The present paper focuses on some Vedic present formations that are traditionally considered as iteratives. These include the -aya-presents with the short root syllable of the type patayati ... Show moreThe present paper focuses on some Vedic present formations that are traditionally considered as iteratives. These include the -aya-presents with the short root syllable of the type patayati ‘flutters’ (as opposed to the -aya-causatives of the type pātayati ‘makes fly, makes fall’ with the long root syllable) and the reduplicated presents of the type bibharti ‘carries’. The author argues that the meaning of these formations should be described as atelic, rather than iterative (although in some contexts the iterative meaning may indeed appear). An atelic action or process, such as patayati ‘flutters’ or bibharti ‘carries’, does not suggest any inner terminal point built into the situation (“iterativ-ziellose Bedeutung” in terms of B. Delbruck). By contrast, actions or processes expressed by such presents as patati ‘flies’ or bharati ‘brings’ can be qualified as telic, that is, directed to a certain goal, as suggested by the very nature of this action/process. The paper also provides morphological and functional parallels of these formations outside Indo-Iranian, foremost in Slavic (of the type nositi ‘carry’). Show less
This article addresses the variable alignment properties of experiencer constructions in Indo-Aryan (IA) languages in the light of the available historical data fromVedic Sanskrit onwards. The... Show moreThis article addresses the variable alignment properties of experiencer constructions in Indo-Aryan (IA) languages in the light of the available historical data fromVedic Sanskrit onwards. The first aimof the article is to shed light on the possible historical sources, emergence andexpansionof constructionswithnon-cnonicallymarkedarguments inOld IA ingeneral.The second aimis to gain abetterunderstanding of the variation in case marking and agreement patterns that can be attested in New IA experiencer constructions, given that the interplay among morphological cases, semantic roles and additional semantic motivations poses many unsolved questions. Show less
The ancient Indo-European languages, such as early Vedic or (Homeric) Greek, are usually considered to be characterized by a high degree of lability. According to the communis opinio, they had a... Show moreThe ancient Indo-European languages, such as early Vedic or (Homeric) Greek, are usually considered to be characterized by a high degree of lability. According to the communis opinio, they had a considerable number of labile verbs or verbal forms that could be labile, cf. rudrah r̥tasya sadaneṣu vāvr̥dhuḥ ‘Rudras have grown [intransitive] in the residences of the truth' ~ indram ukthani vāvr̥dhuḥ ‘The hymns have increased [transitive] Indra'. This paper offers a general overview of the Vedic verbal forms for which labile patterning is attested. I will argue that, for most of these forms, the secondary character of lability can be demonstrated. Thus, for many labile forms with middle inflection (in particular, forms belonging to the present system), labile patterning results from the polyfunctionality of the middle diathesis (self-beneficent / anticausative). The secondary transitive usages of some fundamentally intransitive verbs such as puṣyati ‘prospers; makes prosper' originates from the syntactic re-analysis of content accusative constructions of the type ‘X prospers (in) Y' → ‘X makes Y prosper'. I will further demonstrate that, within the Old Indo-Aryan period, we observe the decline of the labile type. Already in the second most ancient Vedic text, the Atharvaveda, we find very few labile forms. Thus, most of the active perfects which show labile syntax in the Rgveda are either attested in intransitive usages only, or in transitive usages only, or do not occur at all. I will also discuss the main mechanisms of the loss of labile pattern in Old Indo-Aryan. Show less
This paper focuses on the evolution of the Old Indo-Aryan reciprocal pronoun anyo'nya- as well as some related forms, tracing its grammaticalization from the early Vedic period onwards until the... Show moreThis paper focuses on the evolution of the Old Indo-Aryan reciprocal pronoun anyo'nya- as well as some related forms, tracing its grammaticalization from the early Vedic period onwards until the beginning of the Middle Indic period. On the basis of a comparison of the history of this formation with similar processes documented in some other Indo-European branches (Greek, Slavic etc.), I uncover some basic mechanisms and scenarios of the evolution of reciprocal constructions attested in the history of Indo-Aryan languages in a diachronic typological context, offering a number of typological generalizations on the diachrony of reciprocals. Show less
This paper explores the social stratification of Maldivian society, with particular focus on its history and traces of earlier alleged caste systems and slavery as well as their impact on Maldivian... Show moreThis paper explores the social stratification of Maldivian society, with particular focus on its history and traces of earlier alleged caste systems and slavery as well as their impact on Maldivian society, and the implications this fact had for their social structure. I will argue that some anthropologically remarkable traces of earlier social stratification, such as slavery and the caste system, can still be found on the islands. The same holds true for the social structure of the island Minicoy, part of the Sultanate Maldives until the beginning of the 16th century, which now belongs to India. I will demonstrate that while the middle castes have largely disappeared, the upper level of the caste hierarchy (which has survived in the local elite), the lower castes and certain groups of former slaves have been much more resistant to social developments and structural changes in the society. Show less
The present paper demonstrates the relevance of the semantic approach to transitivity(going back to Hopper and Thompson 1980) for the analysis of Vedic causative verbs. It argues that in terms of... Show moreThe present paper demonstrates the relevance of the semantic approach to transitivity(going back to Hopper and Thompson 1980) for the analysis of Vedic causative verbs. It argues that in terms of this approach it is possible to explain a number of constraints on causative derivation (which cannot be explained in terms of the traditional, syntactic, definition) and to offer a unified account of the semantics of these verbs. The paper also briefly discusses some theoretical implications of this analysis of causative verbs in Vedic for a diachronic typology of transitivity. Show less
There are certain discrepancies between the forms and constructions prescribed by Paninian grammarians and the forms and constructions that are actually attested in the Vedic corpus (a part of... Show moreThere are certain discrepancies between the forms and constructions prescribed by Paninian grammarians and the forms and constructions that are actually attested in the Vedic corpus (a part of which is traditionally believed to underlie Paninian grammar). Concentrating on one particular aspect of the Old Indian verbal system, viz. the morphology and syntax of present formations with the suffix -ya-, the paper provides a few examples of such discrepancy. It is argued that the most plausible explanation of this mismatch can be found in the peculiar sociolinguistic situation in Ancient India: a number of linguistic phenomena described by grammarians did not appear in Vedic texts but existed within the semi-colloquial scholarly discourse of the learned community of Sanskrit scholars (comparable to Latin scholarly discourse in Medieval Europe). Some of these phenomena may result from the influence of Middle Indic dialects spoken by Ancient Indian scholars, thus representing syntactic and morphological calques from their native dialects onto the Sanskrit grammatical system. Show less
