Thesaurus Indogermanischer Text- und Sprachmaterialien
TITUS	PERSONALIA

 

Curriculum vitae
16.8.1955:	Born in Graz (Styria, Austria) as daughter of Dr. Hans Fritz (med. doctor) and his wife Vera Fritz
1962-1966	Primary school in Wels (Upper Austria)
1966-1969	Secondary school in Wels (Upper Austria)
1969-1974	Secondary school emphasizing modern languages in Villach (Carinthia, Austria)
22.6.1974	Matura (General Austrian Certificate of School Education)
1974-1979	Studies of General Linguistics, Slavic and Romance languages and literatures at the University of Klagenfurt (Austria); academic teachers: Prof.Dr. V.I. Issatschenko, Prof.Dr. O. Kronsteiner, Prof.Dr. H.D. Pohl, Prof.Dr. H. Vernay
15.3.1979	University degree of Mag.phil. (Magister philosophiae), University of Klagenfurt
Summer 1977	Studies of Modern Persian in Teheran und Isfahan (Iran)
1979-1983	Postgraduate studies of General and Comparative Linguistics, Indo-Aryan and Iranian languages at the University of Vienna (Austria); academic teachers: Prof.Dr. M. Mayrhofer, Prof.Dr. W.U. Dressler, Prof.Dr. G.R. Solta
1980-1984	Studies (with fieldwork) on Ossetic and other Iranian languages spoken in Southern Russia and Central Asia; academic teacher: Prof.Dr. V.I. Abaev.
1981-1982	University lecturer at the Institute of Linguistics, University of Vienna (Modern, Middle and Old Iranian studies, Indo-Aryan linguistics, Verbal aspect in Slavic languages, Language typology)
1981-1983	Research work for a PhD thesis on "The Personal Names in Ossetic" (part of the "Handbook of the Iranian Personal Names", an international project of the Iranian Commission of the Austrian Academy of Sciencies)
1982-1986	University assistent at the Institute of Linguistics, University of Vienna
SS 1982	Visiting lecturer at the Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Salzburg (Austria)
August 1983	Fellowship visit (one month) at the Free University of Berlin, Germany (grant by the German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD)
6.2.1984	Dr.phil. (doctor philosophiae, PhD) at the University of Vienna (Austria)
7.7.1984	Marriage with Dr. Jost Gippert
1.6.85 -31.5.86	Research work within the project of a Dictionary of the Avestan language (Prof.Dr. B. Schlerath), Institute of Comparative and Indo-European Linguistics, Free University of Berlin
WS 1985/86	University lecturer at the Free University of Berlin (Modern Iranian languages)
SS 1986	Visiting lecturer at the University of Salzburg (Institute of Slavic Studies, Institute of Linguistics)
1987-1990	University assistant at the Free University of Berlin (Avesta project); lectures on Middle and New Iranian languages, Russian linguistics and general typology
1987-1993	Preliminary studies and collecting of materials for a habilitation thesis (second thesis) on Modern Indo-Aryan languages (Dhivehi and Sinhalese)
March 1988	First field research on the Maldives
WS 1990/91-92/93	Lecturer at the University of Bamberg (Bavaria, Germany), Institute of Oriental Studies
March/April 1992	Field research on the Maldives (with support by the National Institute for Linguistic and Historical Research, Male)
1993-1996	Habilitation grant by the German National Research Foundation (DFG) on the subject "Descriptive grammar of Maldivian (Dhivehi), a Modern Indo-Aryan language and its dialects and their historical development."
July-Oct. 1993	Field research on the Maldives, including the main dialectal areas of Aḍḍū and Fua' Mulaku (with support by the National Institute for Linguistic and Historical Research, Male). Archive research in Colombo, Sri Lanka
SS 1995	Lecture on "The Insular Indo-Aryan languages" within a course on "The languages of South Asia" at the University of Heidelberg, Germany (Dept. of Modern Indology)
28.1.1998	Habilitation (Dr.phil.habil) at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg in the subject of "Modern Indology (Linguistics)"
28.10.1998	Inaugural lecture as "Privatdozent" at the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg
since WS 1998/99	Privatdozent and lecturer of Modern Indo-Aryan languages, esp. Sinhalese and Dhivehi, at the Dept. of Modern Indology, South Asia Institute, University of Heidelberg
March 1999	Field research on the Maldives
Jan.-Feb. 2002	Field research on the Maldives; lectures taught in Male (Dhivehi Grammar, History of the Dhivehi language, Maldivian dialectology)
May-July 2003	Studies on Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana ritual practice, Tibetan lineage tradition, history) at the International Buddhist Centre of Roqueredonde, France
WS 2003/04-WS 2004/05	Lectures taught at the Institute of Comparative Linguistics, Goethe-University of Frankfurt (Sinhalese I-III)
Oct. 2003-Oct.	2005 Digitizing and preparation for publication of the typoscript "The Ossetic Personal Names" (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna)
since WS 2005/06	Lectures taught at the University for the Elder Generation (Universität des 3. Lebensalters - U3L), Frankfurt
Jan. 2007-July 2008	Editorial work on Fridrik Thordarson's unpublished posthumous "Ossetic Grammatical Studies", financed by the Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, Oslo (Prof. Per Kvaerne) and the Institute of Iranian Studies of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (OEAW), Vienna (Prof. Bert Fragner), requiring several research stays in Oslo (in the late Prof. Thordarson's private library)
May 2007	Privatdozent and lecturer of Comparative Linguistics at the University of Frankfurt / Main
since WS 2007/08	Lectures taught at the Institute of Comparative Linguistics at the University of Frankfurt / Main (Indo-Aryan and Iranian Studies)
Sept. 2008	Manuscript of the "Ossetic Grammatical Studies" accepted for being printed within the series "Publications on Iranian Studies” of the phil.-hist. Class of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
since Oct. 2008	Preliminary studies for preparing two research projects in Iran (1. On the Influence of Persian Literaure and Culture on Minority Languages of Iran. - 2. The Complex Verb in New Persian Seen as an Areal and Cultural-Anthropological Phenomenon"). - Partner Institutions in Iran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran; Department of Linguistics, Literature and Humanities Faculty, Faculty of Humanities, University of Hamadan.
February 2009	Research stay in Tehran / Iran for the preparation of a common project on the "Documentation of Minority Languages and Cultures in Iran", together with Dr. Zohre Zarshenas (Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran), Prof. Mehrdad Naghzguy Kohan, PhD and Omid Tabibzadeh, PhD (both: Department of Linguistics, Literature and Humanities Faculty, Faculty of Humanities, Bu Ali Sina University, Hamadan)
since June 2010	Professor of Comparative Linguistics at the University of Frankfurt / Main
since May 2016	Natural health professional (Heilpraktikerin)

