Download 4. Compound Verb

1. Introduction
Two kinds of verb formation are found in Hindi1: simple verbs and complex verbs.
Examples of the former are calnaa (walk) and caRhnaa (climb) etc and the examples of
the latter are aarambh karnaa (start) bhang karnaa (end) etc. Figure 1 shows the types of
Hindi verbs in a tree diagram.
Hindi Verbs
Simple
Complex
calnaa (walk)
Conjunct
aarambh karnaa
(start-do ‘start’)
Compound
khaa lenaa (eat-take
‘eat’)
Figure1. Types of Hindi Verbs
Complex verbs, also known as Complex Predicates (CP), are formed in two ways in
Hindi. The first type is known as Conjunct Verbs. Here, the first member is either a noun
or an adjective. Examples 1 and 2 are the instances of this process. The conjunct verbs
are marked in boldface.
1. usne
sabhaa aarambh kii
Pron-erg N
N
V
(s)he-erg convention start
do.
‘(S)he started the convention’
2. usne
bacce ko shaant kiya
Pron-erg N
acc Adj
V
(s)he-erg child acc pacify do
‘(S)he pacified the baby’
In Example 1 we see a noun+verb sequence, and in 2 that of an adjective+verb.
1
Hindi is a language of the Indo-Aryan family spoken in parts of Northern India.
The second type of complex verb construction found in Hindi is a verb+verb
combination. This type of verb is known as a Compound Verb (CV). The first or the main
verb is in its stem or some other non-finite form while the second verb is in a
morphologically finite form bearing the relevant inflections such as person, number,
gender, tense, aspect and modality. In example 3 and 4 CVs are marked in boldface.
3. usne
saaraa khaanaa
Pron-erg adj
N
(S)He -erg all
food
‘He ate all the food’
khaa lia
V1 V2
eat
take
4. vah
ghar calaa gaya
Pron
N
V1
V2
he
home went
past
‘He went home’.
Here, we undertake detailed study of the CPs in Hindi. We have chosen a special
type of conjunct verb, i.e., Noun+Verb (henceforth N+V) and compound verb (henceforth
CV) as the domain of our investigation.
The paper is divided into following sections. Section 2 states the motivation of the study,
section 3 deals with the N+V combinations in different languages and then the tests to
identify them in Hindi. Section 4 discusses the compound verbs in Hindi, homotactic
sequences and the tests to distinguish the compound verbs from these sequences. Section
5 concludes the paper and section 6 gives future direction.
2. Motivation
The motivation of this work comes from the building of the Hindi Wordnet (HWN), a
lexical database for Hindi [1]. Here, a concept is denoted by a synonym set (synset).
Thus, {ghar, kamraa} in one synset gives the sense of room and {ghar, makaan} together
represents the concept of house. These synsets are then linked with each other through
the well known semantic relations hypernymy, hyponymy, meronymy, holonymy,
antonymy, entailment, troponymy and form a net like structure.
In the process of building the HWN we have to deal with CPs and the question of how
they are to be stored in the database. Since, there are large numbers of CPs in Hindi we
need to have a uniform way to deal with these cases.
It has been found that the nouns denoting action always come with a verb in
Hindi. It is not possible to construct a sentence with those nouns without combining them
with a verb. For example, advice in English has two different constructions:
5. He advised me on road safety.
6. He gave me advice on road safety.
give advice in English is similar to Hindi paraamarsh denaa. In Hindi, it is possible to
have a structure like 6 but not 5. Thus, the question arises whether to store paraamarsh or
paraamarsh denaa in HWN. There are two possible ways of solving this:
a. to keep paraamarsh in the lexicon and then to link it with the verb with which
it co-occurs
This solution is the simplest and syntactically too in terms of the argument
structure of the associated verb and the agreement properties there is no problem.
But, there is a semantic mismatch. Consider chalaang maarnaa (dive). There are
two senses of maarnaa in Hindi: beat and kill. None of these senses match with
the maarnaa in chalaang maarnaa (dive). This approach appears to miss one
property of these constructions.
b. to keep paraamarsh denaa as a single entry in the lexicon and then to specify
its syntactic and semantic features
The problem with this analysis is this we cannot keep all such
constructions readily in the lexicon. In many instances the noun is really an object and
there is no need to store it as a lexical unit along with the verb. So, it is necessary to
separate the conjunct verbs from other N+V sequences.
