tibeto-Burman languages in general, the so-called Old Tibetan (7th - 10th century). The research project is deemed to be the first step in filling this gap in the documentation of written Tibetan languages. The primary goal of the research project is to provide the first thorough grammatical and lexicological description of an Old Tibetan text, i.e. the Old Tibetan Annals I (OTA-I; PT 1288 & ITJ 750). The project “Old Tibetan Annals: A Comprehensive Text Grammar. Part II” builds upon the first project. Its main objective is to elaborate on elements of the OT grammar (concerning, in particular, syntax and discourse) that require a new thorough examination in view of the proposed reconstruction of the verb morphology and semantics. As a secondary objective the results of the lexicological analyses of the vocabulary of the OTA I & II will be published as an open access online dictionary.