Syntactic Alternations of Hindi Verbs with Reference
to the Morphological Paradigm
Debasri Chakrabarti
Dr. Pushpak Bhattacharyya
Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.

Center for Indian language Technology Solution,
Computer Science Department.
1
Overview
Introduction
 Motivation
 Methodology
 Conclusion
 Future work

2
Introduction
1. Importance of Verbs
• Verbs are the most important categories in
parts of speech
• Sentence without a verb is unthinkable
2. Inspired by Beth Levin’s English Verb classes
and Alternations
3. Syntactic Alternations
• Refer to the argument structure of the verbs
3
Motivation
1. Absence of deep hierarchical semantic tree.
2. Hypothesis of Beth Levin : Semantic nature
of verbs are largely predictable by their
syntactic structure.
3. Absence of any such work in Indian
languages.
4
Type of Alternation

Transitivity Alternation
Middle alternation, Causative alternation, Substance
alternation.
Dative Alternation
 Locative Alternation

Clear alternation, Material Product alternation,
Fulfilling alternation.

Oblique Subject Alternation
Passive alternation.
5
Transitivity Alternation
a. Jannet broke the cup.
b. The cup broke.
Hindi: rama nao kp taoD,a.
kp TUT gayaa.
Alternation Pattern: ‘NP1 NP2 V’ with ‘NP
cause to V intransitive’.
6
Tree Diagram of Transitive Alternation
S
NP
N
Jannet
VP
V
broke
NP
spec
N
the
cup
7
Tree Diagram of Transitive alternation
(contd…)
S
NP
spec
The
VP
N
cup
V
broke
8
Tree Diagram of Transitive alternation
(contd…)
S
NP
N
rama
VP
Post-position
nao
NP
V
N
V
kp
taoD,a
9
Tree Diagram of Transitive alternation
(contd…)
S
NP
VP
N
V
kp
TUT
Aux
gayaa
10
Dative Alternation
a. Bill sold a car.
b. Bill sold Tom a car.
Hindi: rama nao gaaD,I baocaI.
rama nao Syaama kao gaaD,I baocaI.
Alternation Pattern: ‘NP1 P NP2 V’ with
‘NP1 NP2 P NP3 V’.
11
Tree Diagram of Dative alternation
S
VP
NP
N
Bill
V
sold
NP
spec
N
a
car
12
Tree Diagram of Dative alternation
(contd…)
S
VP
NP
N
Bill
V
sold
NP
NP
N
spec
Tom
a
N
car
13
Tree Diagram of Dative alternation
(contd…)
S
NP
N
VP
Post-position NP
V
N
rama
nao
gaaD,I
baocaI
14
Tree Diagram of Dative alternation (contd…)
S
NP
N
VP
Post-position
N
rama
nao
Syaa
ma
NP
NP
Post-position
kao
V
N
gaaD,I
baocaI
15
Locative alternation
a. The eggs mixed with the cream.
b. The eggs and the cream mixed.
Hindi: AMDo ko saaqa ËIma imalaaš gaš hO.
AMDa AaOr ËIma imalaayaa gayaa hO.
Alternation Pattern: ‘[NP NP1 P NP2 ]V’ and
‘[NP NP1 and NP2] V’.
16
Tree diagram of Locative alternation
S
NP
spe
c
VP
N
PP
V
P
NP
spec
The
eggs
mixed
with
the
N
cream
17
Tree diagram of Locative alternation
(contd)
S
NP
conj
spec
N
The
eggs
NP
spec
and
the
VP
N
cream
V
mixed
18
Tree diagram of Locative alternation
(contd…)
S
NP
N
AMDo
VP
Post-position N
ko saaqa
V
ËIma imalaaš
Aux
gaš hO
19
Tree diagram of Locative alternation
(contd…)
S
VP
NP
N
AMDa
conj
AaOr
N
ËIma
V
imalaayaa
Aux
gayaa hO
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Structure of Verbs in Hindi
Simple verbs
Kanaa, ilaKnaa.
 Conjunct verbs
Noun and verb AarMBa krnaa.
Adjective and verb maIza laganaa.
Adverb and verb dUr hTnaa.
 Compound verbs
PaZ,naa – ilaKnaa, Kanaa – pInaa.
Causative verbs
Kanaa , iKlaanaa , iKlavaanaa.

21
Morphological paradigms of verbs in
Hindi
Nominal verb formation
 Intransitive- causative formation
 Transitive- causative formation

22
Process of Nominal verb formation
Nominal Root
Affix
Nominal Stem
Verb Form
gama-
Aa
gamaa-
gamaa-naa
duK
Aa
duKa
duKanaa
zga
Aa
zgaa
zgaanaa
Nominal Root
Affix
Nominal Stem
Verb Form
laat
[yaa
laityaa
laityaanaa
baat
[yaa
baityaa
baityaanaa
haqa
[yaa
hiqayaa
hiqayaanaa
Nominal Form
Verbal Form
fTkar
fTkarnaa
Apnaa
Apnaanaa
23
Process of Intransitive-causative formation
Intransitive
Causative(1st degree)
Causative(2nd degree)
Drnaa
Dranaa
Drvaanaa
igrnaa
igaranaa
igarvaanaa
Syllable structure of igarnaa and igaranaa
syllable
syllable
g i r
n a
on c
o n
g i
r a
n a
on
o n
o n
24
Process of Intransitive-causative formation
Contd…
Verb (primary form)
Causative(1st degree)
Causative(2nd degree)
saaonaa
saulaanaa
saulavaanaa
raonaa
$laanaa
$lavaanaa
Verb (primary form)
Causative(1st degree)
Causative(2nd degree)
jaanaa
Baojanaa
iBajavaanaa
Verb (primary form)
Causative(1st degree)
Causative(2nd degree)
lajaanaa
laijjat krnaa
laijjat krvaanaa
Verb (primary form)
Causative(1st degree)
Causative(2nd degree)
fTnaa
faD,naa
fD,vaanaa
jauD,naa
jaaoD,naa
jauD,vaanaa
25
Process of Transitive-causative formation
Transitive Verb
Causative(1st degree)
Causative(2nd degree)
pZ,naa
pZ,anaa
pZ,vaanaa
ilaKnaa
ilaKanaa
ilaKvaanaa
saunanaa
saunaanaa
saunavaanaa
Syllable structure of ilaKnaa and ilaKanaa
syllable
syllable
l i kh
o n c
n a
o n
l i
kh a
n a
on
o n
o n
26
Process of Transitive-causative formation
Contd…
Transitive Verb
Causative(1st degree)
Causative(2nd degree)
jaItnaa
ijatanaa
ijatvaanaa
saIKnaa
isaKanaa
isaKvaanaa
Transitive Verb
Causative(1st degree)
Causative(2nd degree)
pInaa
iplaanaa
iplavaanaa
saInaa
isalaanaa
isalavaanaa
27
Conclusion
1. Present work deals only with the syntactic
pattern and does not handle the semantic
part.
2. The work deals only with the simple verbs.
3. It gives detail phonological, morphological
and syntactic information of Verbs in Hindi.
4. Inclusion of such information crucial to
Machine translation.
28
Future Work
1. Semantic categorization according to syntactic
pattern.
2. Extend the work to other Indian languages.
29