Chapter 20. A diachronic account of converbal constructions in Old Rajasthani

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present results of a multilayered diachronic analysis of one of the most important subordinating devices in IA, i.e. converbs. This is a corpus-oriented study based on an early variety of NIA, namely Old Rajasthani. We discuss: a) the morphology of the converb and its possible diachronic pathways of evolution; b) the syntactic properties of converbal chains with a special focus on main argument marking and the 'same-subject constraint' and c) the semantics of the constructions and the adverbial and clause-chaining properties of converbs. The results of our research bring interesting implications as regards the aspectual status of the converb which seems to determine the main argument marking in converbal chains.

Diachrony and typology of non-finites in Indo-Aryan

“…OEM has previously been explained in terms of the early decay of ergativity in dialects belonging to the eastern branches of IA and to the Early Rajasthani group (cf. Khokhlova 2000;Stroński et al 2019).…”