Cover not available
Part of
Indo-Aryan Ergativity in Typological and Diachronic Perspective
Edited by Eystein Dahl and Krzysztof Stroński
[Typological Studies in Language 112] 2016
► pp. 39–60

Looking for ergativity in Indo-Aryan

| Research Foundation Flanders – FWO | Ghent University
| Ghent University

Indo-Aryan languages are often described as ergative or split-ergative. The article investigates the extent of this claim, by looking at a number of constructions in 22 New Indo-Aryan languages. It is shown that ergative constructions are in general the minority, and that other mechanisms of alignment, such as transitivity-indicating agreement patterns, are as valuable to be studied as strictly ergative patterns. Our conclusion also applies to historical studies on the evolution of the Indo-Aryan alignment system, which sometimes seem to focus too much on specific ergative patterns, thus overlooking other motivations of alignment.

Published online: 14 June 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.112.02ver
References
Allen, William
1960 Notes on the Rajasthani verb. Indian Linguistics 21: 1-13.Google Scholar
Baruah, P.N. Dutta
1980 An Intensive Course in Assamese. Mysore: Central institute of Indian languages.Google Scholar
Bhayani, Harivallabh C
(ed.) 1953-1960 Paumacariu of Kavirāja Svayambhūdeva, 3 Vols. Bombay: Singhi Jain Shastra Shikshapith - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.Google Scholar
Bickel, Balthasar
2008 On the scope of referential hierarchy in the typology of grammatical relations. In Case and Grammatical Relations [Typological Studies in Language 81], Greville G. Corbett & Michael Noonan (eds), 191-210. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2011 Grammatical relations typology. In The Oxford Handbook of Language Typology, Jae Jung Song (ed.) 399-445. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Bubenik, Vit
1996 The Structure and Development of Middle Indo-Aryan Dialects. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.Google Scholar
1998 A Historical Syntax of Late Middle Indo-Aryan (Apabhraṃsa) [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 165]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cardona, George
1965 A Gujarati Reference Grammar. Philadelphia PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Comrie, Bernard
1978 Ergativity. In Syntactic Typology. Studies in the Phenomenology of Language, Winfred P. Lehmann (ed.), 329-393. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
DeLancey, Scott
1981 An interpretation of split ergativity and related patterns. Language 57: 626�657. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
de Swart, Peter
2006 Case markedness. In Case, Valency and Transitivity [Studies in Language Companion Series 77], Leonid Kulikov, Andrej Malchukov & Peter de Swart (eds), 249-267. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dixon, Robert M.W
1979 Ergativity. Language 55(1): 59-138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Du Bois, John W
1987 The discourse basis of ergativity. Language 63: 805-855. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Filimonova, Elena
2005 The noun phrase hierarchy and relational marking: Problems and counterevidence. Linguistic Typology 9: 77-113. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grierson, George A
1903-1926 Linguistic Survey of India. Calcutta: Office of the Superintendent, Government Printing.Google Scholar
Hock, Hans Henrich
1986 P-oriented constructions in Sanskrit. In South Asian Languages: Structure, Convergence and Diglossia, Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, Colin P. Masica & Anjani Kumar Sinha (eds), 15-26. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Hutt, Michael
1997 Modern Literary Nepali. An Introductory Reader. New Delhi: OUP.Google Scholar
Khokhlova, Liudmila V
1992 Trends in the development of ergativity in New Indo-Aryan. Osmania Papers in Linguistics 18: 71-98.Google Scholar
Kochaḍ, H
2013[1957] Apabhraṃs Sāhitya [Anusandhān Pariṣad 8]. Dillī: Bhāratīya Sāhitya Mandir.Google Scholar
Koul, Omkar N. & Wali, Kashi
2006 Modern Kashmiri Grammar. Springfield VA: Dunwoody Press.Google Scholar
Liperovsky, Vladimir P
2007 Notes on the marking of actants in Braj (in comparison with Modern Standard Hindi). In Old and New Perspectives on South Asian Languages. Grammar and Semantics, Colin P. Masica (ed.), 144-152. New Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Montaut, Annie
2004 Oblique main arguments in Hindi as localizing predications: Questioning the category of subject. In Non-nominative Subjects, Vol. 2 [Typological Studies in Language 61], Peri Bhaskararao & Karumuri Venkata Subbarao (eds), 33-56. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2006 The evolution of the tense-aspect system in Hindi/Urdu: The status of the ergative alignment. In Proceedings of the LFG06 Conference, Miriam Butt & Tracy Holloway King (eds). Stanford CA: CSLI.Google Scholar
Pandharipande, Rajeshwari
1997 Marathi. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Peterson, John M
1998 Grammatical relations in Pali and the emergence of ergativity in Indo-Aryan. München: Lincom.Google Scholar
Pollock, Sheldon
2006 Language of the Gods in the World of Men. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Prem
1984 Khajano [Treasure]. In Aaj ri Rajasthani kahaniyan [Contemporary Rajasthani stories], Rawat Saraswat & Prem (eds.), 91�94. New Delhi: Sahitya Akademi.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Ruth Laila & Kohistani, Razwal
2008 A Grammar of the Shina Language of Indus Kohistan. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Sharma, K
1991 Pūrvī rājasthānī: Udbhav aur vikās. [Eastern Rajasthani: Origin and development]. Jaypur: The Students Book Company.Google Scholar
Siewierska, Anna
2004 Person. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, Michael
1976 Hierarchy of features and ergativity. In Grammatical Categories in Australian Languages, Robert M.W. Dixon (ed.), 112-171. Canberra: Australian Institute of Aboriginal studies & Atlantic Highlands NJ: Humanities Press.Google Scholar
Stroński, Krzysztof
2010a Variation of ergativity patterns in Indo-Aryan. Poznán Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 46(2): 237-253.Google Scholar
2010b Non-nominative subjects in Rajasthani and Central Pahari. Lingua Posnaniensis LII(1): 81-97.Google Scholar
Warder, Athony Kennedy
1972-2004 Indian Kāvya Literature, 7 Vols. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Yashaschandra, Sitamshu
2003 From Hemacandra to Hind Svarāj: Region and power in Gujarati literary culture. In Literary Cultures in History, Sheldon Pollock (ed.), 567-611. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Carling, Gerd & Chundra Cathcart
2021. Evolutionary dynamics of Indo-European alignment patterns. Diachronica 38:3 ► pp. 358 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 june 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.