 

Publikationen / Publications (author's name: Sonja Fritz):

 

I. Monographs and Editorial Work:

1. Wortbildungsfragen von Aspekt und Aktionsart gezeigt am Präfix po- in der Funktion als "préverbe vide" im Russischen (Questions about word formation relating to aspect and "aktionsart"; the prefix po- in the function of a "préverbe vide" in Russian). Klagenfurt, 1979 (Magister Thesis, 89 pp.).
2. Die ossetischen Personennamen (The Ossetic personal names). Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2006 (= Iranisches Personennamenbuch, vol. III, fasc. 3); xxvi + 295 pp. (originally: doctoral dissertation of the University of Vienna, 1983). PDF
3. The Dhivehi Language. A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Maldivian and Its Dialects. Heidelberg: Südasien-Institut / Würzburg: Ergon Verlag 2002. 2 vols., xv + 270 / vi + 280 pp. (Beiträge zur Südasienforschung, 191). (English version of the habilitation thesis "Deskriptive Grammatik des Maledivischen (Dhivehi) und seiner Dialekte unter Berücksichtigung der sprachhistorischen Entwicklung", Heidelberg 1997). PDF Vol. I, PDF Vol. II
4. (ed.): Fridrik Thordarson, Ossetic Grammatical Studies. Wien: Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften 2009 (Veröffentlichungen zur Iranistik, 48 / The Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture – Institutett for sammenlignende Kulturforskning, Series B: Skrifter, 131); X, 258 pp.

