Leonid Kulikov

• Researcher at Ghent University

The article discusses the etymology of the Greek theonym Κρόνος (Cronus), qualified by all dictionaries as etymologically unclear. I argue that this name can be considered as a member of the small class of nouns in ‑ όνο‑ with agent‑instrumental semantics. Following an old proposal by H. D. Müller (later advocated by M. Janda), I adopt the analysis...

Cet article porte sur l’histoire des oppositions de transitivité et sur l’évolution du système des verbes labiles (verbes qui admettent des changements dans la transitivité sans changement formel du verbe, cf. La clé tourna dans la serrure ~ Pierre tourna la clé dans la serrure). Il se concentre sur l’évolution des systèmes de verbes labiles dans q...

Sanskrit is one of the most ancient attested Indo-European languages, and it has one of the oldest lexicographic traditions in the world. This chapter is organized as follows. The Introduction offers basic information about the chronology of, and the main texts in, Sanskrit. The first section of the Description outlines the characteristics of Sansk...

Non-finite forms constitute an important component of the verbal system of Indo-Aryan (IA) languages. On the one hand, some of them, such as e.g., converbs, have already received proper attention in historical linguistics and typological literature, with regard to Old Indo-Aryan (OIA), Middle Indo-Aryan (MIA) and New Indo-Aryan (NIA) (cf. Tikkanen...

In this paper, we first show that the Bribri (Chibchan) middle voice suffix ‑r derives passive voice from active transitive and agentive intransitive verbs, as well as anticausative verbs from nominal and adjectival roots. Second, we focus on five media tantum verbs, i.e. forms which synchronically carry the ‑r suffix and have no counterpart withou...

The goal of this article is to introduce to the field a particular subtype of valency-reducing strategies, referred to as oblique anticausativization below. This subtype differs from more common and better known dependent-marking types, such as, for instance, the canonical anticausative. Instead, oblique anticausatives are characterized by the pres...

The last decades are marked with an increasing interest towards the study of isoglosses shared by some branches of the Indo-European language family. As is well-known, next to well-established branches such as Germanic, Greek or Indo-Iranian, there are larger subdivisions within Indo-European, grouping together several branches, in accordance with...

https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004392007/BP000016.xml The aim of this article is to examine the directionality of change in Voice in relation to Tense/Aspect, foremost based on evidence from Greek as well as additional evidence from Early Vedic. Starting with the hypothesis that in (standard) Proto-Indo-European a number of innovations res...

In contrast to grammaticalization studies of lexical verbs changing into auxiliaries, the realm of semantic changes associated with lexical verbs is an understudied area of historical semantics. We concentrate on the emergence of verbs of success from more semantically concrete verbs, uncovering six conceptual metaphors which all co-occur with non-...

For a long time one of the most bewildering conundrums of Indo- European linguistics has been the issue of how to reconstruct the alignment system of this ancient language state, given the lack of distinction between s and o marking in the Proto-Indo-European neuter nouns and the problem of the Hittite ergative. An additional complication stems fro...

This paper deals with the social stratification of Maldivian society. The aim of the paper is to give an overview of the basic facts that presumably betray the more complex structure of the Maldivian society in the past. Special attention is paid to the origin and evolution of social groups ((quasi-)castes, or status groups) and traces of castes th...

To appear in Poznan Studies in Contemporary Linguistics 56, in a special issue on Morphosyntactic Isoglosses in Indo-European, ed. by Artemij Keidan, Leonid Kulikov & Nicolaos Lavidas.

For a long time one of the most bewildering conundrums of Indo-European linguistics has been the issue of how to reconstruct the alignment system of this ancient language state, given the lack of distinction between S and O marking in the Proto-Indo-European neuters nouns and the problem of the Hittite ergative. An additional complication stems fro...

The main goal of our paper is to give a first, general description of middle voice in Bantu. As will be shown, this language group has a set of verbal derivational morphemes that challenges some of the concepts related to the middle domain. First of all, as of yet no description has been found of a language having more than one middle marker, yet m...

This article addresses the variable alignment properties of experiencer constructions in Indo-Aryan (IA) languages in the light of the available historical data from Vedic Sanskrit onwards. The first aim of the article is to shed light on the possible historical sources, emergence and expansion of constructions with non-canonically marked arguments...

