Ergatives, antipassives and the overt light v in Hindi

This paper investigates the nature of ergative case assignment in a type of complex verb construction in Hindi. This construction involves a verbal complex that contains a main verb stem followed by a light verb. It is shown that the ergative case assignment in this construction depends crucially on the light verb. The evidence presented in the paper is highly suggestive of a view of vP shells in which the external argument introducing little v is a distinct head from the case assigning little v. Furthermore, a study of a range of lexical exceptions to the canonical ergative case assignment patterns in Hindi provides an argument that ergative case in Hindi is an inherent case.

► The role of light verbs in ergative case assignment in Hindi. ► Argument that the light verb that introduces the external argument is distinct from the light verb that assigns case. ► New type of evidence that ergative case is inherent.