 

II. Articles:

1. Zur Problematik der "préverbes vides" im Russischen (On the problem of the "préverbes vides" in Russian). In: Klagenfurter Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 6/1-3 (1980), p. 139-159.
2. Die Personennamen der modernen ossetischen Sprache (The personal names of the modern Ossetic language). In: Österreichische Namenforschung 8/1-2 (1980), p. 9-14.
3. Argumente für die Dialektzuweisung des Ossetischen (Arguments for the position of Ossetic among Iranian dialects). In: Klagenfurter Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 7/1 (1981), p. 1-7.
4. Ist das Bulgarische eine Aspekt- oder Tempussprache? (Is Bulgarian an aspect language or a tempus language?) In: Die slawischen Sprachen 1 (1982), p. 24-32.
5. Gibt es russisch-iranische Interferenzen? (Are there Russian-Iranian linguistic interferences?) In: Die slawischen Sprachen 4 (1983), p. 5-12.
6. (together with Jost Gippert) Wyryzmägs Eselsritt: Zum kulturellen Hintergrund einer ossetischen Nartensage (Wyryzmäg's ride on a donkey: The cultural background of an Ossetic Nartic tale). In: Acta Orientalia Hungarica 38/1-2 (1984), p. 171-185. PDF
7. Schichten der ossetischen Onomastik (Strata of Ossetic onomastics). In: Akten der 13. Österreichischen Linguistentagung (Graz, 25.-27 Okt. 1985), Graz 1988, p. 194-207.
8. Ein frühes ossetisches Sprachdenkmal (An early language monument of Ossetic). in: Die Sprache 32/2 (1986), p. 247-256.
9. Dhivehi – eine bisher weitgehend unbekannt gebliebene neuindoarische Sprache (Dhivehi – an almost unknown Modern Indo-Aryan language). In: Klagenfurter Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 15-16 (1989-1990) (= Vorträge der 16. Österr. Linguistentagung, Salzburg 1988), p. 117-129.
10. Die Osseten – eine iranische Minderheit im Kaukasus (The Ossetes – an Iranian Minority in the Caucasus). In: Bamberger Mittelasien-Studien (Akten der Mittelasien-Konferenz Bamberg, 15./16. Juni 1990), ed. B. Fragner / B. Hoffmann, Bamberg 1994 (Islamkundliche Un­tersuchungen, Bd. 149), p. 137-151.
11. Wilhelm Geigers Beitrag zur Erforschung des Dhivehi, der Staatssprache der Malediven (Wilhelm Geiger's contribution to the research of Dhivehi, the national language of the Maldives). In: Münchner Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 54 (1993), p. 15-32.
12. (together with Jost Gippert) Towards a Historical Phonology of Maldivian. In: 125 Jahre Indogermanistik in Graz, ed. Michaela Ofitsch / Christian Zinko, Graz: Leykam 2000 (Arbeiten aus der Abteilung "Vergleichende Sprachwissenschaft"), p. 139‑152 PDF
13. Parturiunt nuces, nascetur testiculus mons? Eine Miszelle zur maledivischen Toponomastik. In: Artes et Scientiae. Festschrift für Ralf-Peter Ritter, ed. Peter Anreiter / Marialuise Haslinger / Heinz Dieter Pohl, Wien 2004, p. 101-106.
14. (together with Jost Gippert) Onomastica Nartica: Soslan - Sozyryqo. In: Haptačahaptāitiš. Festschrift for Fridrik Thordarson. Ed. Dag Haug / Eirik Welo, Oslo 2005, p. 73-89.
15. (together with Jost Gippert) "Armeno-Ossetica. Zum historischen Hintergrund des Nartenepos". In: Kazanskij, N.N. (ed.) Hṛdā manasā. Sbornik statej k 70-letiju prof-a L.G. Gercenberga, Moskva, 2005, p. 383-420. PDF
16. Sentence Structures in Maldivian. In: Language Typology and Universals. Focus on: Sentence types and sentence structures. Sprachtypol. Univ. Forsch. (STUF) 58/1 (2005). Ed.: J. Gippert, M. Erdal, R. Voßen; p. 38-49.
17. Der sprachliche Ausdruck von Sozialstrukturen in Südasien. In: Indogermanica. Festschrift Gerhard Klingenschmitt. Ed. Günter Schweiger, Taimering 2005; p. 113-125. PDF
18. (together with Jost Gippert): Nartica I: The Historical Satana Revisited. In: Nartamongae. The Journal of Alano-Ossetic Studies. III, 1-2, 2005. Edd.: F. Cornillot / B. Tekhov; p. 159-201.
19. Die Das ossetische Personennamensystem. In: Europäische Personennamensysteme. Ein Handbuch von Abasisch bis Zentralladinisch. Hrsg. v. Andrea Brendler und Silvio Brendler. Hamburg: Baar 2007, p. 574-584.
20. Narcotica Nartica I. In: Birgitt Hoffmann, Ralph Kauz and Markus Ritter (Hgg. / edd.), Iran und iranisch geprägte Kulturen: Studien zu Ehren von Bert G. Fragner überreicht an seinem 65. Geburtstag (Beiträge zur Iranistik), Wiesbaden 2007, 410-414.
21. (together with Jost Gippert): Bergland unter. in: Huber, Brigitte / Volkart, Marianne / Widmer, Paul / Schwieger, Peter (Hgg. / edd.), Chomolangma, Demawend und Kasbek. Festschrift für Roland Bielmeier, Halle / Saale: International Institute for Tibetan and Buddhist Studies 2008, 423-436. PDF
22. Die "komplexen Verben" des Neupersischen in Umgangssprache und Literatur – eine areallinguistische und kulturhistorische Betrachtung ("Complex Verbs in Modern Persian in Colloquial Language and Literature – an Areal and Cultural Phenomenon. In: Iranistik. Deutschsprachige Zeitschrift für iranistische Studien, 6/1, Tehran 2009, 5-55.

