R̥gvedic depictive adjectival compounds and their functions

Abstract

The present study provides a survey of the semantics of depictive (in a broad sense, including circumstantials) adjectival compounds in Vedic Sanskrit. Following the typology of depictive constructions developed by Himmelmann, Nikolaus P. & Eva F. Schultze-Berndt. 2005. Issues in the syntax and semantics of participant-oriented adjuncts. In Nikolaus P. Himmelmann & Eva F. Schultze-Berndt (eds.), Secondary predication and adverbial modification: The typology of depictives, 1–67. Oxford & New York: Oxford University, we structure our classification along the semantic fields that such expressions tend to occur in. Our results show that in Vedic, the use of depictive adjectival compounds spans (almost) the whole gamut of functions reported for depictives in cross-linguistic studies. In Vedic, depictive compounds rank on a par with other strategies of non-finite event elaboration such as participles, verbal adjectives, and action nouns.