Oblique case-marking in Indo-Aryan experiencer constructions: Historical roots and synchronic variation

•We trace the Vedic origins of the experiencer construction with an oblique subject.•The evidence for oblique subjects in Old Indo-Aryan is scant.•Oblique subject constructions are in New Indo-Aryan relatively recent developments.•This is shown by extensive variation in New Indo-Aryan experiencer constructions.

This article addresses the variable alignment properties of experiencer constructions in Indo-Aryan (IA) languages in the light of the available historical data from Vedic Sanskrit onwards. The first aim of the article is to shed light on the possible historical sources, emergence and expansion of constructions with non-canonically marked arguments in Old IA in general. The second aim is to gain a better understanding of the variation in case marking and agreement patterns that can be attested in New IA experiencer constructions, given that the interplay among morphological cases, semantic roles and additional semantic motivations poses many unsolved questions.