Ergativity in Indo-Aryan and beyond

This chapter gives an overview of the current state of the art of research on ergativity in Indo-Aryan. First, it discusses a number of theoretical and terminological issues concerning synchronic and diachronic dimensions of ergative alignment and outlines a typology for exploring the relationship between ergativity and other alignment types with particular reference to the South-Asian linguistic area. Second, it provides an overview of the Modern Indo-Aryan languages showing ergative alignment in parts of their verbal system and of the striking variation in this domain. Third, it explores the various hypotheses regarding the origin and development of ergative alignment in Indo-Aryan.