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The instrumental case typically marks the semantic role of an instrument (Narrog 2008: 593). Palancar (2002: 32) defines this role as ‘the role played by the object the Agent manipulates to achieve a change of state on the Patient’. A typical instrument is seen in the following sentence in standard Marathi: mula-ne sapa-la kaʈhi-ne mar-l-e (boy snake-to stick-with hit) ‘The boy hit the snake with a stick’. The instrument ‘stick’ is marked by the suffix [-ne/ni/nə] in standard Marathi.
The instrumental case typically marks the semantic role of an instrument (Narrog 2008: 593). Palancar (2002: 32) defines this role as ‘the role played by the object the Agent manipulates to achieve a change of state on the Patient’. A typical instrument is seen in the following sentence in standard Marathi: mula-ne sapa-la kaʈhi-ne mar-l-e (boy snake-to stick-with hit) ‘The boy hit the snake with a stick’. The instrument ‘stick’ is marked by the suffix [-ne/ni/nə] in standard Marathi. 2.1 Dialectal variation in marking the {Instrumental}Eight variant forms were observed in the various regional dialects of Marathi for indicating the instrumental case: (1) [-ne/ni/nə/n/na/nu], (2) [-wəri/wər], (3) [-kʰəl kʰalə/kʰali/kʰale/kʰal], (4) [-ɡʰəi/ɡʰi], (5) [-ši], (6) [-kʰən/ kʰun/kən], (7) [-kəḍə/kəḍ/kə/kər/kəri], (8) [-vowel i/e/ə]. The geographical distribution and examples of the variant forms are given below.
2.1.1 Variant 1: [-ne/ni/nə/n/na/nu]The variant [-ne/ni/nə/n/na/nu] is used for marking the instrument in all the sampled districts in the state of Maharashtra.
2.1.1.1 Example (District Pune, taluka Junnar, village Bori Budruk, F65, Phulmali, Illiterate) सुरीने कापताय सपरचन का काय surine kaptay səpərčən ka kay suri-ne kap-tay səpərčən ka kay knife-INS cut-PRS.PROG apple.3SGN DM what He is cutting an apple with a knife. 2.1.2 Variant 2: [-wəri/wər]The variant [-wəri/wər] is used to mark the instrument in seven of the sampled 34 districts in the state of Maharashtra. The geographical and social spread of this variant and examples are given below:
| District | Taluka and Village |
|---|---|
| Buldhana | Jalgaon-Jamod - Wadgaon Patan (Mali community) |
| Jalgaon | Jalgaon - Dhamangaon, Chalisgaon - Dahiwad,Chopda - Tandalwadi |
| Dhule | Dhule -Songir, Khede and Shirud-Khordad,Shirpur - Ambe and Shingave, Sakri - Dighave and Dhadne |
| Nandurbar | Nandrubar - Ghotane and Dhanora, Navapur - Chinchpada, Shahada - Prakasha and Shahada |
| Nashik | Malegaon - Kalwadi and Kaulane (GA.), Satana - Daregaon |
| Palghar | Dahanu - Bordi (Mangela community) |
| Satara | Wai - Pandewadi (New Buddhist) |
The variant form [-kʰəl/kʰalə/kʰali/kʰale/kʰal] is used for marking the instrumental case was observed in four of the sampled 34 districts in the state of Maharashtra. The geographical and social spread of this variant and examples are given below:
| District | Taluka and Village |
|---|---|
| Raigad | Karjat - Salokh (Katkari community), Roha - Chinchawli (Katkari community), Mahad - Narwan-Bheloshi (Katkari) |
| Thane | Murbad - Madh (Thakur community) |
| Palghar | Vasai - Saivan (Malhar Koli community), Dahanu - Bordi (Warli community), Murbad+Pimpalshet (Malhar Koli and Warli community) and Veti (Katkari community), Talasari - Udhwa (Warli community) and Girgaon (Warli Community), Jawhar - Hateri (K Thakur and Warli Communities) and Khambala (Kokna community), Mokhada - Dandwal (Warli community) |
