Descriptive Grammar of Bangla

Anne Boyle David Descriptive Grammar of Bangla

edited by Thomas J. Conners and Dustin A. Chacón

This material is based upon work supported, in whole or in part, with funding from the United States Government. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Maryland, College Park and/or any agency or entity of the United States Government. | v

| For my kunjus, Guenevere Adimanthi and Rosalind Kanmani.

Foreword

It is remarkable that, in this age of unprecedented global communication and interaction, the majority of the world’s languages are as yet not adequately described. With- out basic grammars and dictionaries, these languages and their communities of speakers are in a real sense inaccessible to the rest of the world. This state of affairs is anti- thetical to today’s interconnected global mindset. This series, undertaken as a critical part of the mission of the University of Mary- land Center for Advanced Study of Language (CASL), is directed at remedying this problem. One goal of CASL’s research is to provide detailed, coherent descriptions of languages that are little studied or for which descriptions are not available in En- glish. Even where grammars for these languages do exist, in many instances they are decades out of date or limited in scope or detail. While the criticality of linguistic descriptions is indisputable, the painstaking work of producing grammars for neglected and under-resourced languages is often insuffi- ciently appreciated by scholars and graduate students more enamored of the latest theoretical advances and debates. Yet, without the foundation of accurate descriptions of real languages, theoretical work would have no meaning. Moreover, without profes- sionally produced linguistic descriptions, technologically sophisticated tools such as those for automated translation and speech-to-text conversion are impossible. Such research requires time-consuming labor, meticulous description, and rigorous analysis. It is hoped that this series will contribute, however modestly, to the ultimate goal of making every language of the world available to scholars, students, and language lovers of all kinds. I would like to take this opportunity to salute the linguists at CASL and around the world who subscribe to this vision as their life’s work. It is truly a noble endeavor.

Richard D. Brecht Founding Executive Director University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language

Series Editors’ Preface

This series arose out of research conducted on several under-described languages at the University of Maryland Center for Advanced Study of Language. In commencing our work, we were surprised at how many of the world’s major languages lack accessible descriptive resources such as reference grammars and bilingual dictionaries. Among the ongoing projects at the Center is the development of such resources for various under-described languages. This series of grammars presents some of the linguistic description we have undertaken to fill such gaps. The languages covered by the series represent a broad range of language families and typological phenomena. They are spoken in areas of international significance, some in regions associated with political, social, or environmental instability. Provid- ing resources for these languages is therefore of particular importance. However, these circumstances often make it difficult to conduct intensive, in-country fieldwork. In cases where such fieldwork was impractical, the authors of that grammar have relied on close working relationships with native speakers, and, where possible, corpora of naturalistic speech and text. The conditions for data-gathering—and hence our approach to it—vary with the particular situation. We found the descriptive state of each language in the series to be different from that of the others: in some cases, much work had been done, but had never been col- lected into a single overview; in other cases, virtually no materials in English existed. Similarly, the availability of source material in the target language varies widely: in some cases, literacy and media are very sparse, while for other communities plentiful written texts exist. The authors have worked with the available resources to provide descriptions as comprehensive as these materials, the native speaker consultants, and their own corpora allow. One of our goals is for these grammars to reach a broad audience. For that reason the authors have worked to make the volumes accessible by providing extensive exemplification and theoretically neutral descriptions oriented to language learners as well as to linguists. All grammars in the series, furthermore, include the native orthography, accompanied where relevant by Romanization. While they are not intended as pedagogical grammars, we realize that in many cases they will supply that role as well. Each of the grammars is presented as a springboard to further research, which for every language continues to be warranted. We hope that our empirical work will provide a base for theoretical, comparative, computational, and pedagogical develop- ments in the future. We look forward to the publication of many such works.

Claudia M. Brugman Thomas J. Conners Anne Boyle David Amalia E. Gnanadesikan

Preface

This grammar started as a sketch morphology written several years ago so as to build a morphological parser for Bangla. Once the parser was finished, we put the sketch aside, until, at the urging of colleagues, we took it up again, in hopes of producing a more thorough grammar. There are a number of high-quality reference grammars of Bangla already, most recently the excellent and comprehensive Bengali: A Comprehen- sive Grammar, by Hanne-Ruth Thompson. Among others are Chatterji’s monumental Origin and Development of the Bengali Language and W.L. Smith’s Bengali Reference Grammar. Dimock, Battacharji, and Chatterjee’s Introduction to Bengali, Part 1 and Clint Seely’s Intermediate Bangla (Bengali) are both fine pedagogical grammars of the language; William Radice’s Teach Yourself Bengali is a good albeit briefer one. There remain, however, far fewer up-to-date resources in English than one would expect for a language of at least 200 million speakers. In the preliminary stages, our main consultant was Dr. Clinton B. Seely, Profes- sor Emeritus at the University of Chicago. Other scholars we conferred with include Dr. Tista Bagchi, Professor of Linguistics at the University of Delhi and native speaker from Kolkata; Dr. Miriam Klaiman; Dr. Susan Steele, whose work crucially informed our description of complex predicates; and Dr. Hanne-Ruth Thompson, whose gracious generosity in offering to share her 1999 grammar with us was thwarted in the endbythe repeated vagaries of the postal service. We also worked with native speakers Dr. Muna Hossain, Denis D’Rozario, and Fharzana Elankumaran, all from Dhaka. Without the diligent assistance and scholarship of the above authors, scholars, and consultants, as well as many others, we would not have been able to begin this task. Dr. Seely continued with us for a time during the second stage of writing. His love for and extensive knowledge of the Bangla language and its vast literature and his patience in helping me better understand both are things I am most grateful for. We also thank him for his generosity in allowing us to use his examples and in providing new ones. We were joined in this second stage by two other experts. University of Mary- land University College undergraduate and native Bangla speaker Sonia Purification’s conscientious, insightful work, proofreading our text and supplying examples, has immensely improved this book. University of Maryland linguistics graduate student Dustin Chacón, PhD 2015, also joined us; his grammatical knowledge of and broad field experience with Bangla have been invaluable. A word at this point about whythis volume has a separate author and editors: the three of us have diverse expertise and varying levels of understanding of the language. We felt our respective backgrounds— mine in morphology and historical and South Asian linguistics; Thomas Conners’ in syntax and fieldwork, and Dustin Chacón’s in Bangla syntax and fieldwork—would complement each other and enrich the volume. We cannot hope to improve upon either Chatterji’s or Thompson’s comprehensive works and did not try. Among the features our grammar adds to the corpus of Bangla research are a chapter on the typology of Bangla that situates it within the xii | Preface

South Asian language area, a formal grammar which can be used to feed a morphological parser,¹ and data presented in both native orthography and transcription. We provide paradigms and extensive examples, complete with full interlinearization: a Bangla script line, a phonemic transcription, a morpheme-by-morpheme gloss line, and a free translation. Native orthography is often omitted from descriptive grammars, but is particularly useful not only to the language expert but also to the language learner. The data for this grammar come from a wide range of printed resources, com- plemented by fieldwork and work here at the University of Maryland with native speaker consultants. In our description we have tried to be theory-neutral without being simplistic. Any abstract description of a language is necessarily informed by theory at some level. We aim to be theoretically informed in as broad a way as possible, such that the descriptions and explications in this grammar will be of use not only to descriptive linguists, but to others from a variety of theoretic backgrounds. However, our primary loyalty is to the Bangla language, not to a particular theoretic approach to Language. A descriptive grammar is never really finished. Two areas in particular that we wish we could devote more time to are Bangla phonology and complex predicates. There remains much work to be done on Bangla, and we view this volume as a springboard for scholars to continue working on this fascinating language in all its varieties. Many people have helped in the publication of this book. The authors would like to thank all our colleagues at the University of Maryland Center for the Advanced Study of Language for their support—in particular, CASL’s Director of Research, Amy Weinberg; its founding Executive Director, Richard Brecht; our dearly missed retired colleague David Cox; and our Area Director, Mike Maxwell, the creator of the parser, whose detailed comments and questions kept us clear and honest in our descriptions. Others who have had a part in this project include Aric Bills, Evelyn Browne, Claudia Brugman, Erin Crabb, Melissa Fox, Amalia Gnanadesikan, and Jessica Shamoo. Dr. Gnanade- sikan’s painstaking indexing, taken on at the last minute, is especially appreciated. We are also grateful to the anonymous reviewer whose suggestions and corrections helped make this a much better book. And finally, I would like to thank my editors and co-authors for their diligence and devotion to this stimulating but sometimes frustrating project, for correcting me whenever necessary, and for keeping their senses of humor throughout. All of the people mentioned above have worked hard to ensure this book contains as few infelicities as possible; any remaining are my responsibility.

Anne Boyle David

1 Available online for download to purchasers of this volume. Contents

References Cited | 301

List of Figures

1.1 In-line text example | 1 1.2 Interlinear example | 2

2.1 Map of Bangla-speaking area | 6

List of Tables

3.1 Bangla vowels ...... 14 3.2 Representative Final VV̯ and -VV Sequences ...... 16 3.3 Bangla consonants ...... 18 3.4 Transcription of consonant conjuncts ...... 31 3.5 Transcription of vowel letters and consonants ...... 35 3.6 Other Unicode symbols used in Bangla ...... 39

5.1 Nominal markers ...... 56 5.2 Singular nouns ...... 58 5.3 Plural human nouns ...... 59 5.4 Plural (definite) non-human nouns ...... 59

6.1 Pronominal human suffixes ...... 82 6.2 Pronominal non-human suffixes ...... 83 6.3 First person pronouns; stem = am- ...... 87 6.4 Second person honorific pronouns; stem = apn- ...... 88 6.5 Second person familiar pronouns; stem = tom- ...... 89 6.6 Second person intimate pronouns; stem = to- ...... 89 6.7 Third person human honorific pronouns; stems = en-, on-, tan- (KCB); ena-, una-, tan- (DCB) ...... 91 6.8 Third person human non-honorific pronouns; stems = e-, o-, ta- . 92 xxii | List of Tables

6.9 Third person non-human pronouns, without classifiers; stems = e-, o-,ta-...... 93 6.10 Third person non-human pronouns, with classifiers; stems = e-, o-, ta- 94 6.11 Relative and correlative human honorific pronouns; stems = jan-, tan- 96 6.12 Relative and correlative human non-honorific pronouns; stems = ja-, ta-...... 97 6.13 Relative and correlative non-human pronouns; singular stems = ja-, ta-...... 98 6.14 Reflexive pronouns ...... 101 6.15 Interrogative pronoun ক /ke/ ‘who?’ ...... 104 6.16 Interrogative pronoun িক/কী /ki/ ‘what?’ ...... 104 6.17 Interrogative quantifiers ...... 105 6.18 Forms of the indefinite human pronounকউ /keu/ ‘someone’ . . . . 106 6.19 Forms of the indefinite nonhuman pronounিক /kichu/ ‘something, anything’ ...... 107 6.20 Indefinite pronouns and pro-forms with negative ...... 107 6.21 সবাই /śɔbai/ ‘all, everyone’ ...... 108 6.22 অেনেক /ɔneke/ ‘many persons’ ...... 108 6.23 সকেল /śɔkole/ ‘everyone’ ...... 109

7.1 Nominative deictics with -ই /-i/ ...... 122 7.2 Deictic derived forms ...... 122 7.3 Bangla numerals and number names ...... 125 7.4 Abbreviations of ordinal numbers ...... 129 7.5 Indefinite quantifiers ...... 135 7.6 Functions of classifiers when attached to noun phrases ...... 145 7.7 Word types that take classifiers ...... 147

8.1 Interrogatives ...... 149 8.2 কত /kɔto/ and কয় /koe/ derivatives ...... 151 8.3 Interrogative pronoun ক /ke/ ‘who’ ...... 152 8.4 Common uses of inclusive particle-ই /-i/ ...... 169 8.5 Common uses of inclusive/concessive particle-ও /-o/ ...... 170 8.6 Common uses of inclusive/concessive particle-ও /-o/ ...... 171

9.1 Personal and tense suffixes ...... 181 9.2 Simple present; tense suffix = Ø ...... 190 9.3 Present imperative; tense suffix = Ø ...... 193 9.4 Present imperfect; tense suffix = Ø; aspect--/-ছ- suffix = /-(c)ch-/ . 195 9.5 Present perfect; tense suffix = Ø; aspect-ছ- suffix = /-ch-/ ...... 198 9.6 Future tense; tense suffix-ব- = /-b-/ ...... 201 9.7 Future imperative; tense suffix-ব- = /-b-/ ...... 204 9.8 Simple past; tense suffix-ল- = /-l-/ ...... 206 List of Tables | xxiii

9.9 Conditional/past habitual; tense/aspect suffix-ত- = /-t-/ ...... 209 9.10 Past imperfect; tense suffix-ইল- = /-il-/; aspect suffix--/-ছ- = /-(c)ch-/ ...... 212 9.11 Past perfect; tense suffix-ইল- = /-il-/; aspect suffix-ছ- = /-ch-/ . . . 214 9.12 Simple present: আছ- /ach-/ ‘be present; exist’ ...... 216 9.13 Simple past: আছ- /ach-/ ‘be present; exist’ ...... 217 9.14 Simple present: দওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’ ...... 217 9.15 Simple present: দওয়া /newa/ ‘to give’ ...... 218 9.16 Present ...... 219 9.17 Simple past: যাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’ ...... 219 9.18 Present perfect: যাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’ ...... 220 9.19 Past perfect: যাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’ ...... 220 9.20 Present imperative:আসা /aśa/ ‘to come’ ...... 221 9.21 Simple past: আসা /aśa/ ‘to come’ ...... 221 9.22 Simple past: আসা /aśa/ ‘to come’, irregular variants ...... 222 9.23 Non-finite verb forms ...... 223 9.24 Triple causative ...... 240 9.25 Triple causative with variant meanings ...... 241

10.1 Light verbs ...... 272 10.2 Relatives and correlatives ...... 285 10.3 Morphologically complex relatives and correlatives ...... 286

1 About this Grammar

1.1 Overview

With well over 200 million native speakers, Bangla has a lot of variation. It may best be described as a continuum of varieties spoken in Bangladesh and India (with smaller populations elsewhere). There is a standard written variety of Bangla, based on that from Kolkata, but accepted in both India and Bangladesh. In the spoken language, however, the range of dialects includes members that are not mutually intelligible. See Section 2.3 for a brief discussion of these other dialects.

1.2 Scope of this book

This grammar describes what can be termed Standard Colloquial Bangla. This can be thought of as representing a non-geographically marked, idealized variety containing words and grammatical features most commonly found throughout the Bangla- speaking area. Where relevant and identifiable, we make reference to two broad dialectal varieties, one centered on the Bangladeshi city of Dhaka, and the other on the Indian (West Bengal) city of Kolkata. We call them Dhaka Colloquial Bangla (DCB) and Kolkata Colloquial Bangla (KCB) respectively.

1.3 Tables and examples

In our description we use both in-line text examples and interlinear text examples. In- line text examples are used when a single form is being referenced or explicated in the text. The format is as follows: the first element is in native script; the second is inour Romanized, largely phonemic transcription (between slashes); and the third section provides an English gloss (in single quotation marks). Figure 1.1 illustrates an in-line example.

Native script Gloss

বািড়ওয়ািল /baṛiwali/ ‘landlady’

Romanization

Figure 1.1: In-line text example 2 | About this Grammar

The format for an interlinear example is as follows: the first line is an utterance in native script; the second line renders the utterance in our Romanization; the third line provides a word-for-word translation, including any grammatical category labels; and the fourth line gives a free translation into English. Figure 1.2 illustrates and labels these parts of an interlinear example.

Native script আনীকা শাহীরেক একটা উপহার িদেয়েছ। Romanization anika śahir-ke æk-ṭa upohar diye-ch-Ø-e Gloss Aniqua Shaheer-OBJ one-CLF present give.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON Free translation ‘Aniqua gave Shaheer a present.’

Figure 1.2: Interlinear example

A word about our style of morpheme glossing is in order here. We want our readers to have the option of seeing clearly what grammatical facts each morpheme is encoding, so we have elected to err on the side of over-specification, particularly when glossing verbs. The glosses therefore reflect our grammatical analyses in detail. For example, in Figure 1.2, we have glossed two morphemes as perfect—bothিদেয়- /diye-/ and -ছ- /-ch-/. This reflects the fact that-ছ- /-ch-/ is the perfect affix, and that perfectness is also encoded by the verb stem; we want this fact to be transparent. (See Section 9.3.4 and Section 9.3.10 for a description of present and past perfect verb formation.) In the above example, we have also illustrated the fact that the present tense is encoded by the absence of a morpheme, denoted here by the null sign Ø. This approach can make for some unwieldy morpheme gloss lines, but we believe the trade-off in transparency and the ability to line up each morpheme with thegram- matical category it encodes is worth it.

1.3.1 Order of elements in a gloss

The order of grammatical categories in a gloss is as follows: VERBS: aspect.tense.personnumber.formality NOUNS/PRONOUNS/ADJS: category.person.formality.case Abbreviations and symbols | 3

1.4 Abbreviations and symbols

Where possible, morpheme glosses in this grammar follow the Leipzig Glossing Rules,¹ a set of formatting conventions widely adopted in the linguistics community. Commonly used abbreviations and symbols in this grammar include the following: *: non-existent or unacceptable form, grammatical construction, or reading %: a form, grammatical construction, or reading that not all speakers accept as grammatical ∼: variation in forms (within or across dialects) [ ]: non-overt element (in a translation or morpheme gloss) / /: phonemic transcription [ ]: phonetic transcription -: morpheme boundary in a transcription or gloss-line .: a period indicates a mismatch between the number of Bangla elements and the number of elements in the English gloss Ø: zero morpheme < >: a grapheme 1: first person 2: second person 3: third person A: transitive subject ADJ: adjective ADJZ: adjectivizer C: consonant CAUS: causative CLF: classifier CMPL: complementizer COND: conditional participle COMP: comparative DCB: Dhaka colloquial Bangla DIM: diminutive DM: discourse marker EMPH: emphatic enclitic FAM: familiar FUT: future GEN: genitive HAB: habitual HON: honorific

1 http://www.eva.mpg.de/lingua/resources/glossing-rules.php 4 | About this Grammar

HUM: human IMIT: imitative (for onomatopoeic forms) IMP: imperative INCL: inclusive/concessive enclitic INDF: indefinite marker INT: intensifier INTM: intimate intr.: intransitive IPF: imperfect IPFP: imperfect participle KCB: Kolkata colloquial Bangla lit.: literally LIT: literary usage or form (used only on dialect tags) LOC: locative LVC: light verb construction N: noun NEG: negative NHON: non-honorific NMLZ: nominalizer NOM: nominative NP: noun phrase NSTD: non-standard O: transitive object OBJ: objective case PRFP: perfect participle PL: plural PRS: present PRF: perfect PRT.RED: partial/echoic reduplication PST: simple past PST.HAB: conditional/past habitual Q: question particle REDUP: reduplication REINF: reinforcer S: intransitive subject SG: singular SUP: superlative tr.: transitive V: vowel VN: verbal noun 2 The Bangla Language

2.1 Population of speakers

Bangla, or—as it is still known to many English speakers—Bengali [ISO:ben], is spoken over a continuous swath of land in the northwest of South Asia, and also off the coast of India in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is the national language of Bangladesh (with 110,000,000 speakers reported in the 2001 census¹) and the official language of the Indian states of West Bengal and Tripura, as well as of the Barak Valley region of Assam. In addition, it is a minority language in the Indian states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Meghalaya, Mizoram, and Nagaland; and, with 26% of the speaker population, the most-spoken language in the Indian union territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Is- lands (ahead of Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Nicobarese, Kurux/Oraon, Munda, and Kharia).² The 2001 census reported 82,5000,000 total native speakers of Bangla in India. It is also spoken by large diaspora populations in the United States, Canada, Aus- tralia, the United Kingdom, Nepal, Pakistan, and several of the Persian Gulf states. Re- liable numbers for diasporic speakers are unavailable, but worldwide there are close to 200 million native speakers of Bangla, and a total of 250 million, counting non-native speakers.³ Both of these figures place Bangla among the ten most-spoken languages in the world.

2.2 History and classification

Bangla is a member of the Indo-Aryan sub-group of the Indo-European language family. Scholars agree that Bangla, along with Asamiya [ISO:asm]⁴ and Oriya [ISO:ori], belongs to the Eastern, or Māgadhī, branch of Indo-Aryan. The degree of their genetic relatedness to the so-called “Bihari” languages of the Indo-Aryan group—Maithili [ISO: mai], Magahi [ISO:mag], and Bhojpuri [ISO:bho]—is more controversial. Over the years scholars have alternately grouped those latter three in the Western branch, as well as in the Eastern branch, and also as their own branch of Indo-Aryan. Thanks, however, to the “mixed dialectal ancestry of most NIA [New Indo-Aryan] languages” (Masica 1991, 460), a precise and detailed historical taxonomy of the Indo-Aryan languages is probably not achievable. That is, the persistent mutual influence of various dialects, over thousands of years, has led to “the entire Indo-Aryan realm (except for Sinhalese)

1 http://www.ethnologue.com/country/BD/languages 2 Report of the Commissioner for Linguistic Minorities; www.nclm.nic.in; http://nclm.nic.in/shared/linkimages/NCLM47thReport.pdf, p. 233; languages are listed in descending order of speakers. 3 Ethnologue. 4 Formerly, Assamese. 6 | The Bangla Language

Figure 2.1: Map of Bangla-speaking area History and classification | 7 constitut[ing] one enormous dialectal continuum” (Masica 1991, 25). This grammar therefore does not come down either way on the question of the Bangla language’s connection to the Bihari languages; however, we remain conservative in our assump- tions. Therefore, when we make reference to the Māgadhi or Māgadhan languages, we are referring only to Bangla, Asamiya, and Oriya. Nevertheless the recent histories and relatedness of Bangla, Asamiya, and Oriya may be more reconstructible than the histories either of their predecessors or their contemporary NIA cousins. Dasgupta (2003, 352) remarks that consensus on the Māgadhī branch’s history “may emerge once the contemporary enterprise of producing serious descriptions of the modern languages has achieved its objectives.” Their hypothetical Middle Indo-Aryan proto-language is known as Eastern, or Māgadhī, Apabhraṃśa. Scholars agree that the three branches of this unattested language began to diverge from each other somewhere around the end of the first millennium of the Common Era (CE). Due to similarities in structure and morphology—for example, an innovated height distinction among mid vowels and no number category among verbs— Bangla and Asamiya are considered to be more closely related to each other than either is to Oriya. In other words, they broke off together from the Māgadhī tree and diverged from each other later than from Oriya. The two also share a common script, other than a couple of letters that differ. All three languages retain some degree of mutual intelligibility with each other. Texts of Buddhist devotional songs known as the Charyapada and dated to between the tenth and twelfth centuries represent a language often referred toas Old Bangla, but scholars are divided on how much the Māgadhī languages had differentiated at this point and whether the evidence is therefore sufficient to justify this terminology. Dasgupta (2003, 354), for example, uses the term Old X to avoid implying more than he feels confident is currently knowable about whether the songs represent a pre- or post-split state of the Māgadhī group. According to him, texts subsequent to those songs, beginning around the start of the fourteenth century, reflect a language uncontroversially designable as Middle Bangla, and include ground-breaking treatises on logic, translations of the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata, and devotional verses of bhakti poetry, a genre which grew out of the eponymous medieval Hindu devotional movement that originated in southern India (Cutler 1987) and promoted personal union with the divine. What we call Modern Bangla gradually developed from this middle language and began to be standardized in the seventeenth century. In the years following the transition into Modern Bangla, a split in the language arose, culminating in a full-blown state of diglossia by sometime in the nineteenth century, during which time the High (H) form of Bangla, orসা ভাষা /śadhu bhāśa/ ‘elegant/correct/refined language’,⁵ became the standard form for almost all writing. Drawing on earlier states of the language, yet differing from them, it contained heav-

5 In English, Shadhu Bhasha, or Shadhu for short. 8 | The Bangla Language ily Sanskritized vocabulary and preserved certain older morphology—for example, in conjunctive participles and pronouns—from the later part of the Middle Bangla period (Dasgupta 2003, 353). Masica (1991, 57) describes Shadhu Bangla as “based on the spoken language of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.” But the ascendancy of theH form did not last long. A Low (L) form,চিলত ভাষা /colit bhāśa/ ‘colloquial/ current language’,⁶ based largely on the colloquial standard of the pre-Independence educated classes from Kolkata and its environs, began to compete for prominence as a written standard. Thanks in part to energetic promotion by Bangla literary figures, including the novelist and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore,⁷ Cholit Bangla began to predom- inate in the early part of the twentieth century. For some time the two lects, H and L, vied with each other, but by the end, the strong form of Shadhu Bangla had all but disappeared, although it can still be found “in the editorial columns of a newspaper here and there” (Seely 2002/2006, 1). However, the diglossic situation for Bangla is more complicated than this story implies. Cholit Bangla diverged from Shadhu in both lexical and morphological elements, but morphology received more attention in the movement towards introducing the vernacular speech into writing. Tagore’s writing, for example, while it contained much colloquial morphology, retained a highly Sanskritic vocabulary, and this lexical register difference can still be seen in Bangla writing, including in newspapers, where the lexicon may differ substantially from that of spoken forms of the language, even while the morphology is unquestionably fully Cholit. To complicate the picture further, many non-standard dialects happen to be conservative, a characteristic that can make them resemble Shadhu. The old diglossia also makes its presence felt in its influence on the phonology of educated speakers, who will use conservative pronunciations of words they know to be direct borrowings from Sanskrit., or tatsamas. Masica (1991, 58), citing Narula (1955), points to regional integration’s role in stimulating the standardization of many of the modern Indo-Aryan languages’ vernacular varieties, with Bangla among those he emphasizes. Regional and other social fac- tors associated with certain of these languages lent themselves to the development of a collective identity among the speakers. In the case of Bangla, post-Independence clashes over national language status no doubt increased feelings of linguistic solidar- ity in the middle part of the twentieth century. Following independence from Britain in 1947 and the partition of the British-dominated sub-continent into India and Pak- istan—including the further partition of Bengal along religious lines, into the Indian state of West Bengal and the Pakistani province of East Bengal (later, East Pakistan)— the Pakistani government declared Urdu the official language of the entire country. This language policy included their non-contiguous, eastern province, which angered its majority Bangla-speaking inhabitants. Protests in favor of elevating the status of

6 In English, Cholit Bhasha, or Cholit for short. 7 Masica (1991, 57); Thompson (2010, 16). Dialectal variation | 9

Bangla erupted into a clash on February 21, 1952, in which seven students were shot and killed by police. The shootings galvanized the movement for granting equal status to Bangla, and in 1956, the Pakistani government gave in to pressure and declared Bangla the other national language of Pakistan. But the whole episode of the Language Movement had further exacerbated discontent, strengthening a rising nationalist movement that cul- minated in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, then independence from Pakistan and the formation of the nation of Bangladesh. The 21st of February, known asভাষা িদবস /bhāśa dibɔś/ ‘Language Day’, is a national holiday in Bangladesh; in November 1999, UNESCO declared it International Mother Language Day as well.⁸

2.3 Dialectal variation

There is considerable dialect variation in spoken Bangla, extending in some cases to mutual unintelligibility, as Bangla can arguably be called a dialect continuum rather than a single language (a continuum which, in a larger sense, blends into Asamiya). These dialects include Barik, Bhatiari, Chirmar, Hajong [ISO:haj], Kachari-Bengali, Kha- ria Thar [ISO:ksy], Lohari-Malpaharia, Mal Paharia [ISO:mkb], Musselmani, Rajbangsi [ISO:rjs], Rajshahi, Samaria, Saraki, Siripuria (Kishanganjia), and Sylheti [ISO:syl] in India; Barisal, Chittagonian [ISO:ctg], Hajong, Khulna, Mymensingh, Noakhali, Raj- bangsi, Sylheti, and Tangchangya [ISO:tnv] in Bangladesh; and finally, Barik, Bha- tiari, Chirmar, Kachari-Bengali, Lohari-Malpaharia, Musselmani, Rajbangsi, Rajshahi, Samaria, Saraki, and Siripuria in Nepal.⁹ Several of the above are considered by some to be separate languages. All of those accompanied by ISO designations, in fact, are labeled as separate languages by Eth- nologue. Sylheti, for example,, is a good candidate for being considered another language, rather than a dialect of Bangla. Similarly, the Rajbangsi dialect could be considered a dialect of Asamiya on linguistic grounds, but is grouped with Bangla due to political considerations, because many of its speakers are citizens of West Bengal and Bangladesh and identify culturally with Bangla. And Chittagonian, which Masica (1991, 25) describes as differing from Standard Bangla “more than Assamese itself”, is nevertheless classified as a dialect of Bangladeshi Bangla. Even further afield, Chākmā [ISO:ccp], spoken in the hills of Chittagong and in Myanma, is sometimes labeled a dialect of Bangla, although it is probably a creole of Bangla and the Tibeto-Burman Chin language (Masica 1991, 27). These and other non-standard dialects of Bangla are under-documented; our focus in this grammar is on the standardized dialects of Kolkata and Dhaka, which we call Kolkata Colloquial Bangla (KCB) and Dhaka Colloquial Bangla (DCB). These two di-

8 http://www.un.org/en/events/motherlanguageday/ 9 Masica (1991, 25) and Ethnologue (http://www.ethnologue.com/). Accessed on 9 February 2015. 10 | The Bangla Language alects, while they differ in numerous small ways, are indisputably the same language: highly mutually intelligible and recognized by Bangla speakers as the standard in both speaking and writing. When a feature explicated in the grammar is common to both varieties, as most features are, no indication will be given—this is the default. Only where there are distinct forms for the two varieties will they be marked accordingly.

2.4 The Bangla script

The Bangla script is descended from the northern variety of Brāhmī, a script which originated in India and from which most modern South Asian scripts are descended, as well as many of those of South East Asia. Like other Brāhmī-descended South Asian scripts such as Devanagari, it is an alphasyllabary , or an abugida: similar in some ways to alphabetic systems used in other scripts (such as the Cyrillic script, or the Roman script used to write English and many other European languages), particularly in their representation of consonants. It is written from left to right and has no distinction between upper- and lower-case letters. Speakers of Asamiya use a script that is identical with the exception of one or two consonant graphemes. The abugida systems of South Asia, as opposed to the writing systems typical of Eu- ropean languages differ from alphabets in that they are organized by syllables rather than by segments; hence, their handling of vowel representation differs also. One major difference is that each vowel grapheme of an abugida—with one exception—has two different forms. One form, called in English a full vowel, vowel letter, or independent vowel; is used in syllables that lack an initial consonant: that is, it occurs word- initially or following other vowels (see Section 3.4.2). The other form, called a vowel diacritic, vowel sign, vowel mark, or dependent vowel sign; is used when the vowel sound comes after a consonant, in which case—crucially—it cannot stand on its own, butis represented as an appendage to the previous consonant. For this reason, we prefer the term vowel diacritic, since this restriction that it must appear with another character is inherent in the meaning of diacritic. When being referred to, a vowel diacritic is represented in the following fashion— ◌ী , where the dotted circle to the right of the vowel sign represents the space where the consonant would be. The exception to vowels having two different written forms is the অvowel /ɔ ∼ o/, called the inherent vowel, a concept that is also typical across South Asian abugida scripts. It has only an initial form—a vowel letter—but no vowel diacritic: it is unwrit- ten when it follows a consonant. In most languages that follow this convention, the inherent vowel is /a/, but sound changes in Bangla have both rounded and also split /a/ into two phonemes: it is now realized most often as /ɔ/ and otherwise as /o/. So, for example, the Bangla letter for the consonant /k/ is written asক and pronounced as /kɔ/ or /ko/ (depending on the word), while the representation of /k/ followed by any other consonant includes a vowel diacritic:িক /ki/, ক /ke/, and so on. Note that the graphic ordering of the signs does not always map to the ordering of the sounds in The Bangla script | 11 speech, as the two previous graphemes show. This orthographic practice, while straightforward in Devanagari Sanskrit, causes some ambiguities in the representation of Bangla, where many instances of the inherent vowel have been lost due to sound change. Consequently the representation of Cɔ and Co in the Bangla script is homographic, as in বার /bar/ ‘time’ and বার /baro/ ‘twelve’. In situations where eliminating ambiguity is desirable, such as in children’s reading primers, the consonant can be marked with a special symbol called a hoshonto (corresponding to the virama in Devanagari), as in বা /bar/ ‘time’ (versus বার /baro/ ‘twelve’). The hoshonto tells the reader that the consonant is pronounced without any vowel following, as when the consonant in question is followed by another consonant, or when it appears word-finally. In practice the hoshonto is almost always omitted in written Bangla; however, the resulting ambiguity does not present difficulties to native speakers. A third characteristic of these South Asian abugidas is that the characters representing a sequence of two or more consonants are often combined into what looks like a single character. This character is referred to as a conjunct letter. It is treated in the Unicode¹⁰ system of representing text on computers as a matter of rendering. That is, the sequence of consonants is typed on the keyboard as a sequence of characters, but appears visually (on the screen and in printed form) as a single conjunct letter. The computer’s internal representation of the consonant sequence corresponds to the typed-in sequence of characters, not to the visual appearance. Some dictionaries treat certain conjuncts (such as ক+ষ= /k + ś = kś/ ‘khiyo’) as letters in their own right. Chapter 3 describes Bangla orthography in more depth.

