Page 296 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

In the examples (1a-b), the first person plural pronoun हमनी /ɦʌmni/ 'we' in

(1a) and the first person singular pronoun हम /ɦʌm/ 'I' have occupied the position of a
noun phrase as a subject or agent of the predicate, respectively. Likewise, the second

person singular pronoun तोहे /toɦe/ 'you' has occupied the position of a noun phrase as

an object in the predicate. As its neighbours Chitoniya Tharu (Paudyal 2013:286) and
Maithili (Yadav 1996:96) exhibit, the pronouns in Bhojpuri, being finite and referential,

do not take any modifier.
A noun phrase, in Bhojpuri, may consist of a noun head with or without

preceding modifiers. A bare noun head is illustrated in (2a) and a head noun with an
attributive modifier is illustrated in (2b).
(2) a. राजा ओके बड़ी सजाय कइलन ।

rɑjɑ oke bʌɽi sʌjɑe kʌilʌn

rɑjɑ oke bʌɽ-i sʌjɑe kʌr-il-ʌn
king 3SG.ACC big-EMPH punishment do-PP-3.PST.MH
'The king punished hem/her to the maximum.' (13.035)

b. केरा के थम म2 िनमन गोभा लउकता ।

kerɑ ke tʰʌm mẽ nimʌn ɡob ̤ ɑ lʌukʌtɑ
kerɑ ke tʰʌm mẽ nimʌn ɡob ̤ ɑ lʌuk-ʌt bɑ

banana GEN plant LOC good blossom look-IMPF be.3SG.PRES
'There are attractive blossoms in the banana plants.' (09.070)

In example (2a), the bare noun head राजा /rɑjɑ/ 'king' has occupied the

position of the noun phrase whereas in (2b) the head noun गोभा /ɡob ̤ ɑ/ 'blossom' is
modified by a modifier िनमन /nimʌn/ 'good' to form a noun phrase.

a) Elements of the noun phrase
The noun phrases in Bhojpuri may contain a number of different elements.

They are presented in Table 9.1.
Table 9.1: Lexical elements of the noun phrase

Element Example Gloss Reference
Demonstrative ई गीत /i ɡit/ 'this song' 03.010

Genitive हमर चाहना /ɦʌm-ʌr cɑɦnɑ/ 'my will' 03.042

Number दूगो :देश/du-ɡo prʌdes/ 'two provinces' 01.095

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