Like Hindi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Konkani and some other New Indo-Aryan languages, standard Marathi is a split ergative language (split for person and aspect). Only the third person agent (both singular and plural) in the transitive perfective clause is overtly marked with the ergative case [-ne] and the verb in such clauses agrees with the highest argument in the nominative case. In the standard Marathi sentence səšane ɡəwət khalle (rabbit-agent grass eat.PFV.3SGN; The rabbit ate the grass.) the verb ‘eat’ agrees with the number and gender of the non-case marked noun, ɡəwət. Similarly, in the sentence kaswane šəryət jiṅkli (tortoise-agent race win.PFV.3SGF; The tortoise won the race.) the verb ‘win’ agrees with the number and gender of the non-case marked object, ‘race’. Overt ergative marking is absent in standard Marathi in the first and second persons though the rule for agreement remains the same. The verb shows default neuter singular agreement when the object is case-marked. E.g. kaswane səšala hərəwle (tortoise-agent rabbit-to defeated; The tortoise defeated the rabbit.)
1.0 Grammatical variation in agreement of the verb in the transitive clauseIn several regional and social varieties of Marathi, however, the verb of the transitive-perfective clause optionally agrees with the subject of the clause. Thus, two values of this grammatical feature were attested across dialects of Marathi: (1) The verb in the transitive perfective clause agrees only with the non-case marked object; (2) The verb in the transitive perfective sentence largely agrees with the non-case marked object of the clause and variably with the subject of the clause. The geographical distribution and examples of the variant constructions are given below. 1.1 Variant 1: The verb in the transitive perfective clause agrees only with the non-case marked object
This variant construction was recorded in all the sampled districts in the state of Maharashtra.
1.1.1 Example (District Jalna, taluka Mantha, village Uswad, M45, Maratha, 6th) ह्या मुलीनं त्या मुलाच्या तोंडात घास घातला hya mulinə tya mulača toṇḍat ɡʰas ɡʰatla hya muli-nə tya mula-č-a toṇḍ-a-t ɡʰas ɡʰat-l-a DEM.PROX.OBL girl.OBL-ERG DEM.DIST.OBL boy.OBL-GEN-OBL mouth-OBL-LOC morsel.3SGM put-PFV-3SGM This girl put a morsel of food in that boy’s mouth. 1.1.2 Example (District Hingoli, taluka Kalamnuri, village Morwad, F21, Andh (ST), 12th) त्या मानसाला पानी दिलं तिनं tya mansala pani dilə tinə tya mansa-la pani di-l-ə ti-nə DEM.DIST.OBL man.OBL-DAT water.3SGN give-PFV-3SGN she-ERG She gave water to that man. 1.1.3 Example (District Parbhani, taluka Palam, village Banvas, M42, Hatkar-Dhangar, 9th) मंग तेनं आमाला तारीक दिली məṅɡ tenə amala tarik dili məṅɡ te-nə ama-la tarik di-l-i then he.OBL-ERG we.EXCL-DAT date.3SGF give-PFV-3SGF Then he gave us a date. 1.2 Variant 2: The verb in the transitive perfective sentence largely agrees with the non-case marked object of the clause and variably with the subject of the clauseThis variant was recorded in fifteen of the sampled 34 districts in the state of Maharashtra. The geographical spread of this variant and examples are given below:
District | Taluka and Village |
---|---|
Chandrapur | Rajura - Koshtala, Brahmapuri - Torgaon (Budruk) and Panchgaon |
Gadchiroli | Gadchiroli - Khursa and Shioni, Korchi - Bori and Mohagon |
Gondia | Gondia - Temni and Tedhwa, Sadak-Arjuni - Chikhali |
Bhandara | Bhandara - Dhargaon and Mujbi, Tumsar - Lobhi and Bori |
Nagpur | Ramtek - Bhojapur |
Nanded | Mukhed - Halni |
Latur | Latur - Pakharsangvi, Nilanga - Dadgi, Udgir - Shirol Janapur |
Beed | Ambejogai - Daradwadi |
Osmanabad | Omerga - Kasgi |
Solapur | Akkalkot - Chikkehalli |
Sangli | Miraj - Mhaisal |
Kolhapur | Karvir - Gadmudshingi, Chandgad - Chandgad and Tudiye |
Sindhudurg | Vaibhavwadi - Nadavde, Sawantwadi - Kolgaon and Satarde |
Ratnagiri | Ratnagiri - Zadgaon, Khed- Savnas and Bahiravli |
Raigad | Roha - Nagothane |