10 Unicode is a standard computer representation of the characters making up written text. The current standard is described in The Unicode Consortium, 2014 (Unicode Consortium n.d.).

3 Phonology and Orthography

3.1 Introduction

The best thorough treatment of Bangla phonetics and phonology remains Ferguson and Chowdhury (1960).¹ That article, however, is unfortunately only a beginning— the authors themselves call more than once for further systematic investigation and laboratory research. Their work is long overdue for an expansion and update—most notably with respect to both experimentation and more work on the non-standard dialects—a task unfortunately beyond the scope of the present volume. Instead, we aim only for a clear and linguistically precise overview of Bangla phonology as currently understood. A common problem in descriptions of Bangla is the conflating of phonology with orthography. Bangla spelling, like English spelling, is conservative, a circumstance that has led to idiosyncrasies in the mapping between sound and letter. Explaining this mapping is an intricate and difficult task, but accuracy and clarity suffer when otherwise excellent scholars fail to distinguish between the language and its script. Thomp- son (2010, 40), for example, when speaking about the Bangla script, tells her readers that “Bangla is a syllabic language...” This statement doesn’t really tell us anything useful about Bangla: all languages are syllabic. What she means is that the Bangla writing system is syllable-based. Bangla itself still needs to be thought of in terms of phonemes when treating the phonology. Similarly, Radice (2003, 26) says that a particular grapheme (◌ )”lengthens the sound of the consonant to which it is attached [emphasis mine],” when he means that it signifies lengthening of the consonant. (This particular vagary of Bangla spelling is due to umlaut, which we discuss in Section 3.3.1.1.)² This chapter treats both Bangla phonology and Bangla orthography, as well as the relationship between the two. The following two sections, Section 3.2 and Section 3.3, deal strictly with the phonology and for that reason, use only the International Pho- netic Alphabet (IPA), unless citing morphemes or lexemes, in which case we use our transcription system (Section 3.5). The last two sections, Section 3.4 and Section 3.5, describe Bangla orthography as it represents the phonology of the language; that discussion makes use of both the Bangla script and this grammar’s transcription system, as well as IPA where necessary. Forward slashes (//) are used to represent phonemes—as is customary in linguistics, but here we do this with our own transcription symbols as well as with IPA symbols—and angled brackets (< >) are used to represent graphemes.

1 This is not to denigrate Khan (2008) or Kar (2010), but their works focus on particular aspects of Bangla phonology. 2 Granted, Radice’s goal is not to offer rigorous linguistic description, but to instruct a lay-audience on Bangla pronunciation. 14 | Phonology and Orthography

3.2 Bangla phonemes

3.2.1 Vowels

The vowel chart in Table 3.1 shows the Bangla vowels, oral and nasal.

i u ĩ ũ

e o ẽ õ

æ ɔ æ̃ ɔ̃

a ã

Table 3.1: Bangla vowels

As can be seen in the chart, all seven vowels have a nasal counterpart. Nasalization does not carry a heavy functional load in Bangla: oral vowels occur far more frequently than nasal ones, which in addition are mostly restricted to initial syllables; that is, prosodically prominent ones (see Section 3.3.2). There is no oral-nasal contrast next to nasal consonants, as all vowels are phonetically nasalized in that position (Dasgupta 2003). Bangla vowels do not have phonemic length. The reflexes—that is, descendants— of the Indo-Aryan short-long pairs /i, iː/ and /u, uː/ have merged, while the reflex of the short member of the Indo-Aryan pair /a, aː/ has rounded to /ɔ/ ∼ /o/, thus obscuring the original length distinction between the two. This merger is common to the Māgadhī sub-family of Indo-Aryan (Section 2.2). Bangla orthography does not reflect these changes, as is discussed in Section 3.4.2.1. The low-high distinction among mid vowels (both /e æ/ and /o ɔ/) is one of the innovations shared by Bangla and Asamiya that separates them from Oriya. Some Bang- ladeshi dialects do not distinguish between /æ/ and /e/. Diphthongs are an unfinished topic in Bangla phonological research. A comprehensive account, underpinned by phonetic and phonological experimentation, remains to be done. What follows is a summary of what has already been said about diphthongs and glides in Bangla. Masica (1991, 116) remarks of the Indo-Aryan family that “the Eastern languages have the greatest number of true diphthongs (as well as disyllabic vowel sequences)”. The diphthongs /oi̯/ and /ou̯/ are the ones most often listed in phoneme inventories— probably under the influence of Bangla orthography, which bestows on them acon- Bangla phonemes | 15 creteness by granting them unique representation in the script.³ But no agreement exists on Bangla’s diphthong inventory. Most authors name many more than two, including Ferguson and Chowdhury (1960, 42), with 17; Hai (1975), cited by Kar (2010, 19), with 31; Sarkar (1985), also cited by Kar (2010, 17), with 17; Chatterji (1986), in Kar (2010, 18), with 25; Dasgupta (2003, 356), with 18; and Thompson (2010, 27), with 25. The question of “true” diphthongs versus disyllabic vowel sequences, that is, of whether a given pair of adjacent vowels consists of vowel+offglide (VV̯) or vowel-hiatus-vowel (VV), along with the potential of an intervening glide (VV̯V)—sometimes optional, sometimes obligatory—has not been fully explored for Bangla. Most authors do not make these distinctions, and Thompson (2010, 27) is explicit that she is “disregarding the fact that some of these combinations produce one syllable, others produce two.” Sarkar, Kar, Ferguson and Chowdhury, and Dasgupta, however, all draw a clear distinction between VV̯ and VV sequences. Dasgupta (2003, 357) acknowledges the interference of orthography when he remarks that “[c]rucial contrasts that the orthography con- ceals distinguish diphthongs...from sequences with an optional semivowel buffer....” An accurate and thorough description will have to consider syllabicity and distinguish between a true diphthong (VV̯) and a VV sequence. Both Dasgupta (2003, 356–357) and Ferguson and Chowdhury (1960, 39–42) assert the existence of two mid glides, /e̯/ and /o̯/, in addition to the two high glides /y/ and /w/, or /i̯/ and /u̯/. Their claim for a high/mid contrast among front glides and for a syllabic/non-syllabic contrast between these glides and their vowel counterparts is sound: they provide the following data as evidence: জা /ja/ ‘sister-in-law’ যাই /ja/ ‘go.IMP’ জাই /ja-i/ ‘sister-in-law-EMPH’ যাই /ja-i̯/ ‘I/we go [go-PRS-1]’ যায় /ja-e̯/ ‘he/she goes [go-PRS-3.NHON]’ জাও /ja-o/ ‘sister-in-law-INCL’ যাও /ja-o̯/ ‘you go [go-PRS-2.FAM]’ They admit, however, that “[e]xamples of a final contrast u-u̯ are rare” and do not provide one. Table 3.2 is adapted from a table in Ferguson and Chowdhury (1960, 42) and includes all the VV̯ and VV combinations listed by Ferguson and Chowdhury and Das- gupta (2003, 357). In neither paper do the authors claim to have listed all the possible diphthongs and VV sequences in Bangla, so the chart may not be comprehensive. A blank cell means they did not have anything to say about the existence of the vowel combination; a dash in the cell means Ferguson and Chowdhury assert probable non-existence of that combination. There are 18 diphthongs listed here altogether, in

3 Another influence comes via Sanskrit, which likewise has Devanagari symbols for the historical analogs of those two diphthongs. 16 | Phonology and Orthography columns 3, 5, 6, and 8. They come from the analyses of Ferguson and Chowdhury and Dasgupta; our study lacks the scope to definitively comment on their claims overall.

i i̯ e e̯ u̯ o o̯

a ai ai̯ ae ae̯ au̯ ao̯

æ æe̯ æo æo̯

ɔ ɔe ɔe̯ ɔo̯

e ei ei̯ ee ee̯ eu̯ eo ―

o oi oi̯ oe oe̯ ou̯ oo oo̯

i ii ii̯ ie ― iu̯ io ―

u ui ui̯ ue ― ― uo ―

Table 3.2: Representative Final VV̯ and -VV Sequences

Unfortunately, Dasgupta’s coverage of diphthongs is brief and dense, as is that of Kar (2010); while the description in Ferguson and Chowdhury, though longer, is not long enough and was written over fifty years ago. Furthermore, none of them offer experimental data, and little phonological evidence. Bangla diphthongs remain a fruitful area for further investigation, especially given their large inventory.

3.2.2 Consonants

As shown in Table 3.3, Standard Bangla has 31–37 consonants, depending on how one counts. With 16 stops and four affricates spanning five places of articulation, Bangla is obstruent-heavy, except in the area of fricatives . Four of the seven fricatives in the table—/v/, /s/, /z/, and /ʒ/—exist only in loanwords or in certain, more educated varieties of the standard language; hence the parentheses. But language contact may well be in the process of changing this phonemic picture of Bangla. As many as fifty-five years ago, in fact, Ferguson and Chowdhury (1960, 34–35) were assigning phonemic status to /s/ for some varieties of Bangla, due to fully assimilated English loanwords such as cinema, and that list of assimilated loans has only grown: many dialects have lexical items such asবাস /bas/ ‘bus’ orসাইেকল /saikel/ ‘bicycle’. They also show that Bangla phonemes | 17 many speakers (all of those in their study, in fact) had isolated but phonemic instances of /s/ in “purely Bengali material”; that is, in non-borrowings. The nasal consonants once had five places of articulation as well, but three of the five original nasal consonants of pre-Bangla have undergone a merger: the palatal, retroflex, and dental nasals all merged to a dental. The dental /n/ has palataland retroflex allophones before palatal and retroflex stops. Similarly, the three voiceless sibilants—originally a palatal, a retroflex, and a dental— have merged to a palatal /ʃ/, with a dental allophone [s] before dental consonants. Note that some Bangladeshi dialects have /s/ rather than /ʃ/ as their sibilant. This sibilant merger is another change common to the three members of the Māgadhī group, although Asamiya has the velar fricative /x/ instead of /ʃ/. Both Ferguson and Chowdhury (1960, 33) and Dasgupta (2003, 359) address the question of the independence of /ḍ/ and /ṛ/, as most of the time, the two are in complementary distribution: /ḍ/ occurs initially, as a geminate, and in certain clusters such as /nd/̣; while /ṛ/ occurs in final position, intervocalically, and in certain other clusters, such as /mṛ/. But they do contrast in several words, including their respective letter names ড /ḍɔ/ and ড় /ṛɔ/; as well as the words কানাডা /kanaḍa/ ‘Canada’ versus কানাড়া /kanaṛa/ ‘Kannada [language]; [name of a] raga’ andরিডও /reḍio/ ‘radio’ versus রিড়ও /reṛio/ ‘even castor [castor-INCL]’⁴ and a number of others. Most minimal pairs include an English loanword in which English /d/ has been adapted as Bangla /ḍ/, so it appears that language contact may have helped revitalize a fading contrast. In eastern dialects, /ṛ/ merges with /r/. Words with the consonant /ɖʰ/ are quite rare. As for /pʰ/, this phoneme presents a complicated descriptive situation. First, only some dialects have retained the phoneme /pʰ/ at all: most of them, including DCB, have /f/ in words where /pʰ/ historically oc- curred, as well as in loanwords where /f/ would once have been nativized with /pʰ/; for example, ফান /fon/ ‘telephone’. (The phoneme /f/ has entered the language through borrowing, possibly contributing to this loss of /pʰ/ in many Bangla dialects.) Nev- ertheless, /pʰ/ is still usually reported as a phoneme of Bangla in general, and similarly, is the most common Romanization of the corresponding Bangla letter . The phoneme /pʰ/ does occur in educated Kolkata Bangla (although so does /ɸ/ in its place) and this fact is probably the reason that /pʰ/ is so commonly included in contemporary phoneme inventories. // is also reported for some dialects. In addition, reflexes of original, Indo-Aryan /pʰ/ are not very common in Bangla, although there are a few common lexemes with it—ফল /fɔl/ ‘fruit’ and ফলা /fæla/ ‘to throw’, for example. Nowadays therefore, most instances of /pʰ/, /ɸ/, or /f/ that one hears occur in loanwords. Since we are trying to be less prescriptive, and to more accurately document the language of speakers more broadly, we transcribe the letter —traditionally

4 Although Dasgupta calls his Canada-Kannada example “somewhat far-fetched”, he nevertheless maintains it is “surely decisive”. 18 | Phonology and Orthography represented as —as , as can be seen in Table 3.5, our transcription chart. Length is contrastive among consonants.

Palato- Labial Dental Retroflex Velar Glottal alveolar

Stops

Unaspirated p b t̪ d̪ ʈ ɖ k g

Aspirated (pʰ) bʰ t̪ʰ d̪ʰ ʈʰ ɖʰ kʰ gʰ

Affricates

Unaspirated tʃ dʒ

Aspirated tʃʰ dʒʰ

Fricatives f (v) (s z) ʃ (ʒ) h

Nasals m n ŋ

Laterals l

Flaps ɾ ɽ

w j Glides (o̯) e̯

Table 3.3: Bangla consonants

3.3 Other phonology

3.3.1 Phonotactics

3.3.1.1 Vowels The most salient characteristic of Bangla vowel behavior is a particular instability in the height of non-high vowels, especially the mid vowels, and especially as the result of assimilation. Bangla vowels exhibit both kinds of assimilation, progressive (left-to- right) and regressive (right-to-left), or anticipatory, with the latter being much more common. Details on the mutable quality of the mid vowels /e æ o ɔ/ take up most of this Other phonology | 19 section, but in Section 3.3.1.1.3 we also describe anticipatory assimilation of the low vowel /a/. We start, however, with another vowel alternation—height neutralization of mid vowels in unstressed position.

3.3.1.1.1 Occurrence constraints and height neutralization The vowel /æ/ generally occurs only in initial—that is, prosodically prominent—syllables (Dasgupta 2003); for example,এক /æk/ ‘one’, butঅেনক /ɔnek/ ‘much’, (from the privative prefixঅন- /ɔ(n)-/). It is occasionally heard word-finally in what are perceived as “learned words or in bookish pronunciation of colloquial words ending in /-e/” (Fer- guson and Chowdhury 1960, 37). In KCB and other western dialects, the vowel /ɔ/, too, is mostly restricted to initial syllables, and does not occur at all word-finally, except in monosyllabic words; for example,শ /śɔ/ ‘hundred’ and হন /hɔn/ ‘you (HON) are’. This constraint gives pairs such asশ /śɔ/ ‘hundred’ versusএকশ /ækśo/ ‘one hundred’, andমল /mɔl/ ‘dirt’ versus অমল /ɔmol/ ‘free from dirt’. But /ɔ/ is more common in final syllables in DCB, where one does hear, for example,একশ /ækśɔ/ ‘one hundred’. These occurrence restrictions on /æ/ and /ɔ/ can be characterized as the result of height neutralization in unstressed syllables. In other words, low mid vowels tend to be restricted to syllabically prominent positions, at least in the western dialects. The absence of final /æ/ even in monosyllabic words is probably a consequence of itsrela- tive rarity as a phoneme in the language.⁵ As mentioned above, nasalized vowels are also almost entirely restricted to initial syllables.

3.3.1.1.2 Anticipatory assimilation Much more noteworthy than height neutralization in the Bangla vowel system is the tendency of mid vowels towards assimilatory raising. Vowel height assimilation has operated as a historical process tied to changes in the language over time, and also still exists as a productive, synchronic process. The process raises the mid vowels /e æ o ɔ/ one step, to /i e u o/ respectively, when the subsequent syllable contains a high vowel. It is important at the outset of a discussion on Bangla vowel assimilation to clarify some critical distinctions in both terminology and the actual processes. First, regarding processes: diachronic and synchronic vowel assimilation differ qualitatively, as Masica (1991, 208) reminds us. Diachronic processes are historical changes that occur in the structure and rules of a language over the long term, resulting in a permanently different structure to that language; while synchronic processes involve the applica-

5 According to Chatterji (1926, 410), /æ/ is a fairly recent addition to the phoneme inventory, having only arisen in the language towards the end of the Middle Bangla period, at the earliest. 20 | Phonology and Orthography tion of currently productive rules to particular forms during the production of those forms. Masica observes that ”both [diachronic and synchronic vowel assimilation] are significantly present [emphasis his]” in Bangla vowel alternation. We see diachrony in many of the vowel alternations in Bangla verb paradigms (Section 9.2), the result of completed sound changes; for example, in the forms of the verbকনা /kena/ ‘to buy’:

• Present tense; no alternation: কেনা /ken-Ø-o/ ‘buy-PRS-2.FAM’

• Future tense; alternation: িকনেব /kin-b-e/ ‘buy-FUT-2.FAM’

In this case, the Bangla future suffix used -ইব-to be /-ib-/; it is now-ব /-b-/ due to syncope (loss) of the vowelই /i/. Previously, a synchronic, phonological process of anticipatory vowel assimilation raised a low or mid vowel before the suffixal high vowel. This rule lost its conditioning environment when the /i/ deleted, and as a result, became fossilized in the language as a morphophonemic alternation. The new future marker for Bangla verbs is now the suffix /-b-/ plus vowel raising, when applicable. In a diachronic scenario such as this one, umlaut is the term given to both the changes in the vowels of the affected lexemes and the morphophonemic process of vowel alternation that the change has engendered. Vowel raising in the verbal system is complex. In addition to now-opaque, morphologically conditioned raising, there are instances among the verbs where the phonological conditioning environment has remained. In those cases, however, we would still regard the rule as morphophonemic rather than phonological, for a couple of reasons—first, its application is morphologically conditioned—it operates absolutely only on verbs—and second, it acts in tandem with the umlaut of the verbal system. In the words of Anttila (1989, 117), “synchrony repeats history directly” in the vowel raising of the Bangla verbal system. Outside of the verbal system, vowel raising is a purely phonological process, in which the conditioning environment remains transparent, as can be seen in 3.1 through 3.6, which illustrate anticipatory raising. Dasgupta (2003, 357) calls this the “normal or dominant” pattern. As 3.1 through 3.4 show, Bangla orthography does not reflect the raising of /ɔ/ to /o/.

(3.1) নট nɔṭ actor-Ø ‘actor’ Other phonology | 21

(3.2) নটী noṭ-i actor-FEM ‘actress’

(3.3) একচিশ æk-cɔlliś one-forty ‘41’

(3.4) য়িশ põi-triś (> pɔ̃e + triś) five-thirty ‘35’ Notice that both vowels of the first elementয়িশ in /põi-triś/ ‘35’ above undergo raising: first /e/ goes to /i/, which then triggers /ɔ̃/ to raise to /õ/. Raising is not obligatory, as it is in verbs, except with low mid vowels. Compare the reduplicating form in 3.5, where the high mid vowel /e/ fails to raise before /i/ in the second component, with that in 3.6, where /æ̃/ must raise:

(3.5) লখািলিখ lekha-lekhi write-REDUP ‘writing back and forth’

(3.6) ষা-িষ ghæ̃śa-ghẽśi approach-REDUP ‘rubbing shoulders with each other’ Application of raising among forms other than verbs varies with both dialect and register; in particular, vowel raising cannot occur in Shadhu writing, but in many cases, may be either present or absent in colloquial speech and writing, so that many lexemes have two forms, one with and one without raising. Using the latter form gives one’s language a more formal feel. Vowel raising does not apply to English loanwords. A second important clarification when discussing Bangla vowel assimilation con- cerns terminology. Bangla vowel raising has been variously referred to as metaphony, vowel raising, vowel harmony, and vowel (height) assimilation. Metaphony is a problematic term within linguistics because there is not enough agreement on what it covers; for example, it often obscures the synchronic-diachronic distinction we make above. And since the vowel alternations are due to an articulatory process, not a categorical 22 | Phonology and Orthography constraint, we avoid the term vowel harmony. We prefer either vowel raising or vowel (height) assimilation, as they are more generally applicable and also theory-neutral.

3.3.1.1.3 Progressive assimilation Another Bangla vowel alternation that receives less mention in most descriptions is right-to-left assimilation, which, unlike the anticipatory kind, affects the lowvowel /a/. Dasgupta (2003, 358) refers to it as the “counter-normal pattern”, and says of it, “like the normal pattern, [it is] omnipotent in the conjugation and a lexical choice- ridden set of tendencies outside it.” Unlike anticipatory assimilation, however, this alternation affects the vowel /a/, changing it—in non-verbs—to /e/ following asylla- ble with /i/ and to /o/ following a syllable with /u/. Examples 3.7 through 3.10 from Dasgupta’s discussion show adjectives that are etymologically /a/-final. But compare the final vowels in 3.7 and 3.8, which have low vowels in the preceding syllable, to those of 3.9 and 3.10, whose preceding syllable contains a high vowel:

(3.7) পাকা paka ‘ripe’

(3.8) ভাঙা bhaŋa ‘broken’

(3.9) িভেজ bhije ‘wet’

(3.10) েলা bhulo ‘forgetful’ Among verbs with a high vowel in the syllable preceding the verbal noun suffix -আন /-ano/, the suffix is expressed as /ono/. In contrast with the pattern described above for non-verbs, /a/ is always raised to /o/—never to /e/—regardless of the back- ness of the conditioning vowel:

(3.11) িচবান / িচেবান cibano/cibono ‘to chew’ Other phonology | 23

(3.12) দৗড়ান / দৗেড়ান douṛano/douṛono ‘to run’ Dasgupta does not raise the subject of productivity, so it is not clear whether this is a morphophonemic alternation or a still-productive process.

3.3.1.1.4 Sanskritic vowel mutation The effects of an entirely defunct process of vowel alternations can be seen among Bangla vowels in Sanskrit-derived vowel mutations. They originated in the old Indo- European vowel gradations known as ablaut, which is unrelated to Bangla vowel assimilation. A few remnants of it can be seen in derivational forms, as with the pair below. See Section 7.2.3 for a description.

(3.13) িবান biggæn ‘science’

(3.14) বািনক boiggænik ‘scientific’

3.3.1.2 Consonants The following consonants cannot occur word-initially: /ŋ/, /ɽ/, and /ɖʰ/; as well as /w/, /j/, /o̯/, and /e̯/ (in other words, the entire class of glides). The consonants /ŋ/, /ɾ/, /ɽ/, and /h/ do not occur as geminates. The phoneme /h/ does not occur word-finally except in very careful speech and in certain interjections. The aspirated consonants occur orthographically in final position, but the contrast with unaspirated consonants greatly reduced, almost non-existent (Ferguson and Chowdhury 1960). Medial consonant clusters are very common and can be of almost any combination. Word-initial consonant clusters are less common, but do occur, in the following forms:

1. CC: dental stop + /l̪/ or /ɾ/ For example, /tɾ/

2. CC: /ʃ/ + dental stop or dental liquid (/l̪/ or /ɾ/); in this position, /ʃ/ = [s] For example, /ʃɾ/ (= [sɾ])

3. CCC: /ʃ/ + stop + /l̪/ or /ɾ/; in this position, /ʃ/ = [s] For example, /ʃtɾ/ (= [stɾ]) 24 | Phonology and Orthography

Final clusters are exceedingly rare and are heard only in loanwords by educated speakers.

3.3.1.3 Syllable structure Kar (2010, 24), citing Sarkar (1986), gives sixteen possible syllable structures for Bangla, which he lists in descending order of frequency, seen below. Thompson (2010, 40) gives only nine, indicated in Kar’s list by boldface font. Her schema includes glides (represented by <ŷ>) as a separate category from vowels or consonants; in illustrating the intersection between her list and Kar’s, I have interpreted Thompson’s glides as representing either vowels or consonants, since she does not distinguish between syllabicity and non-syllabicity in V-V sequences (Thompson 2010, 27). CV CVC V VC VV CVV CCV CCVC CVVC CCVV CCVVC CVCC CCCV CCCVC VVC CCCVV

3.3.2 Prosody

Bangla is a stress-accent language. Stress is not phonemic: all Bangla words have initial stress—a rule Hayes and Lahiri (1991, 55) call “inviolable”. It also has a phonologically assigned phrasal stress pattern, which assigns stress to the left-most non-clitic word in the phrase. People sometimes refer to the Bangla’s phrasal stress as a pitch accent. Several recent papers⁶ have looked at intonational stress patterns in Bangla and their interaction with focus and boundary-marking, but more work remains to be done on this topic.

6 Hayes and Lahiri (1991) and Khan (2007), among others. Romanized transcription and Bangla orthography | 25

Bangla has no tones.

3.4 Romanized transcription and Bangla orthography

3.4.1 Introduction: our transcription system

Although Bangla orthography is for the most part consistent, the complexity of the rules and their significant departure from other Indic conventions, combined with some unpredictability and the issue of the inherent vowel, make correct pronunciation difficult for the non-native speaker. In previous treatments, the usual two options for transcription into a Roman script have been: 1. A letter-for-letter transliteration (with the exception that the inherent vowel— not explicitly represented in the Bangla—is also assigned a Roman symbol) One advantage of this approach is that it helps preserve Bangla orthography in readers’ minds, which is especially useful for pedagogical purposes. Another is that it keeps morphological (and historical) relationships between forms transparent.⁷ The disadvantage of one-to-one transliteration between the Bangla and Roman scripts is that it presents a steep learning curve for most readers, since only those already acquainted with Bangla know how to pronounce the words at first sight. Further, in many of these transliteration schemas, the choices of which Roman letters to use are influenced by the Romanization of Sanskrit to the point of obscuring the actual Bangla; for example, the use of to represent the inherent vowel, actually realized in speech as /ɔ/ or /o/.

2. A phonemic transcription that ignores Bangla orthography. (A phonemic, or broad, transcription offers a one-to-one correspondence between symbol and sound that is frequently lacking in most languages’ orthographies, although it does not represent the pronunciation in all its fine detail, as a phonetic, or narrow, transcription does.) The advantage is that readers know immediately how to pronounce the word. The disadvantages are that readers do not know from the transcriptions how to spell the words in Bangla, and moreover, some morphological relationships may be obscured. Since our goal is to produce a resource that can be referred to quickly and effi- ciently, rather than a teaching tool, our transcription is for the most part phonemic.

7 William Radice puts a modified transliteration schema to good use in the first section ofhis Teach Yourself Bangla. With his method, students begin to internalize the rules of pronunciation before they even know the script (Radice 2003). 26 | Phonology and Orthography

In one case, however, we have chosen to give a narrower transcription to aid pronunciation. Although the ɔ/o distinction is neutralized before high vowels—i.e., the realization of the inherent vowel when followed by a high vowel is predictably [o]—we have chosen to transcribe it phonetically, and we therefore use in those instances. (See Section 3.4.2.3). Our consistent representation of Bangla words in both the Bangla script and in transcription mitigates the problem of the phonemic transcription’s sometimes marked deviation from Bangla orthography. In addition, we have elected to follow Indological academic tradition—as exemplified by the International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration—rather than IPA standard linguistic practice, in some of our transcription choices, so as to remain in line as much as possible with previous descriptions of Bangla. Thus we use underdots to denote retroflexion, for the palatal glide, and for the palato-alveolar consonants /tʃ/ and /ʤ/, and a normal rather than a superscript as the second element in aspirated consonants. We feel our conservatism in sticking with these traditional representations balances our decision to modernize Bangla transcription through more phonetically accurate practices such as Romanizing the inherent vowel with mid vowels.

3.4.2 Orthography of Bangla vowels

3.4.2.1 Vowel length in the orthography As mentioned in Section 3.2.1, vowel length as a distinctive feature has been lost in Bangla. However, the conservative orthography retains a remnant of the distinction in the three vowel grapheme pairsই /ঈ ; উ/ ঊ; and অ/ আ. Strict transliteration schemes, as well as more conservatively-minded Romanizations, will still render these respectively as , <ī>; , <ū>; and , <ā>. With respect to the first two pairs, sounds that were once long and short versions of /i/ and /u/ have merged to /i/ and /u/; as for the two vowels represented by the third pair, the length distinction has given way to a distinction in quality. Since the first two differences have no connection to pronunciation, our transcription does not represent them but Romanizes bothই and ঈ as and both উ and ঊ as . With the third pair, we use <ɔ> or forঅ (see Section 3.4.2.3) and forআ .

3.4.2.2 Vowel letters and vowel diacritics As mentioned above in Section 2.4, every vowel grapheme has two different forms, or allographs: a vowel letter and a vowel diacritic. Vowel letters occur at the beginnings of all vowel-initial words, as in আ /alu/ ‘potato’ and also word-internally after another vowel, as in কউ /keu/ ‘someone’, as well as after a consonant when that consonant represents C+inherent vowel. An example of the latter is the wordকই /koi/ ‘where?’ Romanized transcription and Bangla orthography | 27 written with the vowel letter ই ; this may be compared with the wordিক /ki/ ‘what?’ written with the corresponding vowel diacritic ি◌ . The dashed circle in the previous sentence indicates that the symbol it accompa- nies is in fact a diacritic; that is, a symbol that cannot occur alone. The circle’s position shows where the host symbol would be placed in relation to the diacritic. Bangla orthography generally uses vowel diacritics to represent vowel-initial suffixes, unless a vowel-initial suffix attaches to a vowel-final stem,কাথাও asin /kotha-o/ ‘somewhere [where-INCL]’. In general, only the graphemesই ,উ , and ও do this—that is,—occur non-initially, although there can be exceptions, especially with borrowed words; for example, অ <ɔ> andআ are seen non-initially in some Arabic and Per- sian borrowings, as inকারআন /koran/ ‘Quran’. Vowel diacritics are used only word-internally, after a consonant, to represent a segment string of CV. When mentioning a suffix in citation form, Bangla orthograpic practice follows the Indic grammatical convention of using the vowel letters; for example, the genitive suffix would be cited-এর as /-er/, with the vowel letter, not its diacritic. The distinction between the two types of vowel allographs is preserved by one-to-one transliteration systems, but not by phonemic transcriptions such as ours.

3.4.2.3 The vowel letter অ and the inherent vowel Due to sound changes and a conservative orthography, Bangla spelling does not always distinguish the phonemes /o/ and /ɔ/. Although the Bangla alphabet does have the letter ও and its diacritic ◌াto represent some instances of /o/, the vowel letterঅ , used at the beginnings of words, and its null non-initial counterpart (the inherent vowel mentioned above in Section 2.4 and Section 3.4.1) are often used to represent both /ɔ/ and/o/. We see an example of a minimal pair inকের /kore/ ‘having done’ versus কের /kɔre/ ‘(he/she) does’. This ambiguity can cause difficulty for non-native speakers when reading the language. Although the spelling is not always a guide to which pronunciation of the inherent vowel is appropriate, there are some rules and tendencies that can often help:

1. Due to Bangla Vowel Raising (Section 3.3.1.1.2), /o/ and /ɔ/ are neutralized to /o/ when the vowel in the next syllable is high, as inনদী /nodi/ ‘river’. Because this is a phonological rule, this neutralization always holds, except in initial syllables. See (5) below for more on this exception.

