Syntactic constraints in modern Hindi
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Liudmila Khokhlova
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to show that some of the Hindi word order rules and controlling properties of arguments described by some authors [T. Mohanan 1990; 1994; Butt 1995] may be applied to prose, but not to poetry. The paper establishes that out of five main constraints on scrambling possibilities in Hindi proposed by Mohanan, only one can be claimed to be universal, i.e. the auxiliary verb in a CP cannot be separated from the main one. One of the constraints suggested by T. Mohanan seems not to be a constraint at all: the nominal component within the CP is free to scramble both in prose and poetry. Three constraints are valid for prose texts, but not for poetry: in poetry the separation of parts of noun phrase does not obligatorily imply the initial position; scrambling of the main and light verbs is allowed; the negative particle may be separated from the verbal predicate. In comparison with prose, poetry allows more NPs to control conjunctive participles. Hence, the important task would be to investigate the reasons why a reader/listener considers certain sentences grammatical in poetry but ungrammatical in prose.
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to show that some of the Hindi word order rules and controlling properties of arguments described by some authors [T. Mohanan 1990; 1994; Butt 1995] may be applied to prose, but not to poetry. The paper establishes that out of five main constraints on scrambling possibilities in Hindi proposed by Mohanan, only one can be claimed to be universal, i.e. the auxiliary verb in a CP cannot be separated from the main one. One of the constraints suggested by T. Mohanan seems not to be a constraint at all: the nominal component within the CP is free to scramble both in prose and poetry. Three constraints are valid for prose texts, but not for poetry: in poetry the separation of parts of noun phrase does not obligatorily imply the initial position; scrambling of the main and light verbs is allowed; the negative particle may be separated from the verbal predicate. In comparison with prose, poetry allows more NPs to control conjunctive participles. Hence, the important task would be to investigate the reasons why a reader/listener considers certain sentences grammatical in poetry but ungrammatical in prose.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface VII
- Contents IX
- Acknowledgements XI
- Transliteration XIII
- (In)definiteness without articles: diagnosis, analysis, implications 1
- Differential comparatives in Hindi-Urdu 27
- The structure of complex predicates in Hindi-Urdu: evidence from verb-phrase ellipsis 47
- Case licensing in Hindi prenominal relative clauses 85
- Constraints on attributive functions of Hindi perfect participles manifesting the resultant state 107
- On the nature of the Hindi infinitive: History as an answer to its syntactic behavior? 115
- Main verb form in structures of ability/possibility in Hindi 147
- Agreement in conjunct verb construction: let’s solve the problem 187
- Conjunct verbs in Hindi 217
- Impersonal expressions in Hindi-Urdu and phantom valents in Kashmiri 245
- An attempt to understand the encoding of reduced transitivity in Hindi: the case of compound verbs with jānā 265
- Syntactic constraints in modern Hindi 287
- A pragmatic account of directive strategies in Hindi 303
- Discovering the Hindi grammatical tradition: Historicity and second language acquisition 333
- List of contributors 355
- Index 359
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Preface VII
- Contents IX
- Acknowledgements XI
- Transliteration XIII
- (In)definiteness without articles: diagnosis, analysis, implications 1
- Differential comparatives in Hindi-Urdu 27
- The structure of complex predicates in Hindi-Urdu: evidence from verb-phrase ellipsis 47
- Case licensing in Hindi prenominal relative clauses 85
- Constraints on attributive functions of Hindi perfect participles manifesting the resultant state 107
- On the nature of the Hindi infinitive: History as an answer to its syntactic behavior? 115
- Main verb form in structures of ability/possibility in Hindi 147
- Agreement in conjunct verb construction: let’s solve the problem 187
- Conjunct verbs in Hindi 217
- Impersonal expressions in Hindi-Urdu and phantom valents in Kashmiri 245
- An attempt to understand the encoding of reduced transitivity in Hindi: the case of compound verbs with jānā 265
- Syntactic constraints in modern Hindi 287
- A pragmatic account of directive strategies in Hindi 303
- Discovering the Hindi grammatical tradition: Historicity and second language acquisition 333
- List of contributors 355
- Index 359
