Page 354 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

feminine in the second person, both the numbers in mid-honorificity as well as -िलस

/-lis/ or -लस /-lʌs/ in second person both the numbers and genders in non-honorificity

mark the verb stem. In the third person mid-honorificity, verb stem is marked by -ल&

/-lẽ/, लेन /-len/ or -लन /-lʌn/ in masculine and -ली /-li/ for feminine in both the
numbers. Likewise, in the third person non-honorificity, the verb stem is marked by

-ला /-lɑ/ in masculine and -ले /-le/ in feminine in both the numbers. As for consonant

final verb stems, the markers are the same but insertion of -ए- /-e-/ occurs between
verb stem and present habutual marker suffixes.

Diachronically, the present habitual suffix -एला /-ela/ has been obtained under

grammaticalization of -इला /-ilɑ/ in the early period of Bhojpuri for past tense, as
presented in (10).

(10) ऐसा गुसाf बोलीला ।

ɛsɑ ɡusɑnĩ bolilɑ
ɛsɑ ɡusɑĩ bol-ilɑ
such teacher speak-3SG.PST

th
'The teacher said this.' (Chaurangi Nath, Early 8 Century, Singh 1958:8)
10.2.3 Perfect
The perfect is functionally the most complex and the most subtle grammatical
aspect. It involves four features whose clustering in the same form is natural and

fairly common but by no means universal: anteriority, perfectivity, counter-
sequentiality and lingering relevance. It bears a strong but not absolute similarity to

the past tense. In both, the event's or state's initiation point precedes the temporal
reference point. The association is not absolute, however. While the past has only one
('absolute') reference point, the time of speech, the perfect can assume all three main

temporal reference points: time of speech ('present perfect'), prior to time of speect
('past perfect') and following time of speech ('future perfect') (Givón, 2001a:293).

a) Past perfect
Past perfect aspect describes the refence point prior to the time of speech. In

Bhojpuri, the participle form of the verb is suffixed by -ए /-e/ and it is further

followed by copula रह /rʌɦ/ with finite morphology that concords with number,
person, gender and honorificity already paradigmed in past progressive.

(11) a. िशgबु से हम अंतरवाताP लेले रहनी ।

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