2. Word-initially, the vowel is almost always pronounced [ɔ], unless (a) there is a following high vowel, and (b) the initial vowel is not the privative morphemeঅ /ɔ/ ‘not, un-’; e.g., অনীকা /onika/ ‘Onika [proper name]’, in which case the Vowel Raising rule applies. There are a few lexical exceptions to this initial- syllable neutralization to /ɔ/ that are predictable from the orthography. (See the last item of this list.) 28 | Phonology and Orthography

3. When a word contains two or more instances of these vowels, the sequence ɔ...o is much more likely than o...ɔ; e.g.,শহর is pronounced /śɔhor/ , not */śohɔr/.

4. The vowel /ɔ/ does not occur word-finally in KCB except in monosyllabic words (see Section 3.3.1.1.1). A handful of exceptions to this exist: the final vowel in the word হযবরল /hɔyɔbɔrɔlɔ/ ‘all out of order, mixed up’—a word that literally consists of the names of several letters of the Bangla alphabet recited out of order—and the second person informal present imperative of class 3 verbs with an ɔ-stem (see Section 9.3.2).⁸

5. In words spelled with an inherent vowel in the first syllable and a yɔ-phola (see below under Section 3.4.3.4) in the next, the first vowel represents an /o/; e.g., অ /onno/ ‘other’. This latter spelling reflects a time before the sound change Cj > CC, when the high glide /j/ conditioned raising of the vowel that preceded the nasal. This is a feature of certain lexemes, resulting from a previous sound change, not a synchronic phonological rule. It is a quirk of Bangla’s conservative spelling that this tendency can be expressed as an orthographic rule, similar to the way we are taught in English that silent “makes” a preceding vowel “long.” An exception to this orthographic rule occurs for the negative prefixঅ- , which is always pronounced /ɔ/, as in অিবা /ɔbidda/ ‘ignorance’; in other words, the old phonological rule appears not to have acted across derivational morpheme boundaries.

Some important points about Bangla spelling in connection with the inherent vowel:

• Many Bangla words that end in /o/ have variant spellings: either (1) with the inherent vowel or (2) with the regular vowel diacritic for /o/,◌া ; e.g.,ভাল ∼ ভােলা /bhalo/ ‘good’.

• Some writers will use an apostrophe in the alternating verb forms with /o/, as in ক’র /kore/ ‘having done’ versus কের /kɔre/ ‘(he/she) does’. The forms where this happens are imperfect participles (Section 9.5.2), conditional conjunctives (Section 9.5.3), second-person future imperatives (Section 9.3.6), and the perfect participles of অ-stems (Section 9.5.1).

• Many sources on Bangla, especially older ones, misleadingly transcribe the inherent vowel as , because of its etymological connection to the Sanskrit short /a/ (and probably also under the influence of Hindi). Our transcription aims to render pronunciation as transparently as possible, which is why we do not follow this convention. On the other hand, most Romanizations of Bangla proper nouns also do so,

8 Seely (2010), pc. Romanized transcription and Bangla orthography | 29

as, for example, in the name of the famous Bengali director,সতিজত রায় Satyajit Ray. The Romanization of his name actually illustrates three anachronisms in con- ventional Bangla transcription: ~~for /ʃ/,~~ for /o/ or /ɔ/, and Cy for CC. His first name is pronounced /ʃottoʤit/, not /satjʌʤit/,⁹ as most non-Bangla speaking West- erners would render it. We do retain these spelling conventions when using Bangla proper nouns in our English text.

• The consonant can be represented by a separate symbol when no inherent vowel follows it; it is called theখ ত /khɔnḍo tɔ/ ‘cut tɔ’, and looks like this:ৎ .; for example, হঠাৎ / hɔthat/ ‘suddenly’. This symbol is used when a word ends in /t/ or when /t/ precedes another consonant with which it does not form a conjunct.

3.4.2.4 The vowel letter এ and its diacritic ◌ Bangla orthography also fails to distinguish between the phonemes /æ/ and /e/, representing them both with the vowel letter এ or its diacritic◌ . Because these vowels are phonemically distinct—except in cases of neutralization resulting from raising—our transcription represents this difference even though the Bangla writing system does not. In certain words, the sound /æ/ can be also represented orthographically with the letter◌ , orয-ফলা /yɔ-fola/ (see Section 3.4.3.4).

~~3.4.3 Orthography of Bangla consonants~~

In the case of the consonants, even more so than the vowels, Bangla orthography does not reflect phonological changes. As a result, there are several rules that wouldmake a direct transliteration problematic for those unfamiliar with the script and its conventions. For example, retroflex nasals have merged with dental nasals, yet there is stilla separate retroflex nasal letter in the script. The following sections list this and other vagaries of Bangla consonants and describe how we address them in our transcriptions.

3.4.3.1 Nasals Because of the merger of three of the pre-Bangla nasals (Section 3.2.2), the graphemes , , and —historically standing for a palatal, a retroflex, and a dental nasal respectively— all represent a dental nasal in the modern script and are therefore all transcribed as /n/ in this grammar. The other two nasal consonants are /m/ and /◌ং /ŋ/.

~~9 Transcription here is in IPA. 30 | Phonology and Orthography~~

3.4.3.2 Sibilants A historical merger among the sibilants—palatal, retroflex, and dental—similar to that of the nasals, has likewise led to there being three graphemes for the single phoneme /ʃ/: , , and . Traditionally is Romanized as <ś> (to represent its originally palatal character), as <ṣ> (because formerly it represented a retroflex), and as . We represent all three with <ś> in our transcription, with the following exceptions. First, loanwords with /s/ are usually pronounced with [s] in the modern standard dialects, and so we represent them as such; for example,হাসপাতাল /haspatal/ ‘hospital’. Second, sibilants are realized phonetically as dental when they occur before dental consonants. Although this variation is conditioned and therefore not phonemic, we represent it in our transcription, both because /s/ is an emerging phoneme in the language and because contemporary convention falls overwhelmingly on this side as well. Only and actually occur in this position; the following comprise all the possible combinations:

~~• : represented as and realized as [sr]~~

~~• : represented as and realized as [st]~~

~~• : represented as and realized as [stʰ]~~

~~• : represented as and realized as [sn]~~

~~• : represented as and realized as [sl]~~

3.4.3.3 Consonant conjuncts Due to loss or assimilation of the second member of many consonant clusters, the conservative Bangla spelling system has conjunct consonants whose wholes do not always equal the sum of their parts. What were consonant clusters historically, but are now in speech either single consonants or geminates, are still represented by symbols comprised of their earlier constituent parts; furthermore, these conjuncts can represent different sounds depending on whether they are initial or medial. For example:

~~• , which would be transliterated as <śb>, actually represents /ʃ/ initially and /ʃʃ/ medially~~

~~• , which would be transliterated as , actually represents /kʰ/ initially and /kkʰ/ medially~~

~~The types of Bangla consonant conjuncts and our phonemic transcriptions of them are listed in Table 3.4. Romanized transcription and Bangla orthography | 31~~

~~Table 3.4: Transcription of consonant conjuncts~~

~~Conjunct or Phonemic conjunct Transliteration Examples transcription template~~

র jɔr C (initially) ‘fever’ C + Cb CC (medially) িব biśśɔ ‘universe’

Exceptions are + = represents mb; after a Comment: morpheme boundary or in a loanword represents /b/, as in উে udbeg ‘excitement’ or নর nɔmbor ‘number’.

~~িত śriti C (initially) ‘memory’ C + Cm CC (medially) উ unmɔtto ‘insane’~~

~~with optional nasalization of following V; also, a few exceptions exist: Comment: e.g., জ jɔnmo ‘birth’ and jugmo ‘joint; pair, couple’~~

~~কােমরা #C + ◌ + আ Cya Cæ kæmera ‘camera’~~

~~Comment: used for loanwords~~

~~জ #C + + V ◌ CyV CV jeśṭho (V ≠ আ a) ‘eldest, senior’~~

~~――-~~

~~থা bætha ‘pain’ #C + + C CyC CæC ◌ ি bækti ‘person’ [bekti]~~

~~Comment: V is raised before ই i 32 | Phonology and Orthography~~

~~Table 3.4: (continued)~~

~~Conjunct or Phonemic conjunct Transliteration Examples transcription template~~

~~ত bhritto C + ‘servant’ ◌ Cy CC (C ≠ ) জে jonne ‘for’~~

~~Comment: medial position only; preceding inherent vowel raised~~

~~অসহ + ◌ hy jjh ośojjho ‘unbearable’~~

~~Comment: medial position only~~

~~মতা khɔmota kh (initially) ‘power’ kś ্ kkh (medially) দ dokkho ‘skillful’~~

~~――-~~

~~ান gan ∼ gæn g (initially) ‘knowledge’ jñ ্ gg (medially) িবান biggæn ‘science’~~

~~with nasalization of following V and frequent raising of /a/ to /æ/, esp. Comment: in initial syllables~~

~~িচ ্ hn nn cinno ‘sign’~~

~~Comment: medial position only Romanized transcription and Bangla orthography | 33~~

~~Table 3.4: (continued)~~

~~Conjunct or Phonemic conjunct Transliteration Examples transcription template~~

~~অপরা ্ hṇ nn ɔpɔrahnɔ ‘afternoon’~~

~~Comment: medial position only~~

~~3.4.3.4 য/য়/◌ The reflex of the original grapheme for pre-Bangla /y/ has three allographs in modern written Bangla to accommodate sound changes. These allographs vary as to where they occur:~~

• য (called অঃ য /ɔntɔśtho jɔ/ ‘in-between jo’) occurs word-initially and represents the phoneme /ʤ/, which we transcribe in our system as a . Example: ব /jubo/ ‘young man’

~~• য় (called অঃ য় /ɔntɔśtho ɔ/ ‘in-between o’) occurs after vowel graphemes or a consonant with an inherent vowel:~~

1. medially (between vowels), where it can represent either /w/ (afterও ) or /j/ (elsewhere). It is also frequently realized phonetically as Ø in certain words as in the second example below: বািড়ওয়ািল /baṛiwali/ ‘landlady’ িবেয় /bi(y)e/ ‘marriage’ 2. word-finally, where it represents /e/ or /e̯/, we always transcribe it as .Af- ter the high vowel graphemesই/ঈ andউ/ঊ , it represents /o/ and we transcribe it as . নয় /nɔe/ ‘(it) is not’ অিময় /amio/ ‘a person’s name’

• ◌ (called য-ফলা /yɔ-fola/ ‘o-blade’) occurs after consonant letters. Most of the time, it does not represent a phoneme, but a change in the realization of other letters. The complicated rules for transcription of yo-phola were explicated in Table 3.4. It can occur in the following contexts: 34 | Phonology and Orthography

~~1. After an initial consonant grapheme 2. After a word-internal consonant grapheme 3. Between two consonant graphemes~~

3.4.3.5 ◌ঃ This symbol, known as theিবসগ /biśɔrgo/ ‘bishorgo’ (from the visarga of Sanskrit), is quite rare and occurs only at the ends of syllables. At the end of a monosyllabic word, it can be pronounced as a heavily aspirated /h/ in a high register, although for most speakers in most contexts it represents Ø. Before a single following consonant,◌ঃ indicates that the consonant is to be doubled. Our transcriptions represent the bishorgo as /ḥ/ in the former situation, but in the latter, we merely show the consonant as doubled. Examples of each case can be seen in the wordsবাঃ /baḥ/, an interjection of approval, and ঃখ /dukkho/ ‘sorrow’, the only two common words in regular spoken Bangla that contain the bishorgo. At the ends of polysyllabic words or before consonant clusters the bishorgo represents Ø; for example,নঃ /puno/ ‘again’ and অঃ /ɔntɔśtho/ ‘in between’. It is also used for abbreviations, as inিমঃ /mi(sṭar)/ ‘Mr’.

~~3.5 Our transcription system~~

The tables in this section illustrate our transcription of the Bangla script as compared to IPA transcription. Although consonant letters are generally understood as having an inherent vowel /ɔ/ after them (as seen in the column of letter names), for simplicity’s sake, we have not transcribed the vowel in our Romanization of consonants in the charts below. Table 3.5 shows the Bangla vowel letters, vowel diacritics, and consonants; our Ro- manization of them, their IPA equivalents, their names, and their Unicode codepoints. Vowel and other diacritics are depicted with a dashed circle indicating where the associated consonant would be in an actual transcription. Because the diacritic◌ৄ is only used for writing Sanskrit text in the Bangla script, we do not have a transcription for it. Its correlate in Sanskrit represents a long vocalic /l/. The order of letters in the table follows Bangla alphabetical order. Most of the items under the “Letter name” column do not include the Bangla spelling because it is identical to the letter itself. Our transcription system | 35

~~Table 3.5: Transcription of vowel letters and consonants~~

~~Our Unicode Bangla IPA Letter name transcription codepoint~~

~~চিব ◌ঁ ∼ ∼ 981 cɔndrɔbindu~~

~~অার ◌ং ŋ/m ŋ/m 982 onuśśar~~

~~See Section িবসগ ◌ঃ h 983 3.4.3.5 biśɔrgo~~

~~অ o/ɔ o/ɔ ɔ 985~~

~~আ a a a 986~~

~~◌ া a a a 9BE ই ই i i hrɔśśo i 987 ‘short i’~~

~~ই ি◌ i i hrɔśśo i 9BF ‘short i’~~

~~দীঘ ঈ ঈ i i dirgho i 988 ‘long i’~~

~~দীঘ ঈ ◌ ী i i dirgho i 9C0 ‘long i’~~

~~উ উ u u hrɔśśo u 989 ‘short u’~~

~~উ ◌ু u u hrɔśśo u 9C1 ‘short u’~~

~~দীঘ ঊ ঊ u u dirgho u 98A ‘long u’~~

~~দীঘ ঊ ◌ূ u u dirgho u 9C2 ‘long u’ 36 | Phonology and Orthography~~

~~Table 3.5: (continued)~~

~~Our Unicode Bangla IPA Letter name transcription codepoint~~

~~ঋ ri ri ri 98B~~

~~◌ৃ ri ri ri 9C3~~

~~ঌ li li li 98C~~

~~◌ৄ — — 9C4~~

~~এ e/æ e/æ e 98F~~

~~◌ e/æ e/æ e 9C7~~

~~ঐ oi oi oi 990~~

~~◌ oi oi oi 9C8~~

~~ও o o o 993~~

~~◌ া o o o 9CB~~

~~ঔ ou ou ou 994~~

~~◌ ৗ ou ou ou 9CC~~

~~ক k k kɔ 995~~

~~খ kh kʰ khɔ 996~~

~~গ g g gɔ 997~~

~~ঘ gh gʰ ghɔ 998 েয়া ঙ ŋ ŋ 999 ũwɔ~~

~~চ c ʧ cɔ 99A~~

~~ছ ch ʧʰ chɔ 99B বগয় জ জ j ʤ borgiyo jɔ 99C ‘stop jɔ’~~

~~ঝ jh ʤʰ jhɔ 99D Our transcription system | 37~~

~~Table 3.5: (continued)~~

~~Our Unicode Bangla IPA Letter name transcription codepoint~~

~~িনয় ঞ n n 99E niyo~~

~~ট ṭ ʈ ṭɔ 99F~~

~~ঠ ṭh ʈʰ ṭhɔ 9A0~~

~~ড ḍ ɖ ḍɔ 9A1~~

~~ঢ ḍh ɖʰ ḍhɔ 9A2 ধ ণ ণ n n murdhonno nɔ 9A3 ‘retroflex n’~~

~~ত t t tɔ 9A4 খ ত ৎ t t khɔnḍo tɔ 9CE ‘cut tɔ’~~

~~থ th tʰ thɔ 9A5~~

~~দ d d dɔ 9A6~~

~~ধ dh dʰ dhɔ 9A7 দীয় ন n n dontiyo nɔ 9A8 ‘dental n’~~

~~প p p pɔ 9AA~~

~~ফ f f fɔ 9AB~~

~~ব b b bɔ 9AC~~

~~ভ bh bʰ bhɔ 9AD~~

~~ম m m mɔ 9AE অ-য য j ʤ ɔntostho jɔ 9AF ‘in-between jɔ’ 38 | Phonology and Orthography~~

~~Table 3.5: (continued)~~

~~Our Unicode Bangla IPA Letter name transcription codepoint~~

~~র r r rɔ 9B0~~

~~ল l l lɔ 9B2 তাল শ শ ś ʃ talɔbbo śɔ 9B6 ‘palatal s’~~

~~ধ ষ ষ ś ʃ murdhonno śɔ 9B7 ‘retroflex s’~~

~~দ স স ś ʃ donto śɔ 9B8 ‘dental s’~~

~~হ h h ho 9B9~~

~~ড় ṛ ɽ ṛɔ 9DC~~

~~ঢ় ṛh ɽʰ ṛhɔ 9DD অ-য় য় y/e Ø/e ɔntostho ɔ 9DF ‘in-between ɔ’~~

~~ৠ ri ri 9EO~~

~~ৡ li li 9E1~~

~~◌ৢ li li 9E2~~

~~◌ৣ li li 9E3 Our transcription system | 39~~

~~Unicode Bangla Name codepoint~~

~~। DEVANAGARI DANDA 964~~

~~DEVANAGARI DOUBLE ॥ 965 DANDA~~

~~◌় BENGALI SIGN NUKTA 9BC~~

~~ঽ BENGALI SIGN AVAGRAHA 9BD~~

~~◌্ BENGALI SIGN VIRAMA 9CD~~

~~৺ BENGALI ISSHAR 9FA~~

~~ZERO WIDTH NON-JOINER 200C~~

~~ZERO WIDTH JOINER 200D~~

~~Table 3.6: Other Unicode symbols used in Bangla~~

~~4 Bangla as a South Asian Language~~

In 1956, Murray B. Emeneau’s seminal article, “India as a Linguistic Area”, addressed the issue of the “diffusion of linguistic traits across genetic boundaries.”¹ In it he set out the arguments for the concept of a linguistic area, or Sprachbund, in which sus- tained contact among unrelated or distantly related languages leads over the centuries to convergence of certain grammatical features. He bolstered his assertions with examples of the many shared features among three of the language families, or sub- groups of families, of the South Asian area—Indo-Aryan (a sub-group of the Indo- European family), Dravidian, and Munda (a sub-group of Austroasiatic). Subsequent work by other scholars has since added depth and breadth to Emeneau’s preliminary account, by including the broader Austroasiatic family, of which Mon-Khmer (along with Munda) is a sub-group with members in South Asia. This more recent work has also contributed more details on Munda and its relatives as information on those languages improved and proposed a fourth member of the Sprachbund, the Tibeto-Burman family. Masica (2005) also brings in the isolate Burushaski (spoken in Pakistan) and the Iranian language Pashto (spoken in Afghanistan and Pakistan) when relevant, both of which share some of these features as well. (See Masica (2005) and Subbārāo (2012), inter alia.) Here when possible we will add also the under-described Nuristani languages of Afghanistan and Pakistan, which comprise a branch of Indo-Iranian co- equal with Indo-Aryan and Iranian. It should be noted that in Masica’s substantial work on the South Asian linguistic area, his approach has been to focus on which shared linguistic characteristics are unique to the area and diagnostic specifically of what might be called “South Asian- ness.” In this vein, we would also like to distinguish among the different sorts of isoglosses— that is, the geographic boundaries of these various shared features—that are to be found in this area. First, there are South Asian isoglosses proper, whose boundaries coincide with those of South Asia; that is, isoglosses of those above-mentioned features shared uniquely by South Asian languages that distinguish them from neighboring languages. There are also isoglosses that some South Asian languages in one region might participate in but that merely overlap partially with South Asia and are part of a primarily external isogloss. And finally, there are also larger isoglosses of which the South Asian languages form a part but that extend beyond the South Asian Sprach- bund. This chapter looks more closely at Bangla with respect to both convergence and divergence of its features with those of the rest of the South Asian linguistic area. An entire book could be written on this subject alone; we are constrained by time and space and thus cannot include all of the features Bangla shares with its neighbors. Among those we have not included are relative clause structure, the marking of nouns

1 Emeneau (1956). 42 | Bangla as a South Asian Language for humanness, the formation of indefinite pronouns through addition of particles to interrogatives; and unfortunately, the use of special forms of non-finite verbsconjunc- ( tive participles) to conjoin clauses to the left of a finite main verb, a signature feature of South Asian languages, and very much present in Bangla through perfect participles (Section 10.5.1). Of the ways Bangla diverges from the South Asian norm that we wish to note but cannot discuss in detail are its loss of grammatical gender, lack of number in verbs, and the presence of negative verb forms, a feature it shares with, and most likely borrowed from, Dravidian languages. Note that for the sake of clarity while comparing Bangla to other South Asian languages, the sections in this chapter concerning phonology, like our chapter on phonology (Chapter 3), use IPA rather than our own Romanization system. In South Asian Typologies: A Syntactic Typology, Subbārāo (2012) sets his descriptive study of the Sprachbund in a principles and parameters framework, in contrast to the previous, mostly Greenbergian approach of implicational universals. Starting out, he raises the question of whether it is the thousands of years of contact and resulting multi-lingualism or rather the universals that fall out from the languages of this area being almost uniformly SOV languages that is more responsible for the convergence this chapter describes. He appears to come down on the side of both. We take no position on this here, but hope the data provided contribute to that ongoing discussion.

~~4.1 Typological convergence~~

~~4.1.1 Phonology~~

With its nasalized vowels, retroflex consonants, lack of tone, and both voice and aspiration distinctions among its many stops, Bangla is a phonologically typical South Asian language in many respects. However some sound changes do separate it (and the other Māgadhī languages) from both their Indo-Aryan cousins and the other members of the Sprachbund. For example, the consonant inventory looks in many ways very South Asian, while changes to the vowels have differentiated Bangla from other languages of the area. This section will highlight the aspects of Bangla phonology that it shares with other South Asian languages. Bangla typifies the South Asian area in its broad consonant inventory, particularly among obstruents, with five places of articulation. These articulatory contrasts include retroflexes contrasting with dentals, one of the most salient phonological characteristics of the area.² Retroflex consonants are found in all the Dravidian languages, every Indo-Aryan language except Asamiya, as well as most Munda languages, Tibetan, Pashto, all five Nuristani languages, and Burushaski. While it is generally agreed that

2 Interestingly, Bangla’s closest relative, Asamiya, has lost the retroflex contrast. Typological convergence | 43 retroflex consonants are original to the Dravidian languages and were introduced to the Indo-Aryan languages through contact, since proto-Indo-European clearly lacked them, the precise chronology and set of processes that led to their becoming a part of the Indo-Aryan inventory remain undetermined. The origins of their presence in the other language families under discussion is also not yet fully understood. While modern Munda languages have several retroflex obstruents (no nasals), scholars disagree on whether the proto-language had any, although there is consensus that the number was at least less than now. Anderson (2007, 15) suggests on “an asymmetrical stop inventory” for Proto-Munda, with a retroflex /ɖ/ for the voiced sound and /t/ forthe unvoiced. Kuiper (1967), on the other hand, calls them “the result of diffusion.” See Section 4.2.1 for the ways in which Bangla differs from other Indo-Aryan languages with regard to retroflex consonants. Bangla’s aspirated stops are a less certain marker of South Asianness. According to Masica (2005, 187), they are typical of both Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman languages, as well as of Burushaski, and to a lesser degree of Munda languages as well, but not of Dravidian languages. However, the Dravidian languages Naiki (Chanda) and Naikṛi both have a few words with aspirated stops—/gʰ/ and /dʰ/ in Naikṛi and /kʰ/ and /pʰ/ in Naiki—none of which are Indo-Aryan borrowings (Krishnamurti 2003, 131–132). In addition, educated varieties of Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu have aspirated stops in Indo-Aryan loanwords (Sridhar 1990, Jiang 2010, and Krishnamurti 1998)—albeit only in loanwords. They are also present in Brahui, although only phonetically, not contrastively. Likewise, nasalized vowels are not seen by Ramanujan and Masica (1969) as a shared feature of the Sprachbund, but rather as a “clear isogloss” that divides the northern plains from the southern peninsula, as well as from the northwest and north- east of the sub-continent. It is true however, that in colloquial Tamil, nasalized vowels are common word-finally and contrast with oral vowels in that position. But theyare in complementary distribution with V+NasalConsonant, so their phonemic status is doubtful. On the other hand, nasalized vowels are a prominent feature of the under- studied Nuristani languages in Afghanistan, a fact that undermines Masica and Ra- manujan’s assertion of a “clear” north-central plains isogloss.

~~4.1.2 Complex predicates~~

One of the most notable phenomena common to many South Asian languages is a type of complex predicate, often referred to as a light verb construction, or LVC (Butt 2003; Bowern 2008). A more theory-neutral term might be verb-terminal compounds. There are two types: one is composed of a Noun/Adjective+Verb (N-V) and the other of 44 | Bangla as a South Asian Language a Verb+Verb (V-V). These collocations are commonly called conjunct verbs³ and compound verbs respectively (Chatterji 1926; Hook 1991; Masica 1991; Subbārāo 2012, 22).⁴ Both types of collocation consist of two-word expressions that take a single subject and express one event. The second element of the compound is a verb belonging to a closed set. Exact membership in that verb set depends on the language, but there is extensive overlap between the languages. Complex predicates are a phenomenon to be found in many of the world’s languages, and as a class including both types, form an extensive East-West isogloss that spreads from at least the Middle East to East Asia. Outside of South Asia, for example, conjunct, but not compound, verbs are found in Turkish, Persian, and Japanese; while compound verbs are found in Korean and Chinese (Butt 2003). It is the fact that both types are found within the majority of South Asian languages that allows us to regard their joint presence as a specifically South Asian isogloss, not merely as part of a larger, super-isogloss defined by the presence of one or the other type of complex predicate.

4.1.2.1 Conjunct verbs A conjunct verb verbalizes a noun, adjective, or an onomatopoeic expression (see Sec- tion 4.1.4), generally using করা /kɔra/ ‘to do; make’ to form transitive verbs andহওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to be; become; happen’ to form intransitives. The noun in these collocations is often referred to as the complement, and the verb as either a light verb or a verbalizer:

~~• মরামত করা /meramɔt kɔra/ ‘to fix’; lit. ‘repair do’~~

~~• করা /prośno kɔra/ ‘to question’; lit. ‘question do’~~

~~• িপলিপল করা /pilopilo kɔra/ ‘to swarm’; lit. ‘pilopilo [IMIT] do’~~

~~• হওয়া /śuru hɔwa/ ‘to begin [intr.]’; lit. ‘beginning be/happen’~~

~~• য় হওয়া /bæe hɔwa/ ‘to be spent’; lit. ‘expenditure be/happen’~~

~~• বদল হওয়া /bɔdɔlɔ hɔwa/ ‘to change [intr.]; be altered’; lit. ‘alteration be/happen’~~

Examples of conjunct verbs in sentences can be seen in Section 10.3.3.1. This pattern of ‘do’ and ‘become’ as the most common verbal components of conjunct verbs is true across South Asia. Also true across the region is the fact that there are often transitive/intransitive pairs, with the same word in the complement slotand either ‘do’ or ‘become’ in the verbalizer slot, depending on valency. Bangla is no exception: the last two conjunct verbs in the above list, for example, have transitive counterparts usingকরা /kɔra/:

~~3 Dasgupta (2003) uses the term composite verb. 4 Some descriptions reserve the term LVC for compound verbs. Typological convergence | 45~~

~~• য় করা /bæe kɔra/ ‘to expend, spend’; lit. ‘expenditure do’~~

~~• বদল করা /bɔdɔlɔ kɔra/ ‘to change [tr.], alter’; lit. ‘alteration do’~~

~~Other verbalizers used in Bangla include, in order of most common to least:~~

~~• দওয়া /dæwa/ ‘to give’~~

~~• তালা /tola/ ‘to raise’~~

~~• কাটা /kaṭa/ ‘to cut, chop’~~

~~• পাওয়া /pawa/ ‘to get’~~

~~• খাওয়া /khawa/ ‘to eat’~~

~~• মারা /mara/ ‘to kill; strike; hit’~~

~~• ডাকা /ḍaka/ ‘to call’~~

~~• কষা /kośa/ ‘to tighten’~~

Similar constructions are seen throughout the Indo-Aryan languages, the Dravid- ian languages, the Nuristani languages, the Munda languages, Pashto, and Burushaski. We see ‘do/make’, ‘become,’ ‘give’ and ‘strike’ in conjunct verbs in the Dravidian languages, and ‘become’ in some Munda languages. The Nuristani languages also have conjunct verbs with ‘do’, ‘become’, ‘go’, ‘put’, and probably others, but to our knowledge no work has yet focused on conjunct verbs in that language family (Strand n.d.). In Pashto, speakers use the verbs for ‘do/make’, ‘become,’ ‘take’, ‘strike/beat’, ‘seize’ and ‘throw [away]’ (David 2014, 407–409); while Burushaski has ‘do’, ‘become,’ ‘hold’, ‘see’, and ‘come’ (Karim 2011). In all instances of conjunct verbs, the entire construction derives its semantics primarily from the complement, especially with the most common conjunct verbs—those with ‘do’ and ‘become’—while the verbalizer encodes grammatical categories such as person, number, gender, tense, aspect, and formality level. Conjunct verbs range from semantically transparent, with predictable meanings based on the meaning of the two parts (as in the examples so far), to opaque, where the meaning of the collocation is not predictable from the meaning of its parts, as can be seen in the following Bangla examples:

~~• হাত করা /hat kɔra/ ‘to appropriate’; lit. ‘hand do’~~

~~• হাত দওয়া /hat dæwa/ ‘to touch with one’s hand; to handle; to undertake; to intervene’; lit. ‘hand give’~~

~~• িকল খাওয়া /kilo khawa/ ‘to receive a blow; be buffeted’; lit. ‘fist eat’ 46 | Bangla as a South Asian Language~~

~~• রস মারা /rośo mara/ ‘to dry or dehydrate’; lit. ‘flavor strike’~~

~~• পেকট মারা /pɔkeṭ mara/ ‘to rob’; lit. ‘pocket strike’~~

Conjunct verbs are also used to borrow verbs from other languages, with the loanword filling the complement slot,অন as in করা /an kɔra/ ‘to turn on [a light, etc.]’ or ফান করা /fon kɔra/ ‘to telephone’, a common collocation across the sub-continent.⁵ As in the other South Asian languages that have them, conjunct verbs are a way of cre- ating new verbs in Bangla; in fact, they are the only means of acquiring new verbal forms in most if not all of these languages, as verbs are a closed class. Within Bangla, conjunct verbs withকরা /kɔra/ are much more common and productive than those withহওয়া /hɔwa/, at least partly because করা /kɔra/ is the verbalizer used with loanwords and onomatopoeic expressions. Furthermore, whileহওয়া /hɔwa/conjuncts are invariably intransitive, those withকরা /kɔra/are not always transitive; for example,ান করা /snan kɔra/ ‘to take a bath’. Aside from conjunct verbs with loanwords, conjunct verbs are in general less common in colloquial Bangla than in the higher, more formal registers, where they are extremely common, as reflected by the extensive inventory in the dictionary.

4.1.2.2 Compound verbs A compound verb is a sequence of two verbs, the first non-finite and the second finite, that “alternates,” in the words of Hook (2001, 101), with finite forms of the first verb by itself, “with little or no difference in meaning”. The second verb has also been referred to as the vector verb, explicator, operator, or just a light verb. In Bangla the first verb takes the form of a perfect participle and—in all languages with this construction, just as with conjunct verbs—contributes the semantics, while the vector verb is finite and bears the usual verbal inflectional morphology; for example,খেয় ফলা /khee fæla/ ‘to eat up’, which can alternate withখাওয়া /khawa/ ‘to eat’. However, with the addition of the vector verb, this conjunct form adds an extra semantic element—a sense of telicity. The vector verb thus modifies the meaning of the first verb, in often subtleways that documenters of these languages have struggled to capture in their descriptions. It is useful here to quote Masica (2005, 143), speaking of the South Asian compound verb construction in general: “it connotes completion, suddenness, directionality, benefac- tion, intensity, violence, stubbornness, reluctance, regret, forethought, thoroughness, etc., depending on the items involved and on the circumstances. As several writers (Hacker 1958; Katenina 1957) have pointed out, however, these can all be brought under one banner: greater specificationutochnenie ( ) of features of the action already la- tent in the main verb itself or those that are compatible with it but have not yet been specified.” In addition, as observed by Brugman2013 etal.( ), the vector verb may also

5 Cf. Tamil /pon paṇṇa/; Panjabi /ṭelifon karnā/; Dhivehi /fo:nu kurum/. Typological convergence | 47 contribute such elements as mirativity or speaker attitude. Section 10.3.2 treats Bangla compound verbs in more depth. Across the region, typical vector verbs are ‘go’, ‘come’, ‘give’, ‘take’, ‘rise’, ‘fall’, ‘throw’, ‘put’, and sit’, all verbs of motion or position, as Masica (2005, 142) observes. Note that there is also overlap with the verbalizers of conjunct verbs. Compound verbs are widespread in the other Indo-Aryan languages, as well as Dravidian. They are also found in some Tibeto-Burman, Munda, and Nuristani languages; for example, Nišei- alâ, a dialect of the Nuristani language Kalasa-alâ, has the constructions /grâ dũ/ ‘to carry away’, lit. ‘brought go’ and /grâ eũ/ ‘to carry towards’, lit. ‘brought come’ (Strand n.d.). They are not reported for Pashto, nor, as far as we can find, Burushaski.

