Remarks on the diachrony of verbal periphrasis in Vedic Sanskrit

Abstract

This article explores the origin and development of three periphrastic constructions in Vedic Sanskrit, aiming, on the one hand, to establish their relative chronology and, on the other hand, to pinpoint the systemic factors that facilitated their rise and development at different historical stages. An important claim of the paper is that the rise of the various periphrastic constructions under scrutiny is closely related to more general developments characterising the tense/aspect systems from Proto-Indo-Iranian to Middle Indo-Aryan.