Historical dictionary of Classical Tamil
TamilexHistorical dictionary
of Classical Tamil
of Classical Tamil
Tamilex monthly seminar: Eva Wilden
3 December 2024
Photo: U. V. Swaminatha Iyer Library
Complex Verb Forms and Perhaps Auxiliaries in the Kalittokai
Eva Wilden
Readers have long noticed that morphology can be quite peculiar in the Kalittokai: a considerable number of its forms are found only rarely anywhere else. The planned presentation will present a series of complex verb forms which have been analysed in different ways and which I propose to analyse as auxiliary constructions, although this is certainly open to discussion. There are three base verbs I want to look at. The first one is ī-tal, “to give”, fairly clearly used with an absolutive/ceytuviṉaiyeccam as a benefactive, thus forming a precursor to the later aruḷ-tal. There are no less than 46 forms of that type in Kali, and many of them are, unlike the earlier Caṅkam examples, positive. Moreover, the imperative is not the only form in which they occur. The second one is kal-tal, “to learn”, with 17 occurrences. This verb appears to follow the verbal root. It is almost exclusively used with the negative and is generally analysed as the increment -ku- followed by negative -al-. However, the one positive form attested suggests otherwise. The meaning or function is unclear. The third verb is kil-tal, “to be able to”, attested with 10 forms. It still follows the verbal root (unlike in the transitional phase where it may come with an infinitive), although in many cases with gemination. Here the question is rather whether the old meaning is still intact or whether we are dealing with transitional forms into the present tense. Everybody is asked to bring parallel forms from their own material: for ī-tal the Cilappatikāram is the obvious candidate, for kil-tal we have many parallels in the bhakti corpus, but for kal-tal for the time being I am not aware of any such form outside Kali.
The Tamilex monthly seminar will take place on 3 December 2024, at 10:30 CET. This will be hybrid event; for the Zoom link, please contact Charles Li(charles.li"AT"uni-hamburg.de).