The V+V constructions are also difficult to deal with and describe since there are
other homotactic sequences found in the language. Consider,
7. raam kitaab parh
rahaa hai
ram book
V1
V2 is
‘Ram is reading the book’
8. raam ne kitaab parh daalii
ram erg book
V1
V2
‘Ram read the book’ [finish]
rahaa ‘is’ in 7 marks the progressive aspect where as daalaa ‘put’ in 8 says something
more than completeness, i.e., about the attitude (somehow finished). Thus, the verb in 7
will not be stored in the lexicon where as 8 may be. This is due to the shade of meaning
that daalnaa ‘put’ adds.
3. Related work
A large number of Hindi verbs are N+V combinations. This phenomenon is seen cross
linguistically and is treated as Noun Incorporation (NI) in the literature. The major
question to answer with this type of verb construction concerns the status of the noun,
i.e., whether the noun is incorporated into the verb complex or if the noun is an
overt argument of the verb. Consider the two combinations caae lenaa ‘to take tea’ and
jamhaaii lenaa ‘to yawn’. In the former case caae ‘tea’ is an overt object of the verb
whereas in the latter jamhaaii ‘yawn’ is incorporated.
Mohanan (1995) was the first to explicitly claim that Hindi has incorporation [2].
In doing so, she drew on morpho-syntactic as well as semantic evidence. Mohanan claims
the following facts about NI in Hindi
a. the incorporated noun is an argument
b. modifier stranding is not allowed
c. doubling is not allowed
Peter Hook dealt with the incorporation in Hindi and Urdu [3]. According to him one
criterion to distinguish IN from unincorporated nouns in these languages is the gender
agreement. Hook argues that if a noun is incorporated in a verb then it strips of its
identity as a direct object noun and is "incorporated" into the verb as an integral part of it.
As a part of the verb it cannot be a direct object and cannot affect the verb's inflection.
Hook’s claim regarding the agreement pattern of incorporated noun in Hindi is not visible
uniformly. There are a large number of counter examples where this pattern is not seen.
Dayal (2003) also notices this fact and concludes that incorporated nouns are
syntactically visible and can function like regular arguments- atleast for the purpose of
agreement [5]. Mohanan too has identified this phenomenon and remarked “In complex
predicates, if the nominal predicate is logically transitive, and its second participant is a
logical object, this object is selected as the grammatical object of the complex
predicate.”[6]
3. NI in Hindi
Based on the complexities exhibited by incorporated nouns, following tests are used to
identify an incorporated noun from the case dropped object nouns. The tests used for
accomplishing this task include:
A. Adding the accusative Case Marker
B. Constituency Test
i. Movement Test
ii. Conjunct Response test
iii. Coordination test
C. Adding of the Adjectives
3.1. Adding the accusative Case Marker
To identify the syntactic status of the object noun, accusative (acc) case is assigned to it.
The aim of this test is to see whether the sentence is acceptable after overtly case marking
the object with the accusative case. The object noun will allow accusative marking which
an incorporated noun will not or ought not to.
Primary objects in Hindi are either acc with the marker ko or are marked
nominative (nom), i.e., bare nominal. A widely accepted generalization with regard to
objects in Hindi is that the canonical case for animate objects is acc and for inanimate
objects it is nom. This is a phenomenon found in many South Asian languages [7Kac].
The inanimate object can bear acc case if it is definite.
In Hindi, a large number of conjunct verbs are found with inanimate nouns. In this
test these inanimate nouns are marked with a definite marker to make it possible for them
to be assigned acc case. These were given to native speakers to judge their acceptability
or correctness. Consider the following examples
9. a. raam ne caae lii
ram erg tea take
‘Ram took tea’
b. raam ne us
caae ko liyaa jo
khulii thii
ram erg that tea acc take which open was
‘Ram took that tea which was not covered ’
10. a. raam ne jamhaaii lii
ram erg yawn
take
‘Ram yawned’
b.* raam ne us jamhaaii ko liyaa
ram erg that yawn
acc take
‘Ram took that yawn’
11. a. vah mere kaam me rucii
letii hai
(s)he my work in interest take is
‘She takes interest in my work’
b. *usne mere kaam me us rucii
ko
lii
jo
(s)he my work in that interest acc take which....
‘(s)he takes that interest in my work which ....’
In 9 the direct object of the verb lenaa (take) is caae (tea). 9a is without an acc
marker and 9b is marked acc and both of them are acceptable. In 10 and 11 jamhaaii
(yawn) and ruci (interest) appears in the direct object position. 10a and 11a are without
the acc marker and acceptable but 10b and 11b are marked unacceptable when they bear
the acc marker.
