Exploring the Uniqueness of Tulu: An Empirical Investigation of the Three Past Forms in the Dravidian Language of Tulu Nadu

Sammanfattning: This thesis investigates three different so-called “past tense forms” in Tulu, a Dravidian language spoken in the south-western Indian states of Karnataka and Kerala. Through fieldwork material collected by the author, this thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the usage and functions of the three forms in Tulu. It expands upon previous research, which has acknowledged the forms’ existence but not described their functions or provided examples of their usage. Previous research has also often referred to the forms with contradictory names; for example, one form has been called both “immediate past” by one source (Bhat, 1998:166) and “distant past” by another (Krishnamurti, 2003:334), with little explanation of the choice of these labels. In this thesis, they are called Past1, Past2 and Past3 as they all refer to events that have already happened, but the study shows that the distinction between them is one of aspect and validity of results and not of remoteness in tense. The investigation also shows that the three forms have differentiating and contrasting functions and can, in most cases, not be replaced by the others. Past1 is favoured to express perfectivity, event-focused actions, and consecutiveness. Past2 is used for continuous statives, states resulting from past events and events that have happened at least once, as well as introducing a new topic in a narrative. Past3 refers to both punctual or completed events and states that can hold for some time with other events happening in between, and it is commonly used to mark a situation or result not holding anymore. When events in the past are within the same scope, or an event is elaborated upon, the Past3 is also used, as well as when referring to events completed or started before a time reference in the past. The description of these forms' functions will fill a knowledge gap in the description of Tulu, providing a comprehensive understanding of the tense and aspect system in the language. Furthermore, the analysis and data can advance future Tulu and general typological studies about tense and aspect systems. Tulu has several unique features compared to other Dravidian languages. The so-called past tense forms have been claimed as one of them (Subrahmanyam, 1971; Krishnamurti, 2003). By describing them and including a brief comparison with other Dravidian languages, this thesis contributes to understanding the Dravidian language family. It provides material for the study of language change and the family's genealogy. In addition, the data released with the thesis includes sentences from Tulu and basic vocabulary lists from various Dravidian languages that can likewise be used in historical research of the family.