Origin and Development of the Indo-Aryan Quotatives and Complementizers: An Areal Approach

Abstract

In this thesis I use a dialectological approach to linguistic convergence and areal linguistics to investigate the degree to which Indo-Aryan complementizers and quotatives can be attributed to outside influences (Persian and Dravidian, respectively) or internal developments. I determine that Persian influence is responsible for the spread of complementizers throughout much of Indo-Aryan. However, the initial development of relative complementizers and deictic quotatives must be seen as internal to Indo-Aryan. The development of verbal quotatives is less clear. On the basis of the available data, I conclude that a combination of forces is necessary to account for all of the forms found in Indo-Aryan. In brief, I argue that while a Dravidian source must be acknowledged for those Indo-Aryan languages in direct contact with Dravidian, the distribution of forms in the remaining Indo-Aryan languages with verbal quotatives and the speed of spread necessary to account for their development is more consistent with an internal analysis.