Comparative Study of ‘-Ko’ and ‘-Ne’ Marker in Dative Construction of Delhi-Hindi

Abstract

This paper is the comparative study of ‘-ko’ and ‘-Ne’ markers in dative construction of Delhi-Hindi. Although it is well known that ‘-ko’ is the dative marker and ‘-ne’ is the ergative marker in Delhi-Hindi like Hindi-Urdu (Standard Hindi) but Delhi-Hindi also has another kind of construction i.e. ‘dative-substitution’. In dative-substitution construction, ergative ‘-ne’ marker is used in dative construction instead of dative ‘-ko’ marker. This paper explores the specific domains where this construction would be acceptable with respect to morpho-syntactic point of view. It also highlights the possible environment where ‘-Ne’ marker has shown similarities or differences with dative ‘-ko’ marker in Delhi-Hindi. Even it provides evidences to analysis whether this ‘-Ne’ marker is (un)able to substitute already existing ‘-ko’ dative marker in dative constructions. This type of construction is also available in Urdu (Butt, 2006).