Early Vedic compounds

Abstract

AbstractDespite a longstanding tradition of studies in Sanskrit compounds, a description that enables comparisons in cross-linguistic perspective has not yet been worked out. The present article follows classificatory criteria introduced by Bisetto & Scalise (2005,2009) and sketches a typology of compounds in the most archaic variety of Sanskrit, Early Vedic, as transmitted by theRigVeda. Analyzing compounds on the basis of the grammatical relations holding between their constituents provides a classification into coordinate, subordinate, and attributive compounds, with the endocentric/exocentric divide cutting across all classes. In order to identify the position of Early Vedic compounds on the syntax-morphology continuum, the article investigates the degree of cohesiveness at the level of morphology, prosody, syntax, and semantics. With this respect, theRigVedaoffers a varied picture where relics of archaic, less cohesive forms occur side-to-side with more productive and word-like ones.