|
Some morphological
features of the Boro language
The morphological features of the Boro language corresponds
to the ‘Boro-Garo’ group of languages that
lie within the Tibeto-Burman sub-family of the Sino-Tibetan
language family. Some morphological features of the
Boro language are as follows:
|
|
Number: Number in Boro
is a grammatical category and it has two sets, Singular
and Plural.
|
The plural of nouns and in some cases pronouns are
formed by adding certain morphemes like: phwr, mwn,
swr and others to the singular one. For example:
|
ada-mwn> adamwn
|
(elder brothers).
|
|
agwi-mwn>agwimwn
|
(younger sisters).
|
|
gotho-phwr>gothophwr
|
(children).
|
|
mwswu-phwr>mwswuphwr
|
(cows).
|
|
mansi-phwr>mansiphwr
|
(people).
|
|
mauzi-phwr>mauziphwr
|
(cats).
|
|
biphang-phwr>biphangphwr
|
(trees).b
|
It may be mentioned here that the plural morpheme
-swr can also be added to the personal pronouns. For
example:
|
bi-swr>biswr
|
(They).
|
|
nwng-swr>nwngswr
|
(Us).
|
Where bi and nwng are third
person singular pronouns.
In certain cases words like hanza and phalw when added
to nouns gives plural meanings. For example:
|
subung hanza
|
(a group of people).
|
|
phoraisa hanza
|
(a group of students).
|
|
dau phalw
|
(a flock of birds).
|
|
mwswu phalw
|
(a herd of cows).
|
It may be mentioned here
that the term hanza (group) is related to human beings
and phalw (flock, herd, and others) is related to
birds and animals.
|
|
Gender: Gender is also a grammatical category in Boro. There
are two types of genders: Masculine and Feminine.
There is no gender division of inanimate objects as
found in Hindi. Gender is present only in the noun
class of animate beings in Boro. The following are
the ways of distinguishing gender.
|
(a)
In certain cases gender formation is realized by using
different sets of words. For example:
|
Masculine.
|
Feminine.
|
|
ada (elder brother).
|
bazwi (sister-in-law).
|
|
ai (father).
|
apha (mother).
|
|
abwu (grand-father).
|
abwi (grand-mother).
|
|
bisai (husband).
|
bisi (wife).
|
|
gumwi (brother-in-law).
|
abo (elder sister).
|
|
|
(b)
Sometimes feminine genders are distinguished by adding
morphemes to the masculine noun words. For example:
|
Masculine.
|
Feminine.
|
|
bengd (a deaf man).
|
beng-i (a deaf woman).
|
|
phagla (a mad man).
|
phagl-i (a mad woman).
|
|
haytha (a short man).
|
hayth-u (a short woman).
|
|
balonda (a man whose
wife has died)
|
balond-i (a woman
whose
husband has died)
|
|
|
( c) It may be mentioned here that
by affixing certain words indicating the sex to noun
words, masculine and feminine genders are distinguished.
In case of pigs and cats ‘bunda’ is used
for the masculine and ‘bundi’ is used for
the feminine gender. For example:
|
Masculine.
|
oma bunda
|
(he pig).
|
|
Feminine.
|
oma bundi
|
(she pig).
|
|
Masculine.
|
mauzi bunda
|
(he cat).
|
|
Feminine.
|
mauzi bundi
|
(she cat).
|
Likewise
in the case of ‘he goat’ phanta is used
for masculine and in the case of ‘she goat’
panthi is used to determine the feminine gender. For
example:
|
Masculine.
|
bwrma phantha
|
(he goat).
|
|
Feminine.
|
bwrma phantha
|
(she goat).
|
Similarly
in the case of birds, zwla and zw both are used for
the masculine and feminine genders respectively. For
example:
|
Masculine.
|
dau zwla
|
(cock).
|
|
Feminine.
|
dau zw
|
(hen).
|
In
the case of dog dongla and dongli, both are used for
masculine and feminine genders respectively. Examples
are as follows:
|
Masculine.
|
swima dongla
|
(he dog).
|
|
Feminine.
|
swima dongli
|
(she dog).
|
|
|
(d)There are certain words that denotes the meaning
of masculine and feminine gender. For example:
Unique Masculine:
|
badari
|
(wood-cutter).
|
|
barlampha
|
(a traditional folk-dancer
who participates in
the
marriage ceremony).
|
|
dwuri
|
(priest).
|
|
laukhar
|
(cow-boy).
|
|
oza
|
(folk medicine man).
|
|
zwusai
|
(drunkard).
|
Unique Feminine.
