The compound verb in Munda: An areal and typological overview

Abstract

A study of six Munda languages shows that the syntactic category compound verb (which alternates with simple verb) may be identified in each one of them. However, while compound verbs in South Munda form systems which closely resemble those found in adjacent Indo-Aryan and Dravidian languages. North and Central Munda feature compound verbs of a very different sort. The South Munda type seems to have arisen as the result of cross-linguistic diffusion from its neighbors while that in North and Central Munda owes its origin to independent developments.