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Compound Verbs in Marathi

The diachronic nature of Indo-Aryan compound verbs has been a matter of debate. Scholars like Hook (1991, 1993) and Slade (2013) consider light/vector verbs to have emerged as a resultant of diachronic change; whereas Butt and Lahiri (2002, 2013) opine that light verbs are historically stable and resistant to change. In the light of these views, I look at Marathi compound verbs across time (13th century CE to 21st century CE) to  i. show that their pattern is indicative of gradual emergence rather than historical stability, and ii. affirm Butt and Lahiriís (2013) observation that once established, they show little change in terms of their semantics and morphophonology. Additionally, by looking at the semantic contribution of the light/vector verbs to a compound verb construction, I show that there exists a split between the light verbs which mark telicity and the ones which don’t. Looking at the Indo-Aryan landscape and considering Hook’s (2001) tripartite classification of Indo-Aryan compound verb systems, I suggest- pending a more thorough investigation- that there is a reason to assume that the class of light verbs in Marathi that mark telicity might slowly be becoming more Hindi-like in terms of aspectual (=telicity denoting) properties.

Versions of this study focusing mostly on the diachronic & quantitative aspects without much of a critical discussion have been published at a couple of venues (including here). A version summarizing the entirety work along with the critical discussion remains in preparation.

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Present Progressive in Kolhapuri Marathi: A Case of Grammaticalization?

The paper analyses the morphophonology of the present progressive verb form in Kolhapuri Marathi to suggest that it might be an instance of grammaticalization. More specifically, the polysemous verb ‘lagɳe’ (to get hit/attached) seems to express a progressive reading in addition to an inchoative one expressed in the standard variety of Marathi, suggesting that the verb ‘lagɳe’ is likely to have grammaticalized even further in this variety of Marathi.
You can find the paper here.

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Research

My research interests broadly lie in the areas of psycholinguistics, morphosyntax, and syntax-semantics interface.

Besides my long standing interests in light verbs, complex predicates, and (non-)compositionally, I am interested case, agreement, as well as their interaction and processing. Apart from agreement attraction, my psycholinguistic research focuses on processing of morphosyntax and psychological reality of morphosyntactic structures. My other interests include coordination, question particles, and polar, alternative, & biased questions.

I primarily work on Marathi (Indo-Aryan; also my first language). Since 2022, I have been doing fieldwork on Nɬeʔkepmxcin (also known as Thompson River Salish), an interior Salish language spoken in BC, Canada.

From time to time, I find myself thinking about (without any success- I must add) phonology of Marathi. Given that my other interests are so far removed from it, I find doing so almost freeing- I thoroughly enjoy the luxury of not having to make much sense!

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