Bhojpuri nouns
Bhojpuri nouns are a category of words in the Bhojpuri language. As in other Indo-Aryan languages, Bhojpuri nouns possess a gender, either masculine or feminine. Every Bhojpuri nouns have three forms viz. Short, Long and Redundant.
All Bhojpuri nouns exhibit some properties. They are durable durable, complex,concrete, compact and individuative in association with their multiple features like size, shape, weight, colour and cultural usage.[1]
Semantics[edit]
Nouns of Bhojpuri tend to change their features in a slower fashion than the other word classes.[1]
Syntax[edit]
Noun is the head in a Bhojpuri noun phrases and occupies major position in the clauses. It can take the position of Subject, Object (direct and indirect), nominal predicate, possessor, object complement and locative.[2]
Declension[edit]
The inflexion of eight cases, that was present in the Old Indo-Aryan has not survived in Bhojpuri. The declension of masculine and feminine is absent in Bhojpuri as other Magadhan languages.[3]
Stem and its forms[edit]
The stem noun either ends with a vowel or a consonant, e.g. dōrā (thread), nōkar (servant). These nouns generally have three forms, the short, long and the redundant form.[4] For example: for nōkar, the three forms are nōkar, nōkarwā and nokarawā respectively. Nouns have weak form too sometimes. A weak form is the shortest form of noun that ends in a short vowel or a consonant. The weak forms are used rarely in Regular use.[4]
The long and redundant form are used only for the inferiors and youngers, never for elders and superiors. The different forms of nouns are given in following table:
| Definition | Weak | Short | Long | Redundant |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Horse | ghōṛ | ghōṛā | ghoṛwā | ghōrawā |
| Iron | lōh | lohā | lōhwā | lohawā |
Rules for making long forms[edit]
- If stem ends with -ā, wā is added to it.
- If stem ends with ū,the vowel is shortened before the termination.
- If stem ends with ī, yā is added to it.
- If stem ends with a constant, -ā is added.
These examples are given in the following table:
| Definition | Short | Long |
|---|---|---|
| King | rājā | rajwā |
| Barber | nāü | naüwā |
| Garderner | mālī | maliyā |
| Cobbler | camār | camarā |
Gender[edit]
The gender in Bhojpuri is natural and not grammatical, there is not any strict affixes for the different genders.[4] The agreement of adjectives with gender is also not consistent in Modern Bhojpuri, which was there in Old Bhojpuri. e.g.:
𑂞𑂥 𑂥𑂹𑂩𑂯𑂹𑂧𑂰 𑂣𑂴𑂓𑂪 𑂧𑂯𑂞𑂰𑂩𑂲, 𑂍𑂵 𑂞𑂷𑂩 𑂦𑂞𑂰𑂩 𑂍𑂵𑂍𑂩𑂲 𑂞𑂴 𑂢𑂰𑂩𑂲
taba brahmā pūchhala mahatārī, ke tora bhatāra kekarī tū nārī— Kabir, Bijak, page. 27
Nouns which represent animate being take the gender according to the sex they denote. However, some nouns are masculine only or feminine only irrespective of the gender they denote. For example, kaüā (Crow) is always masculine and ciraï (Bird) is always feminine.[5]
Number[edit]
In Bhojpuri, the plurals are created by joining -an, -ani, -anh, -anhi, -nh, -nhi, -n and -ni. Plurals are also made by adding words that represents plurality. Generally, the words "sabh" (all) and "lōg" (people) are added to make plurals.[6]
| Definition | Singular Form | Plural Form |
|---|---|---|
| House | ghar | gharan |
| Horse | ghoṛā | ghoṛan |
| Boy | laïkā | laïkan/laïka sabh |
| King | rājā | rājā lōg |
Case Inflexions[edit]
In Bhojpuri, a postposition is used to represent the case relationships. ke is used for Accusative, Dative and Genitive cases, sē is used for instrumental and ablative and mē is used for locative. The postposition lē is also used for ablative in the Bhojpuri of Shahabad district. For, locative mahe or mahi is also used.[7]
Postpositional words[edit]
Some postpositional words in Bhojpuri are:
- āgā : before, in front of. Example: hini ka āge (in front of him)
- upar: on, upon
- ōr: towards, in the direction of
- karat: doing
- khātir or lā: for
- chāṛi: give up
- niyar or niyan: like or similar
Notes[edit]
- ^ a b Lohar 2020, p. 123.
- ^ Lohar 2020, p. 124-125.
- ^ Tiwari 1960, p. 103.
- ^ a b c Tiwari 1960, p. 104.
- ^ Tiwari 1960, p. 105.
- ^ Tiwari 1960, p. 107.
- ^ Tiwari 1960, p. 108-111.
References[edit]
- Lohar, Gopal Thakur (2020). A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI. Kathmandu, Nepal: Tribhuvan University.
- Tiwari, Uday Narayan (1960). The origin and development of Bhojpuri. Park Street, Kolkata: The Asiatic society.
- Jain, Danesh; Cardona, George (2007). The Indo-Aryan Languages. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781135797119.