Semantic Change and Semantic Extension of Tamil Verbs

Email

Whatsapp

Facebook

Pinterest

Twitter

Copy link

Tamil verbs expand their range of application of meaning or usage of meaning in predictable as well as unpredictable ways. For the native speakers of Tamil such extension or change of meaning of a verb may not appear strange. But a non-native speaker finds it difficult to understand the meaning of a verb in unaccustomed contexts. In this research monograph, it is presumed that the meaning listed under each verb is nothing but meaning expansion or change and these are somewhat predictable and can be explained by cognitive principles or principles of generative lexicon.

Prof. Rajendran Sankaravelayuthan was born to his parents Sankaravelayuthan and Thanammal on 3" December 1950 in Nagercoil, Tamilnadu. He had his M.A. in linguistics from University of Kerala and PhD from University of Poona. After his retirement from Tamil University, Thanjavur as a professor he has joined Amrita Vishwa Vidyappeetham, Coimbatore as a Visiting Professor and continues working there till date.

Deccan College Post-Graduate and Research Institute (Deemed to be University) celebrated its bicentenary on the 6th October 2021 The Publications Committee of the Bicentenary Celebrations had taken a decision to publish about 20 monographs to mark the completion of two hundred years of its existence. Experts were invited from the disciplines of the three departments of the Institute- Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Linguistics and Sanskrit Lexicography as well as from Library Science. The quality and range of the areas covered in these publications is reassuring about the continuing research in these areas at the Institute known for its rich and invaluable contributions. The manuscripts from external experts show the trust and faith they have reposed in the intellectual commitment of the university. We are able to put in your hands 14 of the proposed 20 volumes, chosen on grounds of critical peer reviews. I can say in full faith that these monographs reflect the signs of progress and growth of the Institute, and that they convey not only the content, but also the abiding interest of the Institute in the unmixed pursuit of knowledge.

To be honest, the basic work of this monograph was initiated in 1974 when I started working for my Ph.D. degree under the supervision of Peri Baskararao who was a professor at that time in Department of Linguistics, Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune which was affiliated to University of Poona at that time. I worked on "Syntax and semantics of Tamil verbs." It was two pronged: one is to study the argument structure of Tamil verbs based on Fillmore's 'Case grammar' and another is to study the semantics of Tamil verbs based on Nida's "Componential analysis of meaning: an introduction to semantic structure" I tried to find out case frames for the verbs as well as to classify the verbs into certain semantic domains based on Nida's principles. Also I tried to account for the polysemy of each verb. Later on I tried to make use of principles of cognitive semantics and Pustejovsky's generative lexicon principles to explain the polysemy found in verbs. The findings of the above mentioned research works have culminated into the present monograph.

**Contents and Sample Pages**