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. 109–132

On the establishment of ergative alignment during the Late Middle Indo-Aryan period

| Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada
I will argue that the Late Middle Indo-Aryan period (7–11th c.) was the crucial period for the establishment of ergative alignment as known from contemporary West Indo-Aryan languages (Bubenik 1998). I will demonstrate that the syncretism of case leading to the appearance of the absolutive case in the nominal system was caused by phonological change, while the way case marking alignment was distributed over the pronominal system can primarily be attributed to the effects of animacy. On the verbal side the increase in ergativity came as a consequence of the ultimate demise of the old aspectual forms. I will endorse a ‘contingency view’ of alignment (Dixon 1994, Haig 2008) which considers the increase in ergativity as a mere ‘by-product’ of the restoration by analytic means of the old aspectual triad.
Published online: 14 June 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.112.04bub
References (41)
References
Andersen, Paul Kent. 1986. The genitive agent in Rigvedic passive constructions. In Collectanea linguistica in honorem Adami Heinz [Prace Komisji Językoznawstwa 53], 9 – 13. Wrocław: Wydawnictwo Polskiej Akademii Nauk.Google Scholar
Anderson, Stephen R. 1977. On mechanisms by which languages become ergative. In Mechanisms of Syntactic Change, Charles N. Li (ed.), 317-363. Austin TX: University of Texas.Google Scholar
Baumann, George. 1975. Drei Jaina-Gedichte in Alt-Gujarātī. Wiesbaden: Steiner.Google Scholar
Bubenik, Vit. 1989. An interpretation of split ergativity in Indo-Iranian languages. Diachronica 6(2): 181-212. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 1994. The study of ergativity in functional grammar. In Function and Expressions in Functional Grammar. Functional Grammar Series [Functional Grammar Series 16], Elisabeth Engberg-Pedersen, Lisbeth Falster Jakobsen Lone Schack Rasmussen (eds), 97-108. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
.1998. A Historical Syntax of Late Middle Indo-Aryan (Apabhraṃśa) [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 165]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2001. On the actualization of the passive-to-ergative shift in Pre-Islamic India. In Actualization: Linguistic Change in Progress [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 219], Henning Andersen (ed.), 95-118. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bubenik, Vit & Paranjape, Chitra. 1996. Development of pronominal systems from Apabhraṃśa to New-Indo-Aryan. Indo-Iranian Journal 39: 111-132. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chung, Sarah. 1978. Case Marking and Grammatical Relations in Polynesian. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Comrie, Bernard. 1978. Ergativity. In Syntactic Typology, Winfred P. Lehmann (ed.), 329-393. Austin TX: University of Texas Press.Google Scholar
Deo, Ashwini. Forthcoming. The imperfective-perfective contrast in Middle Indic.
Dik, Simon C. 1980. Studies in Functional Grammar. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M.W. 1994. Ergativity. CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Estival, Dominique & Myhill, John. 1988. Formal and functional aspects of the development from passive to ergative systems. In Passive and Voice [Typological Studies in Language 16], Masayoshi Shibatani (ed.), 441-91. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gildea, Spike. 1998. On reconstructing grammar: Comparative Cariban morphosyntax [Oxford Studies in Antropological Linguistics 18]. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Grierson, George A. 1919[1968]. Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. VIII, Parts I and II. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Haig, Geoffrey. 2008. Alignment Change in Iranian Languages: A Construction Grammar Approach. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2010. Alignment. In Continuum Companion to Historical Linguistic, Silvia Luraghi & Vit Bubenik (eds), 250-268. London: Continuum Press.Google Scholar
Harris, Alice C. & Campbell, Lyle. 1995. Historical Syntax in Cross-Linguistic Perspective. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoberman, Robert D. 1989. The Syntax and Semantics of Verb Morphology in Modern Aramaic. New Haven CT: American Oriental Society.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
Kelkar, Ashok R. 1968. Studies in Hindi-Urdu I. Introduction and Word Phonology. Poona: Deccan College & Postgraduate Research Institute.Google Scholar
Khan, Geoffrey. 2007. Ergativity in the North Eastern Neo-Aramaic dialects. In Studies in Semitic and General Linguistics in Honor of Gideon Goldenberg, Tali Bar & Eran Cohen (eds), 147-157. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.Google Scholar
Khubchandani, Lachman M. 2003. Sindhi. In The Indo-Aryan Languages, George Cardona & Dhanesh Jain (eds), 622-658. London & New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Khokhlova, Ludmila V. 2000. Typological evolution of Western New Indo-Aryan languages. Berliner Indologische Studien 13-14:117-142.Google Scholar
. 2001. Ergativity attrition in the history of Western New Indo-Aryan languages (Punjabi, Gujarati and Rajasthani). The Yearbook of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 159-184.Google Scholar
Klaiman, Miriam H. 1978. Arguments against a passive origin of the ergative. In Chicago Linguistic Society: Papers from the 14th Regional Meeting , 204–216. Chicago IL: CLS.
Mayrhofer, George A. 1951. Handbuch des Pāli. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.Google Scholar
Miltner, Vladimír. 1995. Old Hindi Reader. Prague: Karolinum.Google Scholar
Nosek, Bedřich. 2001. Aramejština babylónského talmudu. Praha: Karolinum.Google Scholar
Riccardi, Theodore. 2003. Nepali. In The Indo-Aryan Languages, George Cardona & Dhanesh Jain (eds), 538-580. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Saksēnā, Bāburām. 1937[1971]. Evolution of Avadhi. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
Schokker, G.H. 1969-70. The jānā-passive in the NIA languages. Indo-Iranian Journal 12:1-23. 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.Google Scholar
Strnad, Jaroslav. 2013. Morphology and Syntax of Old Hindī: Edition and Analysis of One Hundred Kabīr vānī Poems from Rājasthān [Indological Library 45]. Leiden: Brill. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stroński, Krzysztof. 2011. Synchronic and Diachronic Aspects of Ergativity in Indo-Aryan. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.Google Scholar
Tessitori, Luigi P. 1914-16. Notes on the grammar of the Old Western Rajasthani. The Indian Antiquary XLIII-XLIV: 1–106Google Scholar
Peterson, John M. 1998. Grammatical Relations in Pāli and the Emergence of Ergativity in Indo-Aryan. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Singh, Nāmawar. 1956. Prithvirāj rāso ki bhāṣā. Benares: Saraswati Press.Google Scholar
Verbeke, Saartje. 2013. Differential subject marking in Nepali: The agent marker le in imperfective constructions. Linguistics 51(3): 585-610. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wallace, William D. 1982. The evolution of ergative syntax in Nepali. Studies in the Linguistic Sciences 12(2): 147-211.Google Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Barchi, Francesco & Benedikt Peschl
2022. Preterite Formations in Niya Prakrit and Khotanese: A Case of Grammatical Interference?. Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 75:3 ► pp. 405 ff. DOI logo
Carling, Gerd & Chundra Cathcart
2021. Evolutionary dynamics of Indo-European alignment patterns. Diachronica 38:3 ► pp. 358 ff. DOI logo
Dahl, Eystein
2021. Pathways to split ergativity. Diachronica 38:3 ► pp. 413 ff. DOI logo
Vit, Bubenik
2018. Eleanor Coghill: The rise and fall of ergativity in Aramaic. Cycles of Alignment Change . Folia Linguistica 52:s39-s2 ► pp. 495 ff. DOI logo
Zúñiga, Fernando
2018. The diachrony of morphosyntactic alignment. Language and Linguistics Compass 12:9 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 28 september 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.