Semantics of explicator compound verbs in south Asian languages

Abstract

The explicator compound verb (ECV) construction has been a focus of attention since its recognition as a major areal feature of south Asian languages. An ECV construction refers to a sequence of two verbs VI and V2, in which the main verb of the sentence, generally VI in SOV languages, is followed by another verb, i.e. V2, which is delexicalized in the construction. It is possible to group all previous discussions on the topic into two categories. One, the analyses of the forms and associated meanings of the construction in individual languages of the area. Two. the consideration of broader issues such as, for instance, the common or most general function of the construction as such, comparisons of explicators across languages in terms of their forms, meanings, numbers and frequencies of usage, selectional constraints operating on combinations of main verbs and explicators and degrees of grammaticalization. The present paper is an attempt towards making a comparative areal survey of the ECV construction in terms of semantic typology. With this end in view, explicator meanings are grouped into three major types and further subtypes, with illustrations to show that each of the larger types and at least one of the subtypes is represented by all languages of the area that have ECV constructions. Also, characteristic traits are identified in the case of different language families with reference to both the actual lexical items used as explicators as well as their meanings. The study is based on representative data from languages belonging to all four language families in India: Dravidian. Indo-Aryan, Tibeto-Burman and Austro-Asiatic.