Split Ergativity in Konkani

August 06, 2025

Transitivity

In general, a verb is intransitive (or अकर्मक​ akarmaka in Indic grammatical tradition) when it does not require a direct object (कर्म karma) to express a complete action. On the other hand, a verb is said to be transitive (or सकर्मक​ sakarmaka) when it requires a direct object to express a complete action.

There’s a third category called ditransitive which are verbs that take a direct object and an indirect object (Think about the following sentence- “Ram gave Rajesh a gift.” Here the verb give in the past tense has two objects, direct object- Rajesh, indirect object- gift). In the Indic context, ditransitive verbs are not treated any different from general transitive verbs.

• Examples of a few intransitive verbs in Konkani: रडूंक​ raḍūṅk ‘to cry’, हांसूंक​ hā̃sūṅk ‘to laugh’, धांवंक​ dʰā̃uṅk ‘to run’, न्हावंक​ nʰāuṅk ‘to bathe’ etc.

• Examples of a few transitive verbs in Konkani: करूंक karūṅk ‘to do’​, व्हरूंक vʰarūṅk ‘to take away’, धरूंक dʰarūṅk ‘to hold’​, खावंक​ kʰāuṅk ‘to eat’ etc.

What is Split Ergativity?

Split ergativity is a phenomenon in some languages where ergative-absolutive alignment is used in certain contexts, while nominative-accusative alignment is used in others.

Konkani shows split-ergativity i.e., it shows both nominative-accusative and ergative-absolutive alignments. In the ergative-absolutive alignment, the subject of a transitive verb [in perfective and preterite (past) environments] takes the ergative marking [which is identical to the instrumental case for nominals and a derivative of the instrumental case for pronominals] rather than the nominative-accusative marking in the case of subject of intransitive verbs [and other environments of transitive verbs]. This alignment results in the verb then agreeing with the object instead of the subject in terms of gender and number.

Taking different environments of the transitive verb खावंक kʰāuṅk​ ‘to eat’ for the first few examples-

Non-perfect environments:

  भुरगो आंबो खाता
  bʰurgo āmbo kʰātā
  boy.MASC.SG mango.MASC.SG eat-SG.PRES
  ‘The boy eats mango.’
  (The simple present tense doesn’t inflect for gender in Konkani)

  भुरगो दाळ खातालो
  bʰurgo dāḷ kʰātālo
  boy.MASC.SG lentil.FEM.SG eat-MASC.SG.IMPRF
  ‘The boy used to eat lentil.’

  भुरगो पोळो खातलो
  bʰurgo poḷo kʰātalo
  boy.MASC.SG pancake.MASC.SG eat-MASC.SG.FUT1
  ‘The boy will eat a pancake.’

  भुरगो लाडू खाय​त
  bʰurgo lāḍu kʰāyt
  boy.MASC.SG laddoo.MASC.SG eat-SG.FUT2
  ‘The boy might eat a laddo.’
  (The second future tense also called indefinite future, doesn’t inflect for gender in Konkani)

In the above examples, the verb agrees with the subject in terms of gender and number and the subject is in the nominative case. The direct objects here are left unmarked (usually accusative) because they are inanimate, more on that later.

Perfect or Preterite (Past) Environments:

  भुरग्यान कणंग खालें
  bʰurgyān kaṇaṅg kʰālẽ
  boy.MASC.SG-ERG sweet potato.NEUT.SG eat-NEUT.SG.PST
  ‘The boy ate a sweet potato.’

  भुरग्यान खिचडी खाल्या
  bʰurgyān kʰicaḍi kʰālyā
  boy.MASC.SG-ERG porridge.FEM.SG eat-FEM.SG.PRF
  ‘The boy has eaten the porridge.’

  भुरग्यान अळमीं खाल्लीं
  bʰurgyān aḷmĩ kʰāllĩ
  boy.MASC.SG-ERG mushrooms.NEUT.PL eat-NEUT.PL.PLPRF
  ‘The boy had eaten mushrooms.’

In these examples above, the verb agrees with the direct object in terms of gender and number and the subject is in the ergative (instrumental) case.

This split with regards to ergativity, however, does not occur with intransitive verbs, where the subject consistently appears in the nominative case regardless of tense or aspect and the verb always agrees with the subject in terms of gender and number.

Animacy and Inanimacy

• Direct objects that are animate (in the simplest of terms, living entities) are often marked with the accusative-

    चलयेन सुण्याक मारलो
    calyen suṇyāk mārlo
    girl.FEM.SG-ERG dog.MASC.SG-ACC hit-MASC.SG.PST
    ‘The girl hit the dog.’
  