~~4.1.3 Oblique case-marked subjects~~

The tendency in Bangla to mark subjects with other than the nominative case is another common South Asian feature (see Section 10.6). These oblique-marked or non- nominative subjects are often called dative subjects, as the dative is the case that is used in most languages—all of the Dravidian ones—but can also be called experiencer subjects because one of the main functions of this phenomenon is to express a physical, emotional, or mental experience of the subject; for example, an injury or illness, seeing, knowing, feeling, like or dislike, and so on. An oblique-marked subject can also be used in contrast with a nominative-marked subject, as in Bangla, to express degree of agentivity; and it can express possession as well—either alienable or inalienable— depending on the language and the case-marking of the subject. In these constructions, the subject does not agree with the verb; instead, either the other argument agrees with it, or the verb takes its default ending; for example third person (mascu- line) singular, as in Bangla, or third person neuter singular, as in Tamil. Subbārāo (2012) demonstrates that a good number of non-nominative subjects can be anaphoric antecedents. This feature is prominent in languages of both the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian families and is also seen in the Tibeto-Burman languages Kokborok, Bodo, and Manipuri, which are contiguous with Bangla and like it, use the genitive to mark experiencer subjects (Subbārāo 2012). Pashto also has experiencer subjects to express preference or sensation; it uses possessive pronouns or genitive phrases with the preposition /dǝ/ ‘of’ (David 2014, 457–460). Oblique-marked subjects are also found in some of the Munda languages (Abbi 1990).

~~4.1.4 Reduplication & onomatopoeia~~

Also common among South Asian languages is reduplication—of words, partial words (echo formations), and onomatopoeic expressions. Of the latter two, Masica (1991, 78– 48 | Bangla as a South Asian Language

81) says that they are found extensively in the Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Munda, and Mon-Khmer languages and are not of Indo-Aryan origin. Pashto has them as well, and they are also reported for Burushaski. Repetition of whole words as an intensifier is common in Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. Reduplication phenomena are much the same in the various languages; one of the variations is the quality of consonant used in the second half of echo formations. The different types of reduplication in Bangla are all discussed and exemplified further in Section 8.6.

~~4.1.5 Quotatives~~

The Bangla complementizerবেল /bol-e/ ‘lit. having said’ (Section 10.5.4), from the verb বলা /bɔl-a/ ‘to say’, is representative of another South Asian areal feature—the quotative complementizer derived from a verb of saying, also sometimes called SAY- complementizers. These words start off as indicators of direct quotes —often inthe form of a participle, as in Bangla—but by extension can become more generalized complementizers, introducing not just direct quotes, but indirect speech, embedded questions, indication of purpose or cause, or onomatopoeic expressions like the echo words discussed above. This is found widely in the Dravidian languages, as well as in Tibeto-Burman, Munda, and a few other Indo-Aryan languages, including Bangla’s nearest relatives Asamiya and Oriya, and also Nepali, Marathi, Dravidian-contiguous Dhakkini Urdu, and Konkani. Bashir (1996) has described this feature in Burushaski and other languages of the northwest, or as she calls it, the “Dardic” region of Pakistan; namely, the isolate Burushaski, the Tibeto-Burman language Balti, and the Indo-Aryan languages Kalasha, Khowar, Shina, Paḷuḷa, and Domaki. She remarks that these quotatives are not seen in “those [languages] of the plains areas,” such as Panjabi, [standard] Urdu and Hindi, Sindhi, the Iranian languages Pashto and Balochi, or the Dravidian language Brahui.

~~4.2 Typological divergence~~

~~This section discusses features of Bangla and its close relatives that either diverge completely from typically South Asian patterns or are part of a non-South Asian isogloss.~~

~~4.2.1 Phonology~~

The merger of the three Indo-Aryan sibilants in the Māgadhan languages is one of the innovations by which Bangla, Asamiya, and Oriya have been classified together and apart from the other Indo-Aryan languages. According to Chatterji (1926, 54–59), there Typological divergence | 49 was first a merger into a single dental sibilant, which was then followed by achange to a palatal /ʃ/. This innovation is thought to have taken place in the Prācya dialect, the forerunner of Māgadhī Apabhraṃśa, as early as the late Old Indo-Aryan period— around the seventh century BCE—but was first recorded in the Śutanukā inscription, roughly contemporaneous with the Aśokan inscriptions of the third century BCE (Chat- terji 1926, 59). In Asamiya, the sound has since changed to /x/. Another consonantal innovation in Bangla phonology, and that of other Māgad- han languages, is the “comparatively high frequency of retroflex sounds” and its development of the retroflex flap /ṛ/ (Klaiman 1990, 82). The former change makes Bangla more similar to the Dravidian languages in general, even as it distances it from the Indo-Aryan languages, and the latter, which happened sometime during the period of Middle Indo-Aryan, is particularly in line with its Dravidian neighbors Kurux and Malto and its Munda neighbor Santali. The loss of a length distinction among vowels in Bangla, Asamiya, and Oriya—in which /i/ and /u/ collapsed respectively with /ī/ and /ū/—is a particularly noteworthy Māgadhan innovation (Klaiman 1990, 73). This lack of vowel length separates the three from all the other Indo-Aryan languages, as well as the Dravidian and Nuristani ones, and Pashto (to a minor extent, as Pashto has only one vowel with a length distinction), but not Burushaski or the Austroasiatic languages, which also lack vowel length, although the question is somewhat controversial for the Mon-Khmer languages. Diphthongs also set Bangla apart from the other Indo-Aryan languages. Because so much work remains to be done on diphthongs in South Asian languages, including in Bangla (as mentioned in Section 3.2.1), it is not easy to say much about them here, other than to remark on the unusually large inventory of them in Bangla (see Section 3.2.1 for that inventory). As Masica (1991, 116) observes, the Eastern languages as a whole, and Bangla in particular, “have the greatest number of true diphthongs (as well as disyllabic vowel sequences [emphasis his].” They are not typical of Dravidian languages, either, but Jenny, Weber, and Weymuth (2014, 33) report “an abundance of diphthongs and triphthongs...for some Munda languages.” A final phonological innovation with respect to the Indo-Aryan languages is Bangla’s development of a low-high contrast among mid vowels—/e/ versus /æ/ and /o/ versus /ɔ/ (Klaiman 1990, 74), the latter a reflex of the Indo-Aryan a. This change also distinguishes Bangla and Asamiya from Oriya, and in the context of the Sprachbund, likewise contrasts with the Dravidian languages and Munda languages. Bright (1966) suggests a possible areal feature of vowel assimilation, based on what he calls vowel metaphony, in which South Dravidian and South-Central Dravid- ian high vowels in initial syllables lowered when followed by the back vowel /a/ in the second syllable. As mentioned in Section 3.3.1.1.2 and Section 3.3.1.1.3), Bangla also has vowel assimilation, as do Asamiya (but not Oriya), Konkani, and Sinhala, and to a small extent, some Munda languages. However, pointing out that the details of the phenomenon differ so greatly and the number of languages that display it are sosparse and include some non-contiguity, Shapiro and Schiffman1981 ( , 128) characterize this 50 | Bangla as a South Asian Language as a case of a ” ‘conceptual’ feature that was transferred in a limited arena of multilingual contact, and which subsequently spread out and was adapted according to the different natures of the languages into which it was incorporated.” At best, thisis a feature that makes up an isogloss within only a part of South Asia. In any case, Bright concludes that more data are needed.

~~4.2.2 Ergativity~~

Bangla has nominative/accusative alignment rather than ergative/absolutive alignment, unlike its relatives among the western Indo-Aryan languages Hindi, Panjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, and Sindhi, as well as the Dardic ones, Pashto, and most of the Nuristani languages. That is, the subjects of both intransitive and transitive verbs in Bangla are aligned in their behavior with respect to what case they take, their agreement with the verb, and so on; and differ from objects of transitive verbs with respect to these same grammatical points. In languages with ergative/absolutive alignment, by contrast, the subjects of intransitive verbs and the objects of transitive verbs behave alike and differently from the subjects of transitive verbs. The effect of alignment type on a language is pervasive: it plays a role in binding, control, valency, and voice, among other things. Ergativity is a feature with respect to which South Asia, in the words of Masica (2005, 178), “appears peripheral to the main centers of development.” That is, it seems to form an isogloss, but one that coincides with only one edge of South Asia: it is found in languages from the Caucasus through Central Asia and across a northern band of South Asia, in Caucasian, Iranian, west Indo-Aryan, and Tibetan. Among the languages of the South Asian area proper, it occurs only in some Indo-Aryan and Tibeto-Burman languages; the Dravidian and Austroasiatic families lack it completely (Subbārāo 2012, 134).

~~4.2.3 Classifiers~~

The classifier is a feature that sets Bangla and its closely related sister languages (such as Asamiya and Oriya) apart from the other Indo-Aryan languages, as well as most of the other languages of the South Asian area. In general, a classifier is a word or morpheme that appears in particular grammatical contexts together with a noun or noun phrase when the latter is quantized or quantified in some say, or to mark definiteness. The classifier often signals, or classifies, the conceptual semantic class of the noun whose phrase it appears in. While this usually categorizes the noun or noun phrase in terms of size or shape, it can also classify it into an ontological category. Some languages require all concrete nouns or noun phrases to appear with a classifier; though the more common situation is for a classifier to be used when a noun is quantified, counted, specified or appears with certain modifiers. Typological divergence | 51

Classifiers typify the East Asian and Southeast Asian language areas, andarean- other isogloss that stretches into South Asia but only gets as far as one side of it. Eme- neau felt these were a pan-subcontinental feature that “spread from Indo-Aryan, though it is not an Indo-European phenomenon.” However, with the exception of Bangla and its close relatives, classifiers are largely absent from the Indo-Aryan languages, although traces are found in a few, mostly Māgadhan-contiguous languages: Maithili, Nepali, “village Hindi,” and Marathi (Emeneau 1956). They are likewise found in only a couple of the Munda languages (Korwa and Santali). They are, however, present in the Tibeto-Burman languages and to some extent in a few of the Dravidian languages, among them Telugu, Kui-Kuvi, Kolami, Parji, Kurux, and Malto, with arguable traces in Tamil.

~~5 Nouns~~

~~5.1 Nominal categories~~

There are four nominal cases in Bangla: nominative, objective, genitive, and locative/instrumental (locative for short). Bangla noun morphology encodes binary distinctions in three categories: number, humanness (determined by either human status or perceived rationality of the thing denoted), and definiteness, all of which interact to determine the choice of case endings, plural markers, and classifiers (Chapter 7). There are also honorific and non-honorific nouns, manifested through pronoun agreement, verbal agreement patterns, and, to some extent, classifier choice. Bangla nouns have no gender distinctions, although for historical reasons, certain pairwise contrasts among word-final vowels of lexemes denoting living things, particularly human beings, correspond to biological sex.

~~5.2 Nominal inflection~~

The question of whether Bangla case and number markers are affixes or clitics (Sec- tion 8.5) is an open one; however, we lean towards considering them clitics. On the one hand, like clitics, they only mark the last noun in a series, as in 5.1 and therefore specificity and plurality, for example, distribute over a conjunct NP, asin 5.42 in Sec- tion 5.4.5. They also attach after classifiers, which we do analyze as clitics; for example, সটােক /śe-ṭa-ke/ ‘3SG-CLF-OBJ’. None of these forms has a high vowel, so we cannot use the diagnostic of whether they condition vowel raising; if they did, that would be a characteristic on the side of affixhood. (The fact that classifiers do not trigger vowel raising is one reason we consider them to be clitics—Section 7.4.3.1.) Finally, they do differ from other Bangla clitics in that they are more highly restricted as to whatparts of speech they may attach to—a characteristic of affixhood for some linguists. For this reason we generally refer to them as markers rather than coming down solidly on the side of case endings as clitics.

(5.1) তার ভাষণ বাংলা ও িহীেত tar bhaśon-ṭi baŋla o hindi-te 3SG.NHON.GEN speech-CLF.DIM Bangla and Hindi-LOC িছেলা। chi-l-o be-PST-3.NHON ‘His speech was in Bangla and Hindi.’ 54 | Nouns

~~5.2.1 Nominal markers~~

Case, number, and humanness in Bangla are indicated by markers, given below in Ta- ble 5.1, but most often nouns occur unmarked, identical in form to the noun stem. As Thompson (2010, 95) aptly puts it, “Bangla operates on a need-to-know basis.” This preference for the bare stem form is reflected in (1) its use as the nominative singular form, (2) the absence of number markers and classifiers for nouns unless context makes them necessary, and also (3) the typically South Asian pattern of assigning the objective case only in nouns that denote humans—again, unless context calls for explicitly encoding direct or indirect object status on a non-human noun; for example, in the case of double objects (where it is obligatory), or to express emphasis, or to mark specificity. The human/non-human distinction pervades nominal inflection. Only human nouns have distinct case markers for singular and plural. In contrast, case markers for non- human nouns are the same regardless of number; plurality can be indicated through non-human classifiers. But again, those classifiers are only used as required by context. The objective case marker also usually indicates humanness, due to its limited use on non-human nouns. For plural forms in KCB, however, an explicit objective case marker is rare for both human and non-human nouns, a situation that leads to syncretism among human plurals in that dialect. The human plural marker for both objective and genitive cases is-দর /-der/ or its allomorph -এেদর /-eder/, except in cases calling for disambiguation or specificity. DCB, in contrast, has different markers for objective human plural and genitive human plural nouns:-দরেক /-derke/; and -এেদরেক /-ederke/ (objective) -দর /-der/ and-এেদর /-eder/ (genitive). Finally, the locative marker is rare for human nouns: nouns denoting humans almost never occur with it except as oblique subjects (see Section 10.6), as those can occasionally take locative endings rather than genitive ones. This phenomenon is as- symetrical, however: it only holds true in the singular. Plural human nouns never take a locative case marker, even to express an oblique subject. A genitive marker must be used in that context in the plural:

(5.2) তােদর চা ভােলা লােগ। tader ca bhalo lag-Ø-e 3PL.NHON.GEN tea good strike-PRS-3.NHON ‘They like tea.’ The category of humanness in the nominative is encoded by overt case markers only in plural forms. They are portmanteau markers, indicating both plurality and case in one form that cannot be further analyzed into constituent parts. In non-human nouns, plural number may be encoded through the classifiers-েলা /-gulo/ and -িল /-guli/ (Section 7.4.3), which are added directly to the stem. (These classifiers would be used, however, only to indicate definiteness in addition to plural number, as they encode definiteness.) The classifier-িল /-guli/ is a diminutive form of-েলা /-gulo/ Nominal inflection | 55 and often connotes affection, but both can be interpreted as pejorative when usedto refer to human beings other than children. We have included some uncommon forms in Table 5.1. The objective marker -র /-re/ occurs in some non-standard dialects of Bangladesh,¹ and the plural human markers beginning with -িদগ /-dig/ are marked literary because within the standard language they are restricted to older, written texts. They are, however, found in some rural dialects as well, as those tend to be more conservative. There is another locative marker,-এেত /-ete /, which is now quite rare and therefore has not been included in the table. It may have arisen as a double marking—two locative markers in a row. In Table 5.1 we follow Indic convention in using the full vowel letter for citation forms of vowel-initial markers in the Bangla script (e.g.,-এর /-er/), although in context, vowel diacritics, not vowel letters, are used; e.g., কােনর /kan-er/ ‘ear-GEN’, as can be seen in Table 5.2. Notice that this table reflects the theoretical complexities of the Bangla noun, which we do not attempt to solve here. It includes as many as three different types of object: case markers such as the locative-ত /-te/, number markers such as the human plural morpheme-রা/-এরা /-(e)ra/, and classifiers such-েলা as /-gulo/. In addition, some forms in the table are portmanteau morphs—representing more than one grammatical category, but unanalyzable into distinct parts that correspond to each one, as with the human plural genitive marker-দর/-এেদর /-(e)der/; and some are agglutinating morphs—analyzable into more than one morph, each representing a category, as with the plural objective marker-েলােক /-gulo-ke/.

~~1 It is the standard objective marker in Bangla’s close relative, Asamiya. 56 | Nouns~~

~~Case Singular Plural~~

~~[+HUMAN] [-HUMAN]~~

~~Nominative ―— Ø Ø~~

~~-রা -েলা -ra -gulo~~

~~-এরা -িল -era -guli~~

~~Objective Ø -দর -দরেক -েলােক~~

~~-ক -der KCB -derke DCB -guloke -ke -র -এেদর -এেদরেক -িলেক -eder KCB -ederke DCB -gulike -re NSTD -িদগ -িদগেক~~

~~-digɔ LIT -digɔke LIT~~

~~Genitive -এর -দর -েলার -er -der -gulor -র -এেদর -িলর -r -eder -gulir -িদেগর~~

~~-diger LIT~~

~~Locative -ত ―— -েলােত -te -gulote -এ -িলেত -e -gulite~~

~~Table 5.1: Nominal markers Nominal inflection | 57~~

~~5.2.2 Noun paradigms~~

Table 5.2 through Table 5.4 list declensions for a variety of noun forms. Table 5.2 shows the declensions of four singular nouns. The patterns are largely the same for human and non-human nouns, other than the exceptions mentioned above: non-human nouns tend not to be marked overtly for objective case, and human nouns rarely take the locative marker. Two different types of variation are represented in Table 5.2: first, free variation with respect to phonological conditions (indicated by a tilde), and second, contextual variation with respect to the optionality of case-marking on non-human nouns. The paradigm forমা /ma/ ‘mother’ illustrates free variation among V-final nouns between the two genitive and the two locative markers, respectively. Section 5.3.2 and Section 5.3.4 describe this allomorphy. The variant objective forms forকান /kan/ ‘ear’ andনদী /nodi/ ‘river’ illustrate contextual variation in the assignment or non-assignment of objective suffixes. Generally, non-human nouns in the objective case remain affix-free; however, the objective case marker will be used if the speaker desires emphasis or disambiguation. Table 5.3 shows the declension of plural human nouns, and Table 5.4 that of plural non-human nouns. The latter table is actually an illustration of a special case, since the default plural form for non-human nouns is an unmarked stem. With the plural classifiers attached to them, the nouns in Table 5.4 are all marked for definiteness. In non-human nouns, case markers follow the classifier and attach to it according tothe allomorphy rules that are presented below in Section 5.3. As in Table 5.2, the optionality of objective case-marking for non-human nouns is indicated by listing two forms, one with an objective marker and one without. 58 | Nouns

~~মেয় মা কান নদী meye ma kan nodi ‘girl’ ‘mother’ ‘ear’ ‘river’~~

~~Nominative মেয় মা কান নদী meye ma kan nodi~~

~~Objective মেয়েক মােক কান নদী meyeke make kan nodi কান েক নদীেক kanke nodike~~

~~Genitive মেয়র মার কােনর নদীর meyer mar kaner nodir ∼ মােয়র mayer~~

~~Locative মেয়েত মােত কােন নদীেত meyete mate kae nodite (rare) ∼ মায় mae (both forms rare)~~

~~Table 5.2: Singular nouns Nominal inflection | 59~~

~~মেয় মা মর meye ma mojur ‘girl’ ‘mother’ ‘worker’~~

~~Nominative মেয়রা মােয়রা মেররা meyera mayera mojurera ∼ ∼ মারা মর রা mara mojurra~~

~~মােয়েদর মর েদর Objective মেয়েদর মেয়েদরেক mayeder mojurder meyeder KCB meyederke DCB ∼ মােদর Genitive মেয়েদর mader~~

~~meyeder DCB~~

~~Table 5.3: Plural human nouns~~

~~নদী শহর Case nodi śɔhor ‘river’ ‘city’~~

~~Nominative নদীেলা শহর েলা nodigulo śɔhorgulo~~

~~Objective নদীেলা শহর েলা nodigulo śɔhorgulo নদীেলােক শহর েলােক nodiguloke śɔhorguloke~~

~~Genitive নদীেলার শহর েলার nodigulor śɔhorgulor~~

~~Locative নদীেলােত শহর েলােত nodigulote śɔhorgulote ∼ ∼ নদীেলায় শহর েলায় nodiguloe śɔhorguloe~~

~~Table 5.4: Plural (definite) non-human nouns 60 | Nouns~~

~~5.2.3 A note on orthography of case markers~~

While the vowel-initial genitive and locative singular markers (used after consonant- final stems) are usually written with a vowel diacritic,কােজর asin /kaj-er/ ‘of work’, they are sometimes written with a full vowel letter, especially on Sanskrit (as in the first row below) or foreign loanwords, as well as words ending in an orthographic vowel. It is optionally preceded by a hyphen in these instances:

~~NOM GEN/LOC~~

~~ক ক-এর/কএর tɔk tɔk-er ‘skin’ ‘skin-GEN’~~

~~িডপাট েম িডপাট েম-এর/িডপাট েমএর ḍiparṭmenṭ ḍiparṭmenṭ-er ‘department’ ‘department-GEN’~~

~~কল কল-এ/কলএ kɔl kɔl-e ‘call’ ‘call-LOC’~~

~~িমং িমং-এ/িমংএ miṭiŋ miṭiŋ-e ‘meeting’ ‘meeting-LOC’~~

~~5.3 Allomorphy in noun inflection~~

Aside from the unpredictability of its occurrence, allomorphy in Bangla nouns is fairly simple. Stems vary almost not at all, and for the most part, each marker has but two allomorphs, differing only in whether they are V-initial or C-initial. The assignment of suffixes, however, exhibits wide and largely unpredictable variation; many nounscan have two possible inflected forms. Two optional rules of stem allomorphy apply to Bangla nouns, and then only to V-final nouns before a V-inital case or number marker; hence, the motivation inboth cases appears to be avoidance of hiatus. Among monosyllabic V-final nouns of any shape, a glide may be inserted at the end of the stem before a V-initial marker:

~~1. Glide Insertion (V)V-V → (V)VyV And among polysyllabic V-final nouns ending in the inherentঅ vowel /o/, theঅ /o/may delete before a V-initial marker:~~

~~2. Vowel Deletion /o/ → Ø Allomorphy in noun inflection | 61~~

Both Glide Insertion and Vowel Deletion are optional. Vowel Deletion does not generally take place with nouns whose final /o/ is spelled with the vowel diacritic◌া . Note that this morpho-phonological process must be described in terms of orthography (in violation of our previously stated policy), although it is possible that a careful investigation could find a way of differentiating between the two /o/s’ behavior; for example, by analyzing the inherent vowel as an epenthetic insertion to avoid illicit final consonants. The way to such an analysis is not immediately obvious, however, as final inherent vowels also exist in positions that would not require their insertion; for example,বর /boro/ ‘older; large’ (versusবর /bor/ ‘blessing; bridegroom’),কর /koro/ ‘hand’ (versus কর /kor/ ‘tax’), and কাল /kalo/ ‘black’ (versusকাল /kal/ ‘time’). As for allomorphy among case and number markers, previous descriptions describe somewhat loose phonological conditioning applying to the allomorphs of the singular and plural markers. An Internet search of 17 arbitrarily chosen human nouns found the opposite tendency among plural suffixes. Nouns with final consonants were overall more likely to take the markers-রা /– ra/ and -দর /– der/ rather than -এরা /-era/or -এেদর /-eder/. Among singular forms, C-final nouns do routinely take V- initial suffixes, but V-final nouns show a great deal of variability; whereas amongplu- ral forms, both C-final and V-final nouns vary in which allomorphs can occur. Vowel Deletion does apply if a noun with a final inherent vowel takes a V-initial case marker. Section 5.3.1 through Section 5.3.4 describe and illustrate the possibilities. Previous descriptions of Bangla nominal inflection tend to conflate phonology and orthography, reflecting the fact য়that represents a vowel—/e/—at the end of a word and a glide—/y/—intervocalically. (However, it is important to remember that the sequence VyV is usually realized phonetically as V.) The following discussion describes Bangla nominal inflection in phonological terms only. In the description theterm V- final refers both to words ending in simple vowels and to those ending in diphthongs; if only diphthongs are meant, that restriction will be specified by VV-final.

~~5.3.1 Nominative marker allomorphy~~

~~5.3.1.1 Singular There is no marker for the nominative singular case. In Bangla the noun stem serves as the nominative form for all singular nouns.~~

5.3.1.2 Plural The human nominative plural marker-এরা /-era/ is in free variation with-রা /– ra/ on C-final nouns, although the former is reported in descriptions to be more common. However, a Google search revealed this claim not to be representative of current usage. -রা /– ra/ also varies freely with -এরা /-era/ in monosyllabic V-final nouns ending in /i/, /u/, or /a/, but a glide /y/ is inserted before -এরা /-era/. Some descriptions ana- 62 | Nouns lyze such forms by listing a third allomorph,-য়রা /-yera/ , but we prefer to see this phenomenon as stem allomorphy motivated by hiatus avoidance. And finally, the two markers can also both occur after polysyllabic /o/-final nouns, but the /o/ deletes before -এরা /-era/. The human nominative plural marker has the following allomorphs and conditioning environments:

~~1. -রা /– ra/, on: a. optionally, C-final nouns (but-এরা see /-era/below)~~

~~জিমদার জিমদাররা jomidar jomidar-ra ‘landlord’ ‘landlord-PL’~~

~~রাজনীিতক রাজনীিতকরা rajnitik rajnitik-ra ‘politician’ ‘politician-PL’~~

~~b. all polysyllabic V-final nouns whereঅ V# ≠ /o/~~

~~বাঙালী বাঙালীরা baŋali baŋali-ra ‘Bengali’ ‘Bengali-PL’~~

~~c. rarely, polysyllabic V-final nouns whereঅ V# = /o/; (but cf. -এরা /-era/below)~~

~~ত তরা bhritto bhritto-ra ‘servant’ ‘servant-PL’~~

~~d. optionally, monosyllabic V-final nouns~~

~~বউ বউরা bou bou-ra ‘wife’ ‘wife-PL’~~

~~মামা মামারা mama mama-ra ‘uncle’ ‘uncle-PL’~~

~~2. -এরা /-era/~~

~~a. Optionally, on C-final nouns Allomorphy in noun inflection | 63~~

~~িশক িশেকরা śikkhɔk śikkhɔk-era ‘teacher’ ‘teacher-PL’~~

~~রাজনীিতক রাজনীিতেকরা rajnitik rajnitik-era ‘politician’ ‘politician-PL’~~

~~b. optionally, monosyllabic V-final nouns where V = /i/, /u/, or /a/; Glide Insertion on stem~~

~~ঢািক ঢািকেয়রা ḍhaki ḍhaki-era ‘drummer’ ‘drummer-PL’~~

~~মা মােয়রা ma may-era ‘mother’ ‘mother-PL’~~

~~c. optionally, polysyllabic V-final nouns whereঅ V= /o/; Vowel Deletion on stem~~

~~ত েতরা bhritto bhritt-era ‘servant’ ‘servant-PL’~~

~~ভারতীয় ভারতীেয়রা bhartiyo bhartiy-era ‘Indian’ ‘Indian-PL’~~

~~There is no allomorphy among the non-human plural suffixes.~~

~~5.3.2 Genitive marker allomorphy~~

5.3.2.1 Singular The genitive marker allomorphs are in free variation in monosyllabic, vowel-final nouns, although, -র /– r/ is less common on those nouns. As with the nominative plural suffixes, some descriptions list a third allomorph,-য়র /-yer/ , but our analysis describes this phenomenon as stem allomorphy motivated by hiatus avoidance. The genitive singular marker has the following allomorphs and conditioning environments: 3. -র /– r/, on: a. all polysyllabic V-final nouns whereঅ V≠ /o/ 64 | Nouns

~~মালা মালার mala mala-r ‘garland’ ‘garland-GEN’~~

~~দাসী দাসীর daśi daśi-r ‘servant’ ‘servant-GEN’~~

~~b. rarely, polysyllabic V-final nouns whereঅ V= /o/ (but cf.-এর /-er/ below)~~

~~সাহ সাহর śɔptaho śɔptaho-r ‘week’ ‘week-GEN’~~

~~Forms such as সাহর /śɔptaho-r/ are in free variation with those of the pattern সােহর /śɔptah-er/. c. optionally, monosyllabic V-final nouns~~

~~পা পার pa pa-r ‘foot’ ‘foot-GEN’~~

~~ভাই ভাইর bhai bhai-r ‘brother’ ‘brother-GEN’~~

~~রায় রােয়র rae rae-r ‘Ray (surname)’ ‘Ray-GEN (surname)’~~

~~Forms like পার /pa-r/ andভাইর /bhai-r/ are in free variation with forms like ভাইেয়র /bhaiy-er/ and পােয়র /pay-er/. 4. -এর /-er/, on:~~

~~a. all C-final nouns~~

~~বাগান বাগােনর bagan bagan-er ‘garden’ ‘garden-GEN’~~

~~িশক িশেকর śikkhɔk śikkhɔk-er ‘teacher’ ‘teacher-GEN’~~

~~b. optionally, polysyllabic V-final nouns whereঅ V= /o/; Vowel Deletion on stem Allomorphy in noun inflection | 65~~

~~সাহ সােহর śɔptaho śɔptah-er ‘week’ ‘week-GEN’~~

~~c. optionally, monosyllabic V-final nouns; Glide Insertion on stem~~

~~পা পােয়র pa pay-er ‘foot’ ‘foot-GEN’~~

~~ভাই ভাইেয়র bhai bhaiy-er ‘brother’ ‘brother-GEN’~~

5.3.2.2 Plural The genitive and objective human plural markers are identical in KCB. The marker-দর /– der/ is in free variation with-এেদর /-eder/ in C-final nouns, although the latter is more common. -দর /– der/ also varies freely with-এেদর /-eder/ in monosyllabic V- final nouns ending in /i/, /u/, or /a/, but Glide Insertion applies-এেদর before /-eder/. As noted above in Table 5.1, the objective human plural can have-ক /-ke/ on it as well, although it is rare. The objective/genitive plural human marker has the following allomorphs and conditioning environments: 5. -দর /– der/, on:

~~a. all C-final nouns~~

~~মািলক মািলকেদর malik malik-der ‘proprietor’ ‘proprietor-PL.GEN’~~

~~রাজনীিতক রাজনীিতকেদর rajnitik rajnitik-der ‘politician’ ‘politician-PL.GEN’~~

~~b. all polysyllabic V-final nouns~~

~~ছা ছােদর chatro chatro-der ‘student’ ‘student-PL.GEN’~~

~~দাসী দাসীেদর daśi daśi-der ‘servant’ ‘servant-PL.GEN’ 66 | Nouns~~

~~c. optionally, monosyllabic V-final nouns~~

~~বউ বউেদর bou bou-der ‘wife’ ‘wife-PL.GEN’~~

~~মা মােদর ma ma-der ‘mother’ ‘mother-PL.GEN’~~

~~6. -এেদর /-eder/~~

~~a. all C-final nouns~~

~~িশক িশেকেদর śikkhɔk śikkhɔk-eder ‘teacher’ ‘teacher-PL.GEN’~~

~~অাপক অাপেকেদর ɔddhapok ɔddhapok-eder ‘professor’ ‘professor-PL.GEN’~~

~~b. monosyllabic V-final nouns where V = /i/, /u/, or/a/; Glide Insertion~~

~~ী ীেয়েদর stri striy-eder ‘wife’ ‘wife-PL.GEN’~~

~~মা মােয়েদর ma may-eder ‘mother’ ‘mother-PL.GEN’~~

~~5.3.3 Objective marker allomorphy~~

~~5.3.3.1 Singular The singular objective marker-ক /-ke/ has no allomorphs, although among non- human nouns it alternates with Ø for pragmatic reasons. (See Section 5.2.2 for more.)~~

~~5.3.3.2 Plural The genitive and objective human plural markers are identical in KCB; see Section 5.3.2.2 for rules of allomorphy. Allomorphy in noun inflection | 67~~

~~5.3.4 Locative marker allomorphy~~

There is only one set of locative markers for singular and plural nouns. Again, the variability in conditioning for the locative marker is confined to V-final nouns. The marker -ত /-te/ is less common afterআ /a/, but its frequency is increasing. The locative marker has the following allomorphs and conditioning environments:

~~7. -এ/-য় /-e/, on:~~

~~a. all C-final nouns~~

~~বাগান বাগােন bagan bagan-e ‘garden’ ‘garden-LOC’~~

~~b. optionally, VV-final nouns; VV-V → VVyV~~

~~বই বইেয় boi boiy-e ‘book’ ‘book-LOC’~~

~~c. optionally, V-final nouns, where V = /a/ or /o/;~~

~~NOM LOC~~

~~ঢাকা ঢাকায় ḍhaka ḍhaka-e ‘Dhaka’ ‘Dhaka-LOC’~~

~~বলােবা বলােবােয় Belabo Belabo-e ‘Belabo’ ‘Belabo-LOC’~~

~~কেলারােডা কেলারােডায় Colorado Colorado-e ‘Colorado’ ‘Colorado-LOC’~~

~~8. -ত /-te/, on:~~

~~a. optionally, V-final nouns; more frequently if V ≠ আ /a/~~

~~NOM LOC 68 | Nouns~~

~~িশকােগা িশকােগােত śikago śikago-te ‘Chicago’ ‘Chicago-LOC’~~

~~5.4 Use of case and number markers~~

Case is a system of morphologically marking the role of the noun phrase (NP) in a clause—both its function per se and its relationship to the other words in that clause. As linguist’s shorthand has it, the morphological process of case assignment helps tell us who did what to whom—that is, it indicates the core arguments of the verb, as well as when, where, and how—the verbal adjuncts. Case therefore indicates, for example, which NP is the subject of the verb, which the direct or indirect object of the verb, which the location of the NP or event, and so on. In contrast with [many] western Indo-Aryan languages, Bangla has a nominative- accusative case-marking system. Briefly, this means that transitive and intransitive subjects (A and S) are morphologically marked in one way, while transitive objects (O) are marked in another. See Section 4.2.2 for more on this typological divergence.