 

III. Review articles:

1. Moïnfar, Djafar: Grammaire du Persan (Grammar of Persian). 1978. In: Die Sprache 28/1 (1982), p. 34.
2. Issatschenko, A.V.: Geschichte der russischen Sprache (History of the Russian language). 1980. In: Klagenfurter Beiträge zur Sprachwissenschaft 7/2-4 (1981), p. 189 ff.
3. Degener, Almuth: Die Sprache von Nisheygram im afghanischen Hindukush. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 1998. In: Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde Südasiens (WZKS), Bd. XLVI (2002 [2003]), p. 265-267.
4. (in preparation) Jayawardena-Moser, Premalatha: Grundwortschatz Singhalesisch-Deutsch. Mit grammatischer Übersicht. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2004. In: WZKS; 3 p.

 

IV. Lexicon articles:

1. Die Lexikographie der übrigen neuiranischen Sprachen (The lexicography of the Iranian languages other than Persian). Article no. 245 in: Wörterbücher. Ein internationales Handbuch zur Lexikographie, ed. F.J. Hausmann, O. Reichmann, H.E. Wiegand, L. Zgusta. Berlin / New York: Walter de Gruyter 1991. 3. Teilbd., p. 2481-2486.
2. Contributions to "Metzler-Lexikon Sprache, ed. H. Glück, Stuttgart / Weimar: Metzler 1993 / 4. Auflage 2010: Ardhamāgadhī, Aryan languages, Assamī, Awadhī, Baghēlī, Bazar Hindustānī, Bengālī, Bhīlī, Bhojpurī, Bihārī, Brāhmī, Braj bhākā, Bundēlī, Chattisgarhī, Dardic languages, Dēśī, Devanāgarī, Dhivehi, Ḍōgrī, Gaṛhwālī, Gujarātī, Gurkhalī, Hariānī, Himācalī, Hindī, Hindkō, Hindustānī, Indic writing systems, Indoaryan languages, Middle Indic languages, Kāfir languages, Kanaujī, Kashmiri, Khāndēśī, Khaṛī, Kōṇkanī, Kumaunī, Lahndā, Māgadhī, Magahī, Māhārāṣṭrī, Maithilī, Maldivian, Marāṭhī, Mārwāṛī, Nepālī, New Indoaryan languages, Nuristan languages, Oṛiyā, Pahāṛī, Paiśācī, Pāli, Panjābī, Parya, Poṭhohārī, Prākrit languages, Rājasthānī, Romani, Śaurasenī, Sindhī, Sinhalese, Urdū, Vädda Creole, languages of the Western Panjāb, Gipsy dialects.
3. Ossetes. In: Encyclopedia of World Cultures. USSR Volume. Human Relations Area Files, INC. New Haven, Connecticut. Ed. P. Friedrich.

