Page 295 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

CHAPTER 9
NOUN PHRASES AND WORD ORDER

9.0 Outline
This chapter deals with noun phrases and word order in Bhojpuri. It consists of
three sections. In section 9.1 we describe noun phrases and word order is described in

section 9.2. Lastly, in section 9.3 we summarize the findings.

9.1 Noun phrases
Noun phrase may be characterized as the syntactic constituent that serve as
1
arguments of verbs. In accordance with the typological make up of South Asian
languages, Bhojpuri has head-final phrasal structures (Verma 2003:527). A noun
phrase may take up a syntactic position where a noun or a pronoun can occupy. In this

sub-section, we deal with the types of noun phrases, elements of noun phrases, linear
order of constituents in noun phrase and dispersed/scattered NPs in Bhojpuri.
In this section we deal with the structure and major functions of the noun phrase in

Bhojpuri.
9.1.1 Simplex noun phrases

As displayed in Chitoniya Tharu (Paudyal 2013:285-90), Maithili (Yadav 1996:96-
102), Hindi (Koul 2008:165-71) and Nepali (Adhikari 2016:314-5), the noun phrases in

Bhojpuri range from a single word (referential noun or personal pronoun) to syntactically
complex noun phrases (conjoined nouns and relative clauses and nominalized clauses). A

noun phrase can consist of a single pronoun in Bhojpuri, as in (1a-b).
(1) a. हमनी काय)*म के लगभग अंत म2 बानी ।

ɦʌmni kɑryʌkrʌm ke lʌɡb ̤ ʌɡ ʌnt mẽ bɑni
ɦʌm-ni kɑryʌkrʌm ke lʌɡb̤ ʌɡ ʌnt mẽ bɑni

1SG-PL programme GEN approximately end LOC be.PRES.H
'We have now been at almost end of the programme.' (03.384)

b. हम तोहे सलाम कइनी ।
ɦʌm toɦe sʌlɑm kʌini

ɦʌm tu-e sʌlɑm kʌr-ini
1SG.NOM 2SG-DAT salute do-PST.H

'I saluted you.' (13.034)

1. Givón (1993a: 247) notes that the noun phrases of different types occupy the characteristic syntactic positions - and case roles
- of nouns. These syntactic positions are most typically those of subject, direct object, indirect object and nominal predicate.

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