|
dwudini
|
(a woman folk-dancer
who participates in
the
kherai puza).
|
|
bokhali
|
(a baby’s nurse).
|
|
adunggari
|
(an aged unmarried
lady).
|
|
sundauri
|
(a naughty girl).
|
|
randi
|
(widow).
|
|
|
(e)
Besides there are some other specimens of common gender
in Boro. They are as follows:
|
mansi
|
(man).
|
|
alasi
|
(guest).
|
|
mwswu
|
(cow).
|
|
swima
|
(dog).
|
|
biguma
|
(owner).
|
|
maoria
|
(orphan).
|
|
gotho
|
(child).
|
|
nikhaori
|
(poor).
|
|
bibayari
|
(beggar).
|
It
may be mentioned here that the above stated specimens
do not uniquely represent masculine or feminine. These
are an intermixture form of gender to some extent.
|
|
Tense and Aspect:
Boro verbs comprises of three tenses and some aspects;
|
|
|
1) present
tense
|
The present
tense has three aspects: 1) indefinite, 2) progressive
and 3) perfective.
|
|
2) past
tense
|
The past
tense has two aspects: 1) simple past and 2) past
progressive.
|
|
3) future
tense
|
The future
tense has no aspects and it may be mentioned here
that the realization of future tense is very simple
in Boro.
|
|
(a) The
Present Tense:
The
present tense is realized in three aspects : simple
present, present perfect and present progressive.
The three aspects are marked by adding different morphemes.
The
present indefinite is marked by –w morpheme.
For
example:
|
mansia thwi-w
|
(man dies).
|
|
sana sanza wngkhar-w
|
(the sun rises in
the east).
|
|
buhuma dulur-w
|
(the earth is round).
|
In
the case of present progressive dwng is used to the
verb stem.
For
example:
|
ang wngkham za dwng.
|
(I am eating rice).
|
|
ang laizam lir dwng.
|
(I am writing a letter).
|
|
biw siphung su dwng.
|
(he is playing a flute).
|
Sometimes
bay is added after the verb stem and then dwng morpheme
is added to the stem.
The
present perfective is marked by-bay morpheme and as
a result it shows that the action is just completed.
For example:
|
ang wngkham za bay
|
(I have eaten rice).
|
|
ang lir bay
|
(I have written).
|
|
bi thang bay
|
(He has gone).
|
|
|
(b)
Past tense:
In
Boro, the past tense is realized in two aspects: simple
past and past progressive.The simple past is realized
by adding a set of morphemes to the verb root. For
example:
|
bi phwi-dwng mwm
|
(He came).
|
|
bi za-dwng mwm
|
(He eats).
|
|
bi thang-dwng mwm
|
(He went).
|
It
may be considered as immediate past in Boro; but in
some cases such as:
|
iragdaoa
dimaphurao ra za-dwng mwn
(Iragdao in Dimapur
King became).
|
This
is an example of distant past in Boro. In ancient
times Iraagdoo was a King in Dimapur dynasty.
The
past progressive is realized by suffixing a set of
morphemes: For example:
|
ang za-bay dwng mum
|
(I was eating).
|
|
ang lir-bay dwng mwm
|
(I was writing).
|
|
bi undu-bay dwng mwm
|
(he was sleeping).
|
Here,
za, lir, and undu are all verb roots and bay- is an
intermediate morpheme used for denoting perfective
tense. -dwng mwm is suffixed after that intermediate
morpheme.
|
|
Cases And Case Inflections.
Case
is a grammatical category and it is a form of noun
and pronoun in Boro. Boro has seven cases and all
these cases are realized by adding case-inflections
to the noun and pronoun. Case inflections are combined
as bound morphemes to the noun and pronoun class of
words. It changes the form of words but not the meanings.
Boro expresses seven such relations, namely:
|
|
|
(a)
Nominative Case.
(b)
Accusative Case.
(c)
Instrumental Case.
(d)
Dative Case.
(e)
Genitive Case.
(f)
Ablative Case and
(g)
Locative Case.
|
|
The
nominative case expresses as the
doer, performer or initiator of the action of the
verb. It has {-a} inflection; For example:
|
ada-a wnglcham zabay
|
(brother has eaten
rice).
|
|
agwi-a gabdwng
|
(sister is weeping).
|
|
mwswu-a thwibay
|
(the cow has died).
|
|
|
The
accusative case is the case of direct
subject of the verb. It is marked by the case-inflection
{-khwu} and is added to the noun: For example:
|
mwswu-khwu dabu
|
(don’t beat the
cow).
|
|
onnanwi bi-khwu linghor
|
(please call him).
|
|
bizab-khwu dwn
|
(keep the book).
|
|
pulisa sikhau-khwu
bubay
|
(the police has beaten
the thief).
|
In
these structures, the case-inflection {-khwu} determines
the particular animate and inanimate objects. It corresponds
to denominatives of grammatical category to some extent.