~~5.4.1 Nominative~~

5.4.1.1 Nominative case proper The nominative case in Bangla is not marked by any morphological change to the noun and applies to nouns acting as subjects or predicate nominals, and also those in construction with certain postpositions, although those forms can also be analyzed as unmarked for case. (See Section 8.3.1 for a list of the cases each postposition asigns.) Subject is understood for Bangla as the noun that triggers agreement with the verb, except in the case of oblique subjects (see Section 10.6). A predicate nominal is the noun predicated of a subject in an equational sentence.

~~• Subject:~~

~~(5.3) ছেলরা টবল খেল। chel-era phuṭbɔl khæl-Ø-e boy-PL.HUM.NOM football play-PRS-3.NHON ‘The boys play soccer/football.’~~

~~• Predicate nominal: Use of case and number markers | 69~~

~~(5.4) িতিন এক জন ডাার িছেলন। tini æk-jon ḍaktar.NOM chi-l-en 3SG.HON.NOM one-CLF doctor be-PST-3.HON ‘He was a doctor.’~~

~~• With some some postpositions (according to some descriptions—others would call this unmarked for case); for example, the ones that are formally perfect participles. :²~~

~~(5.5) অেনক ণ ধের ɔnekkhon(.NOM) dhore long.time for ‘for a long time’~~

5.4.1.2 Unmarked nouns Bangla generally uses the unmarked noun stem for nouns in the nominative case (as described in Section 5.2.1); however, morphologically unmarked nouns can also represent other cases. Although these unmarked forms are often used in roles that are clearly analyzable as the nominative case—such as nouns that assign verb agreement— it is important to distinguish between those instances versus instances in which an unmarked noun is used, but the case is arguably not nominative. These uses include situations in which a case marker is optional; for example, non-human nouns in direct or indirect object position, as in 5.6 versus 5.7 below. They also include nouns of time when or time during which, which can take a locative marker or not, as illustrated by 5.8 and 5.9. (5.6) আিম একটা বই পড়লাম। ami æk-ṭa boi poṛ-l-am 1SG.NOM one-CLF book.OBJ read-PST-1 ‘I read a book.’

~~(5.7) আিম একটা বই-ক পড়লাম। ami.NOM æk-ṭa boi-ke poṛ-l-am 1SG one-CLF book-OBJ read-PST-1 ‘I read a book.’~~

~~2 See Section 8.3 and Section 9.5.1.2. 70 | Nouns~~

~~(5.8) আজ সকাল বলা এলাম। aj śɔkal bæla e-l-am today morning time (of day) come-PST-1 ‘I came this morning.’~~

(5.9) আজ সকাল বলায় এলাম। aj śɔkal bæla-e e-l-am today morning time (of day)-LOC come-PST-1 ‘I came this morning.’ There are also instances when it is not clear whether a noun should be analyzed as explicitly nominative or simply as not taking a case; for example, with postpositions as in 5.5 above. We do not take a strong position on this question.

~~5.4.2 Objective~~

The objective case marks the objects of verbs, both direct and indirect, as with many Indo-Aryan languages. Because in some other languages these can be marked by the accusative and dative cases respectively, some descriptions of Bangla refer to it as the accusative/dative case. As is common among South Asian languages, non-human nouns do not generally take an explicit marker for the objective case, except in the case of double objects—as in 5.14)—or occasionally to provide emphasis. An objective marker, in fact, is obligatory on the indirect object in 5.14 below to differentiate between the direct and indirect objects, even though both are non-human. Note that marking both direct and indirect object, as in 5.15, is not allowed. The objective case marker also occurs on nouns in construction with certain postpositions. Examples follow. • Direct objects:

(5.10) রিহম েক ডাকেবা? rohim-ke ḍak-b-o Rahim-OBJ call-FUT-1 ‘Shall I call Rahim?’ With ditransitive verbs (verbs that take two direct objects), such as call, the first will be marked for the objective case and the second unmarked, whether human or non- human:

~~(5.11) তােক রিহম বলেবা? ta-ke rohim bol-b-o 3SG.NHON-OBJ Rahim say-FUT-1 ‘Shall I call him Rahim?’ Use of case and number markers | 71~~

~~• Indirect objects:~~

~~(5.12) স তার বাবােক śe tar baba-ke 3SG.NHON.NOM 3SG.NHON.GEN father-OBJ িলেখেছ। likhe-ch-Ø-e write.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘He has written to his father.’~~

~~(5.13) আিম তােক একটা বই িদলাম। ami ta-ke æk-ṭa boi di-l-am 1SG.NOM 3SG.NHON-OBJ one-CLF book.OBJ give-PST-1 ‘I gave him a book.’~~

(5.14) রােসল এটাই ওটােকই িদেলন। rasel e-ṭa-i o-ṭa-ke-i di-l-en Russell 3SG-CLF-EMPH 3SG-CLF-OBJ-EMPH give-PST-3.HON ‘Russell gave this one to that one.’

(5.15) *রােসল এটােকই ওটােকই িদেলন। rasel e-ṭa-ke-i o-ṭa-ke-i di-l-en Russell 3SG-CLF-OBJ-EMPH 3SG-CLF-OBJ-EMPH give-PST-3.HON ‘Russell gave this one to that one.’

~~• Objects of some postpositions (see Section 8.3.1):~~

(5.16) মােক িনেয় িক শ িকেল য পেড়িছ ma-ke niye ki muśkil-e je poṛe-ch-Ø-i mother-OBJ with Q difficulty-LOC CMPL fall.PRF-PRF-PRS-1 কারণ েত আিম বািড় থাকেত চাই না, karon chuṭi-te ami baṛi thak-te ca-Ø-i na because vacation-LOC 1SG.NOM house stay-IPFP want-PRS-1 NEG াইেত যেত চাই। mumbai-te je-te ca-Ø-i Mumbai-LOC go-IPFP want-PRS-1 ‘What a fix I’m in with Mom, since I don’t want to stay home during the holidays; I want to go to Mumbai.’³ 72 | Nouns

~~5.4.3 Genitive~~

The term genitive is used in language description for ways of NP-marking whose primary function is to indicate possession. Possession is a function that works within a phrase—relating one NP to another—as opposed to case systems, which work within the structure of a clause. Among Indo-European languages such as Bangla, however, genitive marking patterns with the case system; that is, genitive morphology on an NP excludes other case markers from that NP. In Bangla the genitive case indicates possession or some other close relation of the genitive noun to another noun; these uses exemplify the phrasal level of genitive marking in Bangla. In those roles, a genitive noun functions as a modifier in the NP, as illustrated in the examples below 5.17 through 5.24. In each of those examples, the genitive noun ascribes an attribute to the second noun: its possessor (5.17); its subject, context, or provenance (7.43, 5.19, and 7.44); its material (5.21); its function or purpose (5.22); its measure (age, price, relative order, etc.: 5.23 and 5.24).

~~• Possession:~~

~~(5.17) মােয়র বই may-er boi mother-GEN book ‘Mother’s book’~~

~~• Attributes of the noun:~~

~~(5.18) েমর কািহনী prem-er kahini love-GEN story ‘a love story’~~

~~(5.19) মােরর ছিব maśrur-er chobi Mashrur-GEN picture ‘a picture of Mashrur’~~

~~(5.20) কল কাতার কাগজ kolkata-r kagɔj Kolkata-GEN newspaper ‘a Kolkata newspaper’~~

~~3 From Seely (2002/2006, 269). Use of case and number markers | 73~~

~~(5.21) কােঠর বাসা kaṭh-er baśa wood-GEN house ‘wooden house’~~

~~(5.22) অের খাতা ɔŋk-er khata math-GEN notebook ‘mathematics notebook’~~

~~(5.23) িতন িদেনর রােনা tin din-er purano ruṭi three day-GEN old bread ‘three-day-old bread’~~

~~(5.24) পচ শত টাকার নাট pãc śɔto ṭaka-r noṭ five hundred taka-GEN note ‘five-hundred-taka note’~~

Genitive nouns can also occur in construction with verbal forms, in the role of transitive subject, or A, with respect to the action. For example, it can be the subject of the verbal adjective (Section 7.3), as in 5.25. It may also be the subject of an imperfect passive (9.74 in Section 9.5.4.2), as in 5.26; and finally, it may be the subject of frozen verb forms in /-ito/, referred to by Smith as “Sanskrit perfect passive participles” (Smith 1997, 42).⁴

(5.25) ভাই, তামার ডােক পাঠােনা উপহার আিম bhai tomar ḍak-e paṭh-ano upohar ami brother 2SG.FAM.GEN mail-LOC send-VN gift 1SG.NOM কালেক পলাম। ধবাদ। kalke pe-l-am dhonnobad yesterday get-PST-1 thanks ‘Brother, I got the present you sent through the mail yesterday. Thanks.’

~~4 These forms are not addressed by this grammar because they are no longer productive. For the same reason, our morpheme glossing treats them as mono-morphemic. 74 | Nouns~~

~~(5.26) আমার ফরা হেলা না| amar fer-a ho-l-o na 1SG.GEN return-VN become-PST-3.NHON NEG ‘I did not return. [lit. My returning did not take place.]’~~

(5.27) আমার িলিখত বই amar likhito boi 1SG.GEN written book ‘a book written by me’ In parallel with the other cases, the genitive case can be assigned by certain postpositions (see Section 8.3.1):

(5.28) বাবা-মার ওপর শী িছলাম না। baba-ma-r opor khuśi chi-l-am na Dad-Mom-GEN on happy be-PST-1 NEG ‘I was not happy with Mom and Dad.’ Finally, the genitive case is used in what are most commonly called dative subject constructions, or sometimes experiencer subject constructions, in which the subject of a sentence takes a case other than nominative, often to convey the subject’s relative non- volitionality with respect to the event, as in 5.29, or the subject’s role as experiencer of some emotion or sensation, as in 5.30.

~~(5.29) তার চাট লেগেছ। tar coṭ lege-ch-Ø-e 3SG.NHON.GEN injury strike.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘He got hurt.’~~

(5.30) আমার ধা লেগেছ| amar khudha lege-ch-Ø-e 1SG.GEN hunger strike.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘I am hungry.’ These sorts of constructions are common cross-linguistically throughout South Asia. We prefer to give these the more general name of oblique subject constructions because some languages—including Bangla—use cases other than the dative in them. They are discussed and exemplified at greater length in Section 10.6. Use of case and number markers | 75

~~5.4.4 Locative~~

In general, the locative/instrumental case covers a wide variety of spatial, temporal, and circumstantial relationships. It marks location, destination, or motion into (5.31 and 5.32); cause, instrument, or means by which the event takes place (5.33 and 5.34); time at or during which the event takes place (5.35); and price (5.36).

~~(5.31) আপ নার ইেল আিম ছা িছলাম। apnar iskul-e ami chatro chi-l-am 2SG.HON.GEN school-LOC 1SG.NOM student be-PST-1SG ‘I was a student in/at your school.’~~

~~(5.32) িম কেব এ দেশ এেসেছা? tumi kɔbe e deś-e eśe-ch-Ø-o 2SG.FAM.NOM when this country-LOC come.PRF-PRF-PRS-2.FAM ‘When did you come to this country?’~~

(5.33) সম শরীরটা তােদর মশার কাম েড় লাল śɔmosto śorir-ṭa tader mɔśa-r kamṛ-e lal all body-CLF 3PL.NHON.GEN mosquito-GEN bite-LOC red হেয় উেঠেছ। hoy-e uṭhe-ch-Ø-e become-PRFP rise.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Their entire bodies have become red from mosquito bites.’⁵

~~(5.34) আমরা সাইেকেল দাকােন যতাম। amra saikel-e dokan-e je-t-am 1PL.NOM bicycle-LOC shop-LOC go-PST.HAB-1 ‘We used to go to the store by bicycle.’~~

(5.35) রিববাের ওরা সকােল সাতটায় robibar-e ora sɔkal-e satṭa-e Sunday-LOC 3PL.NHON.NOM morning-LOC seven-LOC ওেঠ। oṭh-Ø-e wake.up-PRS-3.NHON ‘On Sundays, they get up at seven in the morning.’

~~5 From Smith (1997, 45). 76 | Nouns~~

(5.36) আিম দশ টাকায় এটা িকেনিছলাম। ami dɔś ṭaka-e e-ṭa kine-ch-il-am 1SG.NOM ten taka-LOC 3SG-CLF buy.PRF-PRF-PST-1 ‘I bought it for ten taka.’ Singular human nouns rarely have locative suffixes; rather, they tend to take postpositions. The locative case can be used, however, with a compound noun phrase denoting humans, with the sense of ‘between’, as in:

(5.37) এমন কথা বলেল আমােত তামােত ঝগড়া æmon kɔtha bol-le ama-te toma-te jhɔgṛa this.way word say-COND 1SG-LOC 2SG.FAM-LOC quarrel লেগই যােব! leg-e-i ja-b-e strike-PRFP-EMPH go-FUT-3.NHON ‘If you speak like that, an argument is sure to break out between you and me!’ Plural human nouns never take locative case endings but instead always use postpositions. This is true even for oblique subjects, which must instead take a genitive case marker when plural. (See Section 5.2.1, Section 5.4.3, and Section 10.6.)

~~5.4.5 Plural number~~

Indicating plural number morphologically is not obligatory; in fact, morphemes encoding plurality are generally omitted, except on human nouns or to indicate definiteness on non-human nouns when a plural classifier is used. After personal-রা names, /-ra/ forms an associative plural and refers to a family or other group:

~~(5.38) চৗরীরা সল মান। coudhuri-ra muśolman Chaudhuri-PL Muslim ‘The Chaudhuris are Muslims.’~~

(5.39) রিহমরা rohim-ra Rahim-PL ‘Rahim and others’ See Section 10.2.5 for more. Nouns usually do not take plural markers if they are preceded by numbers or adjectives of quantity (‘many’, ‘several’, etc.), although it is occasionally heard dialectally. Use of case and number markers | 77

(5.40) টিবেল চারেট পিকা রেয়েছ। ṭebil-e car-ṭe potrika roye-ch-Ø-e table-LOC four-CLF MAGAZINE be.situated.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘There are four magazines on the table.’ In sequences of plural nouns, often only the final noun is marked for plural.

(5.41) এই আম, জাম, আর কলােলা বই ভােলা। e-i am jam, ar kɔla-gulo khubi bhalo this-EMPH mango berry and banana-CLF.PL very good ‘These mangos, berries, and bananas are extremely good.’

(5.42) িহ, সলমান, িান আর বৗরা এ সলেন hindu muśolman khriśṭan ar bouddho-ra e śommelan-e Hindu Muslim Christian and Buddhist-PL this assembly-LOC একসে বেস গেলন। ækśɔnge boś-e ge-l-en together sit-PRFP go-PST-3.HON ‘Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Buddhists sat together in this assembly.’ There are several nouns that can be used as markers indicating plurality:গণ /gɔn/ ‘multitude’; /brindo/ ‘collection’; সহ /śomuho/ ‘multitude’, but these are considered literary.⁶ Not included in Table 5.1 is the frozen nominative ending in-এ /-e/, -ত /-te/ (traditionally referred to by western grammarians as the instrumental nominative), which can be used to pluralize animate nouns when referring to them as a general class of beings or a collective, such as biologists or bears as a group (as opposed to some particular biologists or bears). Thompson (2010, 110) calls this usage an “indefinite collective plural”:

~~(5.43) লােক lok-e person-PL ‘people (in general)’~~

~~(5.44) েত কখেনা আেলা ােল না। bhut-e kɔkhono alo jal-Ø-e na ghosts-PL ever lights light-PRS-3.NHON NEG ‘Ghosts never turn on lights.’⁷~~

~~6 Seely (2007), p.c. 78 | Nouns~~

(5.45) ষেড় যিদ িনউইক বা ািরেসর রাােত ের śaṛ-e jodi niuyork ba pæris-er rasta-te ghur-e bull-PL if New.York or Paris-GEN road-LOC wander-PRFP বড়াত তাহেল লােক িক bæṛa-t-o tahole loke ki go.out-PST.HAB-3.NHON then people what বলত? bol-t-o say-PST.HAB-3.NHON? ‘If bulls wandered about the streets of New York or Paris, what would people say?’⁸ The case marker-এ /-e/∼ -ত /-te/ is also very common with certain animate pronouns, such as অেনেক /ɔnek-e/ ‘many people’ orসকেল /śɔkol-e/ ‘everyone’ and can be added to the human classifier-জন /-jɔn/ with a number name to form a numeric noun:জেন /dujone/ ‘two people’ (See Section 6.8.2 and Section 7.4.3.2.3.)

~~5.5 Noun derivation~~

~~5.5.1 Deriving nouns from adjectives~~

Nouns can be derived from adjectives by adding case markers, human plural markers, the singular classifiers-টা /-ṭa/ and - /-ṭi/, or the plural classifiers-েলা /-gulo/ and -িল /-guli/. (See Section 7.4.3 for a description of classifiers.)

~~(5.46) বড়টা bɔṛo-ṭa big-CLF ‘the big one’~~

~~(5.47) িশিতদর śikkhito-der educated-PL.OBJ ‘the educated’~~

~~7 From Smith (1997, 37). 8 From Dimock, Bhattacharji, and Chatterjee (1997, 333). Noun derivation | 79~~

(5.48) ছাটরা choṭo-ra small-PL ‘the young ones’ Nouns can also be derived from adjectives by adding the markers-তা /-ta/, -ই /-i/, or-আিম /-ami/: (5.49) তা śusthɔ-ta healthy-NMLZ ‘healthiness’

~~(5.50) শাি [> শা] śant-i [> śanto] peaceful-NMLZ ‘peace’~~

~~(5.51) মাতলািম matal-ami drunk-NMLZ ‘drunkenness’~~

~~5.5.2 Deriving nouns from nouns~~

~~Nouns can be derived from other nouns by adding the markers-না /-na/, -ই/-ঈ /-i/, -দার /-dar/, or-ইক /-ik/: (5.52) কামনা kamo-na love-NMLZ ‘desire’~~

~~(5.53) অতাচারী ɔttacar-i oppression-NMLZ ‘tyrant’ 80 | Nouns~~

~~(5.54) দাকানদার dokan-dar shop-NMLZ ‘shopkeeper’~~

~~(5.55) মািলক mal-ik merchandise-NMLZ ‘proprietor’ 6 Pronouns and Other Pro-forms~~

~~6.1 Introduction~~

This chapter discusses the properties and distribution of pronouns. Pronouns are a closed class of deictics, also called indexicals or shifters, whose reference shifts as the participants, location, or time of the speech event change. Strictly speaking, only first and second person pronouns fall into the category of personal pronouns, as they serve to indicate the speaker and addressee. All other pronouns, or more generally, pro-forms (because these shifters can belong to other parts of speech), serve other purposes, including indication of other participants (third person, or demonstrative pronouns), those participants’ location relative to the speaker and addressee, and temporal reference with respect to the speech event. Bangla pronouns come in a number of types, here referred to as personal, relative, indefinite, etc. In general, they inflect for number and case. They alsoencode distinctions of formality—a three-way distinction (honorific/familiar/intimate) in the second person and a two-way distinction (honorific/non-honorific) in the third person. The first person lacks any formality distinction. Like nouns, pronouns do nothave gender, even in the third person. In addition, third person pronouns reflect the catego- rial distinction of human/non-human (barely) in that there are separate forms in one instance for concrete and non-concrete referents (স /śe/ and তা /ta/ ‘he/she/it’). Further, they are, strictly speaking, demonstrative pronouns, not personal pronouns (Section 6.5). As demonstratives, third person pronouns encode spatial deixis through a three-way proximity distinction—proximal/distal/unmarked. Since everything that is said in this chapter about Bangla personal pronouns (first and second person), applies also to demonstratives in the role of third-person pronouns, our discussion of personal pronouns includes the latter. Some amplification of the above statements follows. Bangla pronouns encode two categories of number: singular and plural. However, as with nouns, non-human pronouns do not have plural suffixes. Plural number may be encoded through the classifiers-েলা /-gulo/ and -িল /-guli/ (Section 7.4.3), which are added directly to the stem, but only to indicate definiteness; plural number comes along with these classifiers by default. Bangla pronouns in the nominative case agree with the verb in person and level of formality. While verbs have the same formality distinctions as pronouns—three-way in the second person and two-way in the third person—the second-person honorific আপিন /apni/ and third-person honorificিতিন /tini/ use the same verb form. Hence we call that category honorific for both second and third person. (See Section 9.3.) As with nouns, an overt objective suffix on either singular or plural non-human pronouns marks specificity. Likewise in keeping with nominal morphology, pronouns denoting humans do not commonly take locative suffixes in the singular and never do so in the plural; further details are given below under Section 6.2.2. 82 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms

~~6.2 Pronominal morphology~~

~~6.2.1 Pronominal stems~~

The morphology of Bangla pronouns is relatively simple. Information on the person, level of formality, and proximity is carried on the stem, while case and number are marked with suffixes. Some simple stem allomorphy occurs in Bangla pronouns; the rules are outlined in Section 6.2.3 below.

~~6.2.2 Pronominal case-marking suffixes~~

Pronouns mark case and number with suffixes similar to those for nouns (see Table 5.1), except for those of the nominative singular. As with nouns, singular human and non- human pronouns share the same suffixes, but differ in how they express plural number. The suffixes in Table 6.1 apply to all human personal pronouns and to most other human pronouns that can be inflected. Those in Table 6.2 apply to the non-human pronouns.

~~Case Singular Plural~~

~~Nominative -ই -রা -i -ra~~

~~Objective -ক -দরেক -ke -der-ke -দর~~

~~-der KCB~~

~~Genitive -র -দর -r -der~~

~~(Locative) -ত ―――- -te~~

~~Table 6.1: Pronominal human suffixes~~

In DCB-দরেক /-derke/ is the general form. It is also used in KCB, but only when necessary to disambiguate the objective from the genitive, as in 6.1. In 6.1, only the first reading is possible. Pronominal morphology | 83

~~Case Singular Plural~~

~~Nominative -ই -েলা -i -gulo~~

~~Objective Ø -েলােক -ক -gulo-ke -ke~~

~~Genitive -র -েলার -r -gulo-r~~

~~Locative -ত -েলােত -te -gulo-te~~

~~Table 6.2: Pronominal non-human suffixes~~

(6.1) শাহীর ছেলেমেয়েদরেক িচ িলেখ śahir chele-meye-derke ciṭhi likh-e Shaheer-OBJ boy-girl-PL.OBJ letter write-PRFP িদেলা। di-l-o give-PST-3.NHON ‘Shaheer wrote the children a letter.’ ‘*Shaheer wrote the children’s letters [for someone else].’ On the other hand, non-human pronouns rarely take objective suffixes, as noted in Table 6.2. They occur for two reasons only; first, for emphasis, as illustrated inthe contrast between 6.2 and 6.3: (6.2) আিম সটা খাইিন। ami śe-ṭa kha-Ø-i-ni 1SG.NOM 3SG-CLF eat-PRS-1-NEG.PRF ‘I didn’t eat that.’

~~(6.3) আিম সটােক খাইিন। ami śe-ṭa-ke kha-Ø-i-ni 1SG.NOM 3SG-CLF-OBJ eat-PRS-1-NEG.PRF ‘I didn’t eat THAT.’ 84 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms~~

or second, for disambiguation, as in 6.4, where an objective suffix on the indirect object is obligatory in order to differentiate between it and the direct object. Note that, as shown in 6.5, a suffix on both pronouns is disallowed:

(6.4) রােসল এটাই ওটােকই িদেলন। rasel e-ṭa-i o-ṭa-ke-i di-l-en Rasel 3SG-CLF-EMPH 3SG-CLF-OBJ-EMPH give-PST-3.HON ‘Rasel gave this one to that one.’

(6.5) *রােসল এটােকই ওটােকই িদেলন। rasel e-ṭa-ke-i o-ṭa-ke-i di-l-en Rasel 3SG-CLF-OBJ-EMPH 3SG-CLF-OBJ-EMPH give-PST-3.HON ‘Rasel gave this one to that one.’ As noted above in Section 6.1, the locative suffix only rarely occurs on singular pronouns with human referents and never on plural ones. Even in the singular, its use is mostly literary and limited to the somewhat rare collocation: X-LOC Y-LOC between X and Y, as in 6.6 (cf. sentence 5.37 in Section 5.4.4):

(6.6) আমােত তামােত এই টাকা ভাগাভািগ śudhu ama-te toma-te e-i ṭaka bhagabhagi only 1SG-LOC 2SG.FAM-LOC this-EMPH money share কির। kor-Ø-i do-IMP.PRS-1 ‘Let’s share this money just between me and you.’ Postpositions are typically preferred with human pronouns to convey any meaning normally covered by the locative case, as in 6.7:

(6.7) রহানার কালেক ডাােরর কােছ যেত rehana-r kalke ḍaktar-er kach-e je-te Rehana-GEN tomorrow doctor-GEN side-LOC go-IPFP হেব। hɔ-b-e become-FUT-3.NHON ‘Rehana has to go to the doctor’s tomorrow.’ Like non-human nouns, non-human pronouns encode plural number with classifiers (Section 7.4.3), as can be seen in Table 6.2. Morphologically marking the plural, however, is not obligatory when context or other information in the utterance conveys it. For example, either 6.8 or 6.9 is acceptable, sinceসব /śɔb/ ‘all’ already makes it clear that the pronoun represents more than one item, although it is the case that 6.9 is much more common: Pronominal morphology | 85

(6.8) আিফয়া রিববাের এসব িলেখেছ। afiya robibar-e e-śɔb likhe-ch-Ø-e Afia Sunday-LOC 3-all write.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Afia wrote all of these on Sunday.’

(6.9) আিফয়া রিববাের এেলা সব িলেখেছ। afiya robibar-e e-gulo śɔb likhe-ch-Ø-e Afia Sunday-LOC 3-CLF.PL all write.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Afia wrote all of these on Sunday.’

~~6.2.3 Rules of stem allomorphy~~

Allomorphy rules apply immediately after affixation of inflectional suffixes. Thesystem of stems and morphophonemic changes to them as they are inflected is not neat and clearcut, but appears to be rather ad hoc. For example, some suppletive forms exist, perhaps due in part to dialect mixing. However, since a few tendencies are apparent, some generalizations are called for. The first vowel-raising rule here occurs elsewhere in Bangla and is presented in its more general application in Chapter 2. In all pronouns, mid vowels /e o/ are raised before the high vowel of the nominative singular suffix-ই /-i/: Vowel Raising II applies only to /a/ and is limited to pronouns.

1. Vowel Raising I [V -low] → [+ high]/_(C)[V +high] For example, the second person honorific pronoun (see Table 6.5) has the stem তামা- /tom-/ , alternating with the allomorphম- /tum-/. Vowel Raising I yields a nominative singular form িম /tum-i/, compared with the objective singular তামােক /tom-a-ke/. Because allomorphy rules apply after inflection but before cliticization, vowels are not raised before the emphatic clitic-ই /-i/. (The a-insertion rule below will account for the /a/ inতামােক /tom-a-ke/ and তামার /tom-a-r/.)

2. Vowel Raising II [V +low] → [+ high]/_n[V +high] This rule covers nominative forms of third person pronouns such asিতিন /tin-i/ and the relative pronounিযিন /jin-i/. Their stems areিতিন /tan-/ andিযিন /jan- /; Vowel Raising II raises the stem vowel /a/ to /i/ before the nominative suffix -ই /-i/. 86 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms

The next two rules, a-insertion and i-deletion, apply after inflection of the first and second person pronouns. The unifying theme appears to be avoidance of certain consonant clusters; namely, two consonants word-finally and three consonants word- internally. An epenthetic /a/ is inserted between a nasal and a stop, a nasal and a word- final /r/, and a stop-nasal cluster followed by /r/. This rule of allomorphy accounts for alternations such asআম- ∼ আমা- /am- ∼ ama-/ or আপন- ∼ আপনা- /apn- ∼ apna-/:

~~3. /a/-insertion~~

• Ø → a/N_T For example, আম- /am-/ + -দর /-der/ → আমােদর /am.a-der/ ‘1-PL.OBJ’ • Ø → a/N_r# For example, আম- /am-/ + -র /-r/ → আমােদর /am.a-r/ ‘1-SG.GEN’ • Ø → a/TN_r# For example, আপন- /apn-/ +-রা /-ra/ →আপনারা /apn.a-ra/ ‘2.-PL.OBJ’

See Table 6.3 through Table 6.6 for further exemplification. In KCB, third person pronominal stems undergo the following morphophonemic rule, in which a vowel plus /n/ combination undergoes assimilation of the nasal quality by the vowel, followed by deletion of the /n/:

~~4. Nasal-deletion & vowel nasalization Vn → Ṽ~~

This rule is exemplified in the stem alternations for all KCB forms and fortheun- marked DCB forms seen in Table 6.7. For example, the underlying stems for KCB third person human honorific pronouns areএন- /en-/, ওন- /on-/, and তান- /tan-/, and the underlying stem for the unmarked DCB forms is likewiseতান- /tan-/. In the objective case we see েক /ẽ-ke/ KCB , েক /õ-ke/ KCB , andতেক /tã-ke/ as a result of Nasal Deletion and Vowel Nasalization. And finally, the following rule applies to the third person pronouns:

~~5. /i/-deletion i → Ø/V_~~

/i/-deletion accounts for the single-syllable third person pronouns that lack a nominative suffix, suchএ as /e/, /ẽ/, and so on, in Table 6.7, Table 6.8, and Table 6.9. An alternative analysis would say simply that these forms are exceptional in their lack of a nominative suffix. Personal pronouns (including demonstratives) | 87

~~6.3 Personal pronouns (including demonstratives)~~

~~6.3.1 First person pronouns~~

~~Table 6.3 shows the first person pronouns. The stem allomorphy rule of a-insertion can be seen in the nominative forms.~~

~~Case Singular Plural~~

~~Nominative আিম আম রা am-i am-ra~~

~~Objective আমােক আমােদরেক ama-ke ama-der-ke আমােদর~~

~~ama-der KCB~~

~~Genitive আমার আমােদর ama-r ama-der~~

~~(Locative) আমােত ―――- ama-te~~

~~Table 6.3: First person pronouns; stem = am-~~

~~6.3.2 Second person pronouns~~

Table 6.4 through Table 6.6 show the second person pronouns, which have three levels of formality, which we have labeled, in descending order of formality, honorific, familiar, and intimate. Both Vowel Raising and a-insertion apply to the inflection of the second person pronouns. The honorific second person pronounআপিন /apni/ is traditionally used when speaking to people of superior status—teachers, parents, and so on. However, in actual modern usage, only a very few families still require the children to address their father withআপিন /apni/. This very formal convention was used somewhat more pervasively in the 19th century and even in some families in the first half of the 20th century. Today িম /tumi/ is much more common as the term of address for both father and mother. Wives also typically addressed their husbands with this pronoun in the past, but this 88 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms convention has changed as well.আপিন /apni/ is still used with people of any status with whom one is not on familiar terms. The familiar second person pronounিম /tumi/, shown in Table 6.5, is used between people of equal status, between spouses, between close friends, or to address someone of lower status. The intimate pronounই /tui/, shown in Table 6.6, is used among children and young people (including those in romantic relationships), or between siblings, by parents when addressing their children, or to people of much lower status, such as servants. Nowadays, in urban settings, young lovers and even spouses address each other withই /tui/. Foreigners, however, are advised never to use it. The formal difference between familiar and intimate pronouns is the presence or absence of ম /ma/ in the stem.