 

V. Translations of scholarly literature:

1. Six articles for the collective volume "Laryngaltheorie (laryngeal theory)" (ed. M. Mayrhofer), translated from French into German:

• A. Cuny, Notes de phonétique historique (Révue de phonétique 2, 1912);
• J. Kuryłowicz, Les effets du ə en indoiranien (Prace filologiczne 11, 1927);
• W. Couvreur, ə indoeuropéen et h hittite (Symbolae grammaticae, 1927);
• J. Kuryłowicz, Origines indoeuropéennes du redoublement attique (Eos 30, 1927);
• J. Kuryłowicz, Le type véd. grbhāyáti (Étrennes Benveniste, 1928);
• J. Kuryłowicz, Indoeuropéen et grec a,e,o. (Bulletin soc. ling. 72, 1977).

 

VI. Special lectures and panels:

1. Die russ. "préverbes vides" zwischen Aspekt und Aktionsart (The Russian "préverbes vides" between aspect and "aktionsart"). Slavic Section of the "Wiener Sprachgesellschaft" (Vienna Linguistic Society), Vienna, 14.5.1980.
2. Argumente für die Dialektzuweisung des Ossetischen (Arguments for the position of Ossetic within Iranian dialects). 8th Working Conference of Austrian Linguists, Salzburg, 1980.
3. Bemerkungen zur ossetischen "Deklination" (Observations on the Ossetic declension). 9th Working Conference of Austrian Linguists, Klagenfurt, 1981.
4. Aspekt oder Aktionsart? (Aspect or Aktionsart?) Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Salzburg, 19.5.1982).
5. Ist das Bulgarische eine Aspekt- oder Tempussprache? (Is Bulgarian an aspect language or a tempus language?) 1. Salzburger Slawistengespräch (1st Salzburg Talk of Slavicists), Salzburg 1982.
6. Caucasian Elements in the Ossetic Onomasticon (1st Caucasian Colloquium, Hull, 1983).
7. Iranisch-russische Interferenzen? (Iranian-Russian linguistic interferences?) 2. Salzburger Slawistengespräch (2nd Salzburg Talk of Slavicists), Salzburg 1983.
8. Schichten der modernen ossetischen Onomastik (Strata of Ossetic onomastics). 11th Working Conference of Austrian Linguists, Salzburg, 1983).
9. Die ossetischen Nartennamen (The Ossetic Nartic names). 2nd Caucasian Colloquium, Vienna, 1984).
10. Typologische Betrachtung des Verbalaspekts in den Sprachen der Sowjetunion (Typological observations on verbal aspect in the languages of the Soviet Union). Institute of Linguistics, University of Klagenfurt, 17.5.1985).
11. Ein frühes ossetisches Sprachdenkmal (An early language monument of Ossetic). 3rd Caucasian Colloquium, Oslo, 1986.
12. Dhivehi – eine bisher weitgehend unbekannt gebliebene neuindoarische Sprache (Dhivehi – an almost unknown Modern Indo-Aryan language). 16th Working Conference of Austrian Linguists, Salzburg 1988).
13. Die Osseten – eine iranische Minderheit im Kaukasus (The Ossetes – an Iranian minority in the Caucasus). Mittelasienkonferenz, University of Bamberg, 15/16.6.1990.
14. Dhivehi, die neuindoarische Staatssprache der Malediven (Dhivehi, the Modern Indo-Aryan national language of the Maldives). Melzer-Symposium, Graz, November 1991.
15. Wilhelm Geigers Beitrag zur Erforschung der Malediven (Wilhelm Geiger's contribution to the research of the Maldives). Linguistic Conference on the occasion of the 250 anniversary of the University of Erlangen, Erlangen (Germany), April 1993.
16. Dhivehi (Linguistic Colloquium, University of Bamberg, 9.2.1994).
17. Insel-Indoarische Sprachen (The Insular Indo-Aryan languages). Lecture within a course on "The languages of South Asia" at the University of Heidelberg, Germany (Dept. of Modern Indology, 4.7.1995).
18. Der sprachliche Ausdruck von Sozialstrukturen in Südasien (The linguistic expression of social structures in South Asia). University of Heidelberg, 28.1.1998 / University of Munich, 11.12.1998 / University of Bamberg, 29.3.2001).
19. Endangered Languages. Panel on the 27. Deutscher Orientalistentag (27th German Conference of Oriental Studies), Bamberg, 26.3.2001.
20. Papers read in Male (at the invitation of the National Council for Linguistic and Historical Research, Male, Rep. of Maldives):

