| Section
1:b |
We
now turn to the theory of subject being the
antecedent of anaphors in Hindi. Some generative
linguists1 have maintained that
the subject of the sentence in which the anaphor
occurs is the antecedent of the anaphor. The
subject has been claimed to be the antecedent
in Tamil also.2 We argue below
that not only is the theory that subject is
the antecedent of an anaphor inadequate to
account for the anaphor-antecedent relationship
in Hindi, it is also unclear as to what motivations
exist to postulate the notion of subject in
the grammar of Hindi. We deal with the latter
part of the observation first. |
| |
| Subject
in Hindi |
If
one scans the relevant literature, one would
find that the notion subject is needed in
the grammar of Hindi for the following reasons: |
| (a) |
|
it is the antecedent of a reflexive. |
| (b) |
|
The subject of the non-causative sentence
undergoes the relevant morphological
change when the sentence is changed
into its corresponding causative counterpart
as in the following sentence: |
|
| |
| (9) |
|
(i)
|
|
teacher dwara bacche ko Hindi sikhayai
gayi
teacher CM child CM Hindi teach+ passive
CAUSE +PAST
(The child was taught Hindi by the teacher)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
(ii) |
|
teacher se bacche ko Hindi sikhavayi Passive
+PAST gayi
teacher CM child CM Hindi teach + CAUSE
(The teacher was made to teach Hindi
to the child)
|
|
(9)
(i) is a passive sentence 9 (ii) is its causative
counterpart. The dwara phrase in 9 (i) undergoes
morphological change when the sentence is
changed to its causative from and becomes
the se phrase in 9 (ii). |
| |
| (C) |
|
PRO occurs as the subject of the embedded
S. |
|
As
regards verb agreement, it can hardly be regarded
as a test for identifying the subject of a
sentence in Hindi. In this language, of the
verb agrees with the NP to which no overt
CM is attached. As such, although the verb
agrees with the underlined constituents in
the following, linguists have maintained that
the subjects in these are ram ko and ram ne
respectively. |
| |
| (10) |
|
ram ko rasgulla pasand hai
ram CM rasgulla like be+PRES
(Ram likes rasgulla.) |
| |
|
|
| (11) |
|
ram ne khana khaya
ram
CM food eat+PAST
(Ram
ate his food.)
|
|
It
is however true that except for the dative
and ergative cousructions, the NP without
an overt CM is indeed the one that has been
regarded as subject. Thus ravan is subject
in for the passive sentences(12):3 |
| |