~~Case Singular Plural~~

~~Nominative আপিন আপনারা apn-i apna-ra~~

~~Objective আপনােক আপনােদরেক apna-ke apna-der-ke আপনােদর~~

~~apna-der KCB~~

~~Genitive আপনার আপনােদর apna-r apna-der~~

~~(Locative) আপনােত ―――- apna-te~~

~~Table 6.4: Second person honorific pronouns; stem = apn- Personal pronouns (including demonstratives) | 89~~

~~Case Singular Plural~~

~~Nominative িম তামরা tum-i tom-ra~~

~~Objective তামােক তামােদরেক toma-ke toma-der-ke তামােদর~~

~~toma-der KCB~~

~~Genitive তামার তামােদর toma-r toma-der~~

~~(Locative) তামােত ―――- toma-te rare~~

~~Table 6.5: Second person familiar pronouns; stem = tom-~~

~~Case Singular Plural~~

~~Nominative ই তারা tu-i to-ra~~

~~Objective তােক তােদরেক to-ke to-der-ke তােদর~~

~~to-der KCB~~

~~Genitive তার তােদর to-r to-der~~

~~(Locative) তােত ―――- to-te~~

~~Table 6.6: Second person intimate pronouns; stem = to- 90 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms~~

~~6.3.3 Third person pronouns~~

The third person pronouns, shown in Table 6.7 through Table 6.10, have two levels of formality, rather than three: honorific and non-honorific. They also serve as demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives (see Section 7.4.1); as such, they encode three levels of spatial proximity: proximal, distal, and unmarked. The third form is sometimes described as the form denoting elsewhere or over there out of sight; however, further work needs to be done on the respective roles of proximal, distal, and unmarked pronouns. (See Section 7.4.1 for more discussion on the semantics of proximity among these three.) As illustrated in Table 6.7, the stems of the third-person proximal and distal honorific pronouns vary dialectally between KCB and DCB: respectively, (C)V- ∼ (C)Vna-. The nasalized formsেক /ẽke/,র /ẽr/; েক /õke/, র /õr/, and so on, are the colloquial standard in KCB and the prescriptivists’ standard in DCB, so they are heard in DCB, although only in certain registers. The forms with /n/ in the stem, meanwhile— এনােক /enake/, এনার /enar/; উনােক ∼ ওনােক /unake ∼ onake/,উনার ∼ ওনার /unar ∼ onar/, and so on—are the most common colloquial forms in DCB. The nominative singular forms /ẽ/ ‘he, she, it (here)’ and /õ/ ‘he, she, it (there)’ are used rarely, according to Azad (1983): they are most often seen in writing, as a generic way ofin- dicating that the speaker is using a non-standard dialect, but they can also occur in natural speech. All of this variation is illustrated in Table 6.7. The stem allomorphy seen in third person pronouns is mostly accounted for by the Vowel Raising and Nasalization rules laid out at the beginning of the chapter in Sec- tion 6.2.3. As with the second person familiar and intimate pronouns, the difference between honorific and non-honorific third person pronouns is marked by the presence or absence of a nasal element in the stem, in this caseন /n/ or its allomorph, nasalization of the stem vowel. As seen in Table 6.7, Table 6.8, and Table 6.9, the unmarked forms of the nominative singular forms—িতিন /tin-i/ and স /śe/—are suppletive. It would be satisfying to link িতিন /tin-i/ with তেক /tã-ke/ and তর /tãr/ through an underlying stemতান- /tan-/ via Nasalization and a broader Vowel Raising rule, but this solution would ren- derআিম /am-i/ problematic, since its low vowel does not raise. Personal pronouns (including demonstratives) | 91 Unmarked তরা tã-ra তেদর tã-der তেদরেক tã-der-ke তেদর tã-der ――― DCB KCB েদরেক õ-der-ke উনােদরেক una-der-ke DCB DCB KCB KCB Distal রা õ-ra উনারা una-ra েদর õ-der উনােদর una-der ――― DCB KCB Plural েদর õ-der উনােদর una-der DCB (DCB) KCB েদরেক ẽ-der-ke এনােদরেক ena-der-ke DCB KCB KCB KCB ena-, una-, tan- Proximal রা ẽ-ra এনারা ena-ra েদর ẽ-der এনােদর ena-der ――― DCB (KCB); KCB েদর ẽ-der এনােদর ena-der en-, on-, tan- Unmarked িতিন tin-i তেক tã-ke তর tãr তেত tã-te DCB DCB DCB DCB KCB KCB rare Singular র õr উনার un-ar ∼ ওনার on-ar উিন un-i õ েক õ-ke উনােক una-ke ∼ ওনােক ona-ke েত õ-te DCB DCB KCB KCB rare Proximal Distal ইিন in-i ẽ েক ẽ-ke এনােক ena-ke র ẽr এনার en-ar েত ẽ-te Third person human honorificpronouns; stems = Case Nominative Objective Genitive (Locative)

~~Table 6.7: 92 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms~~

~~Singular Plural~~

~~Case Proximal Distal Unmarked Proximal Distal Unmarked~~

~~Nominative এ ও স এরা ওরা তারা e o śe e-ra o-ra ta-ra~~

Objective এেক ওেক তােক এেদর ওেদর তােদর e-ke o-ke ta-ke e-der o-der ta-der এেদরেক ওেদরেক তােদরেক e-der-ke o-der-ke ta-der-ke

~~Genitive এর ওর তার এেদর ওেদর তােদর e-r o-r ta-r e-der o-der ta-der~~

~~(Locative) এেত ওেত তােত ――― ――― ――― e-te o-te ta-te~~

~~Table 6.8: Third person human non-honorific pronouns; stems = e-, o-, ta-~~

~~Speakers use the honorific pronouns to show deference; the non-honorific ones are used elsewhere, as shown in 6.10 and 6.11:~~

(6.10) আমার তর াস ব ভােলা লােগ। amar tãr klas khub bhalo lag-Ø-e 1SG.GEN 3SG.HON.GEN class very good strike-PRS-3.NHON ‘I really like his class [said of a professor].’

(6.11) আিম তার মািনাগ েজঁ পেয়িছ। ami tar manibæg khũj-e peye-ch-Ø-i 1SG.NOM 3SG.NHON.GEN wallet find-PRFP get.PRF-PRF-PRS-1 ‘I found his wallet [said of a friend].’ The form িতিন /tini/ ‘he/she’, unmarked for proximity, is preferred in writing to both the proximal and distal formsইিন /ini/ ‘he/she (here)’ andউিন /uni/ ‘he/she (there)’. The unmarked third person non-human pronounsস /śe/ and তা /ta/ also serve as correlative pronouns; see Section 6.4 below. As can be observed in Table 6.8 and Table 6.9, there is a great deal of overlap between the non-honorific human and non-human third person pronouns. They differin just two ways: first, there is only one unmarked human third-person singular pronoun Personal pronouns (including demonstratives) | 93

~~Singular Plural~~

~~Case Proximal Distal Unmarked Proximal Distal Unmarked~~

~~তা এ ও ta এ ও স Nominative e o স e o śe śe~~

~~Proximal Distal Unmarked~~

~~এেক ওেক তােক Objective e-ke o-ke ta-ke~~

~~এর ওর তার Genitive e-r o-r ta-r~~

~~এেত ওেত তােত Locative e-te o-te ta-te~~

~~Table 6.9: Third person non-human pronouns, without classifiers; stems = e-, o-, ta- 94 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms~~

~~Singular Plural~~

~~Case Proximal Distal Unmarked Proximal Distal Unmarked~~

~~এটা ওটা স এেলা ওেলা সেলা Nominative e-ṭa o-ṭa śe-ṭa e-gulo o-gulo śe-gulo~~

এেলা ওেলা সেলা এটােক ওটােক সটােক e-gulo o-gulo śe-gulo Objective e-ṭa-ke o-ṭa-ke śe-ṭa-ke এেলােক ওেলােক সেলােক e-gulo-ke o-gulo-ke śe-gulo-ke

~~এটার ওটার সটার এেলার ওেলার সেলার Genitive e-ṭa-r o-ṭa-r śe-ṭa-r e-gulo-r o-gulo-r śe-gulo-r~~

~~এটােত ওটােত সটােত এেলােত ওেলােত সেলােত Locative e-ṭa-te o-ṭa-te śe-ṭa-te e-gulo-te o-gulo-te śe-gulo-te~~

~~Table 6.10: Third person non-human pronouns, with classifiers; stems = e-, o-, ta-~~

(স /śe/), while two exist in the non-human nominative singular:স /śe/ andতা /ta/. The former is used as an unmarked referential, as in 6.12 and 6.13; the latter to refer to nouns denoting non-concrete entities (6.14) and as part of certain fixed expressions that serve as discourse markers, such asতা হেল /ta hole/ ‘if that happens’ (6.15) or তা ছাড়া /ta chaṛa/ ‘besides that’. (6.12) িবছানার নীেচ সটা রােখা। bichana-r nic-e śe-ṭa rakh-Ø-o bed-GEN below-LOC 3SG-CLF keep-IMP.PRS-2.FAM ‘Keep it under the bed.’

(6.13) সটা িক বহার করা যােব? śe-ṭa ki bæbohar kɔr-a ja-b-e 3SG-CLF Q use do-VN go-FUT-3.NHON ‘Will (we) be able to use it?’ Relative and correlative pronouns | 95

(6.14) িবাস করেত পাি না য রিহমা তা biśśaś kor-te pa-cch-Ø-i na je rohima ta belief do-IPFP get.IPF-IPF-PRS-1 NEG CMPL Rohima 3SG বলেলা! bol-l-o say-PST-3.NHON ‘I can’t believe that Rohima said that!’

(6.15) তা হেল শহের বড়ােবা। ta ho-le śɔhor-e beṛ-a-b-o 3SG become-COND city-LOC go.out-CAUS-FUT-1 ‘If that happens, we’ll go out into the city.’ The other way the human and non-human third-person pronouns differ is that human third-person pronouns take pronominal suffixes throughout the paradigm, whereas non-human third-person pronouns encode the plural with classifiers (and can also take the classifierটা /ṭa/ on singular forms). Another way of saying this is that humanness is encoded by whether a noun takes plural suffixes or plural classifiers. The case endings that follow those classifiers are identical to those of singular pronouns.

~~6.4 Relative and correlative pronouns~~

A subordinate clause modifying the head noun of a main clause is called a relative clause. Bangla uses a type of complementizer—or a word that introduces a complement clause (Section 10.5.3)—analyzed by some as a relative pronoun in the relative clause to stand in for the argument it shares with the main clause. The pronoun in the main clause that co-refers to, or indexes, the pronoun of the relative clause is called the correlative pronoun. The remainder of this section describes the morphology of relative pronouns and provides a few illustrations. (See Section 10.5.3 for more on relative clauses.) Like demonstratives when used as third-person personal pronouns, Bangla relative pronouns distinguish between both human/non-human and honorific/non-honorific. For the most part they also use the same inflectional affixes as the personal pronouns, although as an alternative to the plural classifier endings, non-human correlatives can form compounds withসব /śɔb/ ‘all, every’ to convey plural number, as shown in 6.8 and Table 6.13.¹ The same morphophonemic rules apply to relative as to the personal pronouns (see Section 6.2.3), as do the comments on the use of objective case-marking on non-human pronouns (see Section 6.2.2).

~~1 As can third person pronouns, for that matter, as 6.8 illustrates. 96 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms~~

~~Table 6.11, Table 6.12, and Table 6.13 give the relative/correlative pronoun pairs of Bangla.~~

~~Singular Plural~~

~~Case Relative Correlative Relative Correlative~~

~~Nominative িযিন িতিন যরা তরা jin-i tin-i jã-ra tã-ra~~

~~Objective যেক তেক যেদরেক তেদরেক jã-ke tã-ke jã-der-ke tã-der-ke যেদর তেদর~~

~~jã-der KCB tã-der KCB~~

~~Genitive যর তর যেদর তেদর jã-r tã-r jã-der tã-der~~

~~(Locative) যর তর ―――- ―――- jã-te tã-te~~

~~Table 6.11: Relative and correlative human honorific pronouns; stems = jan-, tan-~~

In Bangla the relative clause typically precedes the main clause. As is common in Indo-Aryan languages, the relative pronoun of a subordinate clause is often paired with a correlative pronoun , pro-adjective, or pro-adverb in the main clause, although an explicit correlative is not obligatory. The case of the correlative pronoun need not match that of its corresponding relative, but is determined by its role in its own clause. The correlative pronouns come from among the third person pronouns labeled unmarked in Table 6.7, Table 6.8, and Table 6.9. Examples 6.16, 6.17, and 6.18 illustrate the use of relative/correlative pairings, but the syntax of relative and correlative pronouns is covered in more depth in Chapter 10.

(6.16) য নই স িক কের এই নন je nei śe ki kor-e e-i notun CMPL.NOM is.not 3SG.NOM Q do-PRFP 3SG-EMPH new খবর জানেত পাের? khɔbor jan-te par-Ø-e news know-IPFP be.able-PRS-3.NHON ‘How can the person who is absent come to know this new bit of news?’ Relative and correlative pronouns | 97

~~Singular Plural~~

~~Case Relative Correlative Relative Correlative~~

~~Nominative য স যারা তারা je śe ja-ra ta-ra~~

~~Objective যােক তােক যােদরেক তােদরেক ja-ke ta-ke ja-der-ke ta-der-ke যােদর তােদর~~

~~ja-der KCB ta-der KCB~~

~~Genitive যার তার যােদর তেদর ja-r ta-r ja-der ta-der~~

~~Table 6.12: Relative and correlative human non-honorific pronouns; stems = ja-, ta-~~

(6.17) যােদর সে দখা করার কথা িছল, ja-der śɔŋg-e dækha kɔrar kɔtha chi-l-o CMPL-GEN with-LOC agreement planned word be-PST-3.NHON তারা এেস গেছ। tara eś-e gæ-ch-Ø-e that.SG.NHON come-PRFP go.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘The ones with whom there was a planned meeting have arrived.’

(6.18) িতিন যটাই বেলন, না কেনা, কউ tini je-ṭa-i bo-l-en, na kæno keu 3SG.HON CMPL-CLF-EMPH say-PST-3.HON NEG why someone িক তা িবাস করেব ki ta biśśaś kor-b-e Q 3SG belief do-FUT-3.NHON ‘No matter what he says, is anyone going to believe it?’ The correlative may also function adjectivally rather than pronominally: 98 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms

~~Singular Plural~~

~~Case Relative Correlative Relative Correlative~~

~~Nominative যা স/তা যেলা সেলা ja śe/ta je-gulo śe-gulo ∼ যসব সসব য je-śɔb śe-śɔb je~~

Objective যােক তােক যেলােক সেলা ja-ke ta-ke je-gulo-ke śe-gulo যসব সেলােক je-śɔb śe-gulo-ke যসবেক সসবেক je-śɔb-ke śe-śɔb-ke

~~Genitive যার তার যেলার সেলার jar tar je-gulo-r śe-gulo-r যসেবর সসেবর je-śɔb-er śe-śɔb-er~~

~~Locative যােত তােত যেলােত সেলােত jate tate je-gulo-te śe-gulo-te যসেব সসেব je-śɔb-e śe-śɔb-e~~

~~Table 6.13: Relative and correlative non-human pronouns; singular stems = ja-, ta- Demonstrative pronouns | 99~~

(6.19) য দৗড় িজেতেছ অিম স je douṛ jite-ch-Ø-e ami śe CMPL.NOM race win.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON 1SG 3SG মেয় দিখ। meye-ṭi-ke dekh-Ø-i girl-CLF.DIM-OBJ see-PRS-1 ‘I see the girl who won the race.’

~~6.5 Demonstrative pronouns~~

As noted above, third-person personal pronouns are formally identical to demonstrative, or deictic, pronouns in Bangla. A demonstrative in Bangla has two distinct grammatical roles. When it functions as a nominal, we refer to it as a demonstrative pronoun. When it functions as a modifier, we refer to it as a demonstrative adjective (See Section 7.4.1). There is virtually no formal distinction between demonstratives as pronouns and as adjectives; however, they do differ in that the non-human demonstrative তা /ta/ exists only in the pronominal paradigm. It cannot be used as a modifier. When a noun phrase (NP) includes a classifier (see Section 7.4.3), the ability of a demonstrative to host that classifier depends on its role in the NP. If it is playinga nominal role (demonstrative pronoun), it may do so, but if it is playing a modifying role (demonstrative adjective, or a determiner), it may not host the classifier. This restriction arises from the requirement that classifiers occur on the right edge of the NP. When used as a personal pronoun,ও /o/ ‘he/she/it (over there)’, for example, is the head noun and appears at the right edge of the NP. As such, it can host a classifier, as in ওটা /oṭa/ ‘he/she/it (over there)’. When used as an adjective, a demonstrative modifies and precedes the head noun; as a result, the noun is at the right edgeofthe NP, as inএই মেয়টা /ei meyeṭa/ ‘this girl’. In this situation, the head noun, not the demonstrative, hosts the classifier. The semantics of this three-way contrast have not been fully described. There appear to be a number of ways to analyze their uses relative to each other, depending at least partially on context, and they can be either binary or ternary. For example, when the items being referred to contrast along a parameter of visible/non-visible, the distinction is binary, withএ, ও /e, o/ used to refer to what can be seen by the speaker and স /śe/ used to refer to what cannot be seen. In this instance,এ /e/ is preferred to ও /o/: (6.20) টিবেলর উপের এটা িক? ṭebil-er upore e-ṭa ki table-GEN on this-CLF what ‘What is this on the table?’ 100 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms

(6.21) ওটা ঘেরর বাইের থাক| o-ṭa ghɔr-er baire thak-Ø-uk that-CLF house-GEN outside stay-IMP.PRS-IMP.PRS.3.NHON ‘Let that stay outside of the house.’ The same binary system ofএ, ও /e, o/ on the one hand andস /śe/ on the other also holds for new/old topics in discourse:এ /e/ (or less often,ও /o/)will usually refer in this case to what has most recently been introduced in the conversation, andস /śe/ to older topics. Conversely, when the contrast is one of proximity, the binary division is between এ /e/ on one side and ও, স /o, śe/ on the other, withস /śe/ the more frequent of the latter two:

(6.22) অহ কের আমােক ওটা িদন, onugrɔhɔ kor-e amake o-ṭa di-Ø-n, favor do-PRFP 1SG.OBJ that-CLF give-IMP.PRS-2.HON সামেন রাখা এটা নয়| śamne rakh-a e-ṭa nɔ-Ø-e in.front lay-VN 3SG-CLF not.be-PRS-3.NHON ‘Please give me that one, not this one placed in front [of you/me/us].’ Finally, there is a trinary system when speaking metaphorically of events over time: এ /e/, ও /o/, and স /śe/ are used respectively to refer to recent, less recent, and distant past events:

(6.23) স েগর ও সব কথা এ েগ হণেযা śe jug-er o śɔb kɔtha e jug-e grohɔnjoggɔ that period-GEN that all word this era-LOC acceptable নয়| nɔ-Ø-e not.be-PRS-3.NHON ‘That [kind of ] speech from that period is not acceptable in this era.’ See Section 7.4.1 for further discussion of demonstratives.

~~6.6 Reflexive pronouns~~

When the two core arguments of a transitive clause, A and O (see Section 4.2.2), have the same referent, Bangla uses a reflexive pronoun for O, asin 6.24. This extends to cases where O refers to a part of A, as in 6.25, in which the object of cut is A’s (the speaker’s) finger. As in English and many other languages, a secondary use for Bangla reflexive pronouns is for emphasis. Reflexive pronouns | 101

Bangla reflexive pronouns do not distinguish person: the same forms are usedfor first, second, and third person. They do have case, but there are no locative casere- flexive pronouns—not surprising, given the rarity of locative suffixes on human nouns. The most common reflexive pronounিনেজ is /nije/, whose forms are shown in Table 6.14. The second person honorific pronounআপিন /apni/ can also be used reflexively (for all persons), but this is considered an old-fashioned usage.

~~Case Singular Plural~~

~~িনেজ িনেজরা Nominative nije nije-ra~~

~~িনেজেদর িনেজেক nije-der Objective nije-ke িনেজেদরেক nije-der-ke~~

~~িনেজর িনেজেদর Genitive nije-r nije-der~~

~~Table 6.14: Reflexive pronouns~~

Sentences 6.24 through 6.27 illustrate reflexive pronoun usage in Bangla, and 6.27 through 6.31 show the extended use for emphasis. Note that 6.25 illustrates the use of the reflexive pronoun as an oblique subject (Section 5.4.3 and Section 10.6).

(6.24) আয়নায় বাা িনেজেক দেখ হেস aena-e bacca-ṭi nije-ke dekh-e heś-e mirror-LOC child-CLF.DIM self-OBJ see-PRFP laugh-PRFP উঠেলা। uṭh-l-o rise-PST-3.NHON ‘Seeing himself in the mirror, the child burst out laughing.’ 102 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms

(6.25) আম কাটেত কাটেত আমার িনেজর আল am kaṭ-te kaṭte amar nije-r aŋul mango cut-IPFP REDUP 1SG.GEN self-GEN finger কেটেছ। keṭe-ch-Ø-e cut.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘While cutting the mango, I cut my finger.’

~~(6.26) িবড়াল িনেজ পিরার করেলা| biṛal nije poriśkar kor-l-o cat itself clean do-PST-3.NHON ‘The cat cleaned itself.’~~

(6.27) মেয় িনেজর কাজ িনেজ কের। meye-ṭi nije-r kaj nije kɔr-Ø-e girl-CLF.DIM self-GEN work self do-PRS-3.NHON ‘This girl does her own work by herself.’

(6.28) কান ওধ ছাড়া, মাথাথা িনেজই র kono ośudh chaṛa mathabætha nije-i dur any medicine without headache self-EMPH drive away হেয় গল। hoy-e gæ-l-o become-PRFP go-PST-3NHON ‘The headache itself vanished without any medicine.’

~~(6.29) আিম িনেজ বাঙালী। ami nije baŋali 1SG.NOM self Bangali ‘I’m Bengali myself.’~~

(6.30) আমরা িনেজরা ওখােন িছলাম। amra nije-ra okhane chi-l-am 1PL.NOM self-HUM.PL there be-PST-1 ‘We were there ourselves.’ Interrogative pronouns | 103

(6.31) ওটা ওর িনেজর সাইেকল। o-ṭa or nije-r saikel 3SG-CLF 3SG.GEN self-GEN bicycle ‘That’s his own bike.’ Bangla also has three lexemes that express reciprocal or mutual activities:অ /onno/ ‘the other’, অপর /ɔpor/ ‘the other’, andপরর /pɔrośpor/ ‘each other’: (6.32) নৗকা পরর থেক এক মাইল রে nouka du-ṭi pɔrośpor theke ek mail durott-e boat two-CLF.DIM each.other from one mile distance-LOC েব িগেয়িছল। dub-e giye-ch-il-o sink-PRFP go.PRF-PRF-PST-2.FAM ‘Two boats sank one mile from one another.’

~~6.7 Interrogative pronouns~~

The interrogative pronouns are covered in more depth with the other Bangla interrogatives in Section 8.1. They include the declinableক /ke/ ‘who?’ andিক/কী /ki/ ‘what?’,² shown in Table 6.15 and Table 6.16, as well as the indeclinable quantifying interrrogative compounds in Table 6.17. ক /ke/ is used of humans and িক/কী /ki/ of non-humans, so the latter has no special objective or plural forms. The interrogatives কত /kɔto/, কয় /kɔe/ ‘how much, how many?’ are adjectives, but can form derivational pronouns.কত /kɔto/ combines with the classifiersটা /ṭa/and েলা /gulo/ to yield a pronoun, as in 6.33 and 6.34:

(6.33) আমার এই পটা বানােত িক জল amar e-i sup-ṭa bana-te kichu jɔl 1SG.GEN this-EMPH soup-CLF make-IPFP some water লাগেব- িম িক জােনা lag-b-e tumi ki jan-Ø-o strike-FUT-3.NHON 2SG.FAM.NOM Q know-PRS-2.FAM কতটা লাগেব? kɔto-ṭa lag-b-e? how.much-CLF strike-FUT-3.NHON ‘I’ll need some water for this soup—do you know how much I’ll need?’

2 Both spellings of িক/কী /ki/ ‘what?’ are used, but the former is more common in everyday practice. Prescriptive grammarians of Bangla make an orthographic distinction between িক /ki/ the question particle and কী /ki/ the interrogative ‘what?’ 104 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms

~~Singular Plural~~

~~Nominative ক কারা ke kara ক ক ke ke~~

~~কােদরেক Objective কােক kaderke kake কােদর ka-der~~

~~Genitive কার কােদর kar kader~~

~~কােত (Locative) ――――— kate~~

~~Table 6.15: Interrogative pronoun ক /ke/ ‘who?’~~

~~Singular/Plural~~

~~Nominative/Objective িক ki ‘what?’~~

~~িকেসর Genitive kiśer ‘of what?, for what?, what kind of?’~~

~~িকেস Locative kiśe ‘on what?, because of what?, how?’~~

~~Table 6.16: Interrogative pronoun িক/কী /ki/ ‘what?’ Indefinite pro-forms | 105~~

(6.34) আমার িমি সব িরেয় গেলা- িম amar misṭi śɔb phur-iye gæ-l-o tumi 1SG.GEN sweet all run.out-PRFP go-PST-3.NHON 2SG.FAM.NOM কতেলা খেয়েছা? kɔto-gulo kheye-ch-Ø-o how.many-CLF.PL eat.PRF-PRF-PRS-2.FAM ‘My candies all ran out—how many did you eat?’ কয় /kɔe/ can also form compound pronouns by combining with nouns of time, as seen in Table 6.17. An uncompounded form of the second item, কত িদন /kɔto din/, is also common. An apostrophe (as in the forms in the first and second rows) is sometimes included to mark the deletion of theয় /e/ in the compounding process. This use of the apostrophe is not to be confused with the use in some verb forms to distinguish /o/ from /ɔ/ (Section 3.4.2.3).

~~ক’বছর kɔbɔchor ‘how many years?’~~

~~কিদন ∼ ক’িদন kɔdin ‘how long, how many days?’~~

~~কিন kɔddin ‘how long, how many days?’~~

~~কয় বার kɔybar ‘how many times?’~~

~~Table 6.17: Interrogative quantifiers~~

~~6.8 Indefinite pro-forms~~

In a phenomenon typical of the South Asian area (Chapter 4), Bangla can form pronouns with an indefinite reading by the addition of a particle,-উ either /-u/ or-ও /-o/, on interrogatives. The particle can either precede or follow case suffixes, as seen in the objective and genitive rows of Table 6.18.

~~6.8.1 Indefinite pronouns and pro-forms~~

The indefinite human pronounকউ is /keu/ ‘someone’, shown in Table 6.18. Like other human pronouns, কউ /keu/ has no locative case, while the non-human pronounিক 106 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms

/kichu/ ‘something’ (Table 6.19) does have the full four-case paradigm. Indefinite pronouns do not, strictly speaking, form plurals, but a plural or paucal meaning can be conveyed through repetition (see Section 8.6.1.2); for example, কউ কউ /keu keu/ ‘some people’ or কাউেক কাউেক /kau-ke kau-ke/ ‘some people-OBJ’.

~~Case~~

~~কউ Nominative keu~~

~~কাউেক kauke কােকও Objective kakeo কােরােক karoke~~

~~কােরা, Genitive কারও karo~~

~~Table 6.18: Forms of the indefinite human pronoun কউ /keu/ ‘someone’~~

When combined with না /na/or the perfect negative িন /ni/, indefinite pronouns correspond to English negative pronouns, as shown in Table 6.20, although Bangla indefinite pronouns do not form a constituent with negatives. A finite verb, for example, can intervene, with the negative following the verb, as in 6.35.

(6.35) এখােন আসবার আেগ আিম কােনা কঠাল ekhane aś-ba-r age ami kono kaṭhal here come-VN-GEN before 1SG.NOM any jackfruit খাইিন। kha-Ø-i-ni eat-PRS-1-NEG.PRF ‘I haven’t eaten any jackfruits before coming here.’ Indefinite pro-forms | 107

~~Case Singular~~

~~Nominative িক kichu Objective~~

~~িকর Genitive kichur~~

~~িকেত Locative kichute~~

~~Table 6.19: Forms of the indefinite nonhuman pronoun িক /kichu/ ‘something, anything’~~

~~কউ...না keu (‘someone’)...na ‘no one; not anyone’~~

~~িকছ...না kichu (‘something’)...na ‘nothing’~~

~~কােনা...না kono (‘any’)...na ‘not any’~~

~~কাথাও না kothao (‘anywhere’)...na ‘nowhere’~~

~~কখনও না kɔkhono (‘ever’)...na ‘never’~~

~~Table 6.20: Indefinite pronouns and pro-forms with negative 108 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms~~

~~6.8.2 Quantifying pro-forms~~

6.8.2.1 Declinable quantifying pro-forms We use the term quantifying pro-forms for all indefinite pro-forms that encode the quantity of referents—whether general (many) or specific (two). Quantifying pro-forms that refer exclusively to humans behave like other human nominal forms and take case suffixes, as illustrated in Table 6.21 through Table 6.23.

~~Nominative সবাই śɔbai~~

~~Objective সবাইেক śɔbaike~~

~~Genitive সবাকার śɔbakar~~

~~Table 6.21: সবাই /śɔbai/ ‘all, everyone’~~

~~Nominative অেনেক ɔneke~~

~~Objective অেনক েক ɔnekke~~

~~Genitive অেনেকর ɔneker~~

~~Table 6.22: অেনেক /ɔneke/ ‘many persons’~~

Plural personal pronouns that are used withসব /śɔb/ ‘everything; all’,সবাই /śɔbai/ ‘all, everyone’,সকেল /śɔkole/ ‘everyone’, orঅেনেক /ɔneke/ ‘many persons’ may take either the nominative or genitive case. Indefinite pro-forms | 109

~~Nominative সকেল śɔkole~~

~~Objective সকল েক śɔkolke~~

~~Genitive সকেলর śɔkoler~~

~~Table 6.23: সকেল /śɔkole/ ‘everyone’~~

6.8.2.2 Indeclinable quantifying pro-forms The following pro-forms mostly refer to non-human nouns. They therefore tend not to be inflected, and they can all act as noun modifiers, in addition to pro-forms (see Section 7.4.2.2). Many of them do, however, occasionally take case-markers given the appropriate context, particularly a genitive suffix, but even occasionally an objective suffix.