• (together with Jost Gippert) The History of the Dhivehi Language (Male, Feb. 13, 2001).
• (together with Jost Gippert) The Relationship of Sanskrit to the Dhivehi Language (Male, Feb. 17,2001).
• Dhivehi and Its Different Dialects (Male, Feb. 18, 2001).

21. Sentence Structures in Maldivian. (Symposion on Typology within the Graduiertenkolleg "Satzarten: Variation und Interpretation". Frankfurt, November 9, 2002).
22. Not only in Prague: A.V. Isatchenko's Structuralist Methods Applied to Non-Slavonic Disciplines. (Commemmoration Symposium in honour of A.V. Isatchenko, Klagenfurt, March 17 2003).
23. The Ossetic Personal Names. Working Discussion; Symposium "State and Problems of Iranian Onomastics (Iranisches Personennamenbuch); (Vienna, Oct. 7, 2005).
24. Fridrik Thordarson’s Ossetological and Caucasological Work. (Symposium in Memory of Fridrik Thordarson, Reykjavik, September 8, 2006)
25. Fridrik Thordarson's "Ossetic Grammatical Studies" - a New Look on the Ossetic Language; ECIS 6; Societas Iranologica Europaea, 6th European Conference of Iranian Studies, Vienna (20.09.2007).

 

 

Courses and lectures taught (from 1981 until 2011):

 

University of Vienna (Austria), Dept. of Linguistics:

• Ossetic I, II (winter 1981/82, summer 1982, winter 1984/85).
• Linguistic terminology in foreign languages (winter 1982/83, summer 1984).
• Critical discussion on Indo-Aryan linguistics (summer 1983)
• Language typology (summer 1983)
• The Old Iranian languages (winter 1983/84)
• The Modern Iranian languages I, II (winter 1983/84, summer 1984).

 

University of Salzburg (Austria), Depts. of Linguistic / Slavic Studies:

• Iranian-Slavic interferences (summer 1982).
• Aspect and Aktionsart in Russian (summer 1986).
• The Middle and Modern Iranian languages (summer 1986).

 

Free University of Berlin (Germany), Dept. of Linguistics:

• The Modern Iranian languages I (West Iranian; winter 1985/86).
• The Modern Iranian languages II (East Iranian; winter 1987/88).
• Language typology (winter 1988/89).
• Linguistic interpretation of Middle Persian texts (winter 1988/89).
• Linguistic introduction into the Modern Iranian languages (summer 1989).
• Russian for linguists (summer 1989, summer 1990).
• Translation and interpretation of Russian linguistic literature (summer 1990).
• Modern Iranian II (winter 1989/90).
• Nirangistan (together with Jost Gippert, Maria Macuch, summer 1990).

 

University of Bamberg (Germany):

• Dept. of Slavic Studies: Courses in Russian grammar on different levels (summer 1991).
• Dept. of Oriental Studies: Historical-comparative studies in Iranian linguistics (winter 1990/91 to 1992/93).

 

University of Heidelberg, South Asia Institute, Dept. of Modern Indology:

• Methods of historical and cultural research on Dhivehi and the Maldives (October 1998).
• Introduction into the Sinhalese language (winter 1998/99).
• Sinhalese for advanced students (summer 1999).
• Introduction into the comparative grammar of the Indo-Aryan languages (winter 1999/2000).
• Survey of the Insular Indo-Aryan languages (summer 2000).
• Introduction into the comparative grammar of the Modern Indo-Aryan languages (winter 2000/1).
• The phenomenon of language contact in South Asia (summer 2001).
• The Insular Indo-Aryan languages (summer 2002).
• The development of verbal categories in Indo-Aryan (winter 2002/3).
• The languages of South Asia: Typology and Universals (winter 2003/4).
• Religion in the Maldives: Buddhist past - Islam yesterday and today (summer 2004).
• Lecture of Sinhalese original texts with linguistic comments (winter 2004/5).
• Introduction into the linguistic structure of the Insular Indo Aryan languages (winter 2005/6).
• Sinhalese (summer 2006).

