Page 554 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

'It was my elder aunt who stepped in and made me sit.' (06.021)
Hence, the subject बड़कb माई /bʌɽki mɑi/ 'elder aunt' is placed to the clause

initial position in (21b) for the contrastive topicalization. The second way is to suffix -

ए /-e/ or -ओ /-o/ 'to' with verb particles for the noun phrases which we want to

topicalize, as in (22a-b).
(22) a. ऊ धनपत के ब5त मानेली ।

u d ̤ ʌnpʌt ke bʌɦut mɑneli

u d ̤ ʌnpʌt ke bʌɦut mɑn-eli
3SG Dhanpat DAT very like-3SG.PRES.F.MH
'She likes Dhanpat a lot.' (06.023)

b. गनपत के त ऊ फरछाeहओ ना चलेली ।

ɡʌnpʌt ke tʌ u pʰʌrcʰɑɦĩo nɑ cʌleli
ɡʌnpʌt ke tʌ u pʰʌrcʰɑɦĩ-o nɑ cʌl-eli
Ganpat GEN COND 3SG shadow-EMPH NEG walk-3SG.PRES.F.MH

'Ganpat, she can't stand.' (06.024).
14.3.8 Cleft/focus constructions

Bhojpuri does not present the cleft/focus constructions as we find in the fixed
word-order language English or Korean. In Bhojpuri, the functions of the noun

phrases are specified by using the case inflections. The noun phrases functioning as
the subjects or objects are placed just before the verbs or predicates, as in (23).

(23) 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.'
In (23) the subject पVवाहा /pʌŋwaɦɑ/ 'trimmer' is moved from its clause initial

position to the pre-verbal position for the focus.
14.3.9 Referential indefinite NPs

As Givón (1983: 25) suggests, referential-indefinite NPs, being introduced
into the discourse for the first time, should be considered maximally

surprising/disruptive/discontinuous, as least as far as their continuity vis-à-vis the

preceding discourse context is concerned, owever, they may have persistent

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