Download 10.1 Structures of kernel sentence in Assamese 10.1.1 A kernel

CHAPTER
S Y N T A C T IC
—
ILO
STRUCTURES
ASSAMESE
AND
OE
G^ARO
10.1 Structures of kernel sentence in Assamese
10.1.1 A kernel sentence in Assamese may consist of a subject
and a predicate where the subject
could be a noun phrase (NP)
consisting of a noun or a pronoun
alone or a noun preceded by
a demonstrative pronoun or a
numerical
definitive and a verb phrase (VP)
and
followed
by
consisting of a verb
a
alone
or a combination of a noun phrase and a verb or a sequence of
a main verb and auxiliaries. The sentence given below -
/rame bhat khale/ ’Ram ate rice*
can be divided into two slots - /rame/ and /bhat khale/.
The
first slot
the
is
the
subject
and
the
second
slot
is
predicate. The subject consists of a noun phrase which
single noun in this sentence and the
predicate
(i) a noun phrase which is a single noun
/bhat/
is
a
consists
of
’rice'
and
(ii) a verb phrase which is a single verb /khale/ ’ate'.
The
subject in an
at
the
in
the
beginning
and
Assamese
it
is
sentence
generally
often denoted as S.
465
occurs
The
NP
predicate slot generally represents object and
it.
is
denoted as 0. The verb in the predicate slot generally occurs
sentence terminally and is often
presented
as
V.
Thus,
simple kernel sentence in Assamese is often described as
a
sov
sentence.
10.1.2 The NP in the subject
larger phrase
where
there
slot
could
may
be
also
an
consist
adjective
i
and
<i
derterminer besides a noun. The sentence given below-
/x?u xoru loratoe gorom
bhatkhini lahfc lah£ khale/
'That small boy has eaten
the hot rice slowiy’
1 o rato/
the NP under the subject slot consists of /xou xoru
where /lorato/ is the head noun, /xoru/ is its
qualifire
adjective
pronoun
and
/x o u/
is
the
determiner and {-to} is also
the
NP
under
the
predicate
demonstrative
definitive
slot
bhatkhini/ where /that/ is the head
adjective and /khini/ is
the
marker.
consists,
noun
definitive
the
of
marker.
where /khale/ is the verb and /laht laht/ is
/g o r o m
is
verb
khale /
modifiei
verb or an adverb. Sometimes the verb may consist
466
the
The
laht
a
or
Similarly,
/ g o r o m/
phrase in the predicate slot consists of /laht
or
ol
ct
i
larger phrase such as /khai ase/ ’is eating' or /khai pglale/
’has completely eaten'.
10.1.3 Although, SOV1 is the general order of
occurrence
of
the words, it is possible to reverse the order o£ r.ov to
o.ov
in some special situation, where the emphasis is given on the
object. The following example could be seen.
/bhat
rroi
khalo/
’I have eaten rice'
This order could further be manipulated to give VOS
structure. This generally resorted to when
annoyance or disapproval.
The
following
one
speaks
example
with
could
tie
seen.
/khaisS
nohoj
moi
bhat/
’I have eaten rice in
fact'
10.1.4 Generally the verb does not occur in the beginning
of
the sentence but sometimes in a very endearing request it
is
possible to use the verb
at
the
beginning.
The
following
example could be seen.
/kowana tumi kothato/ ’please, tell (me) what is the
matter'
467
This gives VSO sentence structure. It
be noted that this is not
a
common
sentence
may
how.-ve*
structure
in
Assamese.
10.2 Types of Sentences in Assamese
From
the
structural
point
of
view
Assamese
sentences could be devided in three types - sJ-^le,
Compound
and Complex sentence. A compound sentence is nothing but
the
combination of two or more
t.;. :
simple
sentences
by
conjunction /aru/ 'and' /ba/ ’or ' . Therefore, it
using
is
simpler
than the complex sentence.
10.2.1 Simpie Sentence
Simple sentences can be divided
in
the
following
five types of sentences. They are-
i)
ii)
One word imperative sentence/response utterance,
Equational
sentence:
NouniNoun,
where
Noun
represent Adjective or pronoun,
iii)
iv)
v)
SV or SOV sentence
i "J (Non-finite) OV (finite)
SVV (Mon-finite)
(xieduplication) OV (finite)
468
mis­
10.2.1,1.
One
word Imperative
Sentence /Response
utterance
Assamese contains some sentences which are as small
as a single word. This single word is generally
other word a single v?.talone could make
a
a
verb.
sentence.
verb could either be imperative or responsive of
In
This
yes/no-
question. The following examples could be seen.
/za/
'(you) go’
/zam/ MI) shall go*
10.2.1.2
Equations! sentence : NouniNoun,
where
Noun
may
represent Noun, Adjective or Pronoun.
Assamese contains some such sentence where there is
no verb. In other words a
sentence
may
contain
only
NUN,
where the first N represents Noun or Pronoun and the second N
represents Noun or Adjective. The following examples could be
seen.
/gsruto
/xi
serela/
boba/
’The cow is weak*
’He is dumb'
/ram
xikkhok/
’Ram is a teacher'
/tai
gita/
’She is Gita'
469
The N in the NP in both subject and Predicate
slot
can be expanded following the outline given in sec. 10.1.2
However the following examples could be seen.
/x?u k 2aa qaruto serela/ ’That white cow is weak'
(Dem. Adj. N )N Adj.
/ram ezon bhal xlhJlhZk/
N
(Det.Adj N)N
"Ram is a good teacher’
10.2.1.3 SV or SOV sentence.
This has been discussed in
the
chapter under sec. 10.1 as a sample of
beginning
the
o£
structure
kernel sentence in Assamese. Any general indicative
the
ol
a
sentence
is of this structure.
10.2.1.4 SOV (Son-finite) OV (Finite)
Assamese contains some such sentences
are two verbs and the actions of the verbs
occur
another. In such cases the first verb is in
ending in (-i) and the second verb is in
carries tense and
constructed
person
r«arker. The
where
one
at Lei
Hon-finite
finite
form
non-finite
by adding (-i) suffix to the verb stem
47 0
th -.
foim
which
verb
r
ami
the
non-finite verb form does not carry
tense
and
person.
The
following examples could be seen.
/moi skulor para ,ah-i bhat
khao/
/xi
’I, having come from
school, eat rice*
siriel sarX ^Qko koribo/ 'He, having seen the
seriel,will do arithmatic’
,
l(Mon-finite)
10 .2 .1.
1.
Assamese
constructed
by
the
(Reduplication) 0;
/ (finite)
contains
structure
some
sentences
such
as
(Reduplication) OV (Finite).This means
which
SW
that
are
(Non-finite)
the
non-finite
verb is reduplicated and it conveys a sense of repetition
the action. It also does
not
carry
the
tense
and
of
person
marker. The following examples could be seen.
/teS likhi likhi birokti paise/
'He, having repeatedly
written got tired*.
I, having continuously
waited, got fade up * .
/moi ghorol bohi b?hi
amoni
paiso/
10.2.2 Compound sentences"in Assamese.
Compound sentences can be
four types.
471
divided
into
following
1. Conjoined by /kintu / ’but’
Compound sentences joined by /kintu/ ’but'
divided
into
following
(i) two simple
two
can
sub
te
ty />e.v-
.fences containing finite verbs, and
(ii) two equational sentences (= having no verb)
2. Conjoined by /aru/ ’and’
Ccnipou,*
sentences or this type can also be divided
into following three sub-types.
(i) two simple sentences containing finite veils,
(ii)
two
or
more equational
sentences
containing
no
verbs, and
(jii)
with
occasions
deletion
of
/aru/’and'
in
in two or three constituents
one
or
two
equal.tone
>nu
non equational sentences.
3. Conjoined by /ba/'/n?tuba/,/naiba/’/ 2 thoba/ ’or , and
4. Conjoined by interrogative /ne/ ’or'
10.2.2.1
(i)
Conjoined by /kintu/’but'
Two
simpsentences
472
could
be
conjoin** i
/kintu/'but' to form a compound sentence
contents of one sentence is
just
opposed
other. In other words the facts in
contradict in some point. The
provided
the
to
two
following
that
the
of
the
that
sentences
examples
must
could
be
but
not
seen.
/megh
ahil kintu boroxum nohol/’It is coulded
rained'
/xi skulol?i zowa nai kintu
skulkhola/
'He did not go to school
but
the
school
is
opened'
(ii) Two equational sentences could also be conjoined by
•
,•V
>•./
71/75
.... ,
L r i f u '
1
/kiAtu/
’but' to form a compound senten e
■ *where t!tie^tl6ritentis
of one equational is just opposed to that
of
some
adjective
point.
In
most
such
cases
predJ c..tively; otherwise the /ho/’be'
negation
form
in
the
second
an
verb
constituent
the
appears
other
in
occurs
in
sentence.
the
The
following e::.-.:.:ples could be seen.
/tai porhat bhal kintu ganot bsja/ ’She is good in study
Lwt bad in song*
/t£«3 hedmastor kintu sekretari noh=>j/’He
headmaster but
not secretary'
473
10.2.2.2 Conjoined by /aru 'and'
(i) Two or more simple sentences could be
/aru/’and' to form a
restriction
compound
regarding
the
sentence.
meaning
But
of
conjoined
by
there
no
the
constituent
sentences. The information conveyed by the compound
so derived is cumulative of the
constituent
is
sentence
sentences.
The
following examples could be seen.
/deuta ahil aru sokit bDhil/ 'Father came and sat on
chair'
It is also
occuring as
subject
possible
or
to
object
conjoin
keeping
crJy
the
sentence in tact as in /ram aru modhu ahil/
rest
'Raja
came'. The underlying structure of this shall be
sentence such as /ram ahil aru m o d h u
two
ahil/
nouns
of
and
a
’Ram
the
Madhu
compound
came
and
Madhu came'
(ii) Two or more equational sentences also could be
conjoined by /aru/ 'and' to form a compound
is
also
no
constituent
compound
restriction
sentences.
sentence
so
concerning
The
the
information
constructed
474
is
sentence.
There
meaning
of
the
conveyed
by
the
cumulative
of
the
constituent
sentences.
If
there
are
three
sentences the first structural word /aru/
constitufnt
’and'
is
deLeted
permetting a regressive gapping. The following examples could
be seen.
/tai bagi,
(iii)
(aru) okho aru lahi/'She is fair (and) fa1!
and slim'
Sometimes
conjoined to form
a
two
equational
compound
sentences
crjuid
t-
without
using
any
sentence
conjunction. In other words there is no
structural
conjoin. Because there are two objects in
two
wotci
to
constituents,
{-o} is added to the both objects to convey the sense
also'.
The following examples could be seen.
/tai poihat-o bhal, ganat-o bhal/’Sne is good m
and song too
if
there
are
three
constituent
study
non egt.-
sentences !!;■• first conjunctive /eru/ 'and' could be d. td..,.,
1* -..a lttiu g a backward g a p p in g th e following
«cmpl«
be seen.
/porijkkha ahil.(aru) porikkha
dilo ,
LU -;us o k n ilo/
475
'Examination s i i u
(and) l appear
passed Loo
10.2.2.3 Conjoined by /ba/, /ndba/, /n tuba/, / th b a / V t ’
Two or more simple sentences could be conjoined
/ba/, /naiba/, /notuba/, or / o tho ba/
to
form
a
sentence. This conjunctive particles are in lact
by
cc;. pound
disjunctive
in character and in that sense they are just opposed to / a m /
'and'. The contents of one constituent sentence are exclusive
of the
contents
of
the
other
constituent
sentence.
