The unique functionality of Urdu light verb jaa and Voice head variation

Variation in the properties and structural position of Hindi-Urdu light verbs is well-established. Similar accounts across the literature agree on three positions within the verbal spine: a lower v/V position, an intermediate position, and a high external-argument-introducing head (see Butt & Ramchand, 2005; Suliman, 2015; Sobolak, 2023). In this paper, we add light verb jaa to this discussion. Specifically, we show that jaa occupies an external-argument-introducing Voice head, using evidence from instrumental causers in jaa-constructions. We also show that, within the Voice head typology, Voice-jaa is distinct from the canonical active and passive Voice heads, and is, in fact, akin to Voice in marked anticausatives

The event structure of light verbs

127 pagesThis dissertation systematically investigates how light verbs contribute to eventstructure across three, typologically different languages: English, Hindi-Urdu, and Korean. I first show that light verbs across the three languages vary in their structural position and function. English light verbs take and give remain low in the structure, in VP, while the Hindi-Urdu light verb le ‘take’ occupies an intermediary (Inner) Aspect head just below the head that introduces the external argument, vP. The Korean light verb peli sits even higher in the structure, in an aspect head above vP. This structural variation is reflected in the effect that the light verbs have on the lexical aspect of the predicate. Light verbs in all three languages make the event telic, regardless of the type of event the light verb combines with. In summary, this dissertation provides a brief typological overview of the syntactic function and semantic role of light verbs, providing new insights into how light verbs contribute to event structure