3.2 Constituency Test
Three tests are discussed here. The first test is the movement test. It tries to see whether
the incorporated noun can move from its preverbal position, i.e., the canonical position.
Second, the constituent response test is applied to see whether a given N+V combination
behaves as a constituent or not. Third, the coordination test examines whether an
incorporated noun can also be coordinated or conjoined with other nouns in the direct
object position.
i. Movement of the Noun: This test is applied to see whether the incorporated nouns in
Hindi can be moved from its canonical position. If it is possible to move objects in Hindi
to non-canonical (for example, postverbal) positions is it also possible with the
incorporated nouns? If the N+V combination forms a single constituent then the
incorporated noun will resist movement from its position near the verb.
Two types of sentences are formed with the same N+V combination. In the first
sentence the noun is adjacent to the verb and in the second sentence it is moved
away from the verb. These two constructions were judged by the native speakers.
Consider the following examples. The noun that is moved is in boldface.
12a.usne subaha uthkar caae lii
Pron morning wake tea take past.
having woken up in the morning (s)he took tea’
b. caae usne subaha uthkar lii
tea Pron morning wake take past.
‘having woken up in the morning (s)he took tea’
13a kahaani ne dukhaant ruup liaa
story
erg tragic shape take past.
‘the story took a form of tragic ending’
b.*ruup kahaanii ne dukhaant liaa
shape story erg tragic take past.
‘the story took a form of tragic ending’
14a.usne pratiyogita me bhaag liaa
Pron competition in part take.
‘(S)he took part in the competition’.
b.*bhaag usne pratiyogita me liaa
part
Pron competition in take.
‘(S)he took part in the competition’.
All the b counter parts in the above examples are instances where the noun has been
moved from its canonical position. In 12b caae ‘tea’ is the actual object of the verb lenaa
‘take’. Both 12a and b are marked acceptable.13a and 14a are declared acceptable by the
speakers but 13b and 14b in which the nouns are moved from their canonical position are
marked unacceptable. This argues for the fact that even though Hindi has a relatively free
word order it resists movement when it comes to NI. Two or more elements that form a
constituent cannot be moved independent of each other. Thus, ruup lenaa ‘take a shape’
and bhaag lenaa ‘take a part’ are considered as cases of NI.
ii. Constituent Response Test: This test is applied to see whether a given N+V
combination behaves as one constituent or not. Consider the following N+V sequences
jamhaaii lenaa ‘yawn take ’, chalaang maarnaa ‘jump beat’.
15. raam ne jamhaaii lii
ram erg yawn
take
‘Ram yawned’
16. raam ne chalaang marii
ram erg jump
beat
‘Ram jumped’
In order to get a meaningful response about the action denoted by 15 and 16 we framed
questions in the following manner:
17a. usne kyaa kiyaa (What did he do?)
17b. and not What did he take?
18a. usne kyaa kiyaa (What did he do?)
18b. and not usne kyaa maaraa (What did he beat?)
Now consider, 19
19. vah bazaar se phal laayaa hai
he market from fruit brought is
‘he brought fruits from the market’
To get a meaningful response about the action in 19 the question may be formed in the
following ways:
20a. vah kya laayaa (What did he bring?)
20b. or usne kyaa kiyaa (What did he do?)
Questions identify or replace single constituents and the fact that one must question N+V
suggests that they form a single constituent. Not so in the case of phal laanaa ‘bring
fruit’
iii. Coordination Test: This test is to verify if the noun that is assumed to be an
incorporated noun can be conjoined with another noun, i.e., does it form an independent
constituent. Coordination is possible only between identical syntactic constituents.
21. log
caae aur namkin le rahe the
people tea and snack take prog past
‘people were taking tea and snacks’
22. *log
niind aur jamhaaii le rahe the
people sleep and yawn
take prog past
‘people were taking sleep and yawn’
23. *usne bacce
ko ksamaa aur vidaa
kii
(S)he children acc forgive and farewell do
‘(S)he forgave and bade farewell to the children’
The above test shows that the N+V combination has the status of one lexical or syntactic
unit.
3.3 Adding of the Adjectives
True arguments may be modified by adjectives, determiners, numerals, sentences etc.
The Noun Phrase (NP) can have very rich structure. Incorporated nouns do not permit
such modifiers, i.e., they are bare nouns not NPs.