He will go or
ccrr.e ’
wi n
The
following examples could be seen.
1.
/ x i zabo nduba t a i
a't t i b
of
/Lini number othnba
'Answer question bo. tin
sari nouibor -.thoba pas four or five,
prosnor utter
Roriba/
i
or
3. /h ur.i ahibo ba inui zam/ 4!ari will coiue or l will g o ’
4
. /tumi mok naiba^ ttok
sithikhon diba/
’you give the letter to me or
to him'
5
. /tai no tuba tumi zowa/
’Either sLu or you go ’
these
It may be noted that
could disjoin two nouns, functr
oning
object, keeping the verb phrase
4. object /mok/ Mne’ and /t£ok/
476
conjunctive
either
as
in-tact. In d e
pai t i d e s
subject
oi
above example
’him' and in 5. subject /tai/
’she' and /tumi/ ’you* are separated by /notuba/ ’or*, m
all
such compound sentences the verb generally agrees with / m o l /
’I* and /tumi/ ’you* if they are present otherwise
agrees with the subject that occurs
structure of this
sentence
second.
shall
the
verb
The underlying
as below
/tumi
mok
diha/
’Either
you
sithikhon diba naiba tumi tcok sithikhon
give me the letter or you give him the letter*.
10.2.2.4
Conjoined by Interrogative /ne/ ’or*
Two or more simple
/ne/ ’or* to form a compound
such
sentences
is
always
sentences could be conjoined
by
sentence.
of
The total
interrogative.
The
sense
following
examples could be seen.
/bijaloi ma zafoone foilout i zaba/ ’wheather mother will go
to /marriage or Bhonti*
/tumi ahiba ne toraar soali ahibo ’wheather you will corne
ne kon ahibo/
or your daughter will
come or who will coma*
It is possible
to
delete
the
first
verb
under
forward gapping to get smaller constructions such as /bijaloi
ma ne bhonti zabo/ ’wheather mother
marriage’.
477
or
bhonti
will
go
to
An
affirmative
sentence
and
its
corresponding
negative simple sentence also could be conjoined by /ne/.
such cases if the affirmative verb is in the present or
tense, the corresponding negative verb is /nai/
affirmative verb is in the
negative verb is in the
future
present
tense
the
indefinite.
and
if
In
past
the
corresponding
The
following
examples could be seen.
/t£o ghorot ase ne (t£o ghorot) nai/1Is he there in the
house or (he is)not
(in the house)?’
/ta.i skuloloi ahisil ne (tai
skuloloi oha) nai/
'Did she come to
school or (she did)
not
come
(to
school)?'
/hori skuloloi zabo ne (hori
skuloloi) nazaj/
'will Hari go to
school or
(Hari
will)
not go (to
school) ? ’
Here also backward
permissible
which
results in using two verbs conjoined by /ne/. In other
words
the elements given in
the
gapping
bracket
is
in
the
above
examples
generally are not spoken.
10.2.3 Complex sentences in Assamese
Complex sentences in Assamese could be divided into
478
J
three major types, each of
\
which
manifests
four
each. The major sub-type I represents structures
sub-types
where
both
the dependent and main clause contain finite verbs,
and
two sentences are conjoined by
/zedi/,
/zetija/ and /zihetu/
each
forms. The major
sub-type
contain only one
finite
subordinate
clause
is
conjunctions
of
II
verb
which
the
conjoined
participial forms cf the verbs
has
represents
in
to
in
various
the
Obviously U._ verbs in the coordinate
oblique
structures
main
the
finite inf ltdticn, tut there must be
/zi/,
and
clause
subordinate
clause
a
winch
clause
main
the
do
subject.
by
clause.
not
The
sub-type 111 represents embedded sentence where one
a
have
major
s e nt en ce
is inset into the other.
10.2.3.1 Major sub~tj; j I
Sentences conjoined by /zi/ 'what'
The
conjunctive
/zi/
*what',
various oblique manifestations such
as
'that'
/zie/
may
ha/e
‘wh o ’
/zxhe/
'which' /zar/ 'whose' /zak/ ’whom' /zor/ ’where' /zet/ 'wh-ro
in’ /zoloi/ ’where to' etc. which
could
represent
subject,
o M e c t and cl her cases 1 ..'levant in the subordinate cl.aus' . 1.>.
479
the verb is transitive it becomes
/zie/
in
case
of
agent
animate noun and /zihe/ in case of agent inanimate noun.
The
following examples will illustrate various manifestations
of
/zi/.
/zX. nahe
xi /t£o boksis napaj/'one who does not come
will not get reward'.
/zie besikoi porhe xie
porikkhat bhal koro/
‘one who studies
he
passes
examination'
hard,
in
!
/moi zjhere likhS taio tare
likhe/
'she writes by the same
thing
with which
I
write’
/teo zar psre kitapkhon anise
mojo tar porai anim/
/tto
’I will bring the book
from him from whom he
brought the book'
zak bhal paj take! matibo/’ He will call him
he likes’
/Xi ZQT p o m ahise taloike
ubhotibo/
whom
'(He) will go back there
where form he came’
/rame Z2X. thake horio tat thake/’Hari lives there
Ram lives’
where
/horie zoloike zcwar kotha
bhabisil taloike gol/
where
Id.2.3.2
'{lari went there,
he wanted to g o ’
Sentences conjoined by /zodi/ ' i f
The conjunctive
particle
/zodi/
'if
may
have
various oblique manifestations such as /zodio/, /zodihe/, and
480
zodioba/. These L^ing additional sense such as
and ’or'
respectively. The
conjunctive
’a l s o ’, 'even'
particle
introduces
the subordinate clause. The conjunctive particles /z o di/
used in the sentence in doubtful sense. This type of
is
complex
sentence* has two clauses which are mutually dependent on each
other. The following examples could be seen.
/tai z odi ahe noio zam/
’If she come I will also go
/xi dusto h2j zodlo
pot hat bhal/
'Although he is naughty, he
in study'
/xi X.adiJas ghor.oloi
zaj hi-.ito h^r lb 0/
'He will work if he
go
home'
'Although he did not com*1 h'lias sent the article’
/t£o Z P d i « M nahil
b . %tuto di pothaise/
10
will
vs
.2.3.3 Sentences conjoined by /zetija/ -when’
The conjunctive /zetija/
oblique
manifestations
/zetijaloi/ etc. to bring
case relationship.
Cuch
such
ns
conjunctive
be
may
have
sense
of
particles
various
/zetijar/,
/ /.etijai/,
additional
dependent clause in the point
form in any clause could
’when'
emphasis
or
relate
Lite
of time relationship. The
in
examples could be seen.
481
any
tense.
The
verb
foil ■•'ing
/tai zetijcti ijaloi ahe
tetijai mok log paj/
'She meets me than, when
comes here'
/tekhs.te zetijar kotha
’ I was not born by
koise tetija mor zonmoi when
the facts
howa nasil/
happened'
she
ttio
he
<irno
told
/sar ze.tJJ.al?i ijat thakibo ’Nothing to be worried
tetijaloi kono sinta nai/ sir remains here.
till
IOJ.,3.4 Sente..cas conjoined by /zihetu/ ’since'
/zihetu/ ’since' may have an oblique
such
manifestation
as /zihetuke/ which indicates emphasis /zihetu/
generally occurs at the beginning of the
subordinate
’since'
clau.,;.
and conjoins the subordinate c lause to the main clause. It is
possible to reverse the order of the two clauses; in
case the sain clause occurs a1. the beginning and is
by /zihetu/ or /zihetuke/ and the subordinate
at
the
end.
The
following
examples
a
followed
clause
could
such
be
occurs
seen.
/zihjitu bjioxuii nohol
khoti bhal in hoi/
'Since there was no rain,
farming was not good*
/zihetuke montri nahil,
rnitiij ; nchol/
’Since the minister did
come, the meeting was
held’
oi b ja 1o i na 7,ao
zihetuke LaL mok n.izo
unta aa»/
/\w
482
not
not
I will not go to d».
marriage give oho diu not
invite her sell. '
10.2.3.5 Major sub-type II
Sentences conjoined by
present
participle
{-*5te}
'while vs-ing'
Here {-6te} is
subordinate
clause
and
obtained. This present
added
the
to
the
present
participle
verb
root
in
the
form
is
conjoin
two
participle
form
could
clauses where the action of the verb in the main clause takes
place during the constituence of the action of
the
verb
of
the subordinate clause. The following examples could be seen.
/tai ijate thak-ote eta
banpani hois11/
"While she was
one flooded'
/ami bhat khai
teligram ahil/
’While we were
telegram came'
thak-ote
/tumi ghoroloi za-Ste
begkhon niba/
The
present
living
participle
verb
forms
clause, in the above examples subjects are in
person
respectively,
eating,
’While you will go home
take the bag'
remain
irrespective of the person of the subject in the
2nd
here
but
all
the
you
same
subordinate
3id,
1st
verb forms end
{-frte}. The verb in the main clause could be in any tense.
483
and
in
10.2.3.6
Sentences
conjoined
by
past
participle
{-i£e)
*having vs-en/if__ v*
Here {-ile} is
subordinate
clause
and
added
the
to
the
present
obtained. In aspect of verb roots
verb
root
in
the
form
is
any vowel
the
participle
ending
in
{i-} of {-ile} is dropped.
{vs-ile} conjoins two clauses where the
the verb in the main clause takes place or
action
will
take
after the action of the verb of the subordinate
place
clause.
verb in the main clause could be either in the present
or future tense. The subordinate clause always
of
The
tense
precedes
the
main clause. The following examples could be seen.
/bondho
/baidewe
xunibo/
'If holiday is given, it
be good*
dile bhal haj/
kole
'If sister tells,
listen"
sare
complex
sentences
will
'If you come, it will be very
good"
r-~— ~
/apuni ahile bar bhal
haj/
In most cases
sir
will
such
beginning
484
sentences
with
are
/zodi/
equivalent
'if
to
alxeauy
described in sec. 10.2.3.2. The participial verb form remains
same irrespective
of
the
person
of
the
subject
in
the
subordinate clause.
10.2.3.7 Sentence conjoined by past
participle
in
l-ilo tj
"having Vs-en*
Here {-ilot} is added
to
the
verb
subordinate clause and past participle form is
stem
in
obtained.
the
In
aspect of verb roots ending in any vowel the {i— > of {-ilot}
is dropped.
The
use
of
past
participle
in
{-il o t}
is
complementary to past participle {-ile} in the sense that
{-
ilot} is used only where the verb in the principal clause
is
in the past tense, whereas, {-ile} occurs only where the verb
in the principal clause is in the present
or
future
tense.
The following examples could be seen.
/beli ola-lot
phulil/
podum
'The sun having
lotus bloomed'
risen,
the
- .t
y£
/ram ah-ilot hori
olaj gol/
•Ram having come hari went’
/ami kothato xun-ilot
xihot ubhoti gol/
’We having heard the
they returned’
485
matter
10.2.3.8
Sentences conjoined by past conditional
in {-a
participle
htten} "would have vs-en'
Here {-a
hgten} is added to the verb form
in
the
subordinate clause and present participle form
is
In respect of verb roots ending in {-a} or
y
}
they
take
added.
The
past
oblique
form
in
{-o},
before
{-a}
is
obtained.
conditional participle in {-a hsten} occurs at the end of the
subordinate clause and conjoins it to
the
occurs in a situation where the action of
main
clause.
