The Middle voice in Kannada and Dravidian

• Applicant: Professor Dr. John Michael Peterson
• Subject Area: General and Comparative Linguistics, Experimental Linguistics, Typology, Non-European Languages
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 581381258

The aim of the proposed project is to provide a typological account of the middle voice in the South Dravidian language Kannada (glcode nucl1305, ISO 693-3 kan) and to reconstruct its development from Old Kannada to Modern Kannada. The project will draw on data from existing literature, fieldwork, and annotated corpora. The analysis of Kannada will involve a comparison with its major Dravidian neighbors, i.e., Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Tulu. Approaching the middle voice typologically but at the same time with a clear focus on one language enables us to go beyond a purely language-specific analysis and to contribute to questions pertaining to the middle voice from both an areal and a crosslinguistic perspective.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants