This book is the first comprehensive study of the Vedic present formations with the suffix 'ya' (‘ 'ya'-presents’ for short), including both present passives with the accented suffix 'yá' and non-passive -'ya'-presents with the accent on the root (class IV in the Indian tradition). It offers a complete survey of all 'ya'-presents attested in the Vedic corpus. The main issue in the spotlight of this monograph is the relationship between form (accent placement, diathesis) and function (passive/non-passive) in the system of the 'ya'-presents – one of the most solidly attested present classes in Sanskrit. One of the aims of the present study is to corroborate the systematic correlation between accent placement and the passive/non-passive distinction: passives bear the accent on the suffix, while non-passives have the accent on the root. The book also focuses on the position of the passive within the system of voices and valency-changing categories in Old Indo-Aryan.

Contents Preface Contents Abbreviations Introduction Vedic -'ya'-formations: preliminaries Syntactic and semantic preliminaries Corpus of texts and evaluation of evidence The structure of the survey of -'ya'-presents A Survey of Vedic '-ya-' presents Middle -'ya'-presents with suffix accentuation Middle -'ya'-presents with root accentuation Middle -'ya'-presents with fluctuating accentuation Unaccented middle -'ya'-presents Active -'ya'-presents 'Cyáti' presents 'A Systematic Analysis and Classification of -ya-presents' Morphophonological classes of -'ya'-stems Semantics of -'ya'-presents Transitivity alternations and paradigmatic oppositions within the system of -'ya'-presents Remarks on paradigmatic properties of -'ya'-presents -'ya'-passives and other passive formations Diathesis fluctuations in -'ya'-presents Vedic -'ya'-presents in a diachronic perspective 'Appendices' Post-Vedic -'ya'-presents: a selection Vedic quasi-denominatives and their passives -'yá'-passives and other formations attested in the passive usage: a synopsis 'Bibliography' Texts Secondary literature Abbreviations 'Indices' Index verborum Index locorum Index rerum