It
the
verb
in
the
main clause was dependent on the action of the
verb
in
the
subordinate
verb
in
the
therefore,
the
clause
subordinate clause
but
didnot
the
action
take
of
place
the
a..1
action of the verb in the main clause also didnot take place.
The participle verb in the subordinate
clause
irrespective of the person of the subject of the
clause. The verb
in
the
main
clause
is
remains
same
subordinate
always
a
fully
inflected past tense verb and {-h&ten} is suffixed to it. The
following examples could be seen.
/tumi ohahsten moi
golohfcten/
"If you had come/^-I would
gone*
486
have
/moi koah^ten
(ko-a-tuten)
sare korilehtten/
’If I had told,
have done'
/mji b^stuto onaheten
t€o xukhi. holhrten/
’if I had taken the things,
would have been satisfied’
sir
would
ho
10.2.3.9 Major sub-type III
This category includes embedded sentences where one
sentence is set in side another. This has two varietise
<i)
non-finite purposiv4e and (ii) quotative clause
(i) Non-finite purposive in {-lji} ’to'
In Assamese non-finite purposive are constructed by
adding {— 1 pi> ’to' to the future tense verb form. A
containing a non-finite purposive is a
the sense
sentences.
that
For
behind
example
any
the
such
complex
sentences
underlying
sentence
underlies
structure
sentence.
/moi tak zabolpi kolo/
’I told him to go'
represents two sentences such as
(i) /moi tak kolo/
’I told hi m ’
(ii) /xi zabo lage/
’He has to go'
487
sentence
of
in
two
the
Here the indirect object in the
noin
clause
'he' is the agent of the inset clause. Sometimes the
of the main clause itself could be the
agent
of
/xi/
subject
the
inset
clause. In the sentence
/tai sinema saboloi goise/
’She has gone to see cinema'
underlies two sentences such as
(i) /tai goise/
’She has gone*
(ii) /tai sinema sabo/
’she will see cinema’
Here, /tai/ ’she* is the subject of the main clause
/tai goise/ ’She has gone' and is
the
agent
of
the
inset
clause /(tai) sinema sab / (’she) will see cinema'. The
verb
in the main clause could be in any tense
(ii) Quotative clause
This
’sentences
refers
containing
to
what
direct
is
and
popularly
indirect
known
speech’.
as
Such
sentences are complex sentences in the sense that the ’quoted
or unquoted element' is
inset
into
the
main
clauses
and
represents an objective clause. In direct quotation the inset
488
clause is conjoined
to
the
main
clause
by
a
change
in
/ze/
or
intonation and in indirect quotation by conjunctive
/bole/ ’that'. In the sentence
/rame kole, ’moi bhat khaiso’/
’Ram said ’I have
rice'
eaten
/rame kole/ ’Ram said' is the main clause and it precedes the
inset clause /moi bhat khaiso/ *1 have eaten rice', both
connected only by a change of intonation (in written form
a quote mark). Here
the
whole
clause
represents the object of / k o l e /
/moi
’said'.
bhat
Its
are
by
khaiso/
corresponding
indirect quotative form
/rame kole ze xi bhat khaise/
’Ram told that he has
eaten meal'
clearly represents a complex sentence of two clauses and they
are
conjoined
by
conjunctive
/ze/
’that’
morphemic alternant /bole/. In such a case
precedes the subordinate
clause.
The
which
the
main
following
has
a
clause
additional
pairs of examples could be seen.
/sare koise, ’kailoi
porikkha nahoj’/
’Sir said' examination will not
be held tomorrow'
489
/sare koise ze kailoi
porikkha nohoj/
’Sir said that examination will
not be held next day'
/moi kao, ’xi bhal
n^hoj’/
i say ’he is not good’
/moi koo ze xi
bhal nahoj/
’I say that he is not good'
10.2.3.10 Order of the clauses
It is permissible to alter the order of occurrence
of the objective clause
and
main
clause
in
the
indirect
quotation with some modulations. The objective
clause
occur as initial clause and would be
by
quotative form of /bole/ ’that' and
followed
the
main
could
/bull/
clause
a
would
occur as the terminal clause. The following example could
be
seen.
/kailoi porikkha nohoj buli sare koise/ ’Sir has said that
examination will
not be held next
day'
10.3 Negativization in Assamese
Negativization
transformation,
Assamese
is
a
v»ry
and
Garo
490
common
are
no
process
of
exceptions.
J$
A*A fl=
/ i
- e / c j
Negativization
can
be
viewed
in
i
three
,
"
-v.L
y
levels,
such
(i) Word level,5 (iL) Phrase level and (iii) sentence
In respect of a few cases there seems to be
some
as
level.
degree
of
difference in the semantic realization of (i) and (ii) above.
The Transformational Generative grammarians however
negativization
as
a
type
of
syntactic
consider
transformation
(sentence level) and pharse level negativization is considard
to be very much inset within the syntactic transformation.
10.3.1 (i) Word level Negativization in
Some Nouns, Adjectives (also some
c> ^ -
Adverbs
derived
from Adjectives) and verbs from their corresponding
in
two
ways.
corresponding
In
respect
negative
of
forms
a
section
are
of
obtained
negative
such
by
words
morphemic
alternants. In other words a set of words mean positive while
another corresponding set of words mean negative. In Hockets’
term this can be interpreted
under
analysis The other device of
word
'item
level
and
negativization
derivation.- The derivation is mostly suffixation
prefixation. Given below is a sample
list
of
classes manifesting word level negativization.
431
arrangement'
and
various
is
partly
word
10.3.1.1 Noun :
Nouns in Assamese form their corresponding negative
following the device of
(a) Morphemic alternants:
(b) Derivation.
(a) Morphemic alternants :
No, example available in Assamese.
The
derivation
of
negative
forms
of
Nouns
affected by prefixing {ao-}, {?-}, { p-}, { ?nu-},
{bina-},
fbi-},
{bod-},
6.7.2.1.,
6.7.2.2,
6.7.2.18,
6.7.2.19,
{be-},
6.7.2.6,
{ku~},
6.7.2.7,
6.7.2.20,
{nis-},
6.7.2.13,
6.7.2.23,
is
{para-},
Sec.
no
6.7.2.17,
6.7.2.25
may
be
referred to for illustration.
The derivation of negative forms of Adjectives from
Nouns is affected by prefixing {o-}, { on-},
{nis-},
6.12.2.8,
{nlr-}
see,
6.12.2.9,
no.
6.12.2.1,
6.12.2,10
illustration.
C-
492
may
{dur-},
6.12.2.2,
be
referred
{ni-},
6,12.2.5,
to
for
10.3.1.2 Adjective :
Adjectives in
Assamese
form
negative following both the devices
the adjective forming
alternants are
their
limited
in
corresponding
mentioned
negatives
number
their
by
the
above.
their
same
While
morphemic
formed
under
derivation are very large in numbers.
(a) Morphemic alternants :
(b)
/okho/ ’tali'
/sapor/ ’dwarf
/bhal/ ’good'
/b£ja/ ’bad’
/do/ ’deep'
/toraij/ ’having no depth'
/dusto/ ’naughty'
/xanto/ ’calm*
/nimaz/ ’plain'
/khohota/ ’rough’
Derivation :
Tho derivation
of
negative
is affected by prefixing {0-}, U~),
{nir-}, Ini-),
6.8.2.6,
Inis-}, sec. no.
6.8.2.12,
6.8.2.13,
referred to be illustration.
forms
l^na},
of
Adj*. .-tive<
l on-},
{dur-}
6.8.2.1,
6.8.2.3,
6.8.2.b
6.8.2.14,
6.8.2.15
ti.,
b
10.3.2
Phrase level, Negativization in Assamese
Negative proper:
Assamese manifests various types of
at the phrase level too. Some important
negativization
ones
are
mentioned
below:
10.3.2.1
Adjectival Phrase
Negative adjectival derivative follwed by Noun.
Assamese derives
adjectives
from
adding {-a}. Such adjectives could again
prefixing
the
negative
morpheme
morphophonemic changes. (See sec
be
verb
roots
by
negativized
by
{no-
10.3.3.8}
subject
Such
to
adjectives
qualify some other nouns that follow.
ni-kin-a /nikina golam/
'slave, for whom
not made*
even
payment
no-pot(<pat)~a /nopota phukon/'self styled leader*
no-dekh-a /nedekha tha.i/
'unseen place*
n:>-zon(<zan)~a /nazona kotha/ 'unknown matter'
no-kho(<kha)-a /nokhoabgstu/
'things nevrr eaten before*
nu-xun-a /nuxuna- git/
’song
494
never
heard
before*
Such
constructions
function
as
one
unit
of
a
negative adjectival phrase.
10.3.2.2 Negative Idioms
Their
is
another
type
of
Negative
Assamese where the first constituent is
a
phrase
negative
in
element
proper and the second is a noun. Here the negative element is
always {na-> and only a few selected verbs could occur as the
second constituent. Thus they are negative idioms only.
/na zal na thol/
'neither in water nor in
land
(= a crucial state of affairs)'
/na zar na Z3h/
'temperate climate'
Here neither constituent could
co-occur
with
any
other element sharing the above meaning. Therefore, they
are
idiomatic.
10.3.2.3 Negative Idiom with positive meaning
Assamese possesses a unitary example of a
idiom where the first constituent is
verb
ending
adjective.
in
Both
{-i}
and
together
the
convey
495
a
second
the
negative
negative
non-finite
constituent
sense
of
is
an
excessive
presence of the meaning of the adjective form. The
following
two examples may be se^n.
/no-thoi (ctho-i) anondito/
’extremely delighted’
/no-thoi (<tho-i) xukhi/
’extremely happy'
There is another sub-set of
positive
meaning.
They
are
negative
invariably
idioms
with
adjectives.
The
following examples could be seen.
/nikop kopia bandh/
’a very tight tie'
/niroh nipani/
’very clear (=* having no
for doubt or error)'
scope
10.3.3 Sentence level Negativization
The sentence level negativization
in
Assamese
is
nothing but the VP level negativization. Here again verbs
in
habitual arpect differ from the verbs in perfect aspect.
aspect see sec. 8.11.2). The
verbs
in
present
past indefinite, and future indefinite form
their
(For
indefinite,
negatives
by prefixing the negative morpheme (no-} which has a host
of
allomorphs such as {ni-}, (ne-}f {na-}, (no-) and }nu-).
The
choice
of
the
correct
allc norph
is
phonologic-ally
conditioned.If the initial syllable of the verb contains {-o}
496
the negative allomorph is {no-},
if
it
contains
negative allomorph is {na-} and so on. In
vowel
in
the
negative
prefix
is
assimilation. In the sentence where
alone,
i.’e. in
equational
appears and the same is
other
changed
the
sentences,
by
VP
the
{-a}
the
words,
the
regressive
consists
of
underlying
negativized - following
the
N
verb
regular
{no-} prefixation rule.
10.3.3.1
Hog*tivization of Sentences with V in Present, Past
an d Future indefinite.
/moi bhat khad/
/moi hh.vt na-khao/
’I eat rice'
*1 do not eat rice"
/nioi tak dfckhilo/
mo i tak ne-dekhilo/
'I saw him'
’I did not see him'
/t£o kanito koribo/
/t£5 kamto no-koribo/
'He will do the work
’He will not do the work"
10.3.3.2 Hegativization of Equational sentence
/tt5 bhal manuh/
/t£o bhal manuh no-hoj/
’He is good man'
’He is not good man'
497
10.3.3.3 Negativization of Sentences with V in Perfect
The verbs in the perfect aspect form their negative
periphrastically. A suffix {-a} is added
root and the
auxiliary
verb
root
to
/nai/
the
main
follows
verb
it.
