A Cognitive Analysis of the Compound Verb in Hindi

Bajpai, Samiksha (2018) A Cognitive Analysis of the Compound Verb in Hindi. Doctoral thesis, NIAS.

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Abstract:	Compound verbs (CV) are single-headed two-verb constructions, in which the first constituent (V1) conveys semantic information and the second constituent (V2) is grammaticalized to add a nuanced meaning to the V1. Bol uThnA, for example, is a kind of bolnaa, speaking out suddenly, without thinking, and spontaneously. The V2 uThA is delexicalised of its regular semantic content of ‘rising, getting up’, yet retains some content that adds to the meaning of a regular V1. Bol bEThA, on the other hand, refers to an act of bolnA that is considered to be improper by the speaker himself as well as others. The V2 again is stripped of its regular semantics of ‘to sit down’ but adds something to the meaning of bolnA. Thus a variation in the V2 adds subtle, yet important nuances to the meaning of the CV. In this dissertation I explore the CV construction in Hindi from a cognitive viewpoint and go on to experimentally verify the claims I make using psycholinguistic methods. I situate CVs along Langacker’s symbolic assembly as a combination of open and closed class elements, and go on to discuss why existing models such as ‘Cognitive Blends’, ‘Figure and Ground’ etc. fall short of explaining CVs and why a new ‘Action and Articulator’ model is needed. I also discuss the embodied content of CVs and how it contributes to the meaning of the CV. I show experimentally, using psycholinguistic methods, that CVs are representative of a single eventuality, and cognitively compressed together into a single unit semantically to maximise efficiency and minimize computational costs during access and storage. CVs thus, are representative of single cognitive units of thought.
Item Type:	Thesis (Doctoral)
Additional Information:	This thesis was submitted to the Department of Linguistics, University of Mysore [Year of Award: 2019]
Subjects:	School of Humanities > Cognitive Science Doctoral Programme > Theses School of Humanities > Language and Linguistics
Date Deposited:	06 Jul 2021 09:21
Last Modified:	06 Jul 2021 09:21
Official URL:
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Funders:	UNSPECIFIED
Projects:	UNSPECIFIED
DOI:
URI:	http://eprints.nias.res.in/id/eprint/2129

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