Page 546 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

pʌŋwɑɦɑ ɡɑcʰ pɑŋelɑ
pʌŋwɑɦɑ ɡɑcʰ pɑŋ-elɑ

shortener tree trim-3SG.PRES
'A trimmer trims a tree.' (09.363)

b. पVवाहा पाङेला गाछ । (SVO)
pʌŋwɑɦɑ pɑŋelɑ ɡɑcʰ

pʌŋwɑɦɑ pɑŋ-elɑ ɡɑcʰ
shortener trim-3SG.PRES tree

'As for a trimmer, he certainly trims a tree.'
c. गाछ पाङेला पVवाहा । (OVS)

ɡɑcʰ pɑŋelɑ pʌŋwɑɦɑ
ɡɑcʰ pɑŋ-elɑ pʌŋwɑɦɑ

tree trim-3SG.PRES shortener
'As for a tree, a trimmer trims it, he does not do anything else.'

d. गाछ पVवाहा पाङेला । (OSV)

ɡɑcʰ pʌŋwɑɦɑ pɑŋelɑ
ɡɑcʰ pʌŋwɑɦɑ pɑŋ-elɑ
tree shortener trim-3SG.PRES

'As for tree, he is a trimmer, who trims it.'
e. पाङेला गाछ पVवाहा । (VOS)

pɑŋelɑ ɡɑcʰ pʌŋwɑɦɑ

pɑŋ-elɑ ɡɑcʰ pʌŋwɑɦɑ
trim-3SG.PRES tree shortener
'It is a tree, as for trimming, which a trimmer did.'

f. पाङेला पVवाहा गाछ । (VSO)

pɑŋelɑ pʌŋwɑɦɑ ɡɑcʰ
pɑŋ-elɑ pʌŋwɑɦɑ ɡɑcʰ

trim-3SG.PRES shortener tree
'He is a trimmer, as for trimming a tree, he does it.'

It is to be noted that all the six logically possible clauses (15a-f) are acceptable in
Bhojpuri. However, we can argue that SOV in (15a) is the neutral or basic constituent order
in the language. To support for this argument, we can present the following two reasons:

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