Language

LANGUAGE

Part I

(1) vuzimali karyi-n (asmaan-as)
....strokes.fpl did.fpl-3sgErg sky-Dat
.... 'There was lightning (in the sky).'

(2) taarakh keDyi-n (nab-as) neny
.... stars.mpl drew.mpl-3sgErg sky-Dat clear.mpl
.... 'The stars came out bright (in the sky).'

The lexically two-place predicates in (1) and (2) alternate with one-place predicates:

(3) vuzimali geyi (asmaan-as)
.... strokes.fpl went.fpl sky-Dat
.... 'There was lightning (in the sky).'

(4) taarakh draayi (nab-as) neny
.... stars.mpl came.out.mpl sky-Dat clear.mpl
.... 'The stars came out bright (in the sky).'

We are unable to discover the semantic (or pragmatic) conditions which govern the choice between (1) and (3) or between (2) and (4).

....The presence of only one core NP in association with the lexically two-place predicates when they figure in expressions of natural forces and processes leaves an empty slot which (in preterite and perfect tenses) is filled with a dummy subject represented by the third person suffix -n. Notice that the suffix in exx (1) and (2) is singular while the overt core noun is plural. Furthermore, without the suffix -n (1) and (2) are not grammatical:

(5) *vuzimali karyi (asmaan-as) [compare (1)]
.... strokes.fpl did.fpl sky-Dat
.... 'There was lightning (in the sky).'

(6) *taarakh keDyi (nab-as) neny [compare (2)]
.... stars.mpl drew.mpl sky-Dat clear.mpl
.... 'The stars came out bright (in the sky).'

....Whether speakers use a two-place predicate as in exx (1) and (2) or the corresponding one-place predicate as in exx (3) and (4) there is only one core noun phrase that is referential. That is, in exx (1) and (2) the ergative third person singular pronominal suffix (which in general represents an agent-subject) has no referent, at least not in the modern language. It is tempting to suppose that at some time in the past it was possible to use an overt noun phrase referring to some supernatural being instead of the ergative suffix. However, speakers today do not accept such alternatives as part of the living language. That is, while (7) and (8) are grammatical, no-one would use them:

(7) vuzimali karyi (asmaan-as) khwadaay-an [compare (1)]
.... strokes.fpl did.fpl sky-Dat God-Erg
.... 'God made lightning (in the sky).'

(8) taarakh keDyi (nab-as) neny khwaday-an [compare (2)]
.... stars.mpl drew.mpl sky-Dat clear.mpl God-Erg
.... 'God brought the stars out bright (in the sky).'

....The question we address in this paper is this: What is the grammatical status of the null element in (1) and (2)? Is it a subject? Does it have a grammatical function? Can it get case? Or does it simply satisfy some morphological requirement of two-place predicates in the preterite or perfect?

....The answer to these questions is quite surprising: Careful syntactic analysis reveals that there are two classes of such predicates. In one class the third person singular marker is indeed a kind of morpho-logical filler with no syntactic status. Even though the predicates in this class are lexically two-place (or transitive), they behave in their syntax quite like one-place (intransitive) predicates. The null subject in the other class, however, has syntactic properties of a real noun phrase. It has a grammatical function and is able to control at least some of the syntactic processes that other overt subject noun phrases can control. Expressions belonging to the first class involve natural forces (thunder, lightning, earthquakes, floods; diseases; and unusual mental states) while those belonging to the second involve the more gradual change in state that we have dubbed natural process. (1) is an instance of a natural force expression; (2), of a natural process. We now examine three syntactic properties which distinguish the null elements in the first class from those in the second.

....I. Subject agreement. The finite verb in the preterite and perfect tenses agrees in gender and number with the subject of intransitives and with the object of transitives. But in other tenses agreement is always with the subject, be the verb intransitive or be it transitive. In the future the finite verb in natural force expressions shows concord not with the null element, but with the other core noun phrase. Thus, in (9) the future tense verb form karan is in the plural to show agreement with the noun phrase vuzimali 'strokes':

(9) vuzimali kar-an (obur-as)
.... strokes.fpl do-Fut.3pl cloud-Dat
.... 'There will be lightning (in the cloud).'

In the class of natural process expressions, however, it is the null element (and not the overt noun phrase) that controls subject concord. In (10) the future tense verb form kaDyi is in the singular, agreeing with the null element, not with the overt noun phrase taarakh 'stars':

(10) taarakh kaD-yi (nab-as) neny
.... stars.mpl draw-Fut.3sg sky-Dat clear.mpl
.... 'The stars will come out bright (in the sky).'

