LANGUAGE IN INDIA

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Volume 23:8 August 2023
ISSN 1930-2940

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         Pammi Pavan Kumar, Ph.D.
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Grammaticalization of Verb ‘ləg’ in Punjabi, Hindi and Bangla Languages

Harjit Singh, Ph.D.

Abstract

The paper shows some interesting aspects of grammaticalization process based on collecting primary data sets from three parallel languages (Punjabi, Hindi, and Bangla). The whole study is divided into two kinds of initial observations related to a polysemous verb ‘ləg’. In Punjabi, a verb (ləg) gives various interpretations (e.g. attend, give, use, wear etc.) due to grammaticalization. It also happens with Hindi and Bangla as well. Punjabi is selected as source language here. The verb ‘ləg’ is noticed in V1 and V2 position in all three languages where it supports de-semanticization rather than de-categorization. On the other hand, Bangla comparatively gives different results under semantic range. In future, de-categorization will also be studied in Punjabi, Hindi and Bangla.

Keywords: ləg, V1 and V2, grammaticalization, semantic bleaching, and semantic range.

1. Introduction

"ləg" is a polysemous verb. In Hindi, “ləgna" has different usage, (like begin, attach, seem, appear, etc.). (Shapiro, 1987). Like Hindi, Punjabi language has also different usages of ləg. While Punjabi language has shown similarities with Hindi, however it has different interpretations related with a verb ləg. Bangla is also an Indo-Aryan language. Bangla speakers have also been habituated to perform speech acts with a verb ləg. Here, we can compare these three languages to understand similar and dissimilar usage of a verb (ləg) with the help of grammaticalization (Traugott and König, 1991; Diewald, and Wischer, 2002; Heiko and Heine, 2011).

2. The Spoken Region of Languages

The Hindi language is an Indo-Aryan language that is spoken across northern India. Hindi has descended from the Madhya Prakrit. It is one of the official languages of the Republic of India.

Punjabi language is also a part of New Modern Indo-Aryan language family, which is tonal by its nature, and is spoken by inhabitants of the Punjab region. Punjabi can be subdivided into two major varieties, such known as Eastern and Western Punjabi. According to the Ethnologue 2005, there are 88 million native speakers of the Punjabi language, which makes it approximately the 10th most widely spoken language in the world (Ahmed, 2005).

Bengali language is an Eastern Modern Indo-Aryan language. It is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises different states of India such as West Bengal, Tripura and Assam.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Harjit Singh, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Linguistics and CSTLs
Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Madhya Pradesh
Email: harjitsingh.jnu@gmail.com
M. 9877393138
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