Verbal nouns in Balochi

This article has been submitted for: Recueil d'articles du Colloque de travail de la Société des Études Indo-Européennes "Adjectifs verbaux et participes dans les langues indo-européennes" (Paris 2014), éds. Georges-Jean Pinault et al.Ancient Indo-European verbal nouns and adjectives are integrated into the verbal system in many later Indo-European languages. This paper looks at the forms and uses of verbal nouns in a variety of Balochi dialects. 1. Formations-ok similar to particle as it denotes a temporary occupation, thus means ‘doing’. There are two participles, two formations of the infinitive (depending on the dialect), an agent noun and a gerundive. In these formations, the inherited middle participle of the present stem is preserved as is the infinitive formation in tanai found in Old Persian. The remaining formations are innovations, to some extent paralleled by formations in other Ir. languages and beyond. The common nominal suffix -aka- is suffixed to the inherited verbal adjective to give a perfect participle, but also, noteworthily, to the present stem of the verb to yield an infinitive. The agent noun suffix -ok, likewise suffixed to the present stem, might derive from a suffixing of -aka- to present stems in -nu-, for which the isolated MP formation kirrōg (Armen. krog-pet) “craftsman” would provide evidence. The gerundive is formed by suffixing -ī to the infinitive; this is probably the -ī deriving adjectives from nouns (also seen in genitive forms of pronouns). 2. UsesThe verbal nouns are used quite commonly, and in a variety of functions that to some extent also depend on the dialect. Infinitives may be used and inflected as a verbal noun and to express purpose: The infinitive in the oblique case thus expresses direction (as it would with substantives), or location. The latter is the case when it is combined with the copula to denote a progressive (lit. “be in the state / position of doing something”). Other dialects employ the present participle.The agent noun may also be used as a present participle.The gerundive is used with the copula to indicate future or intention: Verbal nouns are also found in combinations with auxiliaries to denote further types of aktionsart. In the second part of the paper, I will argue that the variation among Balochi dialects is due to the languages they have been in contact with. Specifically, verbal nouns are used in a particularly high number of verbal patterns in Balochi dialects spoken in Pakistan, the correspondences of which employ verbal prefixes or modal verbs constructions in Balochi dialects spoken in Iran and Turkmenistan, thus presenting an alternative strategy of innovating the verbal system