Jul 2026· Tamilmanam International Research Journal of Tamil Studies· Vol 12, pp. 576-585· 0 citations
Abstract
Old Tamil literature differs completely from Modern Tamil in both word structure and sentence structure. Tense markers or infixes play a crucial role in denoting the tense of verbs. Although Tolkappiyar defined the tenses as three, he did not analyze and specify the exact tense markers for them. It was Nannular, who came later, who categorized the four markers—-t- (-த்-), -ṭ- (-ட்-), -ṟ- (-ற்-), and -in- (-இன்-)—as past tense infixes.
Beyond these boundaries, various allomorphs and morphophonemic variations were in practice in Old Tamil. This paper comprehensively examines past tense markers using evidence from Sangam literature, grounded in the theories of Descriptive Linguistics, Historical Comparative Grammar, and Morphophonemics.
In particular, it categorizes phonologically conditioned allomorphs, final consonant doubling (gemination), and other past tense markers not mentioned by traditional grammarians (-tt-, -nt-, -i-, -n-, -y-, -k-) from a morphological perspective, providing a detailed explanation of their historical background and universal linguistic parallels.
This paper examines the definition and differentiation of word and word-form in connection with a participle. The author notes that there have been diverse responses but no comprehensive answer has been given to this challenging question. Interestingly, one needs to note that the same is true for general linguistics too!!
Based on the points of view Manouk Abeghian, Rafayel Ishkhanian, and, particulary, Gevork Jahoukian, the author concludes that the so-called "main participles" in the verbal system should be analyzed in association with grammatical transformation. Furthermore, the author notes that the particles that form the participles, adn are affixes (derivational morphemes) rather than endings (inflectional affixes), according to which verbal nouns, verbal adjectives, and temporal adverbs consisting of verb stems are formed. Furthermore, the author confirms that the "dependent participles" are not words or word-forms, but simply are separate or analytical verb stems.
Աշոտ Մկրեան· Haigazian Armenological Revi...· 0 citations
This paper examines the tense, aspect, mood, and modality (TAM) system of the Sampang language within a typological framework. The study is based on primary data gathered through elicitation and audio recordings from native speakers. The findings reveal that Sampang exhibits a high degree of morphological complexity, in which tense, aspect, mood, and modality interact closely. They are sometimes not separable, but not always. Tense in Sampang is realized through a binary distinction between past and non-past. The past tense is typically marked by the morpheme <-a>, while the non-past is marked by <-i>. Typologically, Sampang aligns with other members of the Kirati languages in exhibiting this basic past vs. non-past opposition. Aspect in Sampang is expressed through both lexical and grammatical categories. The grammatical aspects include perfective, imperfective, and perfect categories. Among these, the perfective is generally unmarked morphologically, whereas the imperfective is overtly marked. Mood and modality in Sampang are primarily realized at the discourse-pragmatic level rather than through dedicated morphological markers. Their interpretation depends largely on context, speaker stance, and interactional factors, rather than on explicit verbal morphology.
Rohini Rai, T. M. Rai· Journal of Indigenous Knowle...· 0 citations
The study of the grammatical category of a number of pronouns in Old Armenian shows that in the plane of expression of grammatical meanings of pronouns there is agglutination, as well as suppletivisim/suppletion (diverse roots, diverse stems) and the mixed type.
The pluralia tantum of personal and demonstrative pronouns is expressed by a mixed type: suppletivism with agglutination; ես - մեք, նա - նոքա, սա - սոքա - սոցա - զսոսա. The pluralia tantum of possessive, indefinitive, interrogative and relative pronouns is formed by the plural-particle -kh; իմ - ք, ձեր - ք, ոման- ք, ո՞յ - ք, որ - ք, in which the oblique cases and accusative have available alternations kh-tc, kh-s; իմո - ց, զիմ - ս, ձերո - ց, զձեր - ս, ոման - ց, զոման - ս, ո՞յ - ց, զո՞յ - ս, որո - ց, զոր - ս.
The pluralia tantum of reciprocal pronouns is a less provocative form, and the grammatical meanings of the case and number are expressed by the kh-tc alternation; միմեան - ց, իրերա - ց, in the plural-accusative in the kh-s sequence; զմիմեան - ս, զիրեար - ս.