~~• সব /śɔb/ ‘everything; all’ (non-human referents only)~~

• সকল /śɔkol/ ‘everything.’ Although as a modifier,সকল /śɔkol/ may modify both human and non-human nouns, as a pronoun, it has two forms: one for humans (সকেল /śɔkole/; see Table 6.23) and one for non-humans (সকল /śɔkol/).

~~• সম /śɔmosto/ ‘all’~~

~~• সণ /śɔmpurno/ ‘complete, entire; the whole (X)’~~

~~• সদয় /śɔmudoe/ ‘all (X)’~~

~~• সম /śɔmogro/ ‘everything’~~

~~• যাবতীয় /jabotiyo/ ‘the entirety’~~

• অেনক /ɔnek/ ‘many things.’ Like সকল /śɔkol/, অেনক /ɔnek/ has two pronominal forms, one used exclusively with reference to humans,অেনেক /ɔneke/—see Table 6.22—and one that can be used for both humans and non-humans,অেনক /ɔnek/.

~~• ব /bohu/ ‘many things, much’ (non-human referents only)~~

~~• উভয় /ubhɔe/ ‘two persons/things; two; both’~~

~~• কত /kɔto/ ‘how much/many of it/them’ (See Section 8.1 for more about this interrogative.)~~

~~• কতক /kɔtok/ ‘some of it/them’ 110 | Pronouns and Other Pro-forms~~

~~(6.36) সব িক ক আেছ| śɔb kichu ṭhik ach-Ø-e everything some fine be-PRS-3.NHON ‘Everything is fine.’~~

~~(6.37) ঈেরর ি সব/সম িক র| iśśor-er śriśṭi śɔb/śɔmosto kichu śundor God-GEN creation all some beautiful ‘God created all things beautiful.’ 7 Noun Modifiers~~

~~7.1 Introduction~~

This chapter describes a range of forms that serve to alter, highlight, specify, delimit, ascribe a property to, or otherwise modify a noun; in other words, noun modifiers. Within this class of words we include not only adjectives, but also other words that can perform this function. These include genitive nouns and determiners, which we use as an umbrella term for demonstratives, quantifiers, and classifiers. See Section 10.2.1 for more description of the ordering of modifiers within a noun phrase.

~~7.2 Adjectives~~

~~7.2.1 About adjectives~~

Most Bangla adjectives are not formally distinguishable from nouns, although a few closed classes of historically derived adjectives (listed below in Section 7.2.3) are recognizable through their distinctive endings. Adjectives always precede the nouns they modify and cannot occur without a noun except predicatively, as in the examples in 7.4 and 7.5 below. They do not show agreement, but plural endings and certain classifiers (Section 7.4.3) can be added to them to derive nouns (see Section 5.5.1). Like nouns, adjectives participate in reduplication (Section 8.6.1) and partial reduplication (Section 8.6.2). A few examples of adjectives being used attributively follow.

(7.1) আিম একটা লাল কলম িদেয় িচ িলখলাম। ami æk-ṭa lal kɔlom diye ciṭhi likh-l-am 1SG.NOM one-CLF red pen with letter write-PST-1 ‘I wrote a letter with a red pen.’

~~(7.2) রিহম নন বই িকনেলা। rohim notun boi kin-l-o Rahim new book buy-PST-3.NHON ‘Rahim bought a new book.’~~

(7.3) অেনক লা িদন পের, আমরা িবাম িনেত ɔnek lɔmba din pore amra bisram ni-te many long day after 1PL.NOM rest take-IPFP পেরিছ। pere-ch-Ø-i be.able.PRF-PRF-PRS-1 ‘We were able to rest after many long days.’ 112 | Noun Modifiers

~~In addition to such attributional uses as above, adjectives can also function predicatively:~~

(7.4) অ ােসর পরীার সমা সহজ িছেলা। ɔŋko klaś-er porikkha-r śɔmośśa śɔhoj chi-l-o math class-GEN test-GEN problem easy be-PST-3 ‘The problems in the math class test were easy.’

(7.5) য বইটা আিম পেড়িছ ওই je boi-ṭa ami pore-ch-Ø-i o-i CMPL book-CLF 1SG.NOM read.PRF-PRF-PRS-1 that-EMPH বইটা বই শিকল িছেলা। boi-ṭa khub-i muśkil chi-l-o book-CLF very-EMPH difficult be-PST-3.NHON ‘The book that I read was too difficult.’

~~7.2.2 Comparison of adjectives~~

7.2.2.1 Comparatives Comparison in Bangla is usually expressed periphrastically, but can be expressed morphologically in limited cases. Comparative expressions generally use either a genitive nominal+postposition (‘than’) construction as the standard of comparison, followed by an adjective as the parameter of comparison; or, if there is no explicit standard of comparison, an adverb meaning ‘more’. An equational sentence is used in these com- parisons; no copula is required. The most common way to express comparison in Bangla is with postpositions of comparison, such as চেয় /ceye/, চাইেত /caite/, থেক /theke/ ‘than’, or হেত /hote/ ‘from’, which then govern the noun or pronoun that is the standard of comparison. In 7.6, চেয় /ceye/ ‘than’ is the postposition of comparison,ছেল /chele/ ‘son’ is the standard of comparison,বড় /bɔṛo/ ‘big’ is the parameter of comparison, andমেয় /meye/ ‘daughter’ is what is being compared.

(7.6) আমার মেয় আমার ছেলর চেয় বড়। amar meye amar chele-r ceye bɔṛo 1SG.GEN daughter 1SG.GEN son-GEN THAN BIG ‘My daughter is taller/bigger/older than my son.’

~~(7.7) বাবা মার চাইেত লা। baba ma-r caite lɔmba father mother-GEN than tall ‘Father is taller than mother.’ Adjectives | 113~~

(7.8) বড়েলােকরা গরীবেদর থেক ভাবান। bɔṛolok-era gorib-der theke bhaggoban rich-HUM.PL.NOM poor-HUM.PL.GEN. than lucky ‘Rich people are luckier than poor people.’

(7.9) সীতা রিহেমর থেক কম দৗঁড়ােলা। śita rohim-er theke kɔm dõuṛa-l-o Sita Rahim-GEN than less run-PST-3.NHON ‘Sita ran less than Rahim.’

(7.10) আমরা তােদর থেক অিধক কামাই। amra tader theke odhik kama-Ø-i 1PL.NOM 3PL.GEN than more earn-PRS-1 ‘We earn more than them.’ Another comparative construction consists of noun/quantifier-GEN+বিশ /beśi/= ‘more than X’. This is generally restricted to comparison of amounts:

~~(7.11) পচ চােরর বশী। pãc car-er beśi five four-GEN more ‘Five is more than four.’~~

(7.12) তািমম সখােন িতন মােসর বিশ িছেলা। æk śekhane tin maś-er beśi chi-l-o Tamim there three month-GEN more be-PST-3NHON ‘Tamim spent more than three months there.’ The parallel construction noun/quantifier-GEN+কম /kɔm/ ‘less’ holds for expressions meaning ‘less than X’:

(7.13) বােরা তেরার কম নয়। baro tæro-r kɔm nɔ-Ø-e twelve thirteen-GEN less not.be-PRS-3.NHON ‘not less than twelve or thirteen’ The words আেরা/আরও /aro/ ‘more’ or অেনক /ɔnek/ ‘much’ preceding an adjective can express the comparative when a comparison is not being made to anything explicit. আেরা/আরও /aro/can also appear with অেনক /ɔnek/, but does not have to if context makes it clear that a comparison to something else is being made. 114 | Noun Modifiers

~~(7.14) যটা আেরা বড়। śurjo-ṭa aro bɔṛo sun-CLF more big ‘The sun is even bigger.’~~

(7.15) সই কিবতা অেনক ভােলা। śe-i kobita ɔnek bhalo that-EMPH poem a.lot good ‘That poem is much better.’ Periphrasis is not always necessary. The standard of comparison can also be indicated through case-marking, as in the examples below, where it takes a genitive suffix, and no additional words are used to relate it to the adjective. However, only a few adjectives express comparison with this sort of construction.

~~(7.16) েরর চেয় অধম kukur-er ceye ɔdhom dog-GEN than low ‘lower than a dog’~~

~~(7.17) আমার ছাট amar choṭo 1SG.GEN small ‘younger than me’ Likewise, Sanskrit comparatives in-তর /-tɔro/ are occasionally used, often only with an emphatic sense.~~

~~(7.18) গরীবতর gorib-tɔro poor-COMP ‘poorer’~~

~~(7.19) অুততর ɔdbhut-tɔro remarkable-COMP ‘more remarkable’ Adjectives | 115~~

7.2.2.2 Superlatives Superlatives can be expressed in a number of ways. First, there are constructions that do not specify a particular group of people or things for the standard of comparison but instead imply it, by using a pronoun meaning ‘everything’ or ‘everyone’. The construction may contain an explicit postposition of comparison—সবেচেয় /śɔbceye/, সব থেক /śɔb theke/ ‘than/of all’, as in 7.20 and 7.21; or it could simply be of the form pronoun+genitive, which we see in 7.22.

(7.20) তামার সবেচেয় িয় খাবার ভাজা মাছ| tomar śɔbceye prio khabar bhaj-a mach 2SG.FAM.GEN of all favorite food fry-VN fish ‘Your favorite food is fried fish.’

(7.21) সব থেক বড় ভাইেয়র নাম িমলন| śɔb theke bɔṛo bhai-er nam milɔn all than big brother-GEN name Milɔn ‘The oldest brother’s name is Milon.’

(7.22) স সকেলর ছাট| śetu śɔkol-er choṭo Setu all-GEN small ‘Setu is the youngest.’ Another way to express a general superlative is by using the adjective twice, once in the genitive case:

(7.23) ুর ু duśṭu-r duśṭu naughty-GEN naughty ‘the naughtiest [lit. naughty of the naughty]’ Alternatively, the comparison may explicitly refer to a particular group by using the construction noun+মে /moddhe/ ‘among’: (7.24) ভাইেবানেদর মে লাব বড়| bhai-bon-der moddhe labɔnno bɔṛo brother-sister-HUM.PL.GEN among Labannya big ‘Labannya is the oldest of the brothers and sisters.’ There are also adjectives that use the Sanskrit superlative suffix-তম /-tɔmo/: 116 | Noun Modifiers

~~(7.25) িবশালতম biśal-tɔmo large-SUP ‘largest’~~

~~(7.26) নবতম nɔbo-tɔmo recent-SUP ‘most recent’~~

~~7.2.3 Historically derived adjectives~~

A number of adjectives are etymologically the result of suffixes or morphophonologi- cal processes that once derived adjectives from other parts of speech. These suffixes and processes are no longer productive, but the adjectives on which they occur can be analyzed diachronically as described in the following sections.

7.2.3.1 Adjectives derived from adverbs Adjectives can be derived from adverbial bases, which are historically noun of time or place, by the addition of the following old genitive suffixes-কার /-kar/-কর /-ker/ (7.27) ওখানকার খাবার া। okhan-kar khabar śuśśadu there-GEN food delicious ‘The food there is delicious.’

7.2.3.2 Adjectives derived from nouns Nouns also served as the base for deriving adjectives, through a series of suffixes which also triggered vowel mutation. Some suffixes that derived an adjective from a nounalso triggered one of two possible types of vowel mutation, Bangla or Sanskritic. Bangla vowel mutation was a phonologically conditioned rule of raising that is no longer productive. Before the suffixes-এ/-য় /-(y)e/ and-ও /-o/, vowels were raised as follows:

~~• e → i¹~~

~~• æ → e~~

~~1 These mutation rules play a large role in Bangla verbal morphology; see Section 9.1. Adjectives | 117~~

~~• o → u~~

~~• a → e~~

~~• ɔ → o~~

~~The following pairs are representative examples of the morphophonemic alternations that are remnants of this now-defunct process:~~

~~(7.28) এক ঘা æk gha one beat ‘one beat (on a drum)’~~

~~(7.29) একেঘেয় ek-ghe-ye one-beat-ADJ ‘boring, monotonous’~~

~~(7.30) কাজ kaj work ‘work’~~

~~(7.31) কেজা kej-o work-ADJ ‘efficient, active, useful’~~

~~(7.32) র jɔr fever ‘fever’~~

(7.33) ােরা jor-o fever-ADJ ‘feverish’ With the adjectivizing suffix-ইক /-ik/, we see Sanskritic vowel mutation, a morphological rather than phonological alternation, and a reflex of Indo-European ablaut (see Section 3.3.1.1.4). It can be seen in some historically derived noun, too, and is also no longer productive: 118 | Noun Modifiers

~~• অ /ɔ/ → আ /a/~~

~~• আ /a/ →আ /a/~~

~~• ই/ঈ /i/ → ঐ /oi/~~

~~• উ/ঊ /u/ → ঔ /ou/~~

~~The pairs that follow exemplify these Sanskritic vowel mutations:~~

~~(7.34) অর ɔntor heart ‘heart, interior’~~

~~(7.35) আিরক antor-ik heart-ADJZ ‘sincere, heartfelt’~~

~~(7.36) মাস maś month ‘month’~~

~~(7.37) মািসক maś-ik month-ADJZ ‘monthly’~~

~~(7.38) িদন din day ‘day’~~

~~(7.39) দিনক doin-ik day-ADJZ ‘daily’ Noun modification via other parts of speech | 119~~

~~7.2.3.3 Adjectives derived from verbs Forms derived from the verb stem with the addition of the suffix- /-nto/ (historically present active participles), can also function as an adjective:~~

~~(7.40) ট জল phuṭɔ-nto jɔl boil-ADJ water ‘boiling water [KCB: phuṭonto jɔl]’~~

(7.41) ম িসংহ ghumɔ-nto śiŋho sleep-ADJ lion ‘sleeping lion [KCB: ghumonto śiŋho]’ Forms derived from a verb stem and the suffix-ইত /-ito/, also form an adjective.These forms are lexicalized: (7.42) পরীা শষ কের ছারা অেনক আনিত porikkha śeś kor-e chatro-ra ɔnek anondito test finish do-PRFP student-HUM.PL.NOM very happy হেয় গেলা। ho-e gæ-l-o become-PRFP go-PST-3NHON ‘The students were very happy after finishing the test.’

~~7.3 Noun modification via other parts of speech~~

There are a number of productive ways to form nominal modifiers from other parts of speech, most commonly from nouns.. As described in Section 5.4.3, nouns in the genitive case can act as modifiers of other nouns as in the following examples, repeated from that discussion:

~~(7.43) েমর কািহনী prem-er kahini love-GEN story ‘a love story’~~

~~(7.44) কল কাতার সংবাদপ kolkata-r śoŋbadpɔtrɔ Kolkata-GEN newspaper ‘a Kolkata newspaper’ 120 | Noun Modifiers~~

This includes adding a genitive suffix to a verbal noun to create an underlyingly clausal modifier: (7.45) িফের আসবার সময় fir-e aś-ba-r śɔmoe return-PRFP come-VN-GEN time ‘while returning/coming back’ A verbal noun may also be used by itself, without a genitive suffix, to modify a noun: (7.46) হােত কা ছিব hat-e ãk-a chobi hand-LOC draw-VN picture ‘a picture drawn with hands’

(7.47) মরেচ ধরা পেরক morce dhɔr-a pærek rust hold-VN nail ‘a nail full of [lit. holding] rust’ Forms used this way are sometimes referred to as verbal adjectives, but we call them verbal nouns because, although etymologically distinct from verbal nouns, verbal adjectives are synchronically identical to them in form. They occur before the noun they modify and can also be used predicatively. When written, they are sometimes attached by a hyphen to other associated words. Verbal nouns in this sort of construction may also have a subject, which takes a genitive case suffix, as in 7.48. Section 9.5.4.2, Section 10.3.1.1, and Section 10.5.3.1 discuss these constructions further. (7.48) জেনর লখা বই িবাত হেয় গেলা। jɔn-er lekh-a boi bikkhæto ho-e gæ-l-o John-GEN write-VN book famous become-PRFP go-PST-3NHON ‘The book John wrote became famous.’ Verbal nouns with an originally adjectival origin are sometimes negated by the prefixঅ- /ɔ-/, although these constructions are generally lexicalized: (7.49) অেদখা ɔ-dækh-a NEG-see-VN ‘unseen’ Determiners | 121

~~(7.50) অজানা ɔ-jan-a NEG-know-VN ‘unknown’~~

~~7.4 Determiners~~

~~7.4.1 Demonstratives~~

There are three demonstrative, or deictic, adjectives in Bangla:এ /e/ ‘this (here)’, ও /o/ ‘that (there)’, andস /śe/ ‘that (not visible; furthest)’, used with singular, plural, and non-count nouns. They are formally identical to the demonstrative pronouns (Sec- tion 6.5) and precede the nouns they modify, as well as any non-deictic adjectives or quantifiers that modify those nouns. Since adjectives do not show agreement, demonstrative adjectives occur only in the nominative case. In spoken Bangla, an emphatic inclusive -ই /-i/ is usually added to nominative forms:এই /ei/, ওই /oi/ orঐ /oi/, and সই /śei/; due to its frequent occurrence with demonstratives, the particle tends to lack its emphatic force in this context:

~~(7.51) এই াচীন মির e-i pracin mondir this-EMPH ancient temple ‘this ancient temple’~~

(7.52) ওই পচটা র o-i pãc-ṭa kukur that-EMPH five-CLF dog ‘those five dogs’ Table 7.1 shows the declined deictic forms with emphatic -ই /-i/.As noted earlier, they occur only in the nominative case. See Section 6.5 for a description of the semantics of Bangla deictics. A deictic+noun construction can occur with or without a classifier (see Section 7.4.3). The classifier is added to the end of the noun and is used when onemeansto distinguish this car from that one, as inএই গািড়টা /ei gaṛiṭa/ ‘this car (not that one)’ versus এই গািড় /ei gaṛi/ ‘this car’, where the speaker is simply drawing attention to the car, not singling it out from among other cars. The deictics এ ও স /e o śe/ also form the first half of several sets of derivatives, as shown in Table 7.2: 122 | Noun Modifiers

~~Number Proximal Distal Unmarked~~

~~এই ওই সই Singular ei oi śei~~

~~এইেলা ওইেলা সইেলা Plural eigulo oigulo śeigulo~~

~~Table 7.1: Nominative deictics with -ই /-i/~~

~~With খান khan ‘place’+LOC With সব śɔb ‘all’~~

~~এ e এখােন এসব ekhane eśɔb ‘here’ ‘all these’~~

~~ও o ওখােন ওসব okhane ośɔb ‘there’ ‘all those’~~

~~স śe সখান সসব śekhane śeśɔb ‘(over) there’ ‘all those’~~

~~Table 7.2: Deictic derived forms Determiners | 123~~

(7.53) আমরা যা এখােন পেয়িছ হল সমার amra ja ekhan-e peye-Ø-ch-i holo śɔmośśa-r 1PL.NOM CMPL here-LOC find.PRF-PRF-PRS-1 is problem-GEN সমাধান| śɔmadhan solution ‘What we have found here is the solution to the problem.’

~~(7.54) এসব িজিনস তামার জ নয়| e-śɔb jiniś tomar jonno nɔ-Ø-e these-all thing 2SG.FAM.GEN for not.be-PRS-3.NHON ‘All these things are not for you.’~~

~~7.4.2 Quantifiers~~

Quantifers are words which characterize the amount of something, and includes number names and other words that denote quantity in a less precise way: all, some, few, many, and so on. A fundamental difference between quantifiers and other noun modifiers is that a quantifier may occur with a classifier, yet remain a modifier ratherthan becoming a derived noun. They can also, however, be used as nouns with the addition of a classifier: (7.55) িতনটা পেড়িছ। tin-ṭa poṛe-ch-Ø-i three-CLF read.PRF-PRF-PRS-1 ‘I read three. [books, magazines, etc.]’

~~(7.56) পচ খলাম। pãc-ṭi khe-l-am five-CLF eat-PST-1 ‘I ate five. [pieces of bread, etc.]’~~

~~(7.57) ছয়জন এেলা। chɔe-jɔn e-l-o six-CLF.HUM come-PST-3.NHON ‘Six people came.’ 124 | Noun Modifiers~~

7.4.2.1 Number names The smaller Bangla number names almost always take classifiers when modifying nouns, as in 7.58. When standing on its own as a derived noun through the addition of a classifier, a number name can then be marked for case, with the classifier preceding the case suffix, as in 7.59 and 7.60. Unlike other quantifiers, however, they may not take a case suffix without a classifier: 7.61 is unacceptable.

~~(7.58) িতন ভাক tin-ṭi bhaluk three-CLF.DIM bear ‘three bears’~~

~~(7.59) িতনর tin-ṭi-r three-CLF-GEN ‘of the three’~~

~~(7.60) দশেক dɔś-ṭi-ke ten-CLF-OBJ ‘the ten [direct object]’~~

(7.61) *দশেক dɔś-ke ten-OBJ ‘the ten [direct object]’ Unlike other quantifiers, number names may precede or follow the noun theymod- ify. In fact, the order of number names and nouns in a noun phrase reflects a crucial semantic difference: a noun followed by a number name with a classifier renders the noun phrase definite, while a number name with classifier before the noun yieldsan indefinite noun phrase. Section 7.4.3 describes the interaction of number names with classifiers and nouns in more detail.

7.4.2.1.1 Inventory and representation Larger sums are written using the traditional Hindu-Arabic positional notation; com- mas are inserted every two digits rather than every three as in the European style: ১,০০,০০০ ‘100,000’ ১,০০,০০,০০০ ‘10,000,000’ The number namesই /dui/ ‘two’ , ছয় /chɔe/ ‘six’, নয় /nɔe/ ‘nine’, and শত /śɔtɔ/ ‘hundred’ have shortened forms that can be used with the compounds for higher Determiners | 125 numbers—for example, শ /duśɔ/ ‘two hundred’,—and are generally used with classifiers. They are usually written with an apostrophe at’ the end: /du/, ছ’ /chɔ/ ,ন’ /nɔ/, শ’ /śɔ/. When ই /dui/ ‘two’, িতন /tin/ ‘three’, and চার /car/ ‘four’ occur as prefixes, the formsি /di/, ত /te/, andচৗ /cɔu/ may be used instead. (7.62) িবা di-bahu two-arm ‘two-armed/sided.’

(7.63) চৗরাা cou-rasta four-road ‘crossroad, junction of four roads’ Table 7.3 lists representative Bangla numerals with the corresponding Arabic ones, along with the names for both cardinal and ordinal forms.

~~Table 7.3: Bangla numerals and number names~~

~~Arabic Bangla Cardinal Ordinal Numeral Numeral~~

~~1 ১ এক থম æk prɔthɔm ‘one’ ‘first’~~

~~2 ২ ই িতীয় dui ditio ‘two’ ‘second’~~

~~3 ৩ িতন তীয় tin tritio ‘three’ ‘third’~~

~~4 ৪ চার চথ car coturthɔ ‘four’ ‘fourth’~~

~~5 ৫ পচ পম pãc pɔncɔm ‘five’ ‘fifth’~~

~~6 ৬ ছয় ষ chɔe śɔśṭhɔ ‘six’ ‘sixth’ 126 | Noun Modifiers~~

~~Table 7.3: (continued)~~

~~Arabic Bangla Cardinal Ordinal Numeral Numeral~~

~~7 ৭ সাত সম śat śɔptɔm ‘seven’ ‘seventh’~~

~~8 ৮ আট অম aṭ ɔśṭɔm ‘eight’ ‘eighth’~~

~~9 ৯ নয় নবম nɔe nɔbɔm ‘nine’ ‘ninth’~~

~~10 ১০ দশ দশম dɔś dɔśɔm ‘ten’ ‘tenth’~~

~~11 ১১ এগার একাদশ ægaro ækadɔś ‘eleven’ ‘eleventh’~~

~~12 ১২ বার াদশ baro dadɔś ‘twelve’ ‘twelfth’~~

~~13 ১৩ তর েয়াদশ / েয়াদশী tæro trɔeɔdɔś / trɔyɔdośi ‘thirteen’ ‘thirteenth’~~

~~14 ১৪ চৗ চদ শ / চদশতম couddo coturdɔś / coturdɔśtɔmɔ ‘fourteen’ ‘fourteenth’~~

~~15 ১৫ পেনেরা পদশ / পদশী pɔnero pɔncɔdɔś / pɔncɔdɔśi ‘fifteen’ ‘fifteenth’~~

~~16 ১৬ ষাল ষাড়শ śolo śoroś ‘sixteen’ ‘sixteenth’~~

~~17 ১৭ সেতর সদশ śɔtero śɔptɔdɔś ‘seventeen’ ‘seventeenth’~~

~~18 ১৮ আঠার অাদশ aṭharo ɔśṭadɔś ‘eighteen’ ‘eighteenth’ Determiners | 127~~

~~Table 7.3: (continued)~~

~~Arabic Bangla Cardinal Ordinal Numeral Numeral~~

~~19 ১৯ উিনশ ঊনিবংশ/ঊনিবংশিততম uniś unɔbiŋśɔ / unɔbiŋśɔtitɔmɔ ‘nineteen’ ‘nineteenth’~~

~~20 ২০ িবশ িবংশ/িবংশিততম/িবংশিততমী biś biŋśɔ / biŋśɔtitɔmɔ / biŋśotitomi ‘twenty’ ‘twentieth’~~

~~21 ২১ এশ একিবংশ/একিবংশিততম ekuś ækobiŋśɔ / ækobiŋśotitɔmɔ ‘twenty-one’ ‘twenty-first’~~

~~22 ২২ বাইশ ািবংশিততম/ািবংশিততমী baiś dabiŋśotitɔmɔ / dabiŋśotitɔmi ‘twenty-two’ ‘twenty-second’~~

~~23 ২৩ তইশ েয়ািবংশিততম/েয়ািবংশিততমী teiś troyobiŋśotitɔmɔ / troyobiŋśotitɔmi ‘twenty-three’ ‘twenty-third’~~

~~24 ২৪ চিশ চিব ংশিততম/চিব ংশিততমী cobbiś coturbiŋśotitɔmɔ / coturbiŋśotitɔmi ‘twenty-four’ ‘twenty-fourth’~~

~~25 ২৫ িচশ পিবংশিততম/পিবংশিততমী põciś pɔncɔbiŋśotitɔmɔ / pɔncɔbiŋśotitɔmi ‘twenty-five’ ‘twenty-fifth’~~

~~26 ২৬ ছািশ ষড়িবংশিততম/ষড়িবংশিততমী chabiś śɔṛbiŋśotitɔmɔ / śɔṛbiŋśotitɔmi ‘twenty-six’ ‘twenty-sixth’~~

~~27 ২৭ সাতাশ সিবংশিততম/সিবংশিততমী śataś śɔptɔbiŋśotitɔmɔ / śɔptɔbiŋśotitɔmi ‘twenty-seven’ ‘twenty-seventh’~~

~~28 ২৮ আঠাশ অািবংশিততম/অািবংশিততমী athaś ɔśṭabiŋśotitɔmɔ / ɔśṭabiŋśotitɔmi ‘twenty-eight’ ‘twenty-eighth’~~

~~29 ২৯ ঊনিশ ঊনিংশ ঊনিংশম unotriś unɔtriŋśɔ / unɔtriŋśɔt-tɔm ‘twenty-nine’ ‘twenty-ninth’~~

~~30 ৩০ িশ িংশ/িংশম/িংশমী triś triŋśɔ / triŋśɔttɔmɔ / triŋśɔttɔmi ‘thirty’ ‘thirtieth’ 128 | Noun Modifiers~~

~~Table 7.3: (continued)~~

~~Arabic Bangla Cardinal Ordinal Numeral Numeral~~

~~40 ৪০ চিশ চািরংশম colliś cɔttariŋśɔttɔmɔ ‘forty’ ‘fortieth’~~

~~50 ৫০ পাশ পাশম/পাশমী pɔncaś pɔncaśattɔm / pɔncaśɔttɔmi ‘fifty’ ‘fiftieth’~~

~~60 ৬০ ষাট ষিতম ষিতমী śaṭ śośṭitɔmɔ / śośṭitɔmi ‘sixty’ ‘sixtieth’~~

~~70 ৭০ সর সিততম śɔttur śɔptɔtitɔmɔ ‘seventy’ ‘seventieth’~~

~~80 ৮০ আিশ অশীিততম aśi ɔśititɔmɔ ‘eighty’ ‘eightieth’~~

~~90 ৯০ নই নইতম/নবিততম/নবিততমী nɔbboi nobboitɔmɔ/nɔbɔtitɔmɔ / nɔbɔtitɔmi ‘ninety’ ‘ninetieth’~~

~~100 ১০০ একশ এক শততম ækśo æk śɔtɔtɔmɔ ‘one hundred’ ‘one hundreth’~~

~~1000 ১০০০ এক হাজার এক সহতম æk hajar æk śɔhɔsrɔtɔmɔ ‘one thousand’ ‘one thousandth’~~

~~100,000 ১,০০,০০০ এক ল ―――- æk lɔkkho ‘one lakh or one hundred thousand’~~

~~10,000,000 ১,০০,০০,০০০ এক কা ―――- æk koṭi ‘one crore or ten million’ Determiners | 129~~

Ordinal number names from one to eighteen are lexical items (rather than derived), albeit borrowed from Sanskrit. That they are lexical is typical of the Indo-Aryan languages, although there is some systematicity among the names for the numbers above 18, the forms must still be memorized. Bangla ordinals for one through ten are identical to the Sanskrit ordinals, except adapted to Bangla phonology. For ordinals above ten, Bangla has either borrowed or slightly altered the Sanskrit cardinals. From 11 through 18, the Bangla ordinals are borrowed from the corresponding Sanskrit cardinals, and from 19 onwards, ordinal numbers are formed one of three ways:

~~• The Sanskrit cardinal numeral+-তম /-tɔmo/~~

~~• The Sanskrit cardinal with its final syllable deleted~~

~~• The cardinal numeral in the genitive case~~

In the colloquial language, most speakers only use the Sanskrit forms for first through third. After that, they choose the third option above and simply addageni- tive case marker to the cardinal form. Ordinals can be abbreviated by combining the numeral symbol with the last letter of the word, as shown in Table 7.4.