....II. In Kashmiri there is a person hierarchy such that, in non-ergative tenses (present and past duratives, future, counter-to-fact), a direct object that is [+human] and [+specific] is marked with the dative case if the subject is a third person. If the subject is first person then a [+human, +specific] object is marked with the nominative case and is cross-referenced on the verb with an object suffix. (fn 1)

(11) su sooz-yi-y tsye jom
.... he send-Fut.3sg-2sgDat you.Dat Jammu
.... 'He'll send you to Jammu.'

(12) bi sooz-a-th tsi jom
.... I send-Fut.1sg-2sgObj you.Nom Jammu
.... 'I'll send you to Jammu.'

In a preterite (or perfect) tense the object must be in the nominative (= absolutive) case and, if it is a second person, it must be cross-referenced with a nominative suffix on the finite verb:

(13) temy suuzu-kh tsi jom
.... he.Erg sent-2sgNom you.Nom Jammu
.... 'He sent you to Jammu.'

Thus, in Kashmiri there is a very specific and constrained pattern of case alternations for the objects of transitive verbs. And for transitive predicates to have objects that show these alternations, they must also have subjects, because the choice of the case and the choice of the suffix for the object depends on the person of the subject.

....This kind of alternation is not found with natural force expressions. But if we examine a natural process expression we discover that the overt core noun phrase associated with it receives the cases and suffixes which one would expect it to receive if one assumes the null element to be a third person subject and the overt noun phrase to be an object. In the future tense if the overt core noun phrase of a natural process expression is second person, it gets the dative case:

(14) vakhit-i brOOTh buDir-aav-yi-y tsye
.... time-Abl before age-Tr-Fut.3sg-2sg.Dat you.Dat
.... 'You will age before your time!'

And in the preterite tense the overt core noun phrase of natural process expressions gets the nominative (=absolutive) case:

(15) vakhit-i brOOh buDir-oovu-n-akh tsi
.... time-Abl before age-Tr.Pst-3sg.Erg-2sg.Nom you.Nom
.... 'You aged before your time!' [compare (14)]

....III. Further evidence for the distinction of natural force and natural process expressions is to be observed in their behavior in coordinate conjunctions. Weather expressions, which are syntactically intransi-tive, allow the conjunction of forms having dummy agents with ordinary monovalent forms. Although vuzimali 'lightning strokes' in (16) is lexically the patient of the verb kar 'do, make', it is syntactically the subject of its clause and as such can be interpreted as the sub-ject of a following clause ( ti pati geyas kam 'and then became less').

(16) gwaDi karyi-n-as syeThaa vuzimali ti pati gey-as kam
.... first did-3sE-3sD many strokes and then went-3sD less
.... 'At first there was a lot of lightning and then less.'

....In contrast, bivalent natural process verbs allow conjunction only with other bivalent natural process verbs. In (17) and (18) the noun phrase taarakh 'stars' is also lexically the patient of its verb geeb kar 'make disappear', but in (18) since it is syntactically the direct object (not the subject) of its clause it cannot be interpreted as the subject of the following clause ( ti pati draayas byeyi neny 'and then came out bright again').

(17) gwaDi keryi-n-as taarakh geeb ti pati keDyi-n-as byeyi neny
.... first did-3sE-3sD stars hidden and then drew-3sE-3sD again clear
.... 'First the stars disappeared and then came out bright again.'

(18) *gwaDi keryi-n-as taarakh geeb ti pati draay-as byeyi neny
.... first did-3sE-3sD stars hidden and then emerged-3sD again clear
.... 'First the stars disappeared and then came out bright again.'

In order to make a coordinate conjunction with an intransitive clause as second member, one must select the intransitive counterpart of the natural process expression:

(19) gwaDi gey-as taarakh geeb ti pati draay-as byeyi neny
.... first went-3sD stars hidden and then emerged-3sD again clear
.... 'First the stars disappeared and then came out bright again.'

Part II

(1) az kor mye baagas manz seer (fn 2)
today made I.Erg garden in walk (fn 3)
'Today I took a walk in the garden.'

(2) yi chu su naphar [yemy mye siity az baagas manz seer kor]
this is that person who.Erg me with today garden in walk made
'This is the person who took a walk with me in the garden today.'

One of the systematic ways in which V-2 in Kashmiri differs from that of German and Dutch is that in Kashmiri an interrogative element, if present, follows the first constituent and bumps the finite verb into clause-third position. Compare the position of the finite element chu 'is' in the question (3) and answer (4):

(3) kalas pyeTh kyaa chu aas-aan ? (Koul 1985:176)
head on what is be-ing
'What is found on the head?'

