Page 409 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

cʌwʌr mẽ okʌr kʰet rʌɦe
cʌwʌr mẽ u-ʌr kʰet rʌɦ-e

cultivated stretch LOC 3SG-GEN farm live-3.PST
'There was her farm in a cultivated stretch.' (05.003)
The examples in (1a-b) are the opening lines of a rural folk-tale to amuse

children. The referent गाँव /ɡɑo/ is brought to the consideration applying the EPC
̃
introduced by कौनो /kɔno/ 'a' or 'some (lit)' and बु&ढ़आ /buɽ ̊ iɑ/ 'old woman' is brought

to the stage applying the EPC introduced by एगो /eɡo/ 'a'. Similarly, in (1b), another

important inanimate referent खेत /kʰet/ 'farm' is introduced as a discontinuous topic by
a full NP. In both the cases the referents are brought to the stage as a subject.

Such referents are also brought as an object in Bhojpuri as shown in (2a-c).
(2) a. कौनो छर चलावऽ ।

kɔno cʰʌr cʌlɑwʌ
kɔno cʰʌr cʌl-ɑ-wʌ

some trick walk-CAUS-IMP.MH
'Play some trick.' (09.081)

b. ... एगो िप,ी तोड़ दे... ।

eɡo piʈʈʰi toɽ de
ek-ɡo piʈʈʰi toɽ de

one-CLF cake pluck give.IMP
' pluck a cake ' (05.010)

c. हम ओके 'कताब देनी ।
ɦʌm oke kitɑb deni

ɦʌm u-ke kitɑb de-ni
1SG.NOM 3SG-DAT book give-PST.H
'I gave her a book.' (06.008)

In (2a-b) the referents छर /cʰʌr/ 'trick' and िप+ी /piʈʈʰi/ 'cake' have been

introduced as objects by EPCs कौनो /kɔno/ 'some' in (2a) and एगो /eɡo/ 'a' in (2b)

respectively. Sometimes EPCs are unseen but contextually understood in Bhojpuri as
खेत /kʰet/ 'farm' presented in (1b) and &कताब /kitɑb/ 'book' in (2c) respectively.

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