On Multiple Agreement in Urdu Language: A Cyclic-Agree Account

Abstract

This study investigates morphosyntactic agreement in the Urdu language utilizing a qualitative descriptive approach, gathering naturalistic data, and employing a Cyclic Agree (Béjar & Rezac, 2009) as a theoretical framework. Focusing on compound verb constructions, double-object construction, and compound verb constructions, this study examines how agreement is constrained by case accessibility, clause structure, and probe-goal interactions. The data reveals that ergative subjects in perfective contexts are specifically opaque to agreement probes, which instead target accessible internal arguments—often yielding object-controlled agreement. Ditransitive constructions consistently support agreement with the head noun via syntactic binding, even in the absence of overt nominal presence, thereby supporting movement-based analyses. By applying Cyclic Agree to Urdu’s split-ergative alignment and complex clause architecture, the study contributes to broader typological and theoretical debates on agreement displacement, locality, and feature inheritance in South Asian languages.