24. usne jor se dhakka maaraa
Pron ADV push
beat
(S)he pushed heavily.
25. usne
merii bahut madad kii
Pron me
ADV help
do
‘(S)he helped me a lot’
The modifier jor se ‘heavily’ in 24 modifies the whole sequence dhakkaa maarnaa
‘push-beat’ and in 25 bahut ‘lot’ modifies madad karnaa ‘help-do’ and not karnaa ‘do’.
3.4. Features of NI
NI has certain semantic and syntactic properties as we saw in the previous sections.
These properties of NI convince us to deal with them as a result of lexical compounding.
These are listed here.
I. A possible trigger for NI is either the noun or the verb that is morphologically defective
and cannot appear as independent word. In Eskimo languages there are certain verbs that
are simply subcategorized to attach to a Noun. Polysynthetic languages have defective
determiners. Baker (1996) calls it defective because the determiners cannot govern the
nouns and so the latter have to adjoin to the verb to get case. Similarly, in Hindi some
nouns only appear in the N+V collocations.
II. As noted by Mithun (1984) and others, incorporated inanimates tend to be more
common than incorporated animates. The same is found in Hindi. There are rare
instances of animate incorporation in the language.
III. It is noted that there are certain idiosyncratic features of the noun that is adjoined to
the verb in a possible N+V combination. Thus, jamhaaii ‘yawn’ will be attached with the
verb lenaa ‘take’ and not with any other verb. The verb with which a noun attaches is
arbitrarily selected and is possibly determined lexically. This is a strong reason for the
debate that NI is lexical in Hindi and not syntactic.
IV. The meanings of incorporated structures are often non-compositional. jamhaaii lenaa
refers to ‘yawn’ and not physically taking anything like caae lenaa ‘take tea’. This
feature argues for the semantic lightness of the verb. The verbs to which the noun is
adjoined in Hindi is semantically null, i.e, it has nothing to do with its original meaning
seen in isolated contexts.
Here, we want to make a distinction between the syntactic incorporation and
lexical incorporation. There are cases of syntactic incorporation in Hindi as well.
Consider, 26 taken from Dayal (2003).
26. anu bacchaa/bacche ko sambhaal rahii
Anu child
child-acc is-looking after
‘Anu is looking after children(one or more)/the child’
We will not deal with these cases here but surely we make a difference between syntactic
and lexical incorporation in Hindi. We will call the lexical noun incorporation as lexical
compounding and the resulted verbs as conjunct verbs.
4. Compound Verb
There are many V+V sequences in Hindi. This is a phenomenon seen across the SouthAsian languages. Butt [8] makes a difference between permissive, instructive and
aspectual complex predicates and takes the stand that complex predicates formation in
Urdu takes place at argument structure. Hook (1991) [9] placed the second verb, i.e., the
light verb in an aspectual complex predicate on a par with auxiliaries in the language.
Bashir [10] identified the compound verbs of Kalasha and gave a semantic analysis of
them based on prepared and unprepared mind. Fedson [11] has dealt with the semantic
structure of the complex predicates in Tamil and classified them into various groups like
stative, perfective, indication of status, aspectual etc. Pandharipande [12] in her article on
‘Serial Verb Construction in Marathi’ pointed out that V1 and V2 are paired on the basis
of their semantic compatibility, which is subject to syntactic constraints.
4.1. Compound Verbs in Hindi
In this section we will show different types of V+V sequences. We have identified five
such V+V sequences. These are
1. V1 stem+ V2: In this type V1 is in the bare form and V2 bears all the inflections, such
as number, gender, tense etc. Examples of such type are maar Daalnaa (kill-put)
‘kill’, likh lenaa (write-take) ‘write.’ In this case the second verb loses its primary
meaning but adds some semantic shade to the whole sequence. Our focus in this
paper will be on this type of verbs.
2. V1 inf-e+ V2: Here, V1 is in the infinitival form. V2 is always the verb lagnaa ‘attach’
and it bears all the inflections, such as number, gender, tense etc. For example, rone
lagnaa (cry-attach) ‘start crying’, likhne lagnaa (write-attach) ‘start writing’. The
second verb always gives the sense of beginning of an action or happening of an
event. Thus, lagnaa ‘attach’ will be treated as a modal auxiliary.
3. V1 inf+ V2 stem: The V1 is in the infinitival form and V2 is always in bare form. V2 is
always the verb paRaa ‘fall’. For instance, bolnaa paRaa (say-fall) ‘say’, likhnaa
paRaa (write-fall) ‘write’. The second verb in this case always gives the sense of
force or compulsion for performing an action. Thus, this type is also considered as a
sequence of verb and a modal auxiliary.
4. V1 inf-pp+ V2 stem: In this type of verb sequence the V1 is in the infinitival form
with the postposition (pp) ke lie ‘for’. The pp has been shortened to ko. Both the
forms, i.e., ko and ke lie are used. For example, likhne ko/ke lie kaha ‘asked to write’,
paRhne ko/ke lie diyaa ‘gave to read’. In this type of construction the two verbs
behave independently. This is clear from different syntactic tests. For instance,
27a. us-ne
mujhe
khat jaldi se likhne ko kahaa. [Adverb]
Pron-erg Pron-Dat letter quickly write-inf pp say-past
‘He asked me to write the letter quickly’.
27b. us-ne
mujhe
khat likhne
ko jaldi se kahaa.
Pron-erg Pron-Dat letter write-inf pp quickly say-past
‘He asked me quickly to write the letter’.
28a. us-ne
mujhe
khat likhne
ko nahi kahaa.
Pron-erg Pron-Dat letter write-inf pp not say-past
‘He hasn’t asked me to write a letter’.
[Negation]
28b. us-ne
mujhe
khat nahi likhne ko kahaa.
Pron-erg Pron-Dat letter not write-inf pp say-past
‘He asked me not to write a letter’.
In 27a the adverb jaldi se ‘quickly’ modifies the first verb likhne ‘to write’ and in 27b the
scope is over the second verb. In 28a the scope of negation is over the first verb and in
28b it is over the second verb. Thus, this type of construction is also out from the scope
of our discussion.
5. V1 –kar+ V2: In this type the suffix –kar is attached with V1. For example likhkar
ayaa ‘wrote and came’, lekar gayaa ‘took and went’. This type of construction
denotes two different actions. Different syntactic tests will show it. For instance,
29a. vah jaldi se nahaakar aayegaa.
Pron quickly bath
come-fut.
‘He will take bath quickly and come’.
29b. vah
nahaakar jaldi se aayegaa.
Pron quickly bath
come-fut.
‘He will take bath quickly and come’.
30a. vah nahii nahaakar ayegaa.
Pron not bath
come-fut
‘He will come without taking bath’.
30b. vah nahaakar nahii ayegaa.
Pron bath
not come-fut
‘He will not come after taking bath’.
In 29a the scope of the adverb is over the first verb and in 29b the scope is over the
second verb. In 30a the negative marker precedes the first verb and negates it and in 30b
it precedes the second verb and negates it. Thus, we are not considering this type of
constructs.
Hence, we conclude that we will regard only V1stem+ V2 as a CV.
4.1.1. CV sequence as a Constituent
In this section we will show that even though Hindi CVs consist of typically two verb
forms the construction expresses one functional semantic unit, i.e., a predicate. Following
tests examines the constituency status of CV sequences. These are
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Scope of adverbs
Nominalization
Passivization
Causativization
Scrambling
4.1.1.1Scope of adverbs
An adverb generally precedes the verb in Hindi. For instance, the adverb of manner jaldi
jaldi ‘quickly’ and the adverb of completion ek minaTa me ‘within a moment’ precede
the verb in 31a and b.
31a. vah jaldi jaldi khaa rahaa hai
Pron quickly eat prog is
‘He is eating quickly.’
31b. us-ne
ek minaTa me
yah kaam kiyaa
Pron-erg within a moment this work do past
‘He did the work within a moment’
The scope of the adverb in 31a and 31b is on the verb khaanaa ‘eat’ and karnaa ‘do’
respectively. An adverb can also follow the verb in Hindi. For instance, the adverb of
manner jaldi jaldi ‘quickly’ and the adverb of completion ek minaTa me ‘within a
moment’ follow the verb in 32a and b.
32a. vah khaa rahaa hai jaldi jaldi
Pron eat prog is quickly
‘he is eating quickly.’
32b. us-ne
yah kaam kiyaa ek minaTa me
Pron-erg this work do past within a moment
‘(S)he did the work within a moment’
An adverb can precede or follow a CV sequence. For example, the adverb of
manner jaldi jaldi ‘quickly’ and the adverb of completion ek minaT me ‘within a
moment’ precede the sequence in 33a and b and follow in 34a and b.
33a. usne jaldi jaldi khaa liaa.
Pron quickly eat take-past
(S)he ate quickly.
33b. usne ek minaT me
ciTThii liikh Daalii
Pron with in a moment letter write put-past
(S)he wrote the letter with in a moment.
34a. usne khaa liaa
jaldi jaldi
Pron eat take-past quickly
(S)he ate quickly.
34b. usne ciTThii liikh Daalii ek minaT me
Pron letter write put-past with in a moment
(S)he wrote the letter with in a moment.
The semantics of a verb is modified by adequate adverbial function. Since the adverbs
never modify members of a CV individually it is logical to conclude that: irrespective of
its position in a sentence, an adverb never modifies subpart of a CV. It considers the
whole sequence as a single semantic unit and modifies the semantics of the whole
sequence.
4.1.1.2. Nominalization
Hindi verbs are nominalized by adding the suffix –na to the bare form of the verb. For
example,
35. tairnaa
sehat ke lie acchaa hotaa hai.
Swim-VN health pp
good be is
Swimming is good for health.
The nominalized verbal form tairnaa ‘swimming’ function as a deverbal noun in 35.
When V1 stem+ V2 undergoes nominalization the verbal noun (VN) suffix appears
on V2. For example,
36. yah ciTThii likh Dalnaa asaan nahi thaa.
This letter write put-VN
easy not is-past
‘Writing down this letter was not easy’
37. kitaab purii paRh lene ke baad hi main kuch bol saktaa huuM.
Book whole read take pp emph I some say can
be
‘Only after reading the whole book I can say something’
In 36 and 37 the verbal noun suffix is attached with V2 but the V+V sequence likh
Daalaa ‘write put’ and paRh liya ‘read take’ as a whole function as a verbal noun in 36
and 37.
4.1.1.3. Passivization
Passivization in Hindi is represented by the auxiliary gayaa ‘went’. This is shown in 38
and 39
38. mujhe bataaya gayaa
ki vah aaj
aayegaa.
I-Dat say-caus go –pass CP Pron today come-fut
‘It has been said to me that he will come today.’
39. yah kaam mujhse karvaayaa gayaa hai.
This work I-Dat-Ins do-caus go-pass is
‘This work has been done by me’
In 38 and 39 the passive morphology gayaa ‘went’ is added after the verbs batanaa ‘say’
and karnaa ‘do’.
When a CV is passivized the passive morphology follows V2. Consider 40 and 41.
40. Daakuo ko maar Daalaa gayaa thaa.
Dacoits acc kill put
go-pass is-past
‘The dacoits has been killed’.
41. bacce ko vaapas bulaa liyaa gayaa thaa.
Baby acc return call take go-pass is-past
‘The baby was called back’
In 40 and 41 the passive morphology gayaa ‘went’ is added after Daalaa ‘put’ and liyaa
‘take’ and the whole sequence is passivized.
4.1.1.4. Causativization
In Hindi causativization is represented by adding the suffix –vaa to the bare form of the
verb. This is exemplified in 42 and 43.
42. usne
mujhse yah kaam karvaayaa.
Pron-ne I-dat-ins this work do-caus
‘He made me do this work’
43. raam ne mujhse yah bolvaayaa.
Ram-erg I-dat-ins this say-caus
Ram made me say this.
In 42 and 43 the verbs karnaa ‘do’ and bolnaa ‘say’ is passivized by attaching the suffix
–vaa.
When a CV is causativized the causative suffix is attached to V1. For example,
44. us-ne
mujhse ciTThi likhvaa
Daalii.
Pron-erg I-dat-ins letter write-caus put-past
‘He made me write the letter’
45. usne
mujhse yah kaam karvaa liyaa.
Pron-ne I-dat-ins this work do-caus take
‘He made me do this work’
In 44 and 45 the causative suffix is attached with the V1 likh ‘write’ and kar ‘do’and the
whole sequence is causativized.
4.1.1.5. Movement
The two Vs always occur in a sequence. The verb generally occurs at the end of a clause.
Following examples show that CVs resist any sort of movement.
46. *phaaR usne kitaab Daalii
tear he-erg book put
‘He tore up the book’
47. *Daali usne kitaab PhaaR
put he-erg book tear
‘He tore up the book’
48. *likh usne chiTThii lii
write he-erg letter
take
‘He wrote the letter’
49. * lii usne chiTThii likh
take he-erg letter
write
‘He wrote the letter’
Examples 46-49 show that scrambling is not possible with CVs.