For
example,
/moi guwahati dtkhiso/
/moi guwahati d£kha nai/
’I have seen Guwahati'
*1 do not see Guwahati'
/tai sithi likhise/
/tai sithi' likha nai/
"She has written letter
’She has
letter’
/tto gharoloi goisil/
/tsd ghorol?i zovra
’He went home'
’He didnot go home’
10.3.3.4 The simple future tense verb
in
not
written
general
obtain negative forms like those of present
a
nasil/
reference
indefinite.
The
following examples could be seen.
/moi bazarsloi zam/
/m?i bozaroloi nazao/
’I will go to market'
’I will not go to market’
/tai sithi likhibo/
/tai sithi1nilikhe/
’She will write letter'
’She
has
letter'
498
not
written
10.3.3.5 Negativization of Verbs in Progressive Aspect
The
verbs
in
the
present
continuous form their negative
by
continuous
simply
negativizing
auxiliary verb, the auxiliary verb phrase
/thoka
not' replaces the
etc.
auxiliary
/asS/
nasilo, nasila, nasil/ etc. replace
'be'
the
and
nai/
and
auxilairy
past
the
’is
/thoka
/asilo/.
Given below are few examples.
/moi kori asQ
/moi kori thoka nai/
/
’I am doing'
’I am not doing'
/xi kori asil/
/xi kori thoka nasil/
’He was doing*
’He was not doing'
/tuasi kori asa/
/tumi kori thoka nai/
’You are doing'
’You are not doing*
Depending upon the various complexities of the verb
phrase, negativization shows
various
manifestations.
These
are presented below under type (i) and (ii) along with
their
various sub-types.
10.3.4 Double Negativization in Assamese
Generally
double
negativization
499
carries
an
affirmative
sense.
constituting elements
with double
But
still
deserves
negativization
the
negative
attention.
could
be
structure
Such
of
structures
discussed
under
tm?
heads.
10.3.4.1 Type I: Negative Adverbial + Negative Finite Verb
In this type of
sentencial
constituent is always a finite verb
forms following the regular rules
negative,
which
of
the
obtains
verbal
second
negative
negativization
(ibid sec. 10.3.4.3) and the first constituent is a
negative
form of either a non~finite verb or an adverb derived from an
adjective which again is derived from a verb
the cases the first
constituent
functions
root.
like
In
an
both
adverb-
modifying the finite verb.
Both the constituents together express
a
sense. They could be further classified into three
as under :
positive
sub-types
1
10.3.4.2 Sub-type (a) : I?eg. Non-finite verb
+
Neg.
Finite
verb
Here
the negative non-finite verb could be any
500
of
the
non-finite
verbs
described
under
sec.
10.3.4.3
and
10.3.4.5 and the finite verb could be in any tense. As stated
earlier, the first constituent, the negative non-finite
form loses its verbal force and obtains adverbial
verb
character.
The following illustrations could be seen.
/no-koi( <ko-i) no-arilo (<n:>-parilo)/ ’(I) could not remain
without seeing ( I
was forced to say) '
/na-kandi
no-ari
(<no-pari)/
'(one) ca n ’t
remain
without weeping
(=(one) is forced to
weep}'
/no-gole
no-hobo/
*It won't be possible
to refrain from going
(=one must g o )’
/no-hole
no-hoj/
'It is not possible
without (possessing
this) (=it is
indispensible)'
10.3.4.3 Sub- type (b) Neg. Adverb + Neg. Finite Verb
Here the first constituent
from
is
an
adverb
derived
an adjective, which is again derived from a verb
Readers are familier with the fact that adjectives
could
derived from verb roots by suffixing {-a} to the verb
501
root.
be
roots.
For examples in /xuna (<xun-n) k.9t.t>n hnzi qn1/
(=hears say) are like cows giving blrih
form /xuna/ is an
adjective
to
qualifying
Hales
no
the
heard
calves'
tiie
/k o tha/
noun
’tales'. Such adjectives undergo further derivational process
to
obtain
adverbs
in
{-k?i}.
Such
negativized by prefixing the negative
adverbs
morpheme
second constituent could be a negative
tense.
Such
sentences
could
be
are
fenite
{no-}.
verb
considered
sentences as behind each sentence. Underlies
again
as
two
in
The
any
complex
sentences.
The following illustrations could be seen.
/nokhoakoi (<no -
kha-a-k? i)
na-zaba/
/nuphulakoi {<no-phul-a-koi) nathake/
'Don't go without
eating(=you must
eat and go)'
'It
w o n ’t
remain
without blooming
(=it must bloom)'
/nosoakoi (cno-sa-a-koi) nathakiba/
'Don't remain with­
out telling (=you
must tell)'
Because of the presence of two negative forms,
» .li « » i H » n i H U I IT T . . 1 .
ultimate meaning is positive. This is in
described before (see.Sec 10.3, 4.2).
5
0
2
.I -------1 ------ 1 1 * 1 -.— ,
the
same
the
n rim --* * * * * *
line
as
10.3.4.4.
Sub-type
(e)
:
Neg.
Verb
participle
+
Neg
Confirmative element.
Here the first constituent is a
derived from verb roots as discussed
constituent is a
negative
verbal
above
confirmative
and
participle
the
element.
constituents together carry a positive sense.
The
second
Both
the
following
illustrations could be seen.
/no-ha (<no-ah-a) nohoj/
'It is not true that (one) does
not come (=(cne), in fact,
comes)'
/nu-phul-a
'It is not true that it
not bloom (=it, in fact,
blooms)'
uphoj/
/ni-di-a(np-de-a) nshoj/ '
does
’It is not a^facp that
(one)
does not give""( - (one) in;,fact,i
gives}*
1
10.3.4.5. Type II : Neg. Finite Verb + Neg.Confirmative
In this type of construction, the first constituent
is a negative finite Verb and the
second
constituent
negative confirmative element looking like a
It, in fact, does
i
not
show
any
verbal
negative
behaviour
is
a
verb.
and
it
.
remains unchanged for
all
persons,
such
negative
donot carry any negative sense. They rather assert the
503
phrases
sense
of the finite verb with a confirmatory force.
The
following
examples could be seen.
/no-hoj (<no-hoj) nohoj/
’It is not true,in fact'
/na-zaj (<no-zaj) nohoj/
'(He) won't go, rest assured'
/tto ahibo nohoj/
'He will certainly come'
10.4
Interrogation in Assamese
The transformation of
affermative
sentences
into
interrogative is a very simple one. It is accomplished in the
following ways.
10.4.1
Yes/lio - Type ;
The Yes/No-type of interrogative sentences are
constructed from the affirmative
ones
by
simply
particle /ne/ or /zano/ after the verb
at
the
end
sentence. There is no other change anywhere in the
adding
of
/tumi skuloloi zoa-ne/
'you go to school'
'Do you go to school ?'
/tomar pnrikkha xex hoi/
/tomar porikkha xex hoi-zano/
'your examination is over'
'Is your examination over ?'
504
the
sentence.
The following examples could be seen.
/tumi skulolol zoa/
a
/ram ghorolgi ggisil/
/ram ghoroloi goisil-ne/
‘Ram went home*
* Did Ram go home ?'
/tumi kamto koriba/
/tumi kamto koriba-ne/
'you will do the work'
'will you do the work ?'
/xi ghoroloi zab 0/
/xi ghoroloi zabo-zano/
'he will go home'
'will he go home ? ’
10.4.2 K0-type
: (wh-type)
Th3 ko-type interrogative sentences are constructed
by substituting the relevant word in the affirmative sentence
by any of the interrogative pronouns, all of which begin with
{ho™}• Unlike English, there is no question
ka-phrase (=wh~phrase). There
is
no
of
other
sentence. The {ko~} element could occurs
movement
change
in
the
where
in
the
any
sentence. The following examples could be seen.
/turn! s a tro./
'you
(are
/tumi
h m i/
a) student’’who are you ? ’
/tcmar nam Lhorot/
/tomar nam ki/
’your name is Bharat'
*what is your name ?'
/tf.8 bokot thake/
/t£5 k?t
’He lives in Boko'
’where does he live ?'
505
of
thake/
hobo/
/porikkha olopote hobo/
/porikkha ketiia
'The examination will be held
very shortly*
'when will the examination
be held ?*
/tai puthibhoraloloi porhlbol?
zaj/
/tai puthibhoraloloi
zaj/
'She goes to the library for
study *
'why does she
library ?*
/ts.o nlzor khorosot kolezoloi
zabo/
/t£o kenekOl kolezoloi
'He will go to college on his
own*
'How will she
college ?*
go
go
kiio
to the
zabs/
to the
/xi k.olgl zaj/
'where is he going ?'
'He goes to school*
10.4.3 Intonation question :
The intonation questions are constructed
simple
affirmative
sentences
by
merely
intonation. The sentence terminal intonation
from
changing
is
changed
the
the
to
interrogative intonation. Except intonation there is no other
change in anywhere in the sentence.
The
following
could be seen.
/tai ijalci ahisii/
/tai ijaloi ahisii ?/
'She came here*
'Did she come here ? *
/xi phuribolgi zab
o/
/xi phuribolpi zabo?/
'will he go to walk ?*
'He will go to walk*
£ 0©
examples
10.5 Passivization in Assamese
The transformation of Simple Kernel
Passive is also
a
very
simple
process
in
sentence
into
Assamese.
The
'Object' of the active kernel sentence becomes the
'Subject'
of the sentence in the Passive and it is always expressed
the 3rd person ; the subject of the
becomes the
agjnt
with
kernel
/dara-/phrase
sentence
the
verb
form
undergoes a radical change ; {-a} is added to the
main
verb
root and an auxiliary verb {ho-}
’be*
invariably
inflected for 3rd person in
required
the
and
active
in
which
is
tense
or
mood
follows the main verb. The sentence
/pulise sorto dhorile/
/sorto (pulisor dara) dhora hoi/
’Police caught the t h i e f
’The thief was caught
police'
by
the
the object /sorto/ ’thief'assumes the place of prominance
the utterance and has become the ’subject' of
the
in
sentence.
’Who caught the thief* is not at all important here; the fact
that the stands important in this context is that
the
thief
is caught ; it is, therefore, optional to mention
the
agent
phrase /pulisor dara/ ’by police' and, therefore, this is put
in the bracket. The verb phrase /dhorile/ ’caught* has become
507
/dhor-a hoi/ ’is caught'. In the day to day discourse
people
use many passive sentences deleting the agent dara - phrase.
10.5.1 The transformation of passive i.. Assamese
could
be
tuscussed under the following categories.
1. Sentences Containing A Transitive V: b and One Object,
2.
'"enhen.ces
Ob j ::cts,
Containing
A
Transitive
Verb
and
Two
3. Sentences Containing One Intransitive Verb, and
4. Iht ortonal Passive.
10.5.1.1
Sentences Containing '
Transitive
Verb
and
One
object
The
transformation
of
simple
kernel
sentences
containing a transitive v„rb and one object into passive is a
very
common
feature.
I he
example
given
above
in
introductory paragraph illustrates the transf ormation of
passive of this type.
of
the
kerne 1
becomes the subject in the passive and
the
subject
The
object
passive sentence dose iiot take any case marks■r. The
the active sentence is changed into
passive
adding {-a} to tb~ principal verb root and
/ru/or/ho/
*te'
verb
use.Lug
in the full verb form just alter
500
the
the
sentence
of
the
verb
in
form,
by-
auxiliaiy
the
mein
verb; this auxiliary on'y carries required tense inarkei .
passive verbs are invariably 3rd person verbs.
