A survey of alignment features in the Greater Hindukush with special references to Indo-Aryan

The Hindukush Indo-Aryan (‘Dardic’) languages (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir) display a great range of variation in alignment patterns. The diversity is primarily evidenced in the case marking of core argument noun phrases and verbal person marking properties. Along these parameters, six distinct alignment types emerge, each, in combination with language-specific developments, reflecting contact-induced changes that can be attributed to three significant areas or subareas that conflate in the region: first, a large Persian-dominated area overlapping with the Western part of the region, characterized by overt patient marking; second, an area in the East with e.g. ancient Tibetan influences, characterized by overt agent marking; and third, an area in the South bordering on the influential Hindi-Urdu belt, stretching over large parts of the Indian Subcontinent, characterized by patient agreement in the perfective