LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Light Verbs in Gojri

Nadeem Haider Bukhari

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of light verbs in Gojri. Contrary to previous works, I argue in this paper that the light verb can either be placed before or after the main verb in Gojri, although the canonical position for the light verb is clearly V2, as is generally agreed. Furthermore, it discusses why the light verb in some cases prefers to appear in the V1 position. This paper introduces different light verbs used in Gojri and argues that they do not generate lexical meaning but contribute some aspectual reading. This paper also unfolds the fact that different light verbs are required to generate different reading, and some complex verbal formations such as complex predicates cannot be generated without them.

1. Introduction

Indo-Aryan languages are well known especially for their complex sentential structures. There are different phenomena that make the structures complex in these languages. Formation of complex predicates is one of them. In this formation, light verbs play a significant role for many reasons. For example, they add some aspectual meanings to the main verb, enter the agreement phenomenon etc. Typically, complex predicates are defined as predicates which are multi-headed and are composed of more than one grammatical element, each of which contributes part of the information associated with a head. Butt (1995:162) states that these structures have only one single predicate and a single subject.

Light verbs contribute to a number of constructions in Indo-Aryan languages. These include (N+V) V, (Adj+V) V and V1V2 complex forms made up of a lexical category and a light verb. Mohanan (1994) argues that in Hindi either kar 'do' or ho 'become'are commonly used as light verbs. However, Gojri possesses more light verbs as compared to other languages spoken in the region. For example, Akhtar (2000: 84) and Singh (1990) introduce 8 and 10 light verbs respectively which contribute in the formation of the Punjabi complex predicates. Butt (1995: 91) introduces 13 for Urdu, while Gojri exhibits 17 in these constructions.

In recent work on complex predicates (Akhtar 2000, Butt 1995, Mohanan 1994), it has been argued that the second verb V2 in the V1V2 construction is a light verb. According to Akhtar (2000: 10), "The V1 in this combination can either be a main verb stem or it can be a complex predicate in itself ..., e.g. N+V or Adj+V. As regards the V2 in this configuration, it is drawn from a class of verbs, which are often referred to as light verbs." The widespread and productive V1V2 phenomenon is at least common in Urdu, Punjabi, Kashmiri, Pahari, Hindko, Marathi and Hindi. This form of verb sequence can also be seen in Persian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese.

Light verb is relatively a new term that has replaced the old terminology. This term was first introduced by Jespersen (1965). Later on, Grimshaw and Mester (1988), Mohanan (1994), Butt (1995&1997), Akhtar (1998 & 2000) have frequently used this term. Earlier, the light verb was referred to as an 'explicator' (Bahl 1964, Van Olphen 1970, Bhatia 1993), whereas Barker (1967) and Bailey (1950) prefer to call it an auxiliary. Sharma (1982) treats these verbs as intensifiers. Kachru (1966, 1968) used the term 'operator', while Hook (1974) and Pray (1970) use the term 'vector' or 'vector verb'. The light verb is taken to be a weaker or 'bleached' form of the corresponding lexical verb, as it does not convey its full/lexical meanings.

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