On the nativization of lexicon: the case of Marathi

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to discuss the lexical borrowings from Sanskrit, Persian, and English into Marathi in the context of the following questions: (a) whether or not the loans get fully nativized in the borrowing language, i.e. whether or not the linguistic processes of the borrowing language treat the loans and the native stock alike; (b) if a language borrows from more than one language, then, whether the loans from one language get more nativized than those from others; and (c) what the explanation is for the hierarchy of nativization of loans from different languages. This paper makes three claims: first, loans are not completely nativized in Marathi, i.e. certain linguistic processes treat the loans differently from the native Marathi stock. Second, there is a hierarchy of nativization of loans from Sanskrit, Persian, and English into Marathi. The degrees of nativization differ with each language; for example, in Marathi, while Sanskrit loans are fully nativized, Persian and English are less nativized. Third, this hierarchy is explainable on the basis of the attitude of the Marathi speakers toward Sanskrit, Persian, and English.

Relative Clauses in Magahi- A Descriptive Story

“…In this section there is a review of the literature on the description of relative clauses in three IndoAryan languages; Marathi (Pandharipande 1997), Punjabi (Bhatia 1993) and Maithili (Yadav 1996).…”

“…They are sentential relative clauses (henceforth SRC) and participial relative clauses (henceforth PRC). According to Pandharipande (1997), in Marathi both type of relative clauses are equally acceptable but frequency of PRC is higher in both written and spoken language. In Punjabi, Bhatia (1993) opines that finite relative clauses or SRC are known as "real" relative clause.…”

“…Participial relative clauses are generally ambiguous between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. Pandharipande (1997) and Bhatia (1993) observe respectively about Marathi and Punjabi that relative clause may either precede or follow the head noun. Non-restrictive finite clauses follow the head noun while restrictive relative clauses precede the head noun.…”

“…However, in Marathi, except object of postposition, any constituent can be relativized by PRC. When we consider relativization of noun phrases in Marathi, Pandharipande (1997) writes that by using SRC both possessor and possessed noun phrases can be relativized. However in PRC only possessed noun phrases can be relativized.…”

“…This is also true for Marathi and Punjabi. Following sentence (26) (Pandharipande 1997:81-82) Non-restrictive relative clause has a strict word-order. It must be embedded in the main clause.…”