But while the direct subject of the verb denotes a
multitude; sometimes this inflection remains unknown
in the syntactic structure. For example:
|
ang wngkhan { } zagwn
|
(I shall eat rice).
|
|
biw onthai { } bukhrubbay
|
(he has crushed stone
into pieces).
|
|
|
The
instrumental case expresses the means
(inanimate force or object) by which the action identified
by the verb is done. It is realized by adding {-zwng}
inflection to the noun. For example:
|
daba-zwng dan
|
(cut with the knife).
|
|
lauthi-zwng bu
|
(beat with the stick).
|
|
athing-zwng zw
|
(kick with the foot).
|
|
|
The
dative case is the case of indirect
object of the verb. It is marked by {-nw}, suffixed
to the noun. For example:
|
biw mwswu-nw gangsw
hwdwng
|
(he is giving grass
to the cow).
|
|
rama romen-nu rang
horbay
|
(Ram has given money
to Romen).
|
|
gosai-nw bibar bau
|
(offers flower to
God).
|
|
|
The
accusative case which expresses the
passive relation with some other animate and inanimate
objects in the sentence is called associative or genitive
case. It is marked by {-ni}, suffixed to the noun
and pronoun. For example:
|
ai-ni dokhona
|
(mother’s garment)
|
|
bi-ni mwswu
|
(his cow).
|
|
ang-ni ada
|
(my brother).
|
|
|
The
ablative case is the case of separation
from the source. It is marked by {-phrai} and occurred
after the genitive form of the noun. For example:
|
dongphang-ni-phrai
phithai siriw
|
(the fruit falls from
the tree).
|
|
gazri akhu-ni-phrai
gwzanao tha
|
(abstain from bad
habits).
|
|
besor-ni-phrai thao
mwnw
|
(mustard oil is derived
from mustard seeds).
|
|
|
The
locative case expresses the location
of the action or state identified by the verb. For
example:
|
dwi-ao na thaw
|
(fish live in water).
|
|
oron-ao zunar thaw
|
(animals live in the
jungle)
|
|
bi no-ao dong
|
(he is at home).
|
|
nosing-ao daphwi
|
(don’t enter
the house).
|
|
|
Morphological Variation:
The
suffix /-lia or -la is used in negative sense in the
W.B.D. and it is found /-le/ in S.D.B. and E.D.B.
|
|
WBD
|
EBD
|
SBD
|
Meaning.
|
|
thaN
(go)
|
/thaNlia/
|
/thaNle/
|
/thaNle/
|
Won’t
go.
|
|
|
/thaNla/
|
|
|
|
|
|
Classifiers: The extensive use of classifiers
in the Boro language is another striking feature.
It is attached with all nouns operating in the language.
Hence, nouns are realized as phrases consisting of
the noun + classifier. A list of classifiers operating
in the language are given below:
|
/sa/
|
with
human beings.
|
|
/ma/
|
with
all types of living things.
|
|
/thui/
|
with
fruits, currency, teeth, stones etc.
|
|
/gON/
|
for
leaf-like objects.
|
|
/phaN/
|
for
trees, saplings etc.
|
|
/doi/
|
for
eggs.
|
|
/thote/
|
for
posts, bamboo, etc.
|
|
/suba/
|
for
bamboo groves.
|
|
/thuba/
|
for
bamboo groves, shrubs, etc.
|
|
/nON/
|
for
abstract objects.
|
|
/goN/
|
for
horns, wooden objects, houses and weapons.
|
|
/doN/
|
for
hair rope, etc.
|
|
/daN/
|
for
garlands, etc.
|
|
/mutha/
|
for
betel leaf, paddy.
|
|
/athi/
|
for
firewood.
|
|
/dor/
|
for
fish, nuts, etc.
|
|
/bar/
|
for
flowers and plants.
|
|
/dan/
|
for
days of the month.
|
|
/san/
|
for
days.
|
|
/kha/
|
for
human beings.
|
It
may again be mentioned here that the combination of
classifiers with a noun and a numeral in constructing
phrases and sentences are abundantly used. Examples
from Boro:
|
mansi
+ sa + noi.
man classifier two.
gan + se + kitap.
one classifier book.
moi + der + nase.
one classifier elephant.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