(4) kalas pyeTh chu mas aas-aan (Koul 1985:176)
head on is hair be-ing
'Hair is found on the head.'

Another difference is that unlike in German and Dutch in Kashmiri the position of the finite element in sentential objects is the same as that found in matrix clauses:

(3') yi prutsh-m-ay tsye [zyi kalas pyeTh kyaa chu aas-aan] ?
this asked-1sA-2sD you.Dat that head on what is be-ing
'I asked you what is found on the head?'

(4') ti yi von-m-ay tsye [zyi kalas pyeTh chu mas aas-aan]
and this said-1sa-2sD you.Dat that head on is hair be-ing
'And I told you that hair is found on the head.'

A similarity with Germanic is that there has been some debate over what (if any) order of clause elements is to be taken as basic. It is this question that we address here today.

As we have seen one of the general restrictions on word order in Kashmiri is that the finite element of the verb must come after the first phrasal constituent of a matrix clause. As non-finite elements of the verb are not themselves full phrases, they generally cannot precede the finite. For example, in ex. (5) either the subject (5a), the object (5b), the postpositional phrase (5c), or the adverb (5d) may come first, but the non-finite part of the verb may not (except in poetry) (5e):

(5a) bi oosu-s az baagas manz seer karaan
I was-1sN today garden in walk making
'I was walking today in the garden.'

(b) seer oosus baagas manz bi az karaan

(d) az oosus bi baagas manz seer karaan

(e) *karaan oosus bi az baagas manz seer (except in poetry)

If the verb is transitive, its direct object can count as a moveable constituent of the clause. But the direct object plus the non-finite part of the verb cannot (except in poetry):

(6a) tyim chi nyebari caay cev-aan
they are outside tea drink-ing
'They are drinking tea somewhere outside.'

(b) nyebari chi tyim caay cevaan

(d) *caay cevaan chi tyim nyebari (except in poetry)

Even if a direct object plus a non-finite form constitute a complement of the verb in the matrix clause, they cannot move as a unit (7c): no pied-piping [pace Raina 1996:70 (fn 4)]; although as in (6c) the direct object alone can move to the clause-initial position (7d):

(7a) bi chus yatshaan az phyilim vuchiny
I am wanting today film see.Inf
'I want to see a film today.'

(b) az chus bi yatshaan phyilim vuchiny

(d) phyilim chus bi az vuchiny yatshaan

However, it is not uncommon to have sentences in Kashmiri in which there are no noun phrases, adverbs, or postpositional phrases, in which all the words are forms of verbs. What happens in such cases? Clearly some non-finite element must occupy the clause-initial position. However, it turns out that not just any non-finite element may do so. Study of such sentences provides additional insight into the form, scope, and applicational order of word-order rules in Kashmiri.

Let us take a sentence which means 'I couldn't learn to dance.' In the Kashmiri version that we will examine there are four words, all of them verbial. If word order were completely free a four-word sentence would have 24 possible orderings. Since in Kashmiri the finite verbal element must come second, a four-element sentence has no more than six possible orderings. However, when all of the elements are verbial only two or three of the six are acceptable as normal freely occurring orders:

(8a) nats.un oosus-ni hyech.ith hyek.aan
dance was-not learn able
'I was not able to learn to dance.'

(b) natsun oosus-ni hyekaan hyechith

(d) ??hyekaan oosus-ni hyechith natsun (except in poetry)

(e) ??hyechith oosus-ni hyekaan natsun (except in poetry)

(f) ??hyechith oosus-ni natsun hyekaan (except in poetry)

In the vast majority of other South Asian languages the normal order of elements in the verb complex is roughly as follows:

(9) verb (vector) (passive) (compverb) (modal) (aspectual 'be') tense/mood

where 'vector' stands for completive auxiliaries such as Hindi-Urdu le (from le 'take'), de (from de 'give'), jaa (from jaa 'go'), etc.; 'passive' is usually an auxiliary derived from some verb meaning 'go' (Hindi-Urdu jaa ) or 'come' (Gujarati aa); 'compverb' refers to those predicates that subcategorize or take VP complements: Hindi-Urdu de 'let' (from de 'give'), caah 'want', siikh 'learn', Suruu kar 'begin', etc.; 'modal' means 'modal of ability' (Hindi-Urdu sak 'can, be able'); aspectual 'be' is either the progressive (Hindi-Urdu rah@ h-), the habitual (Hindi-Urdu -t@ h-) or the perfect (Hindi-Urdu -@ h-). In general, it is difficult to find acceptable strings containing more than six of these items. However, a complete instantiation may be seen in the following, from Hindi-Urdu:

(10) kyaa m. teraa naam bataa diyaa jaane de saktaa h-UU?
QM I your name tell give go let be.able be-1sgPres
verb (vector) (passive) (compverb) (modal) (aspectual 'be') tense
'Can I allow your name to be divulged?'

