The unaccusative case pattern of Hindi and auxiliary be

This paper discusses the unaccusative case pattern of ergative transitive predicates in Hindi, and attempts to derive it from a split between the workings of V and the head that introduces the subject. I adopt a system in which object case requires the joint work of v and V (Chomsky, 2007, 2008). Following work by Mahajan (1989, 1993, 1997), I explore the idea that the ergative marker in Hindi is a P, which I view as a type of Voice head that combines with the v that introduces and case-marks the ergative subject with inherent Case. This overall approach bears directly on Mahajanʹs contention that ergative case-marking and the aspectual auxiliary have are two sides of the same phenomenon. Within a compositional analysis, have is be + P (Freeze, 1992; Kayne, 1993; Mahajan, 1993, 1997, 2000). Drawing from these works, I sketch an approach to the have-be alternation that links the aspectual component of have to features encoded on v.