Theoretical Perspectives On Word Order In South Asian Languages

A collection of papers on word order variation in the languages of South Asia.

The researchers in the field of theoretical and theoretically inclined descriptive linguistics have for a long time felt a need for detailed and clearly presented linguistic treatments of various syntactic phenomena in South Asian languages. Clause Structure in South Asian Languages: provides a comprehensive overview and covers major aspects of clause structure in a variety of South Asian languages; provides detailed analyses of several aspects of phrase structure of many prominent South Asian languages; gives theoretically up-to-date treatment of several important issues in South Asian syntax and semantics; contains papers by some of the most prominent linguists working on South Asian languages.

This volume represents a good sample of current scholarship on South Asian languages, historical, descriptive, and typological. It includes material pertaining to most of the linguistic stocks of South Asia (Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Munda, Tibeto-Burman, even Burushaski-along with important comparisons with some of those outside it) - by contributors from six different countries. It grew out of an international contributors from six different countries. It grew out of an international conference on South Asian languages held in Moscow in July 2003.

The South Asian languages, mainly Indo-Aryan and Dravidian, have become a focus of interest in the formal study of language as a natural consequence of the research program of the Principle and Parameters approach and an enforced interest in exploring the parametrical space of human language. The contributions to the present volume combine theoretical reasoning in syntax and phonology with a comparative research agenda in which South Asian languages figure prominently. The topics range from issues of clause structure, serial verb constructions, cleft- and question formation, to the question of what the proper syntactic format of modification should be, issues of binding theory and raising, and issues of complementation, the clausal periphery and clausal typing. The collection of articles concludes with two chapters on Dravidian and comparative phonology and a chapter on the shaping of phonological awareness by different writing systems. The authors and the editors devote this piece of work to Professor K.A. Jayaseelan, one of present-day India’s most influential linguists.

Trends in Hindi Linguistics provides a snapshot of current developments in Hindi syntax and semantics and covers topics such as definiteness marking, comparative constructions with differentials, conjunct verbs, participial relative clauses, ellipsis, scrambling, infinitives and directive strategies. Together these papers give a rich and in-depth account of the vitality of current research on Hindi.

Complex Predicates Have Been A Readily Identifiable Feature Of South Asian Languages. This Study Is The First Attempt Of Its Kind To Bring Together The Data And Descriptive Facts From Various South Asian Languages With A View To Providing A Comparative Picture As Well As An Overall Theoretical Perspective.

Explores the similarities and differences of about forty South Asian languages from the four different language families.