Page 329 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

As we have already declared tense depends on verbal inflectional system, it is
essential to discuss on the verb stems and suffixes that change it into infinitive and

participles. Bhojpuri has some typical characters with formation of infinitives and
participles as both are the same in the language. There are two morphemes suffixal to

Bhojpuri verbs for infinitive or participle marking, i.e., -इल /-il/ and -अल /-ʌl/ or -वल /-wʌl/.
Some of the verbal roots and their infinitives and participles are presented in Table 10.1.

Table 10.1 Verb-stems and their infinitive and participle paradigms
Verbal stems suffixes Infinitives/participles

खा- /kʰɑ-/ 'eat' -इल /-il/ खाइल /kʰɑil/ 'to eat/eaten'

िप- /pi-/ 'drink' -अल /-ʌl/ िपअल /piʌl/ 'to drink/ drunk'

जा- /jɑ-/ 'go' -इल /-il/ गइल /ɡʌil/ 'to go/gone'

बो- /bo-/ 'sow' -अल /-ʌl/ बोअल /boʌl/ 'to sow/sown'

खे- /kʰe-/ 'row' -अल /-ʌl/ or -वल /- खेअल /kʰeʌl/ or खेवल /kʰewʌl/ 'to
wʌl/ row/rown'

मु- /mu-/ or मर्- /mʌr/ -अल /-ʌl मुअल /muʌl/ or मरल /mʌrʌl 'to die/died

'die'
मुआ- /muɑ-/ 'kill' -वल /-wʌl/ मुआवल /muɑwʌl/ 'to kill/killed'

मार्- /mɑr-/ 'beat/kill' -अल -ʌl मारल /mɑrʌl/ 'to beat/beaten or to

kill/killed'

दे- /de-/ 'give' -अल -ʌl देल /del/ or देहल /deɦʌl/ 'to give/given'
As shown in Table 10.1, we note labial glidation of the half open mid vowel अ /ʌ/

with half closed front vowel ए /e/ changing into व /w/ as in खेअल /kʰeʌl/→खेवल /kʰewʌl/

'to row/rown' and मुआवल /muɑwʌl/ 'to kill/killed', change of intial unaspirated voiced

affricate alveolar ज /j/ into unaspirated voiced velar stop ग /ɡ/ as well as shortening of

open back vowel आ /ɑ/ into half open mid vowel अ /ʌ/ as in in जाइल /jɑil/→गइल /ɡʌil/ 'to

go/gone'. Moreover, we note dropping of -अ /-ʌ/ or its retention with insertion of
unaspirated glottal fricative ह /ɦ/ between half close front vowel ए /e/ and half open mid

vowel अ /ʌ/ as in देल /del/→देहल /deɦʌl/ 'to give/given'. Such morphophonemic changes

in verb morphology will be meaningful while discussing TAM.

301