II. Practical tasks

1. Answer the following questions

In what European country did the study of language begin?

What was the central philosophical problem of language in Ancient Greece?

What two philosophers are named as the main figures in the 'dispute about the correctness of names'?

How did they explain the connection between the words and the things they signify?

What doctrine was called 'by nature'? What doctrine was called 'by law'?

Who described the philosophical linguistic views prevalent in his time in An­cient Greece ?

What linguistic views did Plato express in his works? What grammatical categories were established by Aristotle?

What was the relation between logical and grammatical categories in Aristotle's system?

What parts of speech did he discriminate? What forms did he call 'names' and what forms did he call' cases'?

How was grammar developed in Ancient Greece after Aristotle?

Where was the grammatical teaching of Ancient Greece completed?

Who were the most famous grammarians of the Alexandrian period?

What grammatical observations did they make?

What was their progress in the study of phonetics? What linguistic dispute took place among the Alexandrian scholars?

* * *

What were the weakest points of language study in Ancient Greece?

How did linguistics progress in Ancient Rome?

Who were the most prominent Roman grammarians?

How did the Romans construct their grammatical teaching?

What were their achievements in language study?

How was language study developed in the Middle Ages?

Why are the Middle Ages characterised as a time of stagnation for science?

What language became the universal language of Catholic Church?

How was the structure of languages understood by the scholastic philosophers?

What were the achievements of the study of language from the epoch of the Renaissance up to the 18^th century

What languages came to be studied at the epoch of the Renaissance?

What is the significance of the linguistic work done during that period?

What were the main drawbacks of this linguistic work?

How did grammatical teaching appear in Ancient India?

What old texts needed interpretation in Ancient India? Why?

What is Sanskrit?

Who gave the oldest grammatical description of Sanskrit?

What are the main characteristic features of Panini's grammar?

What accounts for the 'sutra' form of the rules given in the work?

What important grammatical observations did Panini make in his grammar?

How was the phonetical structure of Sanskrit described?

Why was so much attention given to phonetics in the Hindu grammar of San­skrit?

Why do many scientists consider the Hindu grammar of Sanskrit as the highest linguistic achievement of ancient times?

How did the knowledge of Sanskrit and its grammar influence European lin­guistics?

When did the Europeans get acquainted with Sanskrit and with Panini's gram­mar?

In connection with what studies did Panini's grammar influence modern lin­guistics?

What discovery was made due to the comparison of Sanskrit with some Euro­pean languages? What was the consequence of this discovery?