| Nashik | Triambakeshwar - Goldari (Mahadev Koli community) |
The variant form [-ɡʰəi/ɡʰi] is used for marking the instrumental case in three of the 34 districts in the state of Maharashtra. The geographical spread of this variant and examples are given below:
| District | Taluka and Village |
|---|---|
| Nashik | Malegaon - Kalwadi and Kaulane (GA.), Satana - Daregaon |
| Dhule | Dhule - Laling, Songir, Khede and Khordad, Shirpur - Ambe, Shingave and Boradi, Sakri - Dighave and Dhadne |
| Nandurbar | Nandurbar - Ghotane, Navapur - Khandbara, Shahada - Shahada |
The variant form [-ši] is used for marking the instrument in the sentence in three of the 34 sampled districts in the state of Maharashtra. The geographical and social spread of this variant and examples are given below:
| District | Taluka and Village |
|---|---|
| Raigad | Karjat - Salokh (Katkari community) |
| Thane | Ambernath - Usatane (Agri community) |
| Palghar | Dahanu - Murbad+Pimpalshet (Warli community), Talasari - Udhwa (Warli community), Vasai - Saivan (Katkari community) |
The variant form [-kʰən/kʰun/kən] is used to mark the instrument in four of the sampled 34 districts in the state of Maharashtra. The geographical and social spread of this variant and examples are given below:
| District | Taluka and Village |
|---|---|
| Ratnagiri | Ratnagiri - Zadgaon (Bhandari community) |
| Raigad | Roha - Chinchawli (Katkari community) |
| Nashik | Triambakeshwar - Goldari (Mahadev Koli) |
| Jalgaon | Raver - Nirul (Gujar community) |
The variant [kəḍə/kəḍ/kə/kər/kəri] is used for marking the instrument in three of the sampled districts in the state of Maharashtra. The geographical and social spread of this variant and examples are given below:
| District | Taluka and Village |
|---|---|
| Raigad | Karjat - Salokh (Katkari community) |
| Palghar | Jawhar - Hateri (Warli and K Thakur communities), Mokhada - Dandwal (Warli community) |
| Nandurbar | Shahada - Prakasha (Bhil) |
The use of the variant [-vowel i/e/ə] for marking the instrument was observed only among the Samvedi Brahmin community in Wagholi village, the Mangela community in Kalamb village in Vasai taluka and in Warli and Malhar koli communities in Murbad/Pimpalshet village in Dahanu taluka of Palghar district.
2.1.8.1 Example (Dist. Palghar, taluka Vasai, village Kalamb, F28, Mangela, 12th) वानकटाई मारीन किंवा चपलाने मारीन wankəṭa-i mar-in kinwa čəpla-ne mar-in wankəṭa-i mar-in kinwa čəpla-ne mar-in slipper.OBL.PL-INS hit-FUT.1SG or slipper.OBL-INS hit-FUT.1SG I will hit (you) with a slipper or footwear. 2.1.8.2 Example (District Palghar, taluka Vasai, village Kalamb, M80, Mangela, B.A.) आता सपरचंद त्या पिशविनी काढलं का न तोंडाई खाल लागलायata səpərčənd tya pišwini kaḍʰlə ka nə toṇḍai kʰal laɡlay ata səpərčənd tya pišwi-ni kaḍʰ-l-ə ka nə toṇḍa-i kʰa-(a)l laɡlay now apple.3SGN DEM.DIST.OBL bag-ABL remove-PFV-3SGN COMP and mouth.OBL-INS eat-NON.FIN ATTACH.PRS.PROG.3SGM Now he has taken the apple out of the bag and is eating it with his mouth. References: - 1. Narrog, H. (2008). Varieties of instrumental. The Oxford handbook of case, ed. by Andrej. Malchukov and Andrew Spencer. Oxford: Oxford university press. 2. Palancar, E. (2002). The Origin of Agent Markers. Berlin: Akademie Verlag.