I i 'I imi ' I.hr' v e r b
l oot
/zn/nr/ho/
w o u l d o h l n In
In
In
Hr
the
past
M hu p b *
poll
tense /gol/’w e n f or /ho/ ’been' and in past perfect /ggisil/
’had gone' or /hgisil/ ’had been'
future tense verb root /za/’go'
forms.
or
Similary,
/ho / ’b e ’
in
would
the
obtain
future tense forms /zabo/ '(he) will go' or /hobo/ ’will be'.
The following examples could be seen.
/xikkhokor (dara) porikkhar
/xikkhoke porikkhar
bohi sale/
bohi soa h?l/
’The teacher examined the
’The exam-scripts have been
exam.-scripts'
examined by the teacher'
/ihadi borde rehoi disil/
/(khadi border dara) reha i.
dija hoisil/
'Khadi board gave the
concession'
'The concession was
by Khadi beard’
/borde phola phol yhoxona
koribo/
/(bordor dara) pholap’_T
ghoxona kora hobo/
'Board will
result'
ariounce
the
given
would he
'The
result
anounced by the Boat d '
The bracketed portion of the inlotmation
optionaly deleted. Sometimes the structural
word
could
be
(dara)
is
only deleted and the agent noun appears in the genitive f o r m .
The following examples could be seen.
509
/xikkho kor bohi soa hoi/
'The exam-scripts have been
examined by the teacher*
/mor khoa hoi/
'My eating is over'
10.5.1.2 Sentences
Containing
A
Transitive
Verb
and
Two
Objects
Simple kernel
sentences
containing
a
transitive
verb and two objects could also be transformed into
passive.
In such constructions the direct object moves to the
position and the
indirect
object
remains
as
subject
object.
subject of the kernel sentence becomes the agent with
phrase and sometimes gets deleted. The verb
obtains
structure following the general rule. The following
The
(dara)
passive
examples
could be seen.
/thikadare mohorik poisa
dile/
/(thikadaror dara) mohorik
poisa dia hoi/
'The contractor has paid
money to the supervisor'
'The supervisor has been given
money by the contractor'
/make kesuatok gakhir
khuale/
/(makor dara) kesuatok gakhir
khuoa hgl/
'The mother fed
baby milk'
'The baby was fed milk by
the mother'
Although,
sentences
the
the
agent
phrases
in
the
are given at the beginning of the above
510
passive
sentences
they are not the subject of
the
sentences;
moved to any position in the sentence or
direct objects of the
/gakhir/ 'milk'
subjects in
in
the
active
the
passive
even
sentence
above
could
deleted.
/ p o i s a / ’money’
examples
sentence
they
and
have
the
become
verbs
be
The
and
real
are
in
agreement with /poisa/'money' and /gakhir/‘milk'.
10.5.1.3
Sentences Containing one Intransitive Verb
Simple kernel sentences containing one intransitive
verb could also
be
transformed
into
obtains passive structure following
passive-1.
the
general
The
verb
rule.
The
following examples could be seen.
/xi sooo ne ?
/tar zoa hobo ne ?
’will he go ?'
’will his going take place?'
/tai nasile/
/tair nosa hoi/
’She danced’
’Her dancing is over'
Here, the agent phrase is in the possessive form in
the passive sentences and occurs
sentences ; they could
be
moved
at
to
the
any
beginning
of
the
position
in
the
sentence or even deleted. The dara-pharse is also deleted. In
the
language of the* Satriya Vaishnavite Culture' in
511
Assam,
such passive expression of intransitive verb is
very
common
among the disciples and masters.
10.5.1.4 Impersonal Passive :
Assamese forms a kind of impersonal passive from
limited number of verbs by simply suffixing {-i} to the
root and by moving the 'object' in the active
verb
structures
the 'subject' position in the passive construction;
'subject' of the active structures is deleted. The
a
and
to
the
following
examples could be seen.
/manuhe ratir andharot
eko nedekhe/
/ratir andharot £ko
nedekhi/
'People donot see anything
in the dark night'
’Nothing is visible in
the dark night'
/khorali ami xaturi brohmo-putro par hobo paro/
/khorali brohmoputro
xaturi par hobo pari/
’We
by
can cross Brahmaputra
swimming in the dry
s tu jio n '
’Brahmaputra could be
acrossed by swimming
in the river.
Only generalised experiences, could be expressed
in
this kind of passive constructions. When it is not
important
to know by whom the particular deed is or
possible,
this
is
not
kind of constructions are resoited to. The
512
verbs
that
participate
in
this
kind
of
passive
constructions
are
/dekh/'see',/xun/'listen'/buz/'understand*,/par/'c an'/noar/
'can *t ',/pa/*get',/napa/'not get'.
10.6 Structures of Kernel Sentence in Garo
10.6.1 A kernel sentence
in
subject and predicate where
Garo
the
may
also
subject
consist
could
phrase (NP), consisting of a noun or a pronoun
be
of
a
alone
a
noun
and
a
verb phrase (VP) consisting of verb alone or a combination of
a noun phrase and a verb. The sentence given below
/ram mi T^aPdjok/
'Ram ate rice*
can be divided into two slots /ram/ and /mi
first slot' is
the
subject
and
the
#a?(% o
second
k/.
The
is
the
slot
predicate. The subject consists of a noun phrase which
is
a
single noun /ram/ in this sentence and the predicate consists
of (i) a noun phrase which is a single noun /mi/ 'rice*
and (ii) a verb phrase which is a single
verb
here
/ V a ? <% ?
k/
'ate*. The subject in a Garo sentence generally occurs at the
beginning and it is often presented
as
S.
The
predicate slot generally represents object and
presented
as
O. The verb in the
513
predicate
NP
it
slot
in
is
the
often
generally
occurs sentence terminally and is often presented ns V.
a simple kernel sentence in Garo is often
described
T
as
h
u
.
SOV
sentence.
10.6.2 The NP in the subject
slot
may
also
consist
larger phrase where there could be adjective
and
of
a
determiner
besides a noun. In the sentence given below :
/ua nama mea bi?sa diga mi khapsine t£a?c%3k/
'That good boy ate the hot rice slowly'
the NP under the subject slot consists of /u-a nama mea bi sa/
’that good boy'where /mea bipsa/
'boy'
is
the
/nama/ ’good’ is its qualifier or adjective and
is the determiner. In the
same
manner,
the
predicate slot consists of /diga mi/ 'hot
'rice is the head noun, /diga/ 'hot'
verb phrase in the
predicate
slot
noun,
/»a/
NP
rice'
is the
head
’that'
under
where
adjective.
consists
of
Sometimes the verb may consist of a
larger
verb
/mi/
The
/khap sine
^a?d3 ?k/ ’ate slowly' where /^apdjok/ ’ate' is the verb
/kha?sine/ ’slowly' is the modifier of the
the
or
phrase
and
adverb.
such
as
/man?a dpijkhuPdj a/ ’do not get'; /agane d?rja/ ’is speaking'.
10.6.3
the
Although, SOV is the general order of occurrence of:
words, it is also possible to reverse the order
514
of
SOV
toOSV. This is possible in some special situation, where
the
emphasis is given on the object. The following examples could
be seen:
/bas bharakho aga gxjgen/
’I will give the bus fare'
/mikho aga yapgen/’
’I will eat the rice’
SOV and OSV are the only
permissible
combinations
in Garo.
10.7 Types of Sentences in Garo
t
From the structural point of
could be divided
into
three
types-
view
Garo
Simple,
sentences
Compound
and
Complex sentence.
10.7.1 Simple sentences in Garo
Simple sentences in Garo can be
divided
into
the
following five types of sentences. They are-
1.
One
word
Imperative
Utterance,
515
Sentence
/
Response
2. Equational sentence: Noun
+
Noun,
where
Noun
may represent Noun, Adjective or Pronoun,
3. SV or SOV sentence,
4.SOV (Non-finite) OV (Finite).
5. S W
10.7.1.1
(Non-finite) (Reduplication) OV (Finite).
One word Imperative Sentence / Response Utterance
Garo contains some sentences which are as small
as
a single word. This single word is generally a Verb. In other
words a single verb alone could make a
could either
be
imperative
or
sentence.
responsive
of
This
yes
verb
/
No­
Noun
may
question. The following examples could be seen.
/sea/ ’(I / you / he / she) write'
/dak-gen / '(I / you / he / she) will do'
/asorj-bo / ’(you) sit*
/asorj-nabe / '(you) do not sit'
10.7.1.2
Equational sentence:
N
+
N,
where
represent Noun, Adjective or Pronoun
Garo contains some
sentences
where
there
is
no
verb. In other words a sentence may contain only N + N, where
516
the first N represents a Noun or a Pronoun and the second
represents a Noun or an
Adjective.
The
following
N
examples
could be seen.
/ua
^"agrua /
’she(is) tali'
/ram
nokgri /
’Ram(is) homeless'
/na?a
sagma
’you(are) Sangma'
/
The N in the NP in both subject and predicate
slot
can be expanded as under:
/»a silgepa mepgik bi?sa khandika/
’That beautiful girl is of small stature'
/ram saksa naragidjagepa mande/
’Ram is a bad man'
10.7.1.3
SV or SOV sentence
This has been discussed in
chapter under sec. 10.6 as a sample of
kernel sentence in Garo.
Therefore,
repeat them here.
517
the
the
there
biginning
structure
is
no
the
of
of
need
a
to
10.7.1.4 sov (Non-finite) OV (Finite)
Garo contains some sentences where
there
are
two
verbs and the actions of the verbs occur one
after
another.
In such cases the first verb is in non-finite form ending
in
{-e} and the second verb is in finite form which only carries
the tense marker.
The
Non-finite
verb
is
adding {-e} suffix to the verb s t e m and the
constructed
non-finite
form does not- carry tense. The following examples
by
verb
could
be
seen.
/aja skul^ini re?ba-e mi ^a?a /
*1, having come from school, eat rice'
10.7.1.5
SVV ( Non-finite) (Reduplication) OV (Finite)
Goro contains some sentences which are
by the structure such as S W
(non-finite)
constructed
(reduplication)
OV
(finite). This means that the non-finite verb is reduplicated
and it conveys a sense of repetition of the action.
It
also
dose not carry the tense marker. The following examples could
1
be seen.
/ua djrimgapa ropogra^kho dsdage
dedage
n e g ? aha/
*He, after having carried the big rocks, one
another, has got tired.
518
after
10.7.2 Compound sentences in Garo
Compound sentences can be
divided
into
following
four types.
1. Conjoined by /indiba/'but'
Such sentences can be divided into following two
sub-types
(i) two simple sentences with finite verb, and
(ii)
two
equational
sentences
conjoined
by
/indiba/’but'.
2.
Conjoined
by /aro/’and'
Such sentences can be divided into following three
sub-types
(i) two simple sentences with finite verb,
(ii) two or more equational sentences
conjoined
by
/aro/'and', and
(iii) with deletion of /aro/‘and' after
or second clause(s) in a two or
three
equational and non-equational sentences.
3. Conjoined by /ba/'or’
4. Conjoined by interrogative /ma/'or'
519
the
first
constituent
10.7.2.1 Conjoined by /indiba/’bu t '
(i) Two simple
sentences
could
be
conjoined
by
/indiba/ 'but' to form a compound sentence provided that,
the
contents of one sentence is
the
just
other. In other words the facts in
opposed
the
to
two
that
of
sentences
must
contradict. The folic ;.ng examples could be seen.