    बापायन धुवांक आपयल्यो
    bāpāyn dʰuvā̃ṅk āpaylyo
    father.MASC.SG-ERG daughter-FEM.PL-ACC call-FEM.PL.PST
    ‘The father called the daughters.’
  

    शींव चितळाक खाता
    śī̃v ćitaḷāk kʰātā
    lion.MASC.SG deer.MASC.SG-ACC eat-SG.PRES
    ‘The lion eats the deer.’
  

• Direct objects that are inanimate (in the simplest of terms, non-living entities) are left unmarked-

    अस्तुऱ्येन फातर उडयलो
    asturyen pʰātar uḍaylo
    woman.FEM.SG stone.MASC.SG throw-MASC.SG.PST
    ‘The woman threw the stone.’
  

    पुतान घर पळयिल्लें
    putān gʰar paḷayillẽ
    son.MASC.SG house.NEUT.SG see-NEUT.SG.PLPRF
    ‘The son had seen the house.’
  

    धूव टिव्ही घेता
    dʰūv ṭivʰi gʰetā
    daughter.FEM.SG television.MASC.SG buy-SG.PRES
    ‘The daughter buys a TV.’
  

It is important to note that object case marking does not prevent the verb from agreeing with the object (in gender and number) when the subject is in the ergative case, nor does it inhibit verb agreement with the subject in constructions where the subject is not ergative.

  सीतान सुरेंद्राक मारलो
  sitān surendrāk mārlo
  sita.FEM.SG-ERG surendra.MASC.SG-ACC hit.MASC.SG.PST
  ‘Sit hit Surendra.’

  सीता सुरेंद्राक मारताली
  sitā surendrāk mārtāli
  sita.FEM.SG surendra.MASC.SG-ACC hit.FEM.SG.IMPERF
  ‘Sita used to hit Surendra.’

Marking Ergativity in Pronominals

When pronominals function as the subject of a verb, ergativity is marked using an ‘ergative’ case which derives from the instrumental case (that happens to be the case used on nominals to mark ergativity). Except for the 1st and 2nd person plural pronouns, ergativity is generally marked in all other pronominals including the reflexive ones.

• हांव​ hā̃v + [INST. case] → हांवेन​ hā̃ven → हांवें hā̃vẽ (1p.SG)
  
• तूं​ tũ + [INST. case] → तुवेन​​ tuven → तुवें tuvẽ (2p.SG)
  
• तो to + [INST. case] → ताणेन​ tāṇen → ताणें tāṇẽ (3p.MASC.SG.DIST)
  
• ती ti + [INST. case] → तिणेन​​ tiṇen → तिणें tiṇẽ (3p.FEM.SG.DIST)
  
• हो ho + [INST. case] → हाणेन​ hāṇen → हाणें hāṇẽ (3p.MASC.SG.PROX)
  
• ही hi + [INST. case] → हिणेन​​ hiṇen → हिणें hiṇẽ (3p.FEM.SG.PROX)
  
• ते te + [INST. case] → ताणीन​​ tāṇin → ताणीं tāṇĩ (3p.PL.DIST)
  
• हे he + [INST. case] → हाणीन​​ hāṇin → हाणीं hāṇĩ (3p.PL.PROX)
  
• स्वता svatā + [INST. case] → स्वयेन​ svayen → स्वयें svayẽ (1p.SG.RFLX)
• आपूण​ āpuṇ + [INST. case] → आपणेन​ āpṇen → आपणें āpṇẽ (1p.SG.RFLX)
  

(The final -न -n in all these cases hops onto the preceeding vowel nasalizing it)

(स्वयें svayẽ seems to be the ergative of a स्वयम् svayam form rather than being the ergative of स्वता svatā, however, svayam is not used in Konkani)

Other details regarding split ergativity are largely same as the nominals discussed above. Some illustrative examples-

तूं फातर उडयतालो
tũ pʰātar uḍaytālo
you-2p.SG stone.MASC.SG. throw-MASC.SG.IMPERF
‘You used to throw a stone.’
[Assuming the pronominal subject here refers to a masculine entity]

हांव शीत खाताली
hā̃v śit kʰātāli
I-1p.SG. rice.NEUT.PL eat-FEM.SG.IMPERF
‘I used to eat rice.’
[Assuming the pronominal subject here refers to a feminine entity]

(Since first person, second person and reflexive singular pronominals do not explicitly inflect for gender, in non-ergative contexts, verbal agreement in terms of gender is determined by the gender of the person being referred to. For instance, if a man uses the pronoun हांव hā̃v ‘I’, the verb must be inflected for the masculine gender; if a woman uses it, the verb must be inflected for the feminine. Similarly, when referring to someone using the pronoun तूं tũ ‘you’, the verb agrees with the gender of the addressee in non-ergative situations.)

