Page 87 - A GRAMMAR OF BHOJPURI _ PhD Dissertation 2020 TU

(Adhikari 2014:10). But Hindi (Koul 2008:17) exhibits some more fricatives which
are not available in Bhojpuri. Among the two, स /s/ is a voiceless dental fricative

whereas ह /ɦ/ is a voiced glottal one. They show phonological contrast in all

positions: word-initial, inter-vocalic and word-final, as shown in (5).

(5) Minimal pairs of स /s/ and ह /ɦ/
Word-initial Inter-vocalic Word-final
साल /sɑl/ 'year' रसल /rʌsʌl/ 'to weld' रेस /res/ 'sneaked'

हाल /ɦɑl/ 'condition, moisture in soil' रहल /rʌɦʌl/ 'to be, to live' रेह /reɦ/ 'dust of soil'

साला /sɑlɑ/ 'wife's brother' गासी /ɡɑsi/ 'complaint' रास /rɑs/ 'control'

हाला /ɦɑlɑ/ 'noise' गाही /ɡɑɦi/ 'a set of five' राह /rɑɦ/ 'way'

̃
सार /sɑr/ 'wife's brother' कसल /kʌsʌl/ 'to tighten, tight' बाँस /bɑs/ 'bamboo'
हार /ɦɑr/ 'a garland, defeat' कहल /kʌɦʌl/ 'to say, to tell' बाँह /bɑɦ/ 'arm'
̃
f) Affricates
There are four alveo-palatal affricates in Bhojpuri: च /c/, छ /cʰ/, ज /j/ and झ /ȷ ̈ /.

The affricates in Bhojpuri are exhibited alveolar in Chitotiya Tharu (Paudyal 2013:61)
and Nepali (Adhikari 2014:10) whereas palatal in Maithili (Yadav 1996:22), Awadhi

(Saksena 1937/1971:24) and Hindi (Koul 2008:17). The phoneme च /c/ is a voiceless

alveo-palatal unaspirated affricate whereas छ /cʰ/ is a voiceless alveo-palatal aspirated

affricate. The phoneme ज /j/ is a voiced alveo-palatal unaspirated affricate whereas झ /ȷ ̈ /
is a breathy alveo-palatal affricate. They show phonological contrast both in terms of

voicing and aspiration in all positions: word-initial, inter-vocalic and word-final; as
shown in (6a-d).

(6) a. Minimal pairs of च /c/ and छ /cʰ/
Word-initial Inter-vocalic Word-final

चाल /cɑl/ 'speed, habit' काचा /kɑcɑ/ 'a slice' पाच /pɑc/ 'digestible'

छाल /cʰɑl/ 'bark, tide' काछा /kɑcʰɑ/ 'under wear' पाछ /pɑcʰ/ 'back'

चल /cʌl/ 'variable/walk (IMP)' अचल /ʌcʌl/ 'constant' काच /kɑc/ 'cut'

छल /cʰʌl/ 'intrigue' अछल /ʌcʰʌl/ 'be availed' काछ /kɑcʰ/ 'friction-wound'
चोर /cor/ 'thief' पचरा /pʌcʌrɑ/ 'chant' बाच /bɑc/ 'read (IMP)'

छोर /cʰor/ 'end' पछरा /pʌcʰʌrɑ/ 'wrestling' बाछ /bɑcʰ/ 'lessen (IMP)'

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