Page 260 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

We observed that the verb आ /ɑ-/ 'come' in third person argument/subject in

(3a) is indexed by -इल /-il/ that is a regular suffix for infinitive and perfective in

Bhojpuri but it is furhter decayed and inflectd by -नी /-ni/ for the first person as well

as by -ए /-e/ for the second person.
Going through the instances, it is concluded that pronominal agreement in

Bhojpuri on the complex of verb is neither seen controlled by semantic roles nor by
the grammatical roles of the participants, other than in S-argument. Let's observe the

situation for transitive verb agreement, as in (4).
(4) हम .कताब देनी ।

ɦʌm kitɑb deni
ɦʌm kitɑb de-ni

1SG.NOM book give-PST.H
'I gave a book.' (08.008)
It is changed as following when the subject/agent is changed into second and

third person respectively, as in (5a-b).

(5) a. तेँ .कताब देले ।
tẽ kitɑb dele

tẽ kitɑb de-ʌl-e
2SG.NOM book give-PP-2.PST

'You gave a book.'
b. ऊ .कताब देलस/देलख ।

u kitɑb delʌs/ʌkʰ
u kitɑb de-ʌl-ʌs/ʌkʰ

3SG.NOM book give-PP-3SG.PST
'S/he gave a book.'
We observe in (4) and 5(a-b) that the S-argument pronominal हम /ɦʌm/ 'I' in (4), तेँ

/tẽ/ 'you' in (5a) and ऊ /u/ 's/he' control pronominal agreement with the verb दे /de-/ 'give'.
(ii) Number agreement

Bhojpuri overtly indexes plurality of the verbal arguments in the verbal
complex. It is marked by suffix -नी /-ni/, for all pronominals. However, it is coded by

suffix -अन /-ʌn/ or लोग /loɡ/ as a separate word following nominals as well as
pronominals. Moreover, some plural markers with finite verbs in Bhojpuri are used

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