/•a re?baha indiba bia rePbadjaha/
’lie (remote) came but he (proximate) did not come'
/ aija mi^apa indiba ruti ^apd^a/
’ I eat rice but (I) do not eat bread'
(ii) Two equational sentences could be conjoined by
/indiba/’but' to form a compound sentence, where the contents
of one equational is just opposed to that of
the
most such cases an adjective occurs predicatively,
other.
otherwise
the /?ij/’be' verb appears in the negation form in ttie
second
constituent sentence. The follov?ing examples could be seen.
/u . pioraiao nama indiba gito namdja/
’She is good in study but bad in music'
/ua skhigepa indiba sethimgepa
a/
’ He is a teacher but not a secretary'
520
In
10.7.2.2 Conjoined by /aro/'and'
(i) Two or more simple sentences could be conjoined
by/aro/’and' to form a compound sentence.
restriction or conditioning
constituent
sentences.
regarding
The
But
the
information
there
meaning
conveyed
is
no
of
'he
by
the
compound sentence so derived is cumulative of the constituent
sentences. The following examples could be seen.
/phagepa rebaha aro siaro asoryaha/
'Father came and sat on chair'
It .is also
occuring as
subject
possible
or
to
object
conjoin
keeping
sentence same as in /ram aro m?dhu
came'. The underlying structure
of
only
the
rebaha/
this
two
rest
’Ham
shall
nouns
of
and
be
the
Mudhu
a
!u ] 1
compound sentence such as /ram rebaha aro modhu rebaha/
'Ram
came and Iladhu came’
(ii) Two or
more
equational
sentences
could
be
conjoined by /aro/’and' to form a compound sentence. There is
no restrict ion or conditioning concerning the meaning of
the
constituent
the
sentences.
The
information
conveyed
by
compound sentence so derived is cumulative of cue constituent
521
sentences. If there are three constituent sentences the first
structural word /aro/’and' is deleted permitting a regressive
gapping. The following example could be seen.
/ua yaijroa (aro) sakgeb?k aro riithoa/
’She is tall (and) fair and beautiful’ .......
(iii) Sometimes two equational sentences
conjoined to form
a
compound
sentence
could
without
using
conjunction. In other words, there is no structural
conjoin. Because there are two'objects in
two
...
be
any
word
to
constituents,
{-ba} is added to the both objects to convey the sense also4 .
The following example could be seen.
/ua phoraiao-ba naraa khalPanio-ba nama/
’She is good in study and in game too’
If
there
are
three
constituent
non-equational
sentences the first conjunctive /aro/’and’ could be
deleted,
permitting a backward gapping. The following example could be
seen.
/ph?rikkha rebaha (aro) phorikkha onaha aro re?phak<^o k/
’Examination
too ’
started
(and)
• D22
I
appeared
and
passed
10.7.2.3 Conjoined by / ba/’or'
Two or more simple sentences could be conjoined
/ba/’or'
to form a
compound
sentence.
This
particle is, in fact, disjunctive in character
sense, it is
constituent
by
conjunctive
and
in
that
just opposed to /aro/’a n d ’. The contents of one
is
exclusive
of
the
contents
of
the
other
constituent sentence. The following examples could be seen.
1. /ua reraggen
ba aga reparjgen/
’He will go or I will go'
2. /ada ba abi ba aga repaggen/
/w
’Elder brother or elder sister or I will go*
3. /na?a agna ba uana khogsa ^ithi onpbo/
’You give a letter to me or him*
4. /ua ba napa repagbo/
’He or you go*
It may be noted that the conjunctive particle could
disjoin two nouns, functioning either as subject
or
keeping the verb phrase same. In the above example 3.
object,
object
/agna/ ’me' and /uana/ ’him' and in 4. subject /ua/ ’he*
and
/na?a/ ’y o u ’ are separated by /ba/ ’o r ’. In all such compound
sentences the verb generally agrees with /ana/ ’I' and /napa/
5-3
'you' if they are present otherwise the verb agrees with
the
,* / / > „ ,■
, . U V jfc jH
subject that occurs second. The ‘
structureNof this sentence shall be as under.
/na?a agna khegsa ¥ithi on?bo ba na?a uana
kh&gsa -yithi onpbo/
’You give me a letter or you give him a letter*
10.
7.2.4 Conjoife2^
y Interrogative /ma// ’o r ’
Two or more simple sentences could be conjoined
/ma/ ’or* to form a compound sentence.
such
sentences
is
always
The
total
interrogative.
The
sense
by
of
following
examples could be seen.
/na?a biana re?aggen ma ua re?aggen/
’You will go
marriage? *
the
marriage
ar
U-~
will
go
(to
the
or
who
/apha repbagen ma ama re?bagen ma sawa repbagen/
’Whether father will come or mother will
will come ? *
An
negative
affirmative
simple
sentence
sentence
also
and
could
its
be
come,
corresponding
conjoined
/ma//’o r ’. If the affirmative verb is in the present or
524
by
past
or future the corresponding negative
present
or
past
or
future
verb
will
respectively.
be
The
in
the
following
examples could be seen.
/u a n?ko dogma (ua n?ko) dogdja/
'Is he there in the house or not*
/u a skttlna rerbaha ma (ua skulna rePbaPa) d ? g ^ a h a /
'Did he come to the school or (he did) not (come to
school)’
the
/h?ri bihu nina re?aggen ma (hori bihu, nina)
re paijclr awa/
'Will Hari go to see the Bihu or (Hari will) not (go
see the Bihu)*
Here also backward
gapping
is
results in using two verbs conjoined by
permissible
/ma/’o r ’.
In
to
which
other
words the elements given in the bracket in the above examples
generally are not spoken.
10.7.3
Complex Sentences in Garo
Complex sentences in Garo
three major types, each of
which
could
manifests
be
divided
four
each. The major sub-type 1 represents structures
the
dependent and
sub-types
where
c l o s e s contain finite verbs and
525
into
both
the
two sentences are conjoined by conjunctions /dge/, /djeo/, /ode///-nigoroin/. Of these /dj e/
and
oblique forms. The major sub-type
II
/dj eo/
have
represents
various
structures
which contain only one finite verb in the main clause and the
subordinate
clause
is
participle forms of the
conjoined
to
verbs
the
in
the
subordinate
clause.
but
The
there
embedded sentence where one
clause
must-be
major
a
is
do
III
in
by
clause.
not
subject
sub-type
sentence
clause
subordinate
Obviously the verbs in the subordinate
finite inflection ,
main
have
in
the
represents
set
into
the
other.
10.7.3.1
Major sub-type
Sentences
I
conjoined
by
/df e/
'what*,
'that*,
'which*.
The conjunctive /dje/ 'what, that,
w hy1
may
have
various oblique manifestations such as /dgean/ 'who* ,/%eyin/
*which *,/dj eonikho/ 'whom*, /djekhon/ 'whom*, /djeo/ 'where*,
/<%eoni/ 'where*, / % e o n a / 'where* etc. Which could represent
the
subject,
subordinate
object,
clause.
and
other
cases
If the verb is
526
relevant
transitive
it
in
the
becomes
/djean/ 'who* in case of agent animate
noun
‘which* in
noun-
case
of
agent
examples will illustrate
inanimate
various
and
The
manifestations
/d3 elfin/
following
of
/(I3 e/
'what,that, which.
1 . /(% ean repbadj a uan boksis mandgawa/
’(one)^ who does not come he will not get reward*
2 . /aga d^e&in ^e?a uaba aa^in 'gePa/
'She also writes by the same thing with which I
write *
3.
/ Ha
dg eonikho
khithapkho
ra ? ba p a
agabe
aanonikhon ra?ba?gen/
*1 will bring from him from whom he brought
the book'
4.
/aa dTekhon namnika akhon okhamgen/
'He will call him whom he likes’
5.
/ram dgeo d?ga horiba aanonam, d?ga/
'Hari lives there where Ram lives’
6. /ua dgecmi re?ba?a aanonan pho-lag pholgen/
'(He) will go back there where from he came’
7 . /ram dgeona re?agna ^an^iaTfim uanonan re p a n a h a
'Ram went there when (he) wanted to g o ’
527
These subordinate
clause, although in their
chauses
English
are
in
meaning
tact
they
relative
look
ixk^
adjectival clause.
10.7.3.2 Sentences
In
Garo
Conjoined by {-ode} ’if'
{-ode}
’if*
is
a
very
potential
conjunction, which has an oblique manifestation
such
oba} meaning ’also', although',
{-ode}
’though'.
could join any two sentences, where the
clause is dependent on those in
the
The
facts
in
subordinate
terms of ’condition and consequence'. Generally it
as
{’if'
the
mam
clause
m
does
not
conjoin a subordinate clause to a main clause where the
main
finite verb is in the simple past tense. Another
main
is that {-ode} ’if' is added to the verb in
subordinate
clause just like a suffix. In other words,
the
{-ode}
like a verbal suffix. It can’t be separated and
independent
word.
The
following
examples
sentences with {-ode} ’if’ could be seen.
/aija aaan-ode na?a re?aggen ma/
’If I tell, will you go?'
528
’if'
used
of
point
looks
a;;
an
conjoined
/**a ret’baode aijaba repaijgen/
’If she comes I will also go'
Examples with
{-oba}
’also, although,
/phpraiao nam-oba ua dusto
’Although he is naughty,
Here
separate word;
also,
English
though'
(?tja)/
(he is) good in study'
meaning
demands
in Garo its equivalent {—ode}
’i f ’
as
a
’if' is attached
to the verb as a suffix.
10.7.3.3 Sentences conjoined b y {-ni gemsn}
’as, since*
In Garo {ni gsmon} is like {-ode}.
is
It
two sentences, where the m a i n
clause
subordinate clause in terms of
’cause and effect'.
also
dependent
joins
on
The
the
verb
in the m ain clause could be in any tense. It is also attached
to the*verb in the subordinate clause like
a
and it has no independent use. The following
verbal
examples
be seen.
/mekkha wadgaha-ni goroen kheti namdgaha/
’Since there was no rain,
farming was not good'
529
suffix
could
/vta anthayan aykho okham(%aha-ni
g^-m en
aya
bia yiiM
re?aydgawa/
’Since she did not
marriage'
call
me
herself,
I
won't
go
to
10.7.3.4 Sentences conjoined by / djensalo/’when'
The conjunctive /d^ensalo/ ’when* may have
oblique manifestations such as /(^eon/ ’when',
’until', /d^ensaloni/ ’when' etc. to bring
/dg
various
ensalona/
additional
of emphasis or case relationship. Such conjunctive
relate the dependent clause to the main clause in
sense
particles
the
point
of time relationship. The verb form in the main clause
could
be in any tense. The following examples could be seen.
/aa
cfaeon ianona re?ba?a unon aykho gr^rja/
7
’(She)' met me then, when she came her '
/aa d^ensalona iano d?ygen
doyc^ a/
vmonan
mamuy
dj^^Creyani
’Nothing to be worried until he remained here'
/apha dgensaloni khathkho
*gana
tmmitiyo
d?khudjai,im/
’I ' was not born then, when this happend’
530
aya
a t ^ ian
10.7.4
Maijor sub-type
(i)
Sentences
II
conjoined
by
present
participle
{-mitigo} 'while v s __ ing'
• Here {-mitigo} ’while vs ...ing' is
verb
stem
in
the
subordinate
participle form is obtained.
clause
This
added
and
present
to
the
the
present
participle
form
could conjoin two clauses where the action of the verb in the
main clause takes place during the continuance of the
action
of the verb of the subordinate clause. The following examples
could be seen.
