Cover not available

Article published In: Asian Languages and Linguistics
Vol. 5:2 (2024) ► pp.187–209

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Loss of ergativity in Eastern Indo-Aryan languages

ORCiD logo with link | Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
 | Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Published online: 6 February 2025
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/alal.24014.ban
Abstract
Old Eastern Indo-Aryan stage/OEIA (900–1100 AD approx) showed split ergativity with evidence from its sole source Caryapada. New Eastern Indo-Aryan/EIA languages have lost their ergative properties (Stump, Gregory. T. (1983). The Elimination of Ergative Patterns of Case-Marking and Verbal-Agreement in Modern Indic Languages. Working Papers in Linguistics, 140–164. Ohio State University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar; Bubenik, Vit. (1989). On the Origins and Elimination of Ergativity in Indo-Aryan Languages. Canadian Journal of Languages/Reveu Canadienne de Linguistique, 34(4), 377–398. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, among others) gradually, evolving as nominative-accusative languages in the present time. The current study highlights how the Voice head in the structure is responsible for the evolution of the case system in the EIA languages. As the Voice head is intricately related to the external theta role and ergative case ( (2014). Voice and v: Lessons from Acehnese (Vol. 691). MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar), it is essential to note its characteristics in the diachrony of EIA languages. This paper proposes that OEIA ergativity, seen in Caryapada, is DP-ergative, following the diagnostics of Polinsky, Maria. (2016). Deconstructing ergativity: Two types of ergative languages and their features. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar, where the Voice head assigns structural ergative to subject DP. It entails that OEIA has a distinct Voice head in its spine, which assigns the structural ergative case to the DP. The diagnostics used are agreement, A-movement, A′ movement, Binding, and coordinate structures. However, such split ergativity is not seen in the present EIA languages. This entails that the Voice head is lost. This loss led to the rise of a TP-determined structure for all tenses, leading to the emergence of the nominative alignment.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Diachronic stages of Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
    • 2.1Diachronic stages
  • 3.Source of eastern Indo-Aryan languages: Caryapada
    • 3.1Eastern Indo-Aryan languages
    • 3.2Grammar of Caryapada
    • 3.3Loss of -ē̃
  • 4.Voice and -ē̃ marker
    • 4.1The Voice head
    • 4.2Voice head and ergativity (Polinsky, 2016)
      • i.Agreement
      • ii.A-movement
      • iii.A′ movement
      • iv.Binding
      • v.Co-ordinate structures
    • 4.3Voice and ergativity in EIALs
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (32)
References
Aldridge, Edith. (2004). Ergativity and word order in Austronesian languages. (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation). Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
. (2008). Generative approaches to ergativity. Language and Linguistic Compass: Syntax and Morphology, 2(5), 966–995. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Authier, Gilles., & Haude, Katharina. (Eds.). (2012). Ergativity, valency and voice. De Gruyter Mouton. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Bubenik, Vit. (1989). On the Origins and Elimination of Ergativity in Indo-Aryan Languages. Canadian Journal of Languages/Reveu Canadienne de Linguistique, 34(4), 377–398. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chatterji, Suniti. K. (1926). Origin and Development of Bengali. Calcutta University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam. (1995). The Minimalist Program. MIT Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Coon, Jessica. (2017). Two types of ergative agreement: Implications for Case. A pesky set: Papers for David Pesetsky, 361–370.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Dahl, Eystein. (2010). Time, Tense and Aspect in Early Vedic Grammar: Exploring inflectional semantics in the Rigveda (Vol.5). Brill. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Deo, Ashwini. (2006). Tense and Aspect in Indo-Aryan languages: variation and Diachrony. (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation), Stanford University: Stanford.
Devi, Jayantimala. (1986). Ergativity: A Historical Analysis in Assamese. (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation), University of Delhi: New Delhi.
Dixon, Robert M. (1994). Ergativity. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kakati, Banikanta. (1941). Assamese- its formation and development. Government of Assam.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Key, Gregory. (2013). The Morphosyntax of the Turkish causative construction. (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation), University of Arizona.
Kratzer, Angelika. (1996). Severing the external argument from its verb. In Johan Rooryck, & Laurie, Zaring. (Eds.), Phrase structure and the lexicon, 109–137. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Legate, Julie. A. (2002). Warlpiri: Theoretical implications. (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation), MIT.
(2014). Voice and v: Lessons from Acehnese (Vol. 691). MIT Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2017). ‘The Locus of Ergative Case’. In Jessica Coon, Diane Massam, and Lisa Demena Travis (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Ergativity, Oxford Handbooks. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
MacDonald, Jinnis. E. (2006). The syntax of inner aspect. (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation), Stony Brook University.
Mayadhar, Mansinha. (1962). History of Oriya Literature. Sahitya Academi.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
McGinnis, Martha. (1998). Locality in A-movement. (Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation), MIT.
. (2001). Variation in the phase structure of applicatives. Linguistic Variation Yearbook 1 (1): 105–146. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mishra, Pranab. K. (1997). Comprehensive History and Culture of Orissa Volume 1. Kaveri Books, New DelhiGoogle Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Montaut, Anne. (2006). The evolution of the tense-aspect system in Hindi/Urdu. Proceedings of LFG Conference 2006 (p. prépublication). CSLI publications.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
. (2016). Why ergative case marker in modal clauses? The historical evolution of aspect, modality, ergative and locative in Indo-Aryan. In Eystein Dahl & Kryzstof Stronski (Eds.). (2016). Ergativity in Indo-Aryan and beyond, 135–165. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mosel, Ulrike, & Evan Hovdhaugen. (1992). Samoan reference grammar. Oslo: Scandinavian University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Polinsky, Maria. (2016). Deconstructing ergativity: Two types of ergative languages and their features. Oxford University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sen, Sunandan. K. (2012). A Comparative Study of Old Bengali and Early Middle Bengali(unpublished). (Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation), University of Calcutta: Calcutta. [URL]
Singh, Raj. K. (2009). Encyclopaedia of Assamese Literature. Anmol Publication. ISBN: 978-8126141418.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stroński, Krzysztof. (2009). Approaches to Ergativity in Indo-Aryan. Lingua Posnaniensis, 51(1). Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Stump, Gregory. T. (1983). The Elimination of Ergative Patterns of Case-Marking and Verbal-Agreement in Modern Indic Languages. Working Papers in Linguistics, 140–164. Ohio State University.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sundaresan, Sandhya., & Thomas McFadden. (2017). The articulated v layer: Evidence from Tamil. In D’Alessandro, Roberta, Irene Franco, and Ángel J. Gallego (Eds.), The Verbal Domain, 153–178. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tripaṭhi, Kunjabihari. (1963). The Evolution of Oriya Language and Script. Utkal University, Cuttack.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue