The Morphosyntax of the Experiencer in Early Vedic
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Eystein Dahl
Abstract
This paper examines the encoding of Experiencer arguments in Early Vedic, the earliest attested stage of Indo-Aryan. Although Experiential predicates show a broad variety of case-marking patterns in this language, the Experiencer is primarily expressed by the nominative, the accusative or the dative. In this respect, this semantic role differs from other roles like Agent, Patient, Recipient or Benefactive which show a more restricted range of case-marking options. Examining the distribution of the three Experiencer constructions, I demonstrate that there is a strong tendency in Early Vedic for the Experiencer to be construed as subject with Experiential verbs, although some experiential verbs show an inverted argument realization construction, where the Stimulus is expressed as subject and the Experiencer as object. Keywords: Vedic Sanskrit; Experiencer; Proto-Roles; Argument realization; Case-marking
Abstract
This paper examines the encoding of Experiencer arguments in Early Vedic, the earliest attested stage of Indo-Aryan. Although Experiential predicates show a broad variety of case-marking patterns in this language, the Experiencer is primarily expressed by the nominative, the accusative or the dative. In this respect, this semantic role differs from other roles like Agent, Patient, Recipient or Benefactive which show a more restricted range of case-marking options. Examining the distribution of the three Experiencer constructions, I demonstrate that there is a strong tendency in Early Vedic for the Experiencer to be construed as subject with Experiential verbs, although some experiential verbs show an inverted argument realization construction, where the Stimulus is expressed as subject and the Experiencer as object. Keywords: Vedic Sanskrit; Experiencer; Proto-Roles; Argument realization; Case-marking
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Perspectives on semantic roles 1
- Inducing semantic roles 23
- The grammaticalization chain of case functions 69
- Plotting diachronic semantic maps 99
- The (non-)prototypicality of Direction 151
- The Morphosyntax of the Experiencer in Early Vedic 181
- Against the addressee of speech – Recipient metaphor 205
- Semantic roles and word formation 241
- From semantic roles to evaluative markers. The dative and affected possessors 271
- Author index 327
- Language index 331
- Subject index 333
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Perspectives on semantic roles 1
- Inducing semantic roles 23
- The grammaticalization chain of case functions 69
- Plotting diachronic semantic maps 99
- The (non-)prototypicality of Direction 151
- The Morphosyntax of the Experiencer in Early Vedic 181
- Against the addressee of speech – Recipient metaphor 205
- Semantic roles and word formation 241
- From semantic roles to evaluative markers. The dative and affected possessors 271
- Author index 327
- Language index 331
- Subject index 333
