Abstract
Steever (1988. The serial verb formation in the Dravidian languages. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass) introduced to South Asian linguistics the notion “Serial Verb” – a Dravidian construction in which two morphologically finite verbs agree in person and number features in the same sentence. I show that similar “double-finite” structures are found in Sanskrit/Indo-Aryan, although details differ. One double-finite construction, inherited from Proto-Indo-European, does not seem to have continued in the post-Vedic language, but others do, and similar structures occur in Modern Indo-Aryan languages. While the historical developments are relatively clear for early Indo-Aryan, from Vedic down to Pāli, there are questions about whether the double-finite constructions of Modern Indo-Aryan are inherited , since comparable structures have not been noted in late Middle Indo-Aryan Apabhraṁśa, the near-ancestor of (peninsular) Modern Indo-Aryan. In the conclusion I discuss alternatives to Modern Indo-Aryan inheritance, including areal and typological factors and the proposal by Milizia (2018. Sul presente neoindoarico a doppio verbo finito. Atti del Sodalizio Glottologico Milanese 12(n.s.). 93–111) that the perhaps most widespread Modern Indo-Aryan double-finite construction results from analogical developments. (Unfortunately, the latter proposal does not account for the other Modern Indo-Aryan double-finite constructions.)
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Complex verb constructions in Indo-Aryan in synchrony and diachrony: an introduction
- Research Articles
- Remarks on the diachrony of verbal periphrasis in Vedic Sanskrit
- Secondary predicates and motion events: the rise of complex predicates in Vedic Sanskrit
- Early Vedic denominatives and their analytic counterparts with √ kr̥ ‘do, make’
- Action nouns in Vedic support-verb constructions with kṛ
- The use of ās- ‘sit’ and vas- ‘dwell’ plus participle and gerund from Early Vedic to Epic Sanskrit
- Double-finite Serial Verbs in Sanskrit and later Indo-Aryan
- Book Review
- Nell Shapiro Hawley & Sohini Sarah Pillai: Many Mahābhāratas (SUNY series in Hindu studies)
- Obituary
- In memoriam Dipak Bhattacharya (1940–2023)
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Editorial
- Complex verb constructions in Indo-Aryan in synchrony and diachrony: an introduction
- Research Articles
- Remarks on the diachrony of verbal periphrasis in Vedic Sanskrit
- Secondary predicates and motion events: the rise of complex predicates in Vedic Sanskrit
- Early Vedic denominatives and their analytic counterparts with √ kr̥ ‘do, make’
- Action nouns in Vedic support-verb constructions with kṛ
- The use of ās- ‘sit’ and vas- ‘dwell’ plus participle and gerund from Early Vedic to Epic Sanskrit
- Double-finite Serial Verbs in Sanskrit and later Indo-Aryan
- Book Review
- Nell Shapiro Hawley & Sohini Sarah Pillai: Many Mahābhāratas (SUNY series in Hindu studies)
- Obituary
- In memoriam Dipak Bhattacharya (1940–2023)