Some Forms of the Absolutive in Middle Indo-Aryan

Abstract

TXE GERUND, or so-called conjunctive or absolutive participle is frequently used in the IndoAryan languages in all their stages of development, but it is particularly frequent in Middle Indo-Aryan. The constant repetition ole absolutives is well-known to be one of the maln features of Jaina Prakrit syntax. From a surveof the forms used it would appear as if there had be^3n a comparatively rapid turnover of forms in the liLerary languages, though perhaps more contilluitv in popular speech. Yedic had a number of forms for this particile, -tvi, -tva, -tvaya, as well as -ya,-tya, and the grammarians further quote the otherwise unattested -tvanam and -tvinam. These were reduced to two in Classical Sanskrit, -tva for simple verbs, -ya for compound verbs, though the Vedic forms seem to have survived in popular speech. In Middle IndoAryan there is a vast variety of forms, of which the more important are: