Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Linguistics, June 1999. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1974. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. 192-197.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1974. / Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: l. 192-197.

In the Dravidian language Tulu, spoken in the south of present day India, in the states of Karnataka and Kerala, several verb forms exist which have hitherto been poorly described in the scientific literature. A set of these code different modal distinctions, and are thus labeled moods. Another set of non-finite verb forms are morphologically similar to the aforementioned moods, but do not code modality. For the purpose of this thesis, these are categorized under the umbrella term “verbals”. This thesis attempts to describe these forms, provide transparent, coherent and motivated terminology, describe their function, and provide some clarity as to their interplay within the paradigm of modality in the Tulu language. The moods discussed here have received different labels by different authors, often contradicting each other. Here, they will be called (in the order they are discussed in the thesis) the indicative, hypothetical, interrogative, imperative, prohibitive, hortative, permissive, potential, desiderative, optative and conditional moods. The non-finite forms that are here categorized as “verbals” have also been given various labels, again often contradicting each other and not being transparent in their meaning. One of the features that these forms have in common with each other is that they share some characteristics with other parts of speech (nouns, adjectives, adverbs). The names given to these forms in this thesis are the purposive, the perfective verbal adverb, the imperfective verbal adverb, the simultaneous verbal adverb, the negative verbal adverb, the verbal noun, and the verbal adjective. Furthermore, a distinction is made between finite and non-finite forms, finite being those verb forms that take subject index. The non-finite forms comprise all verbals and several moods. The function of finiteness is discussed, and is for moods found to possibly relate to the historical origin of the markers, whereas for the verbals it may be related to subordination, as is common cross-linguistically (Nikolaeva 2010:1).

No description available.

This thesis investigates three different so-called “past tense forms” in Tulu, a Dravidian language spoken in the south-western Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala. Through fieldwork material collected by the author, this thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the usage and functions of the three forms in Tulu. It expands upon previous research, which has acknowledged the forms’ existence but not described their functions or provided examples of their usage. Previous research has also often referred to the forms with contradictory names; for example, one form has been called both “immediate past” by one source (Bhat, 1998:166) and “distant past” by another (Krishnamurti, 2003:334), with little explanation of the choice of these labels. In this thesis, they are called Past1, Past2 and Past3 as they all refer to events that have already happened, but the study shows that the distinction between them is one of aspect and validity of results and not of remoteness in tense. The investigation also shows that the three forms have differentiating and contrasting functions and can, in most cases, not be replaced by the others. Past1 is favoured to express perfectivity, event-focused actions, and consecutiveness. Past2 is used for continuous statives, states resulting from past events and events that have happened at least once, as well as introducing a new topic in a narrative. Past3 refers to both punctual or completed events and states that can hold for some time with other events happening in between, and it is commonly used to mark a situation or result not holding anymore. When events in the past are within the same scope, or an event is elaborated upon, the Past3 is also used, as well as when referring to events completed or started before a time reference in the past. The description of these forms' functions will fill a knowledge gap in the description of Tulu, providing a comprehensive understanding of the tense and aspect system in the language. Furthermore, the analysis and data can advance future Tulu and general typological studies about tense and aspect systems. Tulu has several unique features compared to other Dravidian languages. The so-called past tense forms have been claimed as one of them (Subrahmanyam, 1971; Krishnamurti, 2003). By describing them and including a brief comparison with other Dravidian languages, this thesis contributes to understanding the Dravidian language family. It provides material for the study of language change and the family's genealogy. In addition, the data released with the thesis includes sentences from Tulu and basic vocabulary lists from various Dravidian languages that can likewise be used in historical research of the family.