Page 18 - Bhojpuri Verb Morphology

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background

This study is an attempt to analyze the verb morphology of Bhojpuri from formal and
functional perspectives. Bhojpuri belongs to the group of Indo-Aryan Languages. The

Indo-Aryan languages are the subgroup of the Indo-European family of languages.
According the Nepalese census of 2001, there are 1,712,536 people in Nepal who

speak Bhojpuri as their mother tongue. This is the third major language of Nepal.

The spread of Bhojpuri in Nepal is observed in the districts of Sarlahi, Rautahat, Bara,
Parsa, Chitwan, Nawalparasi and Rupandehi and so in the adjacent Indian bordering

territories of west Bihar and east Uttar Pradesh.

It's a language written in Devanagari script and the alphabet almost coincident with
the spoken sounds.

The strength of Bhojpuri populace comprises 7.53% of the total population of Nepal.

It follows the Nepali and Maithili speakers comprising 48.61% and 12.3%
respectively.

Bhojpuri is an independent and rich language in itself. This is one of the distinct

languages of Nepal and India. The Interim Constitution of Nepal, 2006 has accepted it
as one of the national languages. In the Nepalese government media, Radio Nepal

broadcasts a five-minute daily news bulletin and one-hour weekly program and Nepal
Television telecasts half-hour weekly program in the Bhojpuri language. Bhojpuri is

included in the curriculum and textbooks for teaching and learning as a subject under
Mother tongue group at primary level from Class I to V. Besides, it has also been a

subject under Optional I group at secondary level in Class IX and X. National Centre
for Educational Development (NCED) under Ministry of Education has frequently
been developing several kits in Bhojpuri to promote basic education in Nepal.

1