Page 583 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

a) Schwa deletion
The word-final schwa -अ /-ʌ/ is deleted in many of the NIA languages.

Bhojpuri has an obligatory schwa deletion. But Bhojpuri does have schwa deletion in

word medial also, as in हमरा /ɦʌmrɑ/ 'mine/to me', गमला /ɡʌmlɑ/ 'vase', as some of its
close neighbours Maithili (Yadav 1996:52), Hindi (2008:30) and Nepali (Adhikari

2016:19) do to a greater extent.
b) Reduction of gemination

In case of consonant gemination in MIA, many of the NIA languages including
Bhojpuri reduce such gemination into a single consonant along with final schwa deletion

and lengthening of the vowel preceding such consonant, as shown in Table 15.1.
Table 15.1 Reduction of gemination
MIA Hindi Awadhi Nepali Maithili Bhojpuri Gloss

स) /sʌttʌ/ सात /sɑt/ सात /sɑt/ सात /sɑt/ सात /sɑt/ सात /sɑt/ 'seven'

भ) /b ̤ ʌttʌ/ भात /b ̤ ɑt/ भात /b ̤ ɑt/ भात /b ̤ ɑt/ भात /b ̤ ɑt/ भात /b ̤ ɑt/ 'boiled rice'

दू- /dudd ̤ ʌ/ दूध /dūd ̤ / दूध /dūd ̤ / दूध /dud ̤ / दूध /dud ̤ / दूध /dud ̤ / 'milk'

अ/ /ʌʈʈʰʌ/ आठ /ɑʈʰ/ आठ /ɑʈʰ/ आठ /ɑʈʰ/ आठ /ɑʈʰ/ आठ /ɑʈʰ/ 'eight'
The process is sometimes accompanied by spontaneous (and regionally random)

nasalization of the vowel. But Bhojpuri has a different character of retention of the
vowel as usual and the nasalization to compensate gemination, as shown in Table 15.2.

Table 15.2 Nasalization of the vowel or replacing the consonant with nasal
MIA Hindi Awadhi Nepali Maithili Bhojpuri Gloss

अ0खी /ʌkkʰi/ आँख /ɑkʰ/ आँख /ɑkʰ/ आँखा /ɑkʰ ɑ/ आँिख /ɑĩkʰ/ आँख /ɑkʰ/ 'eye'
̃
̃
̃
̃
̃
̃
̃
̃
̃
̃
स3प /sʌppʌ/ साँप /sɑp/ साँप /sɑp/ साँप /sɑp/ साँप /sɑp/ साँप /sɑp/ 'snake'
मू6ग /muɡɡʌ/ मूँग /mu ̄ ̃ɡ/ मूँग /mu ̄ ̃ɡ/ मूँग /mũɡ/ मूँग /mũɡ/ मुङ /muŋ/ 'bean'
Table 15.2 shows that the final इ /i/ has shifted before the word-final
̃
consonant in Maithili as आँिख /ɑĩkʰ/ and with deletion of the final अ /ʌ/, the word final
ग /ɡ/ has been changed into its nasal counterpart ङ /ŋ/ as in मुङ /muŋ/ whereas Nepali
develops a new final vowel आ /ɑ/ following nasalization as in आँखा /ɑkʰ ɑ/.
̃
c) Loss of nasal
In the case of the MIA-VNC-sequences, the vowel is lengthened and nasalized and

the nasal is dropped in many NIA languages including Bhojpuri, as shown in Table 15.3.

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