This paper presents a comprehensive description of non-finite verbs in Assamese, a language that belongs to the Indo-Aryan family. Non-finite verbs exist in multi-verb constructions, which include both single and multi-clausal constructions. In single clauses, they occur with different auxiliaries and carry various aspectual and modal meanings. In multi-clausal constructions, on the other hand, they occur in dependent clauses and mark various syntactic relations that they have with the main clause. This paper primarily deals with two aspects: firstly, it discusses the forms of non-finite verbs, and secondly, it analyses the syntactic functions they carry in single and multi-clausal constructions. The syntactic functions of non-finite verbs in multi-clausal constructions are examined from two perspectives – their functions within superordinate constructions, and their functions within a construction.

This paper deals with a comprehensive description of a set of possessive indexes found in Assamese, a language spoken in the eastern part of India, by a majority of people living in the state of Assam. Genetically, this language belongs to the group of Indo-Aryan language family and shares a close affinity with Bengali and Oriya languages due to their common source of origin. The possessive indexes of the language are found to be suffixed to the possessed noun in possessive constructions (Possessive NPs)) in terms of the category of person. Cross-linguistically, it is not very uncommon to find this kind of markers in possessive NPs (Siewierska 2004). But what makes Assamese interesting in this respect is that the set of markers found in Assamese is not derived from pronominal forms as attested in many languages of the world. Furthermore, the existence of possessive markers is an unusual phenomenon in Assamese in that it is neither common in NIA languages nor in South Asian languages (Paudyal 2008). Apart from a few geographically distant languages of Indo-Aryan origin, these markers are not available in any other Indo-Aryan languages which are close to Assamese, either geographically or genetically. Thus, this paper focuses on four aspects:  a comprehensive description of the markers as stated above, a survey of the markers in other Indo-Aryan languages, the historical origin of the markers, and the origin of the system of marking.