The Duration of an Action-Real or Aspectual? The Evolution of the Present Tense in Tamil

Abstract

Earlier scholarly discusssions on Dravidian verbs have identified -(k)kinras the most prevalent present tense marker used in the positive forms of modern Tamil verbs. This paper claims that -(k)kinris nothing but the amalgam of an aspect marker -(k)kiland the current time marker -n-. It also shows that -(k)kinrhas replaced an earlier present tense marker -aninrwhich itself is a synthesis of an aspect marker -aniland the current time marker -n-. Attestations from pre-modern Tamil poetry and medieval Tamil inscriptions evidence the gradual replacement of -aninrby -(k)kinr-, while the commentaries on traditional Tamil grammars support the analysis of -aninrand -(k)kinras conglomerates of the aspect markers -aniland -kilwith the current time marker -nrespectively.