The present paper focuses on some Vedic present formations that are traditionally considered as iteratives. These include the -áya-presents with the short root syllable of the type patáyati ‘flutters’ (as opposed to the -áya-causatives of the type pātáyati ‘makes fly, makes fall’ with the long root syllable) and the reduplicated presents of the typ...

This paper focuses on the evolution of the Old Indo-Aryan reciprocal pronoun anyo'nya- as well as some related forms, tracing its grammaticalization from the early Vedic period onwards until the beginning of the Middle Indic period. On the basis of a comparison of the history of this formation with similar processes documented in some other Indo-Eu...

The ancient Indo-European languages, such as early Vedic or (Homeric) Greek, are usually considered to be characterized by a high degree of lability. According to the communis opinio, they had a considerable number of labile verbs or verbal forms that could be labile, cf. rudra ratsya sdanesu vavrrdhu. 'Rudras have grown [intransitive] in the resid...

This paper explores the social stratification of Maldivian society, with particular focus on its history and traces of earlier alleged caste systems and slavery as well as their impact on Maldivian society, and the implications this fact had for their social structure. I will argue that some anthropologically remarkable traces of earlier social str...

Linguistics 52 (4), 295pp

There are certain discrepancies between the forms and constructions prescribed by Pāṇinian grammarians and the forms and constructions that are actually attested in the Vedic corpus (a part of which is traditionally believed to underlie Pāṇinian grammar). Concentrating on one particular aspect of the Old Indian verbal system, viz. the morphology an...

This paper offers an analysis and a new translation of an Atharvanic hymn addressed to the goddess of Night, Rātrī, attested in both recensions of the Atharvaveda (AV), in the Śaunakīya, and in the Paippalāda. The translation is accompanied by a philological and text-critical commentary as well as an analysis of some linguistic features of the Vedi...

The present paper demonstrates the relevance of the semantic approach to transitivity (going back to Hopper and Thompson 1980) for the analysis of Vedic causative verbs. I will argue that in terms of this approach it is possible to explain a number of constraints on causative derivation (which cannot be explained in terms of the traditional, syntac...

This article examines various aspects of the reconstruction of the passive in Proto-Indo-European (PIE), foremost on the basis of evidence from the Indo-Aryan (Early Vedic) and Greek branches. In Proto-Indo-European the fundamental distinction within the verbal system is between the active and middle, while specialized markers of the passive are la...

Journal of Historical Linguistics 3(1), 1-5

This Bloomsbury Companion is the most wide-ranging, state-of-the-art resource to a key area of contemporary linguistics. It covers fundamental issues, concepts, movements and approaches within the most relevant theoretical perspectives on syntax, encompassing the relationship between syntax and other levels of grammar. This book is a major tool for...

The present paper offers an analysis of the transitivizing and intransitivizing preverbs (semi-bound verbal prefixes) in Vedic Sanskrit. I will argue that the (in)transitivizing force of these morphemes is weak: the passivization test shows that transitivizing preverbs only exceptionally make fundamentally intransitive verbs true transitives, whils...

This paper offers the analysis and a new translation of a hymn from the Atharvaveda – early Vedic collection of hymns and spells composed around 1000 BC. The hymn Śaunakīya 19.52 = Paippalāda 1.30, also known as Kāmasūkta, is addressed to Kāma (Wish), considered as a deified cosmogonic principle. The translation is accompanied by a philological com...

The paper outlines a diachronic typology of changes in case systems within the Indo-European linguistic family. This study is written in the genre of identification and definition of problem: I will not attempt to offer an exhaustive treatment of the subject. Rather, I would like to draw attention to the importance of extensive research in this fie...

This article examines various aspects of the reconstruction of the passive in Proto-Indo-European (PIE), foremost on the basis of evidence from the Indo-Aryan (Early Vedic) and Greek branches. In Proto-Indo-European the fundamental distinction within the verbal system is between the active and middle, while specialized markers of the passive are la...

gerundive, aorist, valency, passive, Indo-European, Paippalada, Atri, hymn, Rgveda, Avestan, Indo-Iranian, Vedic, injunctive, poetics, Sanskrit, Migron

The present paper focuses on three Vedic present formations with the suffix -ya-: jā́yate, mriyáte, and yabhyate. A study of the syntax and contexts in which these forms are attested leads to the conclusion that their interpretation in terms of the passive/anticausative (passive/non-passive) opposition adopted in Indo-European scholarship is inadeq...

