Page 589 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

gender for human nouns in the languages having two gender system and smaller size
for inanimante ones corresponding word with -आ /-ɑ/, -औ /ɔ/ or -ओ /-o/, as in बेटा

/beʈɑ/-बेटी /beʈi/ 'son-daughter' in Hindi, Awadhi, Maithili and Bhojpuri as well as in

छोरा /cʰorɑ/-छोरी /cʰori/ equivalent in Nepali for human nouns and कटोरा /kʌʈorɑ/-

कटोरी /kʌʈori/ 'bowl/small bowl' in Hindi, Awadhi, Maithili and Bhojpuri as well as

कचौरा /kʌcʌurɑ/-कचौरी /kʌcʌuri/ in Nepali for the same (Masica, 1991:77). Persian

suffix adjectival -इ /-i/ in place of Sanskrit -इय /-iyʌ/ is common in NIA languages
(Masica, 1991:71) as LहदुHतान /ɦindustɑn/-LहदुHतानी /ɦindustɑni/ 'India/Indian', Lहद

/ɦind/-Lहदी /ɦindi/ 'Hind/Hindi', नेपाल /nepɑl/-नेपाली /nepɑli/ 'Nepal/Nepali', अवध

/ʌwʌd ̤ /-अवधी /ʌwʌd ̤ i/ 'Awadh/Awadhi', मैिथल /mʌtʰil/-मैिथली /mʌitʰili/, भोजपुर

/b ̤ ojpur/-भोजपुरी /b ̤ ojpuri/ 'Bhojpur/Bhojpuri' and भारत /b ̤ ɑrʌt/-भारतीय /b ̤ ɑrʌtiyʌ/

'India/Indian' (Skt.). NIA pronouns are inflected with suffixes for number and case
that Bhojpuri also follows as already discussed in Chapter 14.
The nominal suffix for gender marking, already discussed, also marks the

gender in NIA adjectives, e. g., छोटा /cʰoʈɑ/-छोटी /cʰoʈi/ 'small/small-F', बड़ा /bʌɽɑ/-बड़ी

/bʌɽi/ 'big/big-F' in Hindi and Awadhi, साना /sɑnɑ/-सानी /sɑni/ 'small/small-F' in

Nepali for the same. The gender marker suffixes occur in Bhojpuri and Maithili with
defiteness for the same time -का /-kɑ/ for masculine and -कO /-ki/ for feminine as in

छोटका /cʰoʈkɑ/-छोटकO /cʰoʈki/ 'short/short-F' for the same.

Pronominal differentiation for gender is not as common in NIA as in European
languages, e.g., 'he/she/it' in English. As its close neighbours Hindi, Nepali and

Awadhi, Bhojpuri has dual gender system, though dimming eastward, but not any
inflectional categories with pronouns in this regard. Rather the gender is marked with
inflections in finite verbs for feminine. So, Bhojpuri pronouns are inflected for

number, case and defineteness as its close neighbours. Besides, Bhojpuri has a

separate plural marker morpheme सब /sʌb/ literally meant as 'all' as Masica
(1991:271) notes that it is characterized as plural suffix in 'eastern languages' such as

Maithili and Magahi. Though Bhojpuri displays several inflexional processes in
nominal and verbal morphology, it uses separate postpositions and few particles as its

neighbour Hindi does so. Bhojpuri uses सब /sʌb/ 'all' as a plural marker for inanimate,
non-human animate and non-honorific human nouns. It is replaced by लोग /loɡ/

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