तो माजराक जेवण दिता
to mājrāk j́evaṇ ditā
he-3p.MASC.SG.DIST cat.NEUT.SG-ACC meal.NEUT.SG. give-SG.PRES
‘He gives the cat a meal.’

ही सिनेमा चोयतली
hi sinemā coytali
she-3p.FEM.SG.PROX movie.MASC.SG see-FEM.SG.FUT1
‘She will watch the movie.’

(Since third person singular pronominals explicitly inflect for gender, in non-ergative contexts, verbal agreement in terms of gender is relatively more straightforward.)

हांवें आंबो खाल्लो
hā̃vẽ āmbo kʰāllo
I-1p.SG.ERG mango.MASC.SG. eat-MASC.SG.PLPRF
‘I had eaten a mango.’

तुवें घर सोडिल्लें
tuvẽ gʰar soḍillẽ
you-2p.SG-ERG house.NEUT.SG leave-NEUT.SG.PLPRF
‘You had left the house.’

ताणें राधाक चिमटिली
tāṇẽ rādʰāk ćimṭili
he-3p.MASC.SG-ERG radha.FEM.SG-ACC pinch-FEM.SG.PST
‘He pinched Radha.’

ताणीं आंबे खाल्ले
tāṇĩ āmbe kʰālle
they-3p.PL.DIST-ERG mangoes.MASC.PL eat-MASC.PL.PLPRF
‘They had eaten mangoes.’

हाणीं सुयो हाडल्यो
hāṇĩ suyo hāḍlyo
they-3p.PL.PROX-ERG needles.FEM.PL bring-FEM.PL.PST
‘They brought needles.’

आपणें घर घेतलां
āpṇẽ gʰar gʰetlā̃
I-1p.SG.RFLX-ERG house.NEUT.SG bought-NEUT.SG.PRF
‘I (myself) have bought a house.’

(Since the pronominal subjects in the five examples above are all marked with the ergative case, the transitive verb agrees with the direct object in terms of gender and number)

आमीं रुपीं घेतांव​​​
āmĩ rupĩ gʰetā̃v
we-1p.PL silver.NEUT.PL buy-PL.PRES
‘We buy silver.’
(As usual, the simple present tense doesn’t inflect for gender in Konkani)

तुमीं साडयो व्हरताल्यो
tumĩ sāḍyo vʰartālyo
you-2p.PL sarees.FEM.PL take-FEM.PL.IMPERF
‘You (all) used to take sarees.’
[Assuming that the pronominal subject here refers to a group of feminine entities only]

आमीं दूद दवरिल्लें
āmĩ dud davarillẽ
we-1p.PL-ERG milk.NEUT.SG keep-NEUT.SG.PLPRF
‘We had kept milk.’

तुमीं केळीं खालीं
tumĩ keḷĩ kʰālĩ
you-2p.PL-ERG banana.NEUT.PL eat-NEUT.PL.PST
‘You (all) ate bananas.’

(From the four examples above it is clear that the first and second person plural pronominals do not change their forms even in ergative contexts, they remain आमीं āmĩ and तुमीं tumĩ respectively. In non-ergative contexts, verb agreement depends on the composition of the group being referred to: if the group consists entirely of masculine or entirely of feminine entities, the verb agrees accordingly; if the group is mixed, the verb is inflected for the neuter gender. In ergative contexts, however, verb agreement follows the usual pattern and is determined by the gender and number of the direct object.)

Ergativity in the Obligative Mood

When a transitive verb is conjugated in the obligative mood, the subject takes the ergative marking. Per usual, nominals take the instrumental case and pronominals take the ‘ergative’ case.

Obligative mood in Konkani is indicated by the infinitive form of the verb accompanied by the auxiliary जाय jāy ‘want’.

श्वेतान पद गावंक जाय​
śvetān pad gāuṅk jāy
shveta.FEM.SG-ERG song.NEUT.SG sing-OBLIG
‘Shveta must sing a song!’

तुवें काम करूंक जाय​
tuvẽ kām karūṅk jāy
you-2p.SG-ERG work.NEUT.SG do-OBLIG
‘You must work!’

हांवें दार उगडूंक जाय​
hā̃vẽ dār ugḍūṅk jāy
I-1p.SG-ERG door.NEUT.SG open-OBLIG
‘I must open the door!’

आमीं घर पळोवंक जाय​
āmĩ gʰar paḷouṅk jāy
we-1p.PL-ERG house.NEUT.SG seep-OBLIG
‘We must see the house!’