Vedic Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages attest a typologically remarkable change of passives to anticausatives. This semantic development is attested, foremost, for passives of several verbs of perception and knowledge (knowledge transfer) such as Ved. drśyáte ‘X is seen’ --> ‘X is visible; appears’, śrūyáte ‘is heard, is known, is famous’...

This book continues the encyclopedic multi-volume series “Languages of the World”, which is being prepared at the Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences. This volume is dedicated to the New Indo-Aryan languages which, along with their now extinct relatives, comprise the Indo-Aryan group of the Indo-European language family. These lan...

Vedic Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages attest a typologically remarkable change of passives to anticausatives. This semantic development is attested, foremost, for passives of several verbs of perception and knowledge (knowledge transfer) such as Ved. drśyáte ‘X is seen’ --> ‘X is visible; appears’, śrūyáte ‘is heard, is known, is famous’...

Special issue “Proto-Indo-European Syntax and its Development” in Journal of Historical Linguistics (JHL) N Lavidas, L Kulikov, Eds Journal of Historical Linguistics 3 (1), 2011

This paper focuses on the system of the Vedic present formations with the suffix ya- and middle inflexion, paying special attention to the attested accent patterns. On the basis of a study of the paradigmatic and syntactic features of this verbal formation we can conclude that the traditional analysis of some members of this class in terms of the p...

This article provides definitions of 'voice' and related concepts within a slightly simplified version of the framework developed by the Leningrad-St Petersburg Typology Group. The three main formal means of encoding grammatical relations are case marking, verbal agreement, and word order. The category of 'voice' is determined on the basis of the c...

The present paper offers a translation of the Atharvavedic hymns 19.53-54 (in the Śaunakīya recension), dedicated to Time, also known as Kālasūkta. These hymns also exist in the Paippalāda recension (11.8-9). This is the only early Vedic text the subject of which is Time, considered as a deified cosmogonic notion superior to all other deities. The...

This paper draws attention to the regrettable imbalance of the synchronic and diachronic typological studies. On the one hand, we have at our disposal a detailed synchronic analysis of the systems of several linguistic categories in the languages of the world. On the other hand, a systematic treatment of these categories in a diachronic perspective...

This article explores the main aspects of the reduction/loss of case and the decay of case marking systems. The general mechanisms which lead to the merger of case and case syncretism and, eventually, to the loss of (some) cases include: phonetic processes which result in the loss of the difference between two or more case forms, that is, erosion o...

New cases may arise by adding adverbs, postpositions, and (rarely) prepositions; by adding existing case markers to other case forms, which results in 'multilayer' case marking; from demonstrative pronouns or articles. New case forms may also go back to denominal adjectives and adverbials incorporated into the case paradigm. An important mechanism...

The paper offers a new translation of the Atharvavedic hymn Śaunakīya 19.49 = Paippalada 14.8, dedicated to the goddess of Night (Ratri), with a detailed linguistic and philological commentary. On the basis of analysis of the Paippalada recension (Orissa manuscripts) a number of emendations and explanations of the hitherto unclear passages of the Ś...

This paper offers a new interpretation of the Vedic word piśá-. On the basis of a philological analysis of the two Vedic passages where this word is attested, as well as comparative evidence from other Indo-European languages, I will argue that this word should be translated as 'cheetah' or 'leopard', rather than as 'antelope' or 'stag'. A new tran...

This paper reconsider the semantic analysis of the Middle Vedic causative samkhyāpáyati / samkśāpáyati. On the basis of linguistic evidence from Vedic texts, its meaning is determined as ‘cause to appear, cause to be considered together with, make associated (with somebody)’.

The present paper deals with two reflexive pronouns that are attested in Vedic Sanskrit, tan- and ātmán-. It is demonstrated that the former is employed both in reflexive usages properly speaking (of the type John scolds himself), and in emphatic usages (of the type Peter repaired his car himself). The emphatic analysis (not widely recognized in th...