A Historical Syntax of Late Middle Indo-Aryan (Apabhraṃśa)

Vit Bubenik | Memorial University of Newfoundland

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027236708 (Eur) | EUR 110.00

ISBN 9781556198816 (USA) | USD 165.00

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ISBN 9789027275677 | EUR 110.00 | USD 165.00

This monograph aims to close the gap in our knowledge of the nature and pace of grammatical change during the formative period of today’s Indo-Aryan languages. During the 6th-12th c. the gradual erosion of the synthetic morphology of Old Indo-Aryan resulted ultimately in the remodelling of its syntax in the direction of the New Indo-Aryan analytic type.
This study concentrates on the emergence and development of the ergative construction in terms of the passive-to-ergative reanalysis and the co-existence of the ergative construction with the old and new analytic passive constructions. Special attention is paid to the actuation problem seen as the tug of war between conservative and eliminative forces during their development. Other chapters deal with the evolution of grammatical and lexical aspect, causativization, modality, absolute constructions and subordination.
This study is based on a wealth of new data gleaned from original poetic works in Apabhraṃśa (by Svayaṃbhādeva, Puṣpadanta, Haribhadra, Somaprabha et al.). It contains sections dealing with descriptive techniques of Medieval Indian grammarians (esp. Hemacandra). All the Sanskrit, Prakrit and Apabhraṃśa examples are consistently parsed and translated.
The opus is cast in the theoretical framework of Functional Grammar of the Prague and Amsterdam Schools. It should be of particular interest to scholars and students of Indo-Aryan and general historical linguistics, especially those interested in the issues of morphosyntactic change and typology in their sociohistorical setting.

[Current Issues in Linguistic Theory, 165] 1998. xxiv, 265 pp.

Publishing status: Available
Published online on 24 October 2011

https://doi.org/10.1075/cilt.165

Table of Contents

Preface | p. vii

List of Illustrations | p. xiv

Abbreviations of Languages and Dialects | p. xvii

Abbreviations of Primary Literature | p. xix

Abbreviations of Grammatical Terms | p. xxi

Introduction | p. xxiii

Part One: Methodology, Sociolinguistic Background and Apabhraṃśa Literary Corpus

Chapter 1: Methodology and Theoretical Approach

1.1 Previous studies of the late Middle Indo-Aryan period
1.2 The scope and aims of the present study
1.3 Methodology
1.4 Conceptual framework

Chapter 2: Historical, Social, and Linguistic Background

2.1 Regional states in Northern India (6th – 12th century A. D.)
2.2 Sociolinguistic impact of foreign invasions and settlements on Northern India
2.3 Literary languages of Medieval India (Sanskrit, Prākrits, and Apabhraṃśa)

Chapter 3: Evidence from Medieval Indian Grammarians

3.1 Vararuci's Prākṟtaprakāśa
3.2 Descriptive technique of Hemacandra Sūri (1088/89–1172/73)
3.3 Eastern grammarians: Kramadīśvara and Puruṣottama

Chapter 4: Late Middle Indo-Aryan Vernacular Corpus

4.1 Eastern Apabhraṃśa: the Dohākoṣas of Kāṇha and Saraha
4.2 Apabhraṃśa songs in Kālidāsa's Vikramorvaśīya
4.3 Joindu's Paramātmaprakāsa and Yogasāra
4.4 Svayaṃbhūdeva's Paumacariu and Riṭṭhanemicariu
4.5 Puspadanta's Harivaṃśapurāṇa
4.6 Kanakāmara's Karakaṇḍacariu
4.7 Dhaṇavāla's Bhavisattakahā
4.8 Rāmasiṃha's Pāhuḍadohā
4.9 Haribhadra's Sanatkumāracarita
4.10 Somaprabha's Kumārapālapratibodha
4.11 Addahamāṇa's Saṃdeśa Rāsaka
Part Two: Grammatical Change During the Late Middle Indo-Aryan Period

Chapter 5: Restructuring of the Nominal System and the Evolution of the Phrasal Case

5.1 Erosion of the nominal case system
5.2 Source
5.3 Appurtenance
5.4 Reference
5.5 Location
5.6 Accompaniment/Instrumentality

Chapter 6: Restructuring of the Pronominal System and the Evolution of the Phrasal Case

6.1 Late Middle Indo-Aryan period (Apabhraṃśa)
6.2 Early New Indo-Aryan period

Chapter 7: Evolution of Grammatical and Lexical Aspect

7.1 Grammatical aspect
7.2 Lexical aspect

Chapter 8: The Old Synthetic and the New Analytic Passive

8.1 Inherited finite (synthetic) passive in -ijja-
8.2 Inherited analytic be-passive
8.3 Innovative analytic jānā “go”-passive
8.4 Non-finite passive with the past passive particle

Chapter 9: The Emergence and Development of the Ergative Construction

9.1 The functional theory of the origins of ergativity
9.2 The possessive and agentive construction in Middle Indo-Aryan
9.3 The tug of war between conservative and eliminative forces in the history of Indo-Aryan
9.4 Ergative interpretation of the constructions with the past passive participle in Apabhraṃśa

Chapter 10: The Scope of the Causative

10.1 The functional theory of causativization
10.2 Finite causatives
10.3 Non-finite causatives
10.4 Causativization in Sanskrit and Prākrits

Chapter 11: Mood and Modality

11.1 Epistemic and deontic modality
11.2 The gerundive in statements of necessity and possibility
11.3 The gerundive in the function of inferential mode
11.4 The gerundive recategorized as future tense

Chapter 12: Absolute Constructions

12.1 Absolute constructions in Old Indo-Aryan
12.2 Absolute constructions in Apabhraṃśa

Chapter 13: Complementation and Relativization

13.1 The gerund with modal verbs
13.2 Dative of purpose with verbs of motion
13.3 The quotative particle ema
13.4 Relative clauses in Apabhraṃśa
13.5 Subordinate clauses introduced by relative pronouns
13.6 Subordinate clauses introduced by relative adverbs

Chapter 14: Conclusions

14.1 Grammatical change in Indo-Aryan languages during the Medieval period (6th – 12th century A.D.)
14.2 Sociolinguistic aspects of the history of Indo-Aryan languages during the Medieval period
14.3 A contribution of the present monograph to general historical linguistics
14.4 Epilogue

Editions of Primary Literature | p. 231

Index of Ancient and Medieval Grammarians | p. 250

Index of Modern Authors | p. 251

Index of Quoted Passages | p. 253

Index of Languages and Dialects | p. 258

Index of Subjects | p. 261

“The book is one of the very few studies of the linguistic facts of a far-flung literature and, as such, fills a real lacuna. Not the least of its virtues is to have assembled an Apabhramsa cano, heretofore nonexistent for Western scholars, which can serve as a basis for further studies of many of the syntactic phenomena mentioned here, as well as others.”

Jared S. Klein, University of Georgia, in Historical Linguistics, 2000

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