The Munda Verb: Typological Perspectives

Description

The Munda Verb is a unique book on the typology of the verb in the Munda language family, and the first of its kind on any language family of the Indian subcontinent. The author painstakingly works out nearly all the details of the morphology of the verb in each modern Munda language and offers a description of the typology of the Munda verbal systems both individually and collectively. The author uses a large amount of data from modern Munda languages, as well as an extensive cross-linguistic corpus offering comparisons from genetically unrelated languages such as Fox, Amele, Kinyarwanda, Luyia, Takelma, Tonkawa, Burushaski, or Tangut where relevant. Points of note include the unusual incorporation system of South Munda Sora and the elaborate and complex system of verb agreement attested in the Kherwarian Munda languages. Further, the author discusses models for a Proto-Munda verbal system and problems in its reconstruction at various points throughout. This book is of great interest to specialists working on the Munda languages, South Asian linguistics, language typology, historical linguistics and to scholars of both morphology as well as syntax. Foreword List of abbreviations Chapter 1: The Munda language family 1. Overview 1.1 Classification of the Munda language family 1.2 Sociolinguistic data 1.3 A brief history of the study of the Munda language 1.4 Overview of the phonology, nominal morphology, and syntax of Munda Chapter 2: Voice and version in the Munda verb 2. Introduction 2.1 Causative 2.2 Reciprocal 2.3 Reflexive and passive 2.4 Benefactive/applicative 2.5 Version 2.6 Summary Chapter 3: Referent indexing in the Munda verb 3. Introduction 3.1 Subject marking in Munda 3.2 Object marking in the Munda verb 3.3 Possessor raising 3.4 Multiple referent marking in Munda 3.5 Summary Chapter 4: Tense, aspect, mood and transitivity 4. Tense, aspect, mood and transitivity 4.1 Tense/aspect/mood marking in South Munda languages 4.2 Tense/aspect/mood marking in North Munda languages 4.3 Mood 4.4 On non-finite formations in Munda 4.5 Summary Chapter 5: Negation 5. Overview 5.1 The category negative [NEG] in South Munda 5.2 Negative in North Munda 5.3 Summary Chapter 6: Noun incorporation 6. Introduction 6.1 On the theoretical background of noun incorporation 6.2 Munda noun incorporation 6.3 Noun incorporation in other South Munda languages 6.4 North Munda 6.5 Munda, Khasi, and Nicobarese: parallels in noun incorporation 6.6 Summary Chapter 7: Switch reference 7. Introduction 7.1 Switch reference in Gutob, Remo, and Gta? 7.2 Switch reference in other Munda languages 7.3 Summary Chapter 8: Auxiliary verb constructions and other complex predicate types 8. Introduction 8.1 Functional types of auxiliary verb constructions 8.2 Univerbation or fused AVCs in Munda 8.3 Inflectional types in auxiliary verb constructions 8.4 Serial verb formations and ECHO forms in Munda languages 8.5 Summary References Index