ABSTRACT
The syntactic and semantic functions of noun phrases are expressed primarily by case-suffixes and postpositions. Word order does not play a role in determining grammatical relations except where inanimate objects can not be distinguished from subjects (in a non-ergative construction) in terms of case-marking (since neither is case-marked with a suffix), and where both the indirect and the direct object are marked with the homophonous postpositions -la (dative and accusative, respectively). The noun-stems undergo changes and take augments before postpositions, identical to those which they take before case-suffixes. The difference between case-suffixes and postpositions in Marathi needs to be studied, and a precise difference between the two needs to be characterized. A comprehensive study of conjunct verbs in Marathi in particular and verb agreement in general is needed to determine the (syntactic, and semantic) conditions which determine the choice of postposition in the context of various verbs.
