Rockwell John, Jr. A Primer for Classical Literary Tibetan. Volume 1: The Grammar

1991 — X + 310 с.This is the second edition of a never ending project to complete a primer for classical Tibetan. The
first edition was surreptitiously released in 1985 and subsequently spread around the world via a
spontaneous xerox lineage. This time, I have decided to make the present version more formally
available, since again I have reached a plateau where I will be unable to work intensively on this project
for several years.In many ways, the primer is much improved. In general, I have tried to incorporate more of the
traditional Tibetan grammar terms and explanations. However, the fundamental approach of this text is
descriptive, i.e. I have tried to explain the forms and patterns of Tibetan sentences, even when I could
not find any traditional explanation of it Moreover, rather than the simple sentences which I made up
for exercises in the first edition, this edition contains sentences drawn from actual texts. Unfortunately,
this "improvement" also makes the exercises more difficult, since actual Tibetan sentences taken out of
their larger context are usually much harder to understand. To help with this difficulty, I have included
the "answers" to the exercises, which indeed many people requested for the first edition. I have also
included English to Tibetan exercises, which my students at Naropa found very intriguing and helpful.
The reader has also proved to be quite helpful for beginning students. I would suggest that
students work through about the first nine lessons and their exercises before beginning the reader.
However, it is possible to try it earlier, as there are notes for many of the grammatical forms, or one
can at the very least use the index to find any forms not included in the notes. I have found that it is
very helpful to alternate the all-at-once approach of just reading a text and covering the grammatical
points as they come up with the step-by-step approach of covering the grammar in an ordered and
graded manner.Though somewhat improved, this text is still an unfinished work. The farther you go in the primer,
the rougher the lessons become and the more gaps in terms of explanations, exercises, and the like you
will find. Please forgive all the many omissions and duplications.John Rockwell, Jr.