Analysis to Synthesis: The Development of Complex Verb Morphology in the Dravidian Languages
by Sanford B. Steever
Category: Dravidian languages

Analysis to Synthesis introduces the process of Compound Verb Contraction to analyze the genesis of synthetic verb forms in the Dravidian languages. Contraction provides an explanation for their development from analytic forms by creating a paradigm of historical evolution that utilizes the formal and functional attributes of both the earlier and later forms. Triggered by a variety of different factors, Contraction guides the evolution of complex verb forms by using markedness relations to correlate their morphological, syntactic, and lexical dimensions. An original work in comparative Dravidian linguistics, Analysis to Synthesis provides etymologies for fifteen conjugations which have hitherto resisted explanation. All fifteen show the same general development, allowing us to extract a common historical pattern and clarify the reconstruction of Proto-Dravidian typology. Thanks to Contraction, the verb morphology and syntax of the protolanguage, as well as its lexical structure, are shown to exhibit a relatively analytic structure. Because it correlates general dimensions of linguistic structure, Contraction may readily be applied to languages beyond the Dravidian family. Detailed and closely argued, this study provides a model for the analysis of similar forms in other languages and language families.