Hindi: सीखना - Intransitive use

[panjabigator]

Hi all,
Reading a short story from Susham Bedi (found here) and I noticed this usage of सीखना that I never saw before.

1. भैया भी तो लेट सीखा था
2. ममा तो आज तक नहीं सीखीं

Is there an intransitive usage here that is common? I would've otherwise used a ने.

Thanks!
PG

 

[Qureshpor]

gator Jii, you've put Urdu in the title and you'll appreciate not all Urdu speakers will be able to read the Devnagri script.

 

[panjabigator]

gator Jii, you've put Urdu in the title and you'll appreciate not all Urdu speakers will be able to read the Devnagri script.

Edited. Thank you!

 

[littlepond]

Is there an intransitive usage here that is common?

Yes.

 

[panjabigator]

Yes.

Thanks Littlepond. Any more insight into how/when to use it transitively vs intransitively?

 

[amiramir]

I would imagine it's about presence of an object-- i.e. when an object is specifically present, the ergative is triggered. With no object, then it's nom-abs.

I think akin to खेलना as in this thread.

 

[Qureshpor]

1. भैया भी तो [गाड़ी चलाना] लेट सीखा था

2. मामा तो आज तक [गाड़ी चलाना] नहीं सीखीं

I thought her Punjabi origins (Firozpur) might have had something to do with this construction but this theory only fits the first sentence, so I've changed my mind. It does seem that the once Hindi professor has used the verb "siikhnaa" in an intransitive sense when, by all accounts" "siikhnaa" is transitive.

How about....?

1. भैया भी तो [गाड़ी चलाना] लेट सीखा [हुआा है]

2. मामा तो आज तक [गाड़ी चलाना] नहीं सीखीं [हुई हैं]

Perhaps, a bit far fetched .....but just a thought.

 

[aevynn]

I would imagine it's about presence of an object-- i.e. when an object is specifically present, the ergative is triggered. With no object, then it's nom-abs.

I think it's rather that ergative alignment is optional for siikhnaa. It's not at all uncommon colloquially to hear a perfective siikhnaa without ergative alignment, even with an explicitly specified direct object, and one finds plenty of literary examples on the internet as well, across the ages and across the "divide." Some further examples to add to the one in the OP:

Qayem Chandpuri (1725-1794)
siikhe ho kis_se sach kaho pyaare ye(h) chaal-Dhaal...
Tell me truthfully, my dear, from whom have you learned these ways and manners...

Nazm Tababtai (1854-1933)
siikhaa huuN maikade meN tariiq-e-farotanii...
I have learned the way of humility in the tavern...

Harishankar Parsai (1922-1995)
bachchoN, tum_ne baRe jaaduu nahiiN dekhe. chhoTe dekhe haiN to chhoTe jaaduu hii siikhe ho.
Children, you have not seen great magic! You've only seen little tricks, and so you've only learned little tricks.

 

[amiramir]

think it's rather that ergative alignment is optional for siikhnaa.

Thanks for confirming. I exclusively use siikhnaa ergatively in the past, as that's how it's now hardwired in my brain. No one has suggested khelnaa also offers optional ergative alignment in the past, but yet I still only use it that way, even with no object, as I can't stop-- even though that's wrong, as per that other thread.

 

[Dib]

Thanks for confirming. I exclusively use siikhnaa ergatively in the past, as that's how it's now hardwired in my brain. No one has suggested khelnaa also offers optional ergative alignment in the past, but yet I still only use it that way, even with no object, as I can't stop-- even though that's wrong, as per that other thread.

Just a fun fact: sikh- does not take ergative also in (standard) Gujarati.