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. 237–258

Syntactic lability vs. ergativity in Indo-Aryan

| Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan

Contemporary IA languages are considered to be purely nominative at the level of syntax. Ergativity is restricted to the morphological domain. However the scrutiny of certain syntactic constructions such as converbal clause chaining or coordinate conjunction reduction shows that they are not necessarily sensitive to the basic grammatical relations (Bickel & Yādava 2000), in other words, the notion of pivot is not fully operational in the IA languages. The aim of the present paper is to demonstrate that apart from the dominating syntactic A/S pivot early NIA shows: (a) instances of converbs not controlled by the A of the main clause and (b) the dropped element in coordinate or certain subordinate constructions is not always an A/S argument. The alleged syntactic lability will be observed diachronically in four dialectal groups, namely Rajasthani, Pahari, Western Hindi and Eastern Hindi.

Published online: 14 June 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/tsl.112.08str
References
Anderson, Stephen R
1977 On the mechanisms by which languages become ergative. In Subject and Topic, Charles N. Li (ed.), 217–264. New York NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bāhrī, Hardev
1981 Sūr śabd-sāgar. Ilāhābād: Smṛti Prakāśan.Google Scholar
Bickel, Balthasar & Yādava, Yogendra P
2000 A fresh look at grammatical relations in Indo-Aryan. Lingua 110: 342-373. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bubenik, Vit
1989 On the origins and elimination of ergativity in Indo-Aryan languages. Canadian Journal of Linguistics 34(4): 377–398.Google Scholar
1993 Morphological and syntactic change in Late Middle Indo-Aryan. The Journal of Indo-European Studies 21(3-4): 259–281.Google Scholar
1996 The Structure and Development of Middle Indo-Aryan Dialects. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.Google Scholar
1998 A Historical Syntax of Late Middle Indo-Aryan (Apabhraṃśa) [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 165]. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Butt, Miriam
2005 The dative-ergative connection, 1-31. [URL]Google Scholar
Bynon, Theodora
2005 Evidential, raised possessor and the historical source of the ergative construction in Indo-Iranian. Transactions of the Philological Society 103(1): 1–72. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cardona, George
1976 Subject in Sanskrit. In The Notion of Subject in South Asian Languages [South Asian Studies, Publication Series 2], Manindra K. Verma (ed.), 1–38. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Dixon, Robert M.W
1972 The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1979 Ergativity. Language 55: 59–138. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
1994 Ergativity. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Grierson George A
1916 Linguistic Survey of India, Vol. IX, Part IV: Specimens of the Pahari Languages and Gujuri. Calcutta.Google Scholar
Hendriksen, Hans
1986 Himachali Studies, III: Grammar [Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab Historisk-filosofiske Meddelelser 48(3)]. København: Munksgaard.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
Hook, Peter E
1996 Kesar of Layul: A Central Asian epic in the Shina of Gultari. In Studies in Pakistani Popular Culture, William Hanaway & Wilma Heston (eds), 121-183. Lahore: Sang-e-Meel and Lok Virsa.Google Scholar
Kachru, Yamuna
1980 Aspects of Hindi Grammar. New Delhi: Manohar Publications.Google Scholar
Kachru, Yamuna, Kachru, Braj B. & Bhatia, Tej K
1976 The notion of ‘subject. A note on Hindi-Urdu, Kashmiri and Panjabi. In The Notion of Subject in South Asian Languages [South Asian Studies, Publication Series 2], Manindra K. Verma (ed.), 79-109. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Khokhlova, Ludmila V
1995 The development of patient-oriented constructions in Late Western NIA Languages. Osmania Papers in Linguistics 21: 15–51.Google Scholar
2000 Typological evolution of Western NIA Languages. Berliner Indologische Studien (BIS) 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
2006 Sintaktičeskaja evolucija zapadnych novoindijskich jazykov v 15–20 vv. In Aspekty komparativistiki, Anna V. Dybo, Vladimir A. Dybo, & Oleg A. Mudrak & George S. Starostin (eds), 151–186. Moskva: Rosijskij Gosudarstvennyj Gumanitarnyj Universitet (Orientalia et Classica: Trudy Instituta Vostočnych Kultur i Antičnosti: Vypusk VIII)Google Scholar
Montaut, Annie
2001 La notion de sujet en hindi moderne constitue-t-elle une catégorie pertinente? Sur la dissymétrie entre catégories morpho-syntaxique, sémantique et discursive’. Bulletin de la Société de Linguistique de Paris XCVI(1): 311–348. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004a Oblique main arguments in Hindi /Urdu as localizing predications. In Non-nominative Subjects, Vol. 2 [Typological Studies in Lanugage 61], Peri Bhaskararao & Karumuri Venkata Subbarao (eds), 33–56. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004b A Grammar of Hindi. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Pandharipande, Rajeshwari & Kachru, Yamuna
1977 Relational grammar, ergativity and Hindi-Urdu. Lingua 41: 217–238. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Peterson, John
1998 Grammatical Relations in Pali and the Emergence of Ergativity in Indo-Aryan. Munich: Lincom.Google Scholar
Pirejko, Lija A
1968 Osnovnyje voprosy ergativnosti na materiale indoiranskich jazykov. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo ‘Nauka’.Google Scholar
Poudel, Tikaram
2008 Ergativity in Nepali: A historical perspective. Paper presented at the Workshop on Case and Alignment in Indo-European University of Bergen, 10–11 December.
Šamatov, Azad N
1974 Klassičeskij dakxini. Moskva: Izdatel’stvo ‘Nauka’.Google Scholar
Śarmā, Śrīrām
1964 Dakkhinī hindī kā udbhav aur vikās. Pryāg: Hindī Sāhitya Sammelan.Google Scholar
Schumacher, Rolf
1977 Untersuchungen zum Absolutiv in modernen Hindi. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Snell, Rupert
1991 The Hindi Classical Tradition: A Braj Bhāṣā Reader. London: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.Google Scholar
Stroński, Krzysztof
2011 Synchronic and Diachronic Aspects of Ergativity in Indo-Aryan. Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM.Google Scholar
Ṭaṇḍan, Premnārayāṇ
1962 Brajbhāṣā – vyākaraṇ kī rūprekhā. Lakhnaū: Lakhnaū Viśvavidyālay.Google Scholar
Tikkanen, Bertil
1995 Burushaski converbs in their South and Central Asian areal context. In Converbs in Cross-linguistic Perspective, Haspelmath Martin & König Ekkehard, (eds), 487-528. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Van Valin, Robert, Jr
1993 A synopsis of role and reference grammar. In Advances in Role and Reference Grammar [Current Issues in Linguistic Theory 82], Robert Van Valin Jr. (ed.), 1–164. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2004 An Introduction to Syntax. Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
2005 Exploring the syntax-semantics interface. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verbeke, Saartje
2011 Ergativity and Alignment in Indo-Aryan. PhD Dissertation, Ghent University.
2013 Differential subject marking in Nepali: The agent marker le in imperfective constructions. Linguistics 51(3): 585�610. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verma, Manindra K
1976 The notion of subject and the data from Nepali. In The Notion of Subject in South Asian Languages [South Asian Studies, Publication Series 2], Manindra K. Verma (ed.), 270–286. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin.Google Scholar
Yadāv, Śankar Lāl
(n.d.). Ahīrvāṭī. In Hariyāṇā kī upbhāṣāe, Śārdā Sādhurām (ed.) 193 269 Caṇḍīgaṛh Nideśak, Bhāšā Vibhāg, Hariyāṇā 27444 Govt. Press, Chandigarh
Zoller, Claus P
2008 Genitive marking of subjects in West Pahāṛī. Acta Orientalia 69. 121–151.Google Scholar