/ua ophisoni £a?ba.rmltigo atham ?gt5 im/
’While he was coming from the
dark’
office
it
was
becoming
/•yig mi •ffa?~mitigo teligram sokbaha/8
’While we were eating, a telegram came'
/na?a kh?le%^ina re?ag-mitigo khonsa khithap repagbo/
’While you are going to
book*
The
present
college
participle
(you)
verb
will
form
irrespective of the person of the subject in the
531
take
remains
the
same
subordinate
clause;
in
the
above
examples
subjects
are
in
1st and 2nd person respectively, but all the verb
in {-mitirp} . The verb in the main clause
could
3rd,
forms
be
end
in
any
tense.
(il) Sentences conjoined by past participle
{-
n}
’ha.ing vs..en/ it..v'
Here {-on} ’having v s —
verb
stem
in
the
subordinate
en/ it__ V' is added to the
clause
and
the
present
participle is obtained.
{V-?n} conjoins two clauses where the action of the
verb in the main clause takes place after the action
verb of the of the subordinate clause. The verb in
clause takes place after
the
action
of
the
of
the
verb
the
main
ol
the
subordinate clause. The verb in the main clause could
be
present or past
cl-:, .e
or
future
tense.
The
subordinate
in
always precedes the main clause. The following examples could
be seen.
/oal ojjaon ua khithap phoraia/
’When it became night, he began to study (=read) booh'.:
/sal na?aha-on morjnal balgaoaha/
’The sun having
risen, the lotus bloomed’
532
/na?a re?ba-;>u aga repaggen/
As you come, I will go'
(Hi) Sentences conjoined by past conditional participle
in {-genpitiode}'
The past conditional participle
also conjoin two sentences in Garo.
The
{-genlf imode}
following
can
examples
could be seen.
/na?a repbagen^imode aga repaggen^im/
’If you had come, I would have gone*
/aga agangen^imode saram khapgen^im/
’If I had told sir could have done’
10.7.5 Mejor sub-type - III
This category includes embedded sentences where one
sentences is set inside another. This has two varieties - (i)
non- finite purposive9 ,and (ii) quotative
clause.
Both
are
discussed briefly below.
(i) Ron- finite purposive in {-na} ’to*
In Garo non-finite purposive verbs are
by adding {-na} ’to’ to the verb stem. A sentence
533
constructed
containing
a non-finite purposive verb is
a
complex
sentence
sense that behind any such sentence underlies two
in
the
sentences.
For example the underlying structure of the sentence.
/aga akho re?agna aganaha/
'I told him to go'
represents two sentences such as
(i) /aga akho aganaha/
’I told him'
(ii) /aa r e ?agna naga/
-He has to go'
Here the indirect object in the
main
clause
/aa/
’h e ’ is the agent of the inset clause.
Sometimes the subject of
the
main
clause
itself
could be the agent of the inset clause. In the sentence
/aa senema nina repagaha/
'She went to see film’
underlies two sentences such as
(i) /aa repagaha/
'she went1
(ii) / aa senema nigen/
she will see film’
Here, /aa/ 'she* is the subject of the main
clause
/aa repagaha/ 'she went’ and is the agent of the inset clause
/aa
senema nigen/ 'she will see film’. The verb in the
534
main
clause could be in any tense. Thus such
sentences
could
be
treated as complex sentences.
(ii) Quotative clause
This
’sentences
refers
to
containing
what
direct
is
and
popularly
indirect
known
speech'.
an
Such
sentences are complex sentences in the sense that the ’quoted
or unquoted element' is
inset
into
the
main
clauses
and
represents an objective clause, in direct quotation the inset
clause is conjoined
intonation
and
to
in
the
main
indirect
clause
by
quotation
a
by
change
in
conjunctive
/^e/or/ine/ ’that'. In the sentence
/ram aganaha, *aga mi yapdjak'/
’Ram said, ’I have eaten rice'
/ram aganaha/ ’Ram said' is the main clause and
it
precedes
the inset clause /aga mi ^aptfcpk/ ’I have eaten
rice';
both
are connected only by a change of intonation (in written form
by a quote mark). Here the /aga mi ya?dj ? k/
object
of
the
verb
/aganaha/
indirect quotative form
535
’said'.
Its
represents
tto*
correspondinq
/ram aganaha
45s
ua mi 'yapdjok/
'Ram said that he has eaten meal'
clearly represents a complex sentence of two clauses and they
are
conjoined
by
conjunctive
/«^e/
'that'
morphemic alternant /ine/ 'that'. In such
clause
precedes
the
subordinate
a
clause.
which
has
a
case
the
main
The
following
additional pairs of examples could be seen.
/sar aganaha 3je kh&nalo ph?rikkha sgdjawa/
’Sir said
that examination will not be held tomorrow'
10.7.5.1 Order of Clauses
It is permissible to alter the order of
of the objective clause
and
main
clause
in
the
quotation with some modulations. The objective
occurrence
indirect
clause
could
occur as initial clause and would be followed by /ine/ ’that'
a quotation form of /ine/ ’that* and the
main
clause
could
occur as the terminal clause. For example,
/khenalo phorikkha ygdjawa ine sar aganaha/
’Sir has said that examination will
day'
536
not
be
held
next
10.8 Negativization in Garo
10.8.1 Word level Negativization in Garo
Some Nouns, Adjectives (also some
Adverbs
derived
from Adjectives) and Verbs form their corresponding
negative
in two ways.
words
In
respect
of
a
section
of
such
a
corresponding negatives are obtained by morphemic alternants.
In other words a set of words
mean
positive
while
another
corresponding set of word-. mean negative. The other device o!
word level negativization is derivation. This
mostly
suffixation
and
partly
derivation
prefixation
and
is
partly
infixation. Given below a sample list of various word classes
manifesting word level negativization.
10.8.1.1'Noun :
(a) Morphemic alternants
No example is available in Garo.
(b) Derivation
No example is available of derivation
of
negative
forms of Nouns from simple Noun stem.
The derivation of negative forms of Adjectives from
Nouns is
affected
by
suffixing
{-gri),
{-dj a}.
6.31.2, 6.31.3 may be referred to for illustrations.
537
Sec.no.
i
10.8.1.2 Adjective :
Adjectives in Garo form their correspondingnegative
following
both
the
adjective
forming
alternants are
devices
their
limited
mentioned
negatives
in
number
above.
by
the
While
their
same
the
morphemic
formed
under
derivation are very large in numbers.
(a) Horphemic alternants
/bebe/
'true*
/th?l?la/
'false*
/dal?la/
'big*
/y?nna/
/^arjrua/
'tall*
/khandeka/ 'dwarf*
'small*
(b) Derivati.;
The derivation of negative forms of
Adjectives
affected by suffixing {-cb; a }, and infixing {-gic^a),
is
Sec.no.
6.25.2, 6.25.3 may be referred to for illustration.
10.8.2
Phrase level Hegativization in Garo
Negative proper
Garo manifests various types of
the phrase level
too.
Some
important
below :
negativization
ones
are
at
mentioned
.
538
10.8.2.1 Adjectival phrase
Negative Adjectival derivative followed by Noun.
Garo
derives
suffixing the negative
adjectives
morpheme
from
verb
{-gi<% a}.
roots
Such
by
adjective
would qualify some other nouns that follow.
‘slave, for whom even payment
not made'
‘matter never heard before'
/bre-gid^a £ak?l/
/khna-gi^a khatha/
/ngk-gidj a biap/
‘unseen place'
/•^af-gidya gepa bostw/
‘things never eaten before'
Such
constructions
function
as
one
unit
of
a
negative adjectival phrase.
10.8.2.2 Negative Idioms
There is another type of negative
where the noun root is suffixed by {-d^ a}
phrase
negative
in
Garo
marker.
Thus they are negative idioms only.
/yigcfcja degdga/
‘temperate climate’
10.8.3 Sentence level Negativization
The sentence level negativization in Garo is also a
VP level negativization. Here, verbs are negativized by
339
only
suffixing the negative suffix {-d^a}, f-t^awa},
(-nabe),
khut^a). in equational sentences, the verb /?rj/ 'be*
(-
appears
and negative marker {-dja} is suffixed to the verb, following
the regular patterns.
10.8.3.1 Neg-tivization by affixing {-dja|
Sentences containing verbs
in
present
indefinite
form their negative by suffixing to the verb root.
The
{-a}
of the any verb form final is replaced by the negative sullix
{-^a} added to. The following example could be seen.
/ua salo mi ^a?a/
/ua salo mi |fa?%a/
’He eats rice'
’He does not eat rice’
Sentences containing verbs in the
past
indefinite
form their negative by suffixing (-djal to the verb root
then tense marker is added to {-dja}. The
following
and
example
could be seen.
/aga ukho nekaha/
/arja ukho nek-dja-ha/
’1 saw him'
'1 did not see him'
10.8.3.2 Negativization of Verb in Progressive Aspect
Sentences
containing
verbs
in
the
continuous and past continuous form their negative
540
present
following
the above.principle but with a slight modification.
verb phrase it is necessary to invoke
the
In
auxiliary
such
/ d ? 0/
'be' after the main verb and {-tija} is suffixed to /dg>0/ ’be'
and
progressive
marker
{-eg}
follows
it.
The
following
examples could be seen.
/aga khithap phpraiega/
/aga khithap phorai-ejdpg^aerja/
*1 am reading book'
‘1 am not reading book'
/ua mi xfa?e d?gdjaegaha/
/ua mi ^a?e0aha/
'He was eating rice'
*He was not eating rice'
Sentences containing verbs in the future indefinite
form their negative by suffixing {-djawa} to the
and by simultaneously replacing the tense
marker
verb
root,
{-gen}
of
affirmative sentences. The following examples could be seen.
/aga bini nok^i re?aggen/
/a0a bini ngk$i repagdjawa/
'1 shall go to his home’
*1 shall not go to his home*
1 0 .8 .3.3 Negatxvxzatxon of Equational sentences
In the sentences where the VP consists of N
alone,
i.e. in equational sentences, the underlying verb / ?g /
reappears and the same is negativized following
the
’be*
regular
{-dja} suffixation rule. The following example could be seen.
541
/ua saksa skhigepa/
/ua saksa skhigepa .prfcija/
'He is a teacher*
'He is not a teacher*
Negativization by suffixing {-nabe}
Sentences containing verbs in the
imperative
mood
form their negative by suffixing {-nabe} to the verb root and
simultaneously
replacing
the
imperative
marker
{-bo)
of
affirmative sentences, the following examples could be seen.
/na?a bikho dokbo/
/na?a bikho doknabe/
'you kill h i m ’
'you do not kill him*
/na?a- bikho khabo/
/na?a bikho khanabe/
'you bind h i m ’
'you do not bind him*
\
(ii)Negativization by suffixing {-khudja}
Sentences containing verbs in
the
perfect
root their negative by suffixing {-khudja} to the
aspect
verb
torm
and simultaneously replacing the perfect marker {-djok}
of
affirmative sentences. The following examples could be seen.
/ua mi ^ a ? ^ 5 k /
'He has eaten rice*
/ua mi ^a?kh«dya/
'He
has not eaten rice’
/ua re?agdpk/
/ua re?arj khudja/
'He has gone’
'He has not gone*
542
10.8.3.4 Double negativigation in Garo
Garo
also
manifests
constructions
which
are
structurally negative but semantically affirmative.
