A Descriptive Grammar of Kinnauri

A Descriptive Grammar of Kinnauri is the first volume in the series of Studies in Tibeto-Himalayan Languages. It contains a descriptive analysis of the language of the mythical Kinnar, inhabiting the interiors of the Central Himalayan region, bordering on Tibet. In this a detailed account of the structure of this important language belonging to the Austro-Asiatic group of languages is being presented for the first time, along with its dialectal variations. This study is based on extensive field work conducted by the author himself for many years in these Himalayan regions. Besides the 10 sections devoted to several aspects of the phonology and morphology of the language, it contains a comprehensive introduction explaining the various sub-strata of the languages and its speakers, which throws an light on the relationship between the speakers of this language and of the languages of Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman families. As such it is not only the great interest to linguists, interested in the study of Tribal languages and the languages of the Austro-Asiatic or Tibeto-Burman families, but also to students of history, culture and anthropology.

Dr. D.D. Sharma (b 1928) is Professor of Sanskrit and Linguistics in the University of Panjab, Chandigarh, which he joined in 1962. He obtained his Ph.D in Sanskrit (1958) from Banaras Hindu University and Ph.D. (1972) and D. Litt. (1984) in Linguistics from the Panjab University. A renowned scholar of Sanskrit and Linguistics, he had to privilege a being a disciple and close associate of the Late Padmabhushan Dr. Siddheshvar Varma, the eminent linguistic and phonetician. Dr. Sharma knows more than two dozen Indian and foreign languages and has to his credit nearly 20 research volumes and scores of research papers on language, culture, and literature published in research journals of national and international repute. He was awarded the prestigious Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship in 1984 for conducting research in the Tibetan and Himalayan languages of India, Nepal and Bhutan. He has made substantial contributions in the areas of descriptive, historical, comparative and contrastive linguistics, Socio-linguistics and semantics. Besides the original works, he has also translated into Hindi two classics of Linguistics, viz. Phonetic Observation of Ancient Indian Grammarians by Siddheshvar Varma and General Linguistics by R.H. Robins. Some of his other notable contributions in the field of linguistics are – Syllabic structure of Hindi and Panjabi, The Formation of the Kumauni Language (2 Vols), Linguistics History of Uttarakhand, Study of Loan Words in Central Pahari, A Descriptive Analysis of Pattani (A Tibeto-Himalayan Language), A Historical and Structural Introduction to Sanskrit (in Hindi and Panjabi). At present he is engaged in the preparation of a comparative Grammer and Dictionary of Tibeto-Himalayan Languages, being spoken from Ladakh in the West to Bhutan in the east.