In the plane of expression of those words, the plural particle -kh appears in the instrumental case; միմեամբ - ք, իրերաւ - ք.
Definite pronouns are plural-structured and do not have singularia tantum. The plural articles are inseparable from the word structure; բոլորեքին // բոլորեքեան, ամենեքին // ամենեքեան.
The study of the structure of a number of pronouns somewhat modifies the theory of inclination of the typology of Old Armenian, showing that agglutination may play a dominant role in the expression of grammatical meanings. On the other hand, in some cases inclination is accompanied by elements of agglutination and suppletivism (diverse roots and diverse stems).
Dyachronical analysis of levels of word formation in the Old Armenian and Modern Armenian languages shows that certain old Armenian analytic constructions have been transformed into compound words. These, however, have preserved a meaningful plan in the Modern Armenian language, sometimes revealing differences in the semantic plan. The paper examines, through a historical lexicology approach, a set of compound words with the following pattern: noun +verb > verb, and notes that these are the result of a transformation. Transformation, in such cases, is seen as an abstract mechanism of reflection of objective reality, and is characterized by different degrees of abstraction.
Besides, in patterns of analytic constructions, which in Old Armenian exhibit free word combination, the verb base becomes a component of word formation.
Such analytic constructions are:
a) Nominal-verbal structures. In this case nominal-verbal structures have been transformed into compound words like երկիր պագանեմ > երկրպագել, ծունր դնել ծնրադրել //ծնրադրել, ակն ածեմ > ակնածել, խունկ արկանեմ խնկարկել etc.
b) Prepositional structures. In this case prepositional structures have been transformed into compound words, like արկանեմ ի գործ > գործարկել, իւղի արկանեմ > ուղարկել, ի կիր առնում > կիրառել, ի կիր արկանեմ > կիրարկել etc.
Compound structures serve as an indispensable syntactic and grammatical component within the Tamil grammatical tradition. Tolkappiyar classifies these compound structures into six distinct categories. Among these, two divergent perspectives currently exist regarding the structure and definition of case compounds. One school of thought argues that a case compound is formed merely by the elision of case markers between two constituent words. Conversely, another school contends that beyond the mere elision of case markers, these constituent words must fuse indivisibly to function with the "nature of a single word." This article comprehensively analyzes these contrasting viewpoints by comparing the commentaries of traditional grammarians, the interpretations of grammatical scholars, and the theories of modern linguists. By prioritizing semantics—the fundamental core of language—this study establishes that it is grammatically appropriate to define a case compound as a compound syntactic structure that not only conveys case meanings but also functions organically as a unified, single lexical unit without any phonetic hiatus.
த. ப. சூரியா· Tamilmanam International Res...· 0 citations
This study focuses on the comparative analysis of verb tense meanings in Russian and Modern Hebrew. Despite belonging to different language families, both languages feature the past, present, and future tenses of the indicative mood[1], which may indicate a corresponding similarity in meanings. While these forms often objectively reflect real-time relationships, systematic discrepancies are observed between the meanings of verb tenses and their actual uses in each language. To address this, we propose invariant meanings for each tense that will underlie all its uses, including transposed ones. Based on the Columbia School sign-oriented linguistic framework (see Diver, 1981; 1995; García, 1975; Tobin, 1990a; 1995), we focus on verb tense usage in “Kolyma Tales” (“Kolymskie rasskazy”) by Varlam Šalamov (2013) and “Sumchi” by Amos Oz (1978), along with their literary translations into Hebrew (2005) and Russian (2015), respectively. On the one hand, we postulate that the tense systems of both languages share a common semantic content, which relates to the speaker’s or writer’s perception of actions, states, or events at the moment of speaking or writing. This explains the similarity in tense usage between original texts and their translations. On the other hand, differences in tense usage are more likely attributed to language-specific communicative strategies – standardized ways of combining invariant meanings to convey particular messages, as described within Columbia School theory.
[1] While Russian has forms, traditionally categorized as perfective and imperfective verbs, and Hebrew possesses a so-called compound past tense expressing hypothetical or habitual actions in the past, these facts are beyond the scope of this paper.
[1] While Russian has verbs, categorized as perfective and imperfective, and Hebrew possesses a compound past tense expressing hypothetical or habitual actions in the past, these facts are beyond the scope of this paper.
I. Dreer· Theoria et Historia Scientia...· 0 citations