10.8.3.4.1
(i) Type I: Neg. Adverbial + Neg.Finite verb
In this type of
sentencial
constituent is always a finite verb
forms following
negative,
whiclj
the regular rules of
the
obtains
verbal
second
negative
negativization
(ibid sec. 10.8.3. and 10.8.4 ) and the first constituent
a negative form of either a
non-f inite
verb
or
an
is
adverb
derived from an adjective which again is derived from a
verb
root. In both the cases the first constituent functions
like
an adverb modifying the finite verb.
together express a positive
sense.
Both
They
the
could
constituents
be
further
classified into three sub-types as under :
10.8.3.4.2 (ii) Sub-type (a)
Neg.
Non-finite
verb
+
Neg.
Finite verb
Here the negative non-finite verb could be
the non-finite verbs described under sec.10.8.3.4.5
any
and
of
the
finite verb could be in any tense. The first constituent, the
543
negative non-finite verb fora
obtains
adverbial
character.
loses
The
its
verbal
following
loree
and
illustrations
could be.seen.
/?g<%agenode gg<%awa/
/^a?gi«ij a
'It is not possible without
(possessing this) (=it is
indispensible)
re?arjhabe/
/re?aijdjaode
'Do not go without
eating (=you must eat and
go) ’
awa/
'It is not permissibleyour
not-going (=your going is
a must)*
10.8.3.4.3(iii) Sub-type (b) : Negative Verbal
Participle
+
Neg. Confirmative £ lessen!.
Here the first constituent is a
derived from
verb
roots
discussed
verbal
above
and
participle
the
second
constituent is a negative confirmative element (=not a verb).
Both the constituents together carry a
following examples
positive
sense.
The
could be seen.
/kha?dja pgdja/
'It is not true that one
wont dose not do{=(one)}
in fact, dose}’
/baigidja stjd^a/
'It is not true that it
dose not bloom
in
fact, blooms)’
544
/ph?raidja ?ijdj a/
’It is not true
that
one won't dose not read
(={one) in fact reads)’
10.8.3.4.5(iv) Type II Heg. Finite verb + Neg. confirmative
In this construction, the first
constituent
is
a
negative finite verb and the second constituent is a negative
confirmative element looking like a
fact, dose not show
any
verbal
negative
behaviour
verb,
and
it
it,
in
remains
unchanged for all persons. Such negative phrases do not carry
any negative sense; they
rather
assert
the
sense
finite verb with a confirmatory force. The following
of
the
example
could be seen..
/ogdja mandja/
10.9
’It is not true, that it is,
not (t is,in fact, true)’
Interrogation in Garo
The transformation of
affirmative
interrogative ones is a very simple one. It
sentences
is
into
accomplished
in the following ways.
10.9.1 Yes/No -type
The
constructed
yes/no-type
from
interrogative
the affirmative ones by
545
sentences
simply
adding
are
a
particle /ma/ after the verb
There is no
other
change
at the end
anywhere
in
of
the
the
sentence.
sentence.
The
following examples could be seen.
/ram nok^ina repagaha/
/ram npklfina reparjaha ma/
’Ram went home’
’Did Ram go home?'
/na?a khamkho khapgen/
/na?a khamkho khapgenma/
’You will do the work'
’will you do the work?'
/napa senema nia/
/na?a senema nf m a /
’You go to film’
’Do you go to film ?'
/vsa ngk^ina repaggen/
/«a nok^ina
’He will go home*
’will he go home ?'
/nagni
’Your
ph?rikkha bon?dj
examination
is
o \e />
over'
repaggenma/
/nagni
bonpdjo kma/
’Is
your
over?’
p
h
o
r
I
k
k
h
a
examination
10.9.2 sa/ma/ba -type (=Wh-type)
The
constructed
sa/ma/ba-type
by
substituting
interrogative
the
relevant
sentences
are
word
the
in
i
affirmative sentence by any of
all of which begin
with
the
sa-or-ma-or
interrogative
-ba.
Unlike
pronouns,
English,
there is no question of movement of sa~phrase or tna-phrase or
546
ba-phrase. There is no other change in the sentence. The
or ma-or ba-element could occur any where
in
the
sa-
sentence.
The following examples could be seen.
/na?a saksa ^atro/
/na?a sawa/
’You are a student'
’who are you
/nagni bimug robin/
/nagni bimug mai/
’Your name is Robin'
’what is your name ?'
/ua santipuro d?ga/
/ua bano dyga/
’He lives in santipur'
’where dose he live ? ’
/phorikkha ruputgid^an
?g?gen/
'
/ph ? rikKha
basakho
'The examination will be ’when will the
held very shortly'
held ?*
/ua laibreri % ina
phoraina re?aga/
/ua
re?aga/
’She gose to library for
study'
gen/
examination
laibreri^ina
'Why dose she go to
/ua maikhae
gen/
/ua anthagnai kh?r?sfi
phoraina re paggen/
’How will he
’He will go to study
on his own*
ph ? raina
{
go
to
/ua skul^ina re?a/
/ua ba^ina re?a/
’He gose to school*
’Where is he going ?'
547
be
maina
library?’
re ? ag
study?'
10.9.3 Intonation Question or Echo Question10'
The intonative questions are constructed
simple
affirmative
sentences
by
merely
from
changing
the
the
intonation. The sentence termination intonation is changed to
interrogative intonation. Except intonation there is no other
change in anywhere in -..lie sentence.
The
following
examples
could be seen.
/ua skul^ina repaggen/
'He will go to school*
/ua skul^ina re?arjgen ?/
'Will he go school ?*
/«a ianona re?baha/
/ua ianona repbaha ?/
'She came here *
’Did she come here ? *
10.10 Passivization in Garo
The transformation of Simple Kernel
Passive is also a very simple process in Garo.
of the active kernel sentence becomes the
sentence in the Passive. The subject
of
the
form undergoes a radical change ; {-akho}
verb
root and an auxiliary verb/man?/
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The
of
active
and
the
kernel
the
is added
'to
into
'Object*
'subject*
sentence becomes the agent with suffix {-Tgx}
main
sentence
verb
to
the
get*,
'to
have',
which
is
inflected
for
tense,
follows
the
main
verb .The sentence given below may be observed carefully.
/sikarkha? gcpa
goaha/
roatyakho
/matija (sikarkha?gepa— yi)
goakho man?aha/
'The hunter shot a tiger'
’A tiger was shot by
hunter'
Here, the object /mat$a/ ’tiger’ assumes the
of prominance in the utterance and has become
of the sentence. The verb phrase /goaha/
/go-akho manpaha/
’was
shot'.
We
the
’shot'
may
use
the
place
’subject’
has
many
become
passive
sentences deleting the agent {-$i} suffix.
The transformation of passive in Garo could also befor the sake
of
contrast,
discussed
under
the
following
categories.
1. Sentences Containing A Transitive Verb and An Object.
2. • Sentences
Containing
A
Transitive
Verb
and
Two
!
Objects,
3. Sentences Containing One Intransitive Verb.
10.10.1
Sentences
Containing
A
Transitive
Verb
and
An
Object:
The transformation
of
simple
kernel
sentences
containing a transitive verb and an object into a passive
549
is
a very common day to day experience. The example given
in the introductory paragraph illustartes the
of the passive
of
this
type.
The
object
transformation
of
the
sentence becomes the subject in the passive and
of the passive sentence does not take
any
any
case
marker.
The
the
case
could be noted that the subject of the kernel
dose not take
above
verb
kernel
subject
marker.
sentence
in
the
It
also
active
sentence is changed into passive verb form, by adding {-akhoj
to the principal verb root and using auxiliary
just after the main verb; the auxiliary
marker and
functions
as
the
finite
verb
verb
/man? /
carries
verb.
The
tense
following
examples could be seen.
a0l
/arja ^ithi seaha/
/•githi
seakho manpaha/
'I wrote a letter'
*A letter was written by me'
- —
/marak do?ga oaha/
/do?ga
marak oakho man?aha/
’Marak opened the door’
♦The door was opened by Marak’
10.10.2 Sentences Containing A Transtive Verb and Two Objects
I
Simple kernel
sentences
containing
a
transitive
verb and two objects could also be transformed into
In such constructions the direct object moves to the
position
and
the
indirect object remains
550
as
passive.
subject
object.
The
subject of the kernel sentence becomes the agent with
suffix. The verb
obtains
passive
structure
following
the
general rule. The following examples could be seen.
/ua skulo histri skhia/
/(ua$i) histri skulo skhiakho
man?a/
’he teaches history in
school'
’History is taught by him in
the school'
/magepa bakget^akna dut
khon ?aha/
/(magepa #i)
bakgetij akna
dut khon?akho manpaha/
'The mother fed the baby
milk'
Although,
the
agent
'The baby was fed
the mother'
phrases
sentences are given at the beginning of
in
milk
the
the
by
passive
sentences
they
are not the subject of the sentences; they could be moved
to
any position in the sentence. The direct object of the active
sentence /histri/ ’history* in the above example
has
the real subject in the passive sentence and the verb
become
is -in-
agreement with /histri/’history’
10.10.3 Sentences Containing One Intransitive Verb.
• Simple kernel sentences containing one intransitive
i
verb could also be transformed into Passive. The verb obtains
551
passive structure following general rule described above (see
sec. 10.10 ); i.e.
/ua ^rpkaha/
/ualfi Vrpkakho man?aha/
’She danced'
’Her dancing is over'
Here, the agent phrase
appears
in
the
genitive
form' and not in the 'by form'
/aga re?angen/
/agni repagakho man?gen/
*1 shall go*
*My going will be done*
>
'
L*
v t
'
This agent in genitive form generally occurs in the
beginning of the sentence.
10.11 Concluding Remarks
10.11.1
Both Assamese and Garo have/sov/structure. There are
simple, compound and complex sentences in both the languages.
Both the languages may have (i) one word imperative/ response
utterances, (ii) equational sentences of N+H sructure,
N may represent on adjective or a pronoun, (iii)
sentences, and (iv) SOV (non-finite)
and
(v)
SVV
(non-finite)
552
OV
bV
(finite)
(reduplication)
OV
where
or
SOV
sentences
(finite)
sentences.
The
various
types
of
compound
and
complex
sentences are common in both the languages.
10.11.2
Negativization in both the languages could be viewed
in three levels, such as (i) word level,
(ii)
phrase
and (iii) sentence level. But there are
differences
realisations of negative in each level.
Both
form negatives of some nouns
(i)
by
using
level
in
the
the
languages
some
morphemic
alternants and (ii) by derivation. The verbs in Assamese form
their negatives by prefixing
has
a
host
of
allomorphs.
the
neggative
The
choices
allomorphs are phonologically conditioned.
Garo forms negative verbs
limited number of
only
negative
„
by
morphemes,which
of
the
Unlike
Assamese,
suffixation.
morphemes,
which
correct
It
has
a
are
suffixed
then tense morphemes are
suffixed
Both the languages manifest
phrase
level negativization too. There is idion level negativization
too in Assamese. But Garo has a very limited number of
level negativization; and they are much less in
number
idiom
than
those in Assamese.
10.11.3
Both
the
negativization, and double
languages
have
negativization;
sentence
but
negativization in Garo are of very limited scope.
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the
level
double
10.11.4 Both the languages have same types
of
interrogative
sentence.
10.11.5
Both the languages show
transformation
of
simple
kernel sentences into passive. Here Assamese forms a kind
of
impersonal passive sentence. But Garo dose not have-th1b type
of impersonal passive.
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