 

University of Frankfurt, University for the Elder Generation (U3L)

• Cultures, religions and languages of South Asia I (winter 2005/6).
• Cultures, religions and languages of South Asia II (summer 2006).
• Buddhism between Orient and Occident (winter 2006).
• Iranians in the Occident (Scythians, Alans and Ossetes) (summer 2007).
• Buddhism -  philosophy or religion? (winter 2008/09).
• Tantric Buddhism (accepted for winter 2009/10).
• Indian religions and philosophies – a cultural-historical overview (summer 2010)
• Buddhist philosophy and psychology between theory and everyday life (winter 2010/11)

 

University of Frankfurt, Dept. of Comparative Linguistics:

• Sinhalese for linguists (winter 1998/99).
• Sinhalese II (summer 1999).
• Introduction to Sinhalese (winter 2003/04).
• Sinhalese II (summer 2004).
• Sinhalese III (winter 2005).
• Historical-comparative grammar of the Indo-Aryan Languages: Middle Indo-Aryan (winter 2008/09).
• Selected grammatical problems of New Persian (summer 2009, winter 2009/10).
• Aspect and aktionsart (summer 2010)
• Social levels and expressions of politeness (winter 2010/11)

 

Other teaching activities:

• Direction of a field work training course in Sundanese (DOBES summer school, Frankfurt, Sept. 2004)

 

 

 

Special research on Dhivehi (short report):

After preliminary studies (since 1987) and collecting of materials for a habilitation thesis (second thesis) on Dhivehi and Sinhalese I started with the first field researches on the Maldives in March 1988; the main results of these early studies were published in 1989/90: "Dhivehi - an almost unknown Modern Indo-Aryan language" (cf. II,9.). In March/April 1992 I continued the field research in Male and North Male Atoll with support by the National Institute for Linguistic and Historical Research, Male. Some of the results were published in my historiographic article "Wilhelm Geiger's contribution to the research of Dhivehi, the national language of the Maldives" in 1993 (cf. II, 11.).

>From 1993 until 1996 I received a habilitation grant from the German National Research Foundation (DFG) for the project "Descriptive grammar of Maldivian (Dhivehi), a Modern Indo-Aryan language and its dialects and their historical development." This grant gave me the opportunity to do intensive field research on the Maldives (from July until October 1993), including the main dialectal areas of Aḍḍū and Fua' Mulaku. My work was generously supported by members of the National Institute for Linguistic and Historical Research in Male and by many private persons in the southernmost atolls of the Maledives, who helped me as informants on their particular dialects and ideolects. Thus I collected all the information I needed for a database containing a comparative vocabulary and the grammatical categories of the dialects in question. Besides the concentrated grammatical information I was also given the opportunity to make many audio and video tape recordings of stories, legends and fairy tales in different dialects. In the same year I went to Colombo in order to look for other materials on the Maldives, in particular to study H.C.P. Bell's unpublished materials, as far as they are available (National Museum, National Archive, Library of the Royal Asiatic Society).

My habilitation thesis "The Dhivehi language. A Descriptive and Historical Grammar of Maldivian and its Dialects" (Heidelberg, 1997 / English publication 2002; cf., I.3.) presents the results of my field research in all details (Part I: Descriptive and historical-comparative phonology of the Male standard language (including the language of the early written documents of Dhivehi) and the southern dialects, particularly of Aḍḍū and Fua' Mulaku. Comparative morphology of Dhivehi (considering Old Dhivehi as well) and Sinhalese; a detailed descriptive morphology of standard Dhivehi and the southern dialects, concerning all the morphological categories. The syntactical structures of Dhivehi. - Part II: detailed interlinear versions of the oral records I collected in 1993). In many cases I was able to prepare and compare three versions (Male Standard, Aḍḍū, Fua' Mulaku) of the same story, once even four versions.

Press release of 19 August, 2019: The President of the Maldives accepts the translation of my book on Dhivehi Morphology from Dhivehi Bahuge Academy.

 

Copyright Sonja Gippert-Fritz, Frankfurt a/M 2000-2011. No parts of this document may be republished in any form without prior permission by the copyright holder.