Verb Root Allomorphy in Indo-Aryan Languages

Abstract

This paper aims to theoretically describe the phonological basis for the systematic verb root allomorphy seen in some of the Indo-Aryan languages. To highlight the similarities and differences in allomorphy patterns, three languages, Bangla, Hindi and Odia have been compared. The paper proposes that these languages typologically choose to achieve Paradigm Uniformity (Steriade 2000) within the verbal paradigm by introducing additional phonological processes, rather than by blocking the phonological processes active in the rest of the language.