Since the V-2 word order in Kashmiri (and a small number of nearby languages: Shina of Gurez, Upper Poguli, Watali...) is geographically isolated, and since surrounding languages are verb-final and have the order of elements shown in (9); let us assume the V-2 order of Kashmiri to be an innovation. That is, at some stage in the past Kashmiri, too, would have had the order of elements shown in (9). Since that order is also the usual order of items in Kashmiri relative clauses, we have an additional reason to propose it as the base order for elements in root clauses, as well:

(11) verb-stem (-ini yi- ) (-yith + hyak- ) (-aan/-mut + aas- ) tense/mood
-Inf Passive -CP can -ing/PP be Pres/Past/Cond

If the assumption of a basic order in the verb complex as given in (11) is correct for Kashmiri, it should be possible to find a fairly simple set of rules that will give us the order of elements actually found in root clauses and none of the orders not found.

Given strings consonant with (11), three rules suffice to move constituents in such a way as to yield the two (or sometimes three) acceptable orders. They do not give the dispreferred orders.

(12) Rule 1. Move finite element to the left of its next-left neighbor.

Rule 2. If the last element is a non-finite one move it to clause-initial position.

Rule 3. Move finite element (together with elements to its right) to the second position in the clause.

In Kashmiri, restrictions on the cooccurrence of the options in (11) are even tighter than the corresponding restrictions in other Indo-Aryan languages. Five (including the mandatory tense affix) seems to be the highest number of items that can cooccur in a single verb complex. Let us rearrange the elements in (8) according to the template in (11) based on the general Indic data in (13):

(13a) naacnaa siikh (na) saktaa th-aa (Hindi-Urdu)

(b) naatsNa shiku shakat (na-) ho-to (Marathi)
dance learn (not) be.able (not) be-Past

V comp V modal aspect-tense
(c) (*) nats.un hyech.ith hyek.aan oosus-ni (*Kashmiri)
dance learn be.able was-not

'I was not able to learn to dance.'

The first two rules in (12) are options. The first rule may apply in a finite clause whether root or not. In relative clauses we need the first rule in order to account for the frequent occurrence of the finite part of the verb as the last but one item in the verb complex:

(14) yi chu su naphar [yus ni natsun hyechith oos hyekaan]
this is that person who not dance learn was able
'This is the person who couldnUt learn to dance.'

(However, there are further complexities involved in the order of elements in verb complexes in relative clauses which we will not attempt to account for here.) Rule 1 must apply before the V-2 rule in order to account for the order found in (8b):

(8b) natsun oosus-ni hyekaan hyechith

The second rule depends on the first to create the necessary conditions for its application and applies only in root clauses. The least important of the three rules, it is needed only for the marginal third alternative in (8c):

(8c) ?hyekaan oosus-ni natsun hyechith

However, as we shall see below, there are other verb complexes whose optimal ordering requires the second rule. The third rule is, of course, the key rule in an account of word order in Kashmiri and must apply in all root clauses.

To retest our analysis we have taken another, rather different four-element clause in which (again) all the items are verbial. It is the Kashmiri for 'They do not let her fall down'. Acceptability judgments for all six possible orderings of this sentence are given in (15).

(15a) ?ves.yith chi-s-ni pye.nyi dyiv.aan (by Rule 3)
descend are-3sD-Neg fall let
'They do not let her fall down.'

(b) vesyith chi-s-ni dyivaan pyenyi (by Rules 1 and 3)

(d) ??dyivaan chi-s-ni pyenyi vesyith (cannot be generated)

(e) ??pyenyi chi-s-ni dyivaan vesyith (cannot be generated)

(f) ??pyenyi chi-s-ni vesyith dyivaan (cannot be generated)

The basic order postulated for (15) is given in (15g):

(15g) (*) ves.yith pye.nyi dyiv.aan chi-s-ni
descend fall let are-3sD-Neg

We have keyed the six orderings in (15) in such a way that they can be directly compared with the six items in (8). That is, if we assume pan-Indic order as basic in Kashmiri, each corresponding pair of items in (8) and (15) is obtained by applying the same rule or rules. Thus, both (8a) and (15a) involve only Rule 3; both (8b) and (15b) require the application of Rules 1 and 3; and so on.

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