A Study on Hindi Infinitive Constructions: Lexical and Phrasal Nominalizations

Abstract

This paper makes a closer examination of Hindi infinitive constructions and shows that Hindi infinitives behave similarly to other languages with regard to the morphosyntactic properties typically found in so-called mixed category constructions. In particular, we argue for the lexical and phrasal nominalizations on the basis of the verbal infinitive form in Hindi and discuss the internal verbal properties and the external nominal distribution of infinitive phrases. We claim that the Hindi infinitive phrase has the internal syntax of VP while having an external categorial status similar to NP. Due to the external nominal distribution, in fact, we can find partial nominal property internally from the occurrence of possessive phrases. However, infinitive phrases do not have the full structure of NP since they do not allow N-bar modifiers internally, which suggests that infinitive phrases do not have N-bar structure. In addition to the partial nominal property internally, we show that infinitive phrases have the full internal syntax of VP. The infinitive verbal head of infinitive phases, which is the phrasal nominalization, is also used in the lexical nominalization, in accordance with Nominalizer Uniformity. Hindi is assumed to have a null nominalizer which may be attached lexically or syntactically. If the null nominalizer of category feature N lexically combines with V[INF]0, we get a lexically-derived deverbal noun N0. In contrast, if the null nominalizer of category feature D combines with V[INF]2, i.e. VP, we come to have intermediate nominal constituent D-bar. With the given analysis we can account for the morphosyntactic properties found in Hindi infinitive construction while maintaining a strong form of structural endocentricity.