~~দশম dɔśom ১০ম ‘tenth’~~

~~াদশ dadɔś ১২শ ‘twelfth’~~

~~Table 7.4: Abbreviations of ordinal numbers~~

7.4.2.1.2 Expressions involving number names Combining a number name X withণ /gun/ ‘quality, property’yields an expression meaning ‘X-times’. in such expressions, the Sanskrit-derived prefixি /di/ is used for ‘two’, and the Sanskritic prefixesি /tri/ ‘three’ and চৗ /cou/ ‘four’ may also be used. (7.64) িণ di-gun two-times ‘twice, double(d)’ 130 | Noun Modifiers

~~(7.65) িণ ∼ িতনণ tri-gun tin-gun three-times three-times ‘thrice, threefold’~~

~~(7.66) চৗণ ∼ চারণ cou-gun car-gun four-times four-times ‘four times, fourfold’~~

~~(7.67) পচণ pãc-gun five-times ‘five times, fivefold’ A pair of numbers can be used to give an approximation or indefinite quantity:~~

~~(7.68) ‘িতন ঘা du-tin ghɔnṭa two-three hour ‘two or three hours’~~

~~(7.69) গত িড়িচশ বছেরর মে gɔto kuṛi-põciś bɔchor-er moddhe last twenty-twenty.five year-GEN among ‘in the past twenty or twenty-five years’~~

~~(7.70) পচ সাত ক.িজ pãc śat ke ji five seven kilo ‘around five to seven kilos’~~

~~(7.71) সাত ক.িজর মত śat ke ji-r moto seven kilo-GEN about ‘around seven kilos’~~

~~(7.72) -চার du-car two-four ‘few’ Determiners | 131~~

(7.73) সাত-পচ śat-pãc seven-five ‘many and diverse; this and that’ After numbers and other quantifierএক words, /ek/ means ‘approximately, about’; etymologically it is most likely related toএক /æk/ ‘one’: (7.74) হাত ছেয়ক লা hat chɔy-ek lɔmba hand six-INDF tall ‘about six feet long/tall’

(7.75) িদন চােরক din car-ek day four-INDF ‘about four days or so’ What follows is a relatively long list of idiomatic items that express different no- tional amounts. (7.76) এেক ... তায় / তােত æk-e ta-e/ta-te one-LOC that-LOC/that-LOC ‘on the one hand ... moreover (or, on the other hand)’

~~(7.77) ব একটা খারাপ নয়| khub æk-ṭa kharap nɔ-Ø-e very one-CLF bad not.be-PRS-3.NHON ‘It’s not that bad.’~~

~~(7.78) ই/েটা/জন dui/du-ṭo/dujon two/two-CLF/two-CLF ‘both’~~

~~(7.79) উিনশ-িবশ uniś-biś nineteen-twenty ‘slight or negligible difference’ 132 | Noun Modifiers~~

~~(7.80) হাজার হাক hajar ho-Ø-k thousand become-IMP.PRS-IMP.PRS.3.NHON ‘after all, still then’~~

~~(7.81) ই/েটা dui/du-ṭo two/two-CLF ‘a very few’~~

~~(7.82) চার/চারেট car/car-ṭe four/four-CLF ‘a few, some’~~

~~(7.83) এক আধ æk adh one one.half ‘a few, just a few, several’~~

~~(7.84) সাত জে śat jɔnm-e seven birth-LOC ‘a very long time (past or future)’~~

~~(7.85) সাত ষ śat puruś seven generation ‘for generations (past or future); i.e., a very long time’~~

~~(7.86) চৗ ষ couddo puruś fourteen generation ‘for generations; i.e., a very, very long time’~~

(7.87) সাত স তর নদীর পাের śat śomudro tæro nodi-r par-e seven sea thirteen river-GEN opposite.side-LOC ‘far away, on the other side of the world’ Determiners | 133

~~(7.88) তিশ কা দবতা tetriś koṭi debota thirty.three crore god ‘all the gods’~~

7.4.2.2 Other quantifiers 7.4.2.2.1 Inventory What follows is a list of the most common quantifiers found in Bangla, beyond those already described. In general, they occur before nouns, with a general function of indicated number, mass, scope, telicity, exhaustiveness, of the object modified. See Sec- tion 10.2.1 for discussion of the relative ordering of quantifiers and other modifiers in noun phrases.

~~(7.89) সব śɔb all ‘all, every, whole, entire’~~

~~(7.90) সকল śɔkol all ‘all, entire, whole’~~

~~(7.91) সম śɔmosto all ‘all, every, whole, entire’~~

~~(7.92) সণ śɔmpurno complete ‘complete; the whole (X)’~~

~~(7.93) সদয় śɔmudoe complete ‘complete’ 134 | Noun Modifiers~~

~~(7.94) সম śɔmogro complete ‘complete’~~

~~(7.95) যাবতীয় jabotiyo entire ‘entire’~~

~~(7.96) অেনক ɔnek a.lot ‘more than one, many, much, various, too much’~~

~~(7.97) ব bohu many ‘many, much’~~

~~(7.98) উভয় ubhɔe both ‘both’~~

~~(7.99) কত kɔto how.much ‘how much, how many’~~

~~(7.100) কতক kɔtok some ‘some’ Determiners | 135~~

7.4.2.2.2 Interrogative quantifiers As with all quantifiers, interrogative quantifiers require classifiers with count nouns. -টা /-ṭa/, - /-ṭi/, or -জন /-jɔn/ are obligatory with the interrogativeকত /kɔto/ ‘how many?’ (or its variantsকয়, ক, ক’ /kɔe, kɔ, kɔ’/) with respect to countable objects or people. Usuallyকত /kɔto/ or one of its shortened forms is preferred;কয় /kɔe/, on the other hand, is more formal or literary (and also rural).

7.4.2.2.3 Indefinite Quantifiers The interrrogative কত /kɔto/ and its allomorphsকয় /kɔe/ and ক’ /kɔ/ form the base for several derived indefinite quantifiers. Most are formed by suffixing a classifier to the interrogative, as shown in Table 7.5. The last one also incorporates the particleএক /ek/ (Section 10.2.4.3).

~~কতক kɔtok ‘a few, several, some’~~

~~কতক েলা,কতিল kɔtokgulo, kɔtoguli ‘several, many’~~

~~কতক টা,কতটা kɔtokṭa, kɔtoṭa ‘some, a little’~~

~~কেয়ক, কেয়ক টা kɔyek, koyekṭa ‘a few’~~

~~Table 7.5: Indefinite quantifiers~~

~~7.4.3 Classifiers~~

7.4.3.1 Definition Classifiers have been variously called qualifiers, measure words, determiner suffixes, definite articles, and definite particles. Because they exhibit a clear typological connection to the classifiers of the eastern South Asian area and more especially of Southeast Asia, this grammar calls them classifiers. (See Chapter 4 for more on the areal features of Bangla.) An inventory of Bangla classifiers follows in the next section, with their functions described in the subsequent sections. Bangla classifiers are bound morphemes, most often added to nouns, deictics, quantifiers, and the lower number names, although the most common of themcan be attached to almost any part of speech, resulting in a derived noun. Because of this 136 | Noun Modifiers flexibility regarding what POS they associate with, and also because they do nottrig- ger vowel raising, we analyze classifiers as clitics. (See Table 7.7 in Section 7.4.3.3 for an exhaustive list of what word types each classifier may occur with and Section 8.5 for a list of criteria for clitic-hood.) When attached to nouns, classifiers are added directly to the stem, before case markers. They encode countability and, by their relative position in the noun phrase, definiteness; some of them also encode semantic information about shape, amount, or humanness. Traditionally, grammatical descriptions characterize classifiers as also conveying respect or disrespect through deliberate use ofthe wrong classifier (e.g.,- /-ṭi/ versus-জন /-jɔn/ with reference to an adult human). However, the picture for modern spoken Bangla is more complicated; see below for more on this question.

7.4.3.2 Inventory of classifiers 7.4.3.2.1 -টা /-ṭa/ ∼ -ট /-ṭe/ ∼ -টা /-ṭo/ The most commonly used classifier,-টা /-ṭa/, occurs with any of the four word-types al- lowable for classifiers—nouns (human and non-human), deictics, number names, and other quantifiers. When suffixed to a noun or a deictic, /ṭa/ signifies singular number, definiteness, and countability (‘that undivided unit’). When attached to a quantifier greater than one, it still conveys definiteness and countability, but not number. How- ever, it can also be used by itself with nouns where plurality is understood; in that case, the reference is to the items as a group, as inেতাটা /jutoṭa/ ‘the (pair of) shoes’. -টা /-ṭa/ is not obligatory for signifying definiteness if the context clearly implies it,as in চািব কাথায়? /cabi kothae/ ‘where is the key?’ The deictics { এ /e/ ‘this (here)’,ও /o/ ‘that (there)’, andস /śe/ ‘that (elsewhere)’} can act as either modifiers or pronouns, but a deictic cliticized-টা by /-ṭa/ yields a form interpretable only as a pronoun, as inিম সটা জানেত /tumi śeṭa jante/ ‘you knew that’ or এটা /eṭa/ ‘this (thing)’. To use-টা /-ṭa/ in a deictic+noun construction, therefore, it must be attached to the noun:এই বইটা /ei boiṭa/ ‘this book’. -টা /-ṭa/ is the default obligatory classifier with number names and quantifiers of countability, including interrogatives:

~~(7.101) পচটা মেয় pãc-ṭa meye five-CLF girl ‘five girls’~~

~~(7.102) ওখােন কটা বািড় আেছ? okhane kɔ-ṭa baṛi ach-e there how.many-CLF house be-3.NHON.PRS ‘How many houses are there?’ Determiners | 137~~

As mentioned above, relative position of the classifier within the NP is significant. The noun is definite only when the classifier follows it, either by itself or in construction with a number name. Note the difference between 7.103 on the one hand and 7.104 and 7.105 on the other, where positioning the classifier before the noun in 7.103 yields an indefinite NP, whereas placing it after yields definite NPs, asin 7.104 and 7.105:

~~(7.103) ছ’টা বই chɔ-ṭa boi six-CLF book ‘six books’~~

~~(7.104) বই ছ’টা boi chɔ-ṭa book six-CLF ‘the six books’~~

(7.105) বইটা boi-ṭa book-CLF ‘the book’ The combination ofএক /æk/ ‘one’ and -টা /-ṭa/ results in a construction generally translatable either as ‘one’ or as an English indefinite article. টা /ṭo/ and ট /ṭe/ are allomorphs of-টা /-ṭa/: in both kinds of standard colloquial Bangla, টা /ṭo/ occurs after the number nameই /dui/ ‘two’, and ট /ṭe/ occurs after িতন /tin/ ‘three’ and চার /car/ ‘four’. Dialectally it also occurs in free variation with-টা /-ṭa/ after words ending inই /u/ or ঈ /i/; for example,চািবটা /cabiṭa/ ∼ চািবেট /cabiṭe/ ‘the key’. The -টা /-ṭa/ ∼ ট /ṭe/ alternation would be an example of the progressive assimilatory vowel raising discussed in Section 3.3.1.1.3, possibly frozen, as it is not clear whether this rule is productive. Certainly the constructionচারেট /carṭe/ ‘four’ is frozen, since the conditioning high vowel in the earlier formচািরেট /cariṭe/ ‘four’ has been lost. -টা /-ṭa/ is also seen in some dialects withই /dui/, িতন /tin/, and চার /car/, especially in Bangladesh.

7.4.3.2.2 - /-ṭi/ - /-ṭi/ is a diminutive form of-টা /-ṭa/. Traditionally, it connotes smaller size, more delicate texture, or emotional closeness—in the form of either affection or respect. In general, - /-ṭi/ can occur wherever-টা /-ṭa/ can. However, in KCB,- /-ṭi/ can be used more readily with humans than-টা /-ṭa/, which when used with adults can 138 | Noun Modifiers have an informal connotation and therefore would be avoided with nouns usually expressed as honorifics. When used with things,- /-ṭi/ also adds a note of politeness. For example, in ছ িডম িদন /chɔṭi ḍim din/ ‘give me six eggs’,- /-ṭi/ gives a friendly, courteous tone to the request, comparable to the use of the Spanish diminutive suffix -ito/-ita in similar contexts. The form - /-ṭi/ is used somewhat less in DCB, where-টা /-ṭa/ does not necessarily carry a derogatory connotation, although it is still considered extremely informal, and a sentence such as 7.106 would only be used among intimates. Across the language, in fact, -টা /-ṭi/ appears to be diminishing in frequency, especially among younger speakers, some of whom describe it as sounding old-fashioned. The utterance in 7.107 would be preferred over 7.108 as more colloquial.

~~(7.106) তার কয়টা ছেলেমেয় আেছ? tar kɔe-ṭa chele-meye ach-Ø-e 3SG.NHON.GEN how.many-CLF boy-girl be-PRS-3.NHON ‘How many children does s/he have?’~~

(7.107) আপনার কতজন ছেলেমেয় আেছ? apnar kɔto-jɔn chele-meye ach-Ø-e 2.HON.SG.GEN how.many-CLF.HUM boy-girl be-PRS-3.NHON ‘How many children do you have?’

~~(7.108) আপনার কয় ছেলেমেয় আেছ? apnar kɔe-ṭi chele-meye ach-Ø-e 2.HON.SG.GEN how.many-CLF.DIM boy-girl be-PRS-3.NHON ‘How many children do you have?’~~

7.4.3.2.3 -জন /-jɔn/ When people are being enumerated or counted, the classifier-জন /-jɔn/ (historically, ‘person’) can be used instead of-টা /-ṭa/ or- /-ṭi/ with numbers, other quantifiers, or the shortened version of the interrogativeকত /kɔto/ ‘how many?’, but only when those modifiers precede the .noun This restriction does not hold, however, when the noun is in the genitive, as in 7.109.

(7.109) আমােদর একজন amader æk-jɔn 1.PL.GEN one-CLF ‘one of us’ With the exception of a few frozen collocations such asলাকজন /lokjon/ ‘people’ , -জন /-jɔn/ may not be in post-nominal position, as in the non-occurring *ছেলজন Determiners | 139

/chelejon/, and therefore does not encode definiteness. It can also be combined with এক /æk/ ‘one’ to form an indefinite article. Speakers disagree over the rules of use for -জন /-jɔn/; the following are to be taken as approximate rules of thumb:

~~i. It is not generally used for children under (roughly) the age of 12. The usage 7.112 and 7.113 would be less common than that of 7.110 and 7.111:~~

~~(7.110) Q: ক মেয়? kɔ-ṭi meye how.many-CLF.DIM girl ‘how many girls?’~~

~~(7.111) A: িশ। triś-ṭi thirty-CLF.DIM ‘Thirty (girls)’ versus:~~

~~(7.112) Q: কজন মেয়? kɔ-jɔn meye how.many-CLF.HUM girl ‘how many girls?’~~

~~(7.113) A: িশজন। triś-jɔn thirty-CLF.HUM ‘Thirty (girls)’~~

~~ii. Its use is more marked than that of -টা /-ṭa/: it is used in contexts that require respect, such as when referring to a titled person:~~

~~(7.114) একজন রাজা æk-jɔn raja one-CLF.HUM king ‘a king’~~

~~(7.115) জন মি du-jɔn montri two-CLF.HUM minister ‘two ministers’ 140 | Noun Modifiers~~

7.4.3.2.4 -েলা /-gulo/ This classifier is the plural counterpart-টা to /-ṭa/: it encodes plural number, countability, and definiteness, the latter by virtue of its post-nominal position. Whenused with adult humans, -েলা /-gulo/ is usually offensive. It can be attached to nouns, deictics (resulting in a deictic pronoun), and certain quantifying adjectives, such as কত /kɔto/ ‘how much/many’ andঅেন /ɔnek/ ‘much, a lot’. The sentences in 7.116 and 7.117 illustrate the fact that-েলা /-gulo/ yields only a definite plural reading. It should be noted that the third reading of 7.116 may not be acceptable to all speakers; hence the % sign. On the other hand, the second and third readings of 7.117 are simply not possible, as indicated by the asterisks. (See Chapter 1.4 for a full list of abbreviations and punctuation used in this grammar.)

~~(7.116) গািড় ওিদেক। gaṛi o-dik-e car that-side-LOC ‘The car is over there.’ ‘There are cars over there.’ ‘%There is a car over there.’~~

(7.117) গািড়েলা ওিদেক। gaṛi-gulo o-dik-e car-CLF.PL that-side-LOC ‘The cars are over there.’ ‘*There are cars over there.’ ‘*[Some] cars are over there.’

~~7.4.3.2.5 -িল /-guli/ -িল /-guli/ is a diminutive form of -েলা /-gulo/ and behaves just like it.~~

~~(7.118) আমােক পনিসলিল দাও। amake pensil-guli da-Ø-o 1.SG.OBJ pencil-CLF.PL.DIM give-IMP.PRS-2.FAM ‘Give me the pencils.’~~

(7.119) ছেল জামিল খেয় ফলেলা। chele-ṭi jam-guli khe-ye fel-l-o boy-CLF.DIM jamun-CLF.PL.DIM eat-PRFP throw-PST-3.NHON ‘The boy ate up all the jamuns.’ Determiners | 141

~~The five classifiers described thus far are fairly common. The remaining classifiers described below are much more restricted in their use.~~

7.4.3.2.6 -খানা /-khana/ The classifierখানা /-khana/ is among the least common classifiers, for all dialects of Bangla. It can occur with any of the word-types that may take classifiers, but is usually restricted to non-human nouns. Like the other non-human classifiers,খানা /-khana/ conveys singular number, definiteness, and countability when attached toa noun. When it occurs with a quantifier greater than one, it still encodes definiteness and countability, but not number. Also like them, it can combine withএক /æk/ ‘one’ to form an indefinite article. It conveys a sense of extension and is generally used with square, flat, thin, cubical, or long objects or to denotea piece of something.

~~(7.120) কাগজখানা kagoj-khana paper-CLF ‘the (piece of) paper’~~

~~(7.121) খানা খাতা du-khana khata two-CLF exercise.book ‘two exercise books’~~

~~(7.122) কখানা ছিব? kɔ-khana chobi how.many-CLF picture ‘How many pictures?’~~

~~(7.123) িচখানা ciṭhi-khana letter-CLF ‘the letter’~~

(7.124) একখানা মাছ æk-khana mach one-CLF fish ‘a fish’ Bhattacharya says that the phrase in 7.124 can only refer to a dead fish (or a piece of fish), as opposedএক to টামাছ /ækṭa mach/ ‘a fish’, which can refer to either a dead or 142 | Noun Modifiers a living fish (Bhattacharya 2001); however, our informant did not have this distinction in her DCB dialect.

7.4.3.2.7 -খািন /-khani/ As with -টা /-ṭa/ and - /-ṭi/,-খািন /-khani/ is a diminutive form of-খানা /-khana/. (7.125) অেনকখািন সময় ɔnek-khani śɔmoe a.lot-CLF.DIM time ‘a lot of time’

7.4.3.2.8 - /-ṭuku/, -ক /-ṭuk/, -ন /-ṭukun/, -িন /-ṭukuni/ The classifier- /-ṭuku/ and its variants have the meaning the small amount, the tiny bit, and, like-খানা /-khana/ and -খািন /-khani/, is rare and is more likely to be encountered in frozen forms. Like all other non-human classifiers, it marks a noun as definite. Examples are below. The utterance in 7.127 has affective connotations—’this poor little kitty’—and would only be used in speech, never writing.

~~(7.126) আিসফ চা খেলা। asif ca-ṭuku khe-l-o Asif tea-CLF drink-PST-3.NHON ‘Asif drank all the tea.’~~

(7.127) রাজ এই বড়াল রা কেরেছ। raj ei-ṭuku beṛal rɔkkha kore-ch-Ø-e raj this-CLF cat protect do.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Raj protected this [little] cat.’ - /-ṭuku/ is the most common form; the others are variants.-ক /-ṭuk/ is considered informal, -ন /-ṭukun/ is a dialectal variant heard in KCB, and-িন /-ṭukuni/ is Kolkata slang.

7.4.3.3 Functions of classifiers Classifiers in Bangla are not obligatory on every noun phrase. Morphologically unmarked nouns are allowed when definiteness and number can be inferred from context. (See Section 5.2.1 for more on unmarked nouns as the most frequent form.) How- ever, non-numeric quantifiers and the lower number names do require a classifier, from among the following set—{-টা /-ṭa/ , - /-ṭi/ , -জন /-jɔn/ , -খানা /-khana/, or Determiners | 143

-খািন /-khani/} . Classifiers are optional, however, with the names of numbers ending in শা /śo/ ‘hundred’,হাজার /hajar/ ‘thousand’, লাখ /lakh/ ‘lakh (hundred-thousand)’, or কা /koṭi/ ‘crore (ten-million)’:িতন শ /tinśo/ ∼ িতন শ /tinśoṭi/ ‘three-hundred’. In addition, they are prohibited when the number name is followed by a noun of measure (mass, time, money, distance, and so on) rather than a noun denoting a countable unit: িতন ক িজ /tin ke ji/ ‘three kilograms’ or পচ টাকা /pãc ṭaka/ ‘five rupees’, not: *িতনেট ক িজ /tin-ṭe ke ji/ ‘three kilograms’ or*পচটা টাকা /pãc-ṭa ṭaka/ ‘five rupees’. One exception to this prohibition occurs when a classifier is included to emphasize length of time, as in েরা পচ টা ঘা /puro pãc-ṭa ghɔnṭa/ ‘a full five long hours’.² Perhaps in this case, the emphasis derives from the classifiers’ rendering the time units countable. A noun without a classifier is unmarked for number and definiteness, so itcanbe any combination of ±plural and ±definite, although +plural and +definite would bea highly marked interpretation, and one that not all speakers accept, as indicated by the % symbol by that translation:

(7.128) লাক আেস, লাক যায়। lok aś-Ø-e lok ja-Ø-e person come-PRS-3.NHON person come-PRS-3.NHON ‘The person comes, the person goes.’ ‘A person comes, a person goes.’ ‘People come, people go.’ ‘% The people come, the people go.’ Claims in other descriptions that an unmarked head noun in a noun phrase cannot be interpreted as singular indefinite (Thompson 2010, 96) or as a plural indefinite (Seely, pc) are too strong. Context determines the reading. Sentences 7.129 and 7.130 illustrate the more limited readings that the inclusion of classifiers on the noun phrases in 7.128 would yield.

(7.129) লাকটা আেস, লাকটা যায়। lok-ṭa aś-Ø-e lok-ṭa ja-Ø-e person-CLF come-PRS-3.NHON person-CLF go-PRS-3.NHON ‘The person comes, the person goes.’ versus

~~2 Seely (2002/2006, 313) 144 | Noun Modifiers~~

(7.130) লাকেলা আেস, লােকরা যায়। lok-gulo aś-Ø-e lok-era ja-Ø-e person-CLF.PL come-PRS-3.NHON person-CLF.PL go-PRS-3.NHON ‘The people come, the people go.’ When attached to a noun phrase—that is, when following a noun or following a quantifier that follows a noun —the seven non-human classifiers encode the category of definiteness. Table 7.6 describes and illustrates the functions of each classifier when in this position relative to the noun. Rows 1 through 4 lay out the default, or unmarked, uses of each classifier; row 5 then gives examples of these default uses. All sevenin- dicate definiteness and non-humanness (row 1); six of the seven are used with count nouns and one ( - /-ṭuku/) with mass or collective nouns (rows 2 and 3). The first four ( টা /ṭa/, /ṭi/, (খানা /khana)/, and (খািন /khani)/) encode singular number; -েলা /-gulo/ and -িল /-guli/ encode plural (row 3). Finally, the more narrow semantics of shape and/or size are encoded by certain of these classifiers, as shown in row 4. The last two lines of Table 7.6 offer examples of non-default uses of those seven classifiers. In row 5 we see these classifiers on words that denote humans. Almostev- ery grammar of Bangla reports that this usage can indicate an attitude of disrespect if used with reference to adult humans; however, this assessment reflects older usage. In colloquial, informal usage between friends,টা /ṭa/ and /ṭi/ are routinely used with nouns denoting adults in contexts that are clearly neutral. However, even in those situations,টা /ṭa/ would only be used of another peer, not, say, an older adult. Determiners | 145 ṭuku) ―――— ―――— ―――— ―――— ( uncommon -countable ধ dudh-ṭuku ‘the milk’ guli ―――— ―――— িল +diminutive খাতািল khata-guli ছািল chatro-guli (pejorative/ dismissive) ‘the copies’ ‘the students’ plural gulo ―――— ―――— ―――— েলা গাছেলা gach-gulo বেলা bondhu-gulo (pejorative/ dismissive) ‘the trees’ ‘the friends’ RARE RARE khani) ―――— -human (খািন +definite uncommon +diminutive +flat/square িচখািন chiṭhi-khani ‘খািন িচ du-khani cithi িচ ‘খািন ciṭhi du-khani letters’ ‘the letter’ ‘two letters’ ‘the two RARE +countable RARE khana) ―――— (খানা uncommon +flat/square বইখানা boi-khana বই ‘খানা boi du-khana books’ ‘খানা বই du-khana boi ‘the book’ ‘the two ‘two books’ singular ṭi +diminutive পািখ pakhi-ṭi ছেল chele-ṭi (more affectionate) পািখ ‘ pakhi du-ṭi (only with lower number names & some quantifiers) ‘ পািখ du-ṭi pakhi (only with lower number names & some quantifiers) ‘the bird’ ‘the boy’ ‘the two birds’ ‘two birds’ ṭa টা ―――— ঘিড়টা ghoṛi-ṭa ছেলটা chele-ṭa ঘিড় ‘টা ghoṛi du-ṭa (only with lower number names & some quantifiers) ‘টা ঘিড় du-ṭa ghoṛi (only with lower number names & some quantifiers) ‘the clock’ ‘the boy’ ‘the two clocks’ ‘two clocks’ Functions of classifiers whenattached to phrases noun Default (definite) use: plural use: plural categories default use (indefinite) non-default non-default non-default Examples of Examples of Examples of Examples of use: +human

~~Table 7.6: 146 | Noun Modifiers~~

Some descriptions categorize the human plural markers (Table 5.1) as classifiers. They are not classifiers, however, as they can only be attached to nouns, not deictics or quantifiers, nor do they encode definiteness, as can be seen by the two possible readings of the following version of 7.128, with human plural markers:

(7.131) লাকরা আেস, লাকরা যায়। lok-ra aś-Ø-e lok-ra ja-Ø-e person-PL come-PRS-3.NHON person-PL come-PRS-3.NHON ‘The people come, the people go.’ ‘People come, people go.’ Along with the human classifier,-জন /-jɔn/ , those seven listed in Table 7.6 are the only Bangla classifiers still used with any frequency at all in spoken Bangla. Even in this table some are less common than the others and tend to occur most often in frozen forms. Infrequent classifiers are marked uncommon in the column headings. Apart from the exceptions mentioned above, a classifier is obligatory with the number names and other quantifiers. When classifiers are attached to a quantifier before a noun, the noun is indefinite and can be singular or plural:

~~(7.132) ‘টা ঘিড় du-ṭa ghoṛi two-CLF clock ‘two clocks’~~

(7.133) এক পািখ ek-ṭi pakhi one-CLF.DIM bird ‘a/one bird’ Table 7.7 lists the sorts of words each classifier can occur with. A non-noun in construction with the classifiersটা /ṭa/, েলা /gulo/, or িল /guli/ can become a derived noun or pronoun.

(7.134) এইটা ঘিড়। ei-ṭa ghoṛi this-CLF clock ‘This is a clock.’ ‘*This clock.’ Note that in 7.134, the second interpretation is not allowed. The deictic+classifier construction must be read as a pronoun, not as a deictic modifier. Determiners | 147

~~টা/ খান/খািন েলা/িল জন ṭa/ṭi khana/khani gulo/guli jɔn ṭuku~~

~~Nouns Y Y Y Y Y~~

~~Number Y Y N Y n/a names~~

~~Quantifiers Y Y Y Y Y~~

~~Deictics Y Y Y N Y~~

~~Adjectives Y Y Y Y Y~~

~~Adverbs Y N N N N~~

~~Postpositions Y N N N N~~

~~Table 7.7: Word types that take classifiers~~

~~7.4.3.4 Frozen classifiers Bangla has some forms that are historically classifiers, but are now found only as frozen forms. Descriptions of them are below.~~

7.4.3.4.1 গাছা /-gacha/, -গািছ /-gachi/ This classifier comes from a word meaning ‘tree’ and usually occurs with objects that are tall or long. It is used only in frozen forms in modern Bangla.

~~(7.135) একগাছা ল æk-gacha cul one-CLF hair ‘a strand of hair’~~

~~(7.136) হারগািছ har-gachi necklace-CLF.DIM ‘the necklace’ 148 | Noun Modifiers~~

(7.137) ’গাছা লাল কােচর িড় du-gacha lal kac-er cuṛi two-CLF red glass-GEN bangle ‘two red glass bangles’ -গািছ /-gachi/ is a diminutive form of-গাছা /-gacha/, similar to -টা /-ṭa/ and - /-ṭi/, etc.

7.4.3.4.2 -ফালা /-fala/, -ফািল /-fali/ The meaning of this classifier is the slice; it usually occurs with nouns for food. Like -গাছা /-gacha/, -গািছ /-gachi/, it is very rare in modern Bangla. Again, the-ই /-i/ form is a diminutive: it connotes more narrowness. 8 Other Word Classes and Processes

This chapter treats miscellaneous word classes and morphological processes that do not fit neatly into other chapters of this book. The first four sections describe theword classes of interrogative, adverb, adposition, and enclitic particles. The last two sections describe reduplication and morphophonemic consonant lengthening.

~~8.1 Interrogative words~~

This section deals with interrogative words, a category which cuts across parts of speech and includes pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs. Interrogatives signal that an utterance is a question. Bangla interrogatives are listed in Table 8.1, and discussion of them follows.

~~ক ke ‘who’~~

~~িক/কী ki ‘what, which’~~

~~িক ki ‘[interrogative particle]’~~

~~কখন kɔkhon ‘when (within a day)’~~

~~কেব kɔbe ‘when, on what day’~~

~~কত/কয় kɔto, kɔe ‘how much, how many’~~

~~কান kon ‘which’~~

~~কমন kæmon ‘how’~~

~~কাথা/কাথায় kotha(e) ‘where’~~

~~কই koi ‘where’~~

~~কন kæno ‘why’~~

~~Table 8.1: Interrogatives 150 | Other Word Classes and Processes~~

~~The interrogative particleিক /ki/ can go anywhere in a sentence except initially: (8.1) স আসেব িক? śe aś-b-e ki 3SG.NOM come-FUT-3.NHON Q ‘Will he come?’~~

(8.2) স িক আসেব? śe ki aś-b-e 3SG.NOM Q come-FUT-3.NHON ‘Will he come?’ It can be mistaken in writing for the interrogative pronoun/adjectiveিক /ki/ ‘what?, which?’, but never in speech, because it is always unstressed, while the latter is always stressed.¹ The interrogative particle can sometimes be omitted, with context or intonation indicating a question. িক /ki/ has other functions as well. With two alternatives, it means ‘or’, as in 8.3. When repeated among alternatives,িক /ki/ can mean ‘every, as well as, whether’, as in 8.4. (8.3) হেত পাের ১৫ িক ২০ টাকা| ho-te par-Ø-e ponero ki biś ṭaka become-IPFP be.able-PRS-3.NHON 15 Q 20 taka ‘(It) could be 15 or 20 takas.’

(8.4) িক ধনী িক গরীব ki dhoni ki gorib Q rich Q poor ‘whether rich or poor/both rich and poor’ When followed by the participial postpositionকের /kɔre/, which is the perfect participle (Section 9.5.1) of করা /kɔra/ ‘to do, make’, the interrogatives িক /ki/ and কমন /kæmon/ mean ‘how?, in what way?’: (8.5) কমন কের এ হেলা? kæmon kor-e e ho-l-o how do-PRFP 3SG become-PST-3.NHON ‘How did this happen?’

1 As mentioned in Section 6.7, prescriptive grammarians of Bangla make an orthographic distinction between িক /ki/ the question particle and কী /ki/ the interrogative ‘what?’ but this is not widely observed. Interrogative words | 151

~~(8.6) িক কের িম এটা করেল? ki kor-e tumi e-ṭa kor-l-e Q do-PRFP 2SG.FAM.NOM 3SG-CLF do-PST-2.FAM ‘How did you do this?’~~

(8.7) কমন কের সব? kæmon kor-e śɔmbhɔb how do-PRFP possible ‘How is [this] possible?’ In construction with the negative particleনা /na/, িক /ki/ means ‘or not’. Clause- finally, the same collocation has the meaning of ‘whether (or not)’.

~~(8.8) দা িক আসেছ নািক না? dadu ki aś-cch-Ø-e naki na grandfather Q comeIPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON whether NEG ‘Is grandfather coming or not?’~~

(8.9) আপিন বািনজ মলায় যােবন িকনা apni banijjo mela-e ja-b-en ki-na 2SG.HON trade fair-LOC go-FUT-2.HON whether ‘whether you will go to the trade fair’ কত /kɔto/ ‘how much, how many’ has a variant form,কয় /kɔe/. In the context of measurement, the former is generally used. With countable objects or people,কয় /kɔe/ is usually shortened to ক’ /kɔ/ and takes a classifier: generally speaking,-টা /-ṭa/ or- /ṭi/ for objects and -জন /-jɔn/ for people. কয় /kɔe/ and ক’ /kɔ/ are also used in the compounds shown in Table 8.2.

~~ক’বছর kɔbɔchor ‘how many years?’~~

~~ক’িদন kɔdin ‘how long, how many days?’~~

~~কিন kɔddin ‘how long, how many days?’~~

~~কয় বার kɔebar ‘how many times?’~~

~~Table 8.2: কত /kɔto/ and কয় /koe/ derivatives~~

~~ক /ke/ ‘who’ is declined as follows in Table 8.3. 152 | Other Word Classes and Processes~~

~~Singular Plural~~

~~Nominative ক কারা ke ka-ra~~

~~কােদর-ক Objective কােক ka-der-ke ka-ke কােদর~~

~~ka-der KCB~~

~~Genitive কার কােদর ka-r ka-der~~

~~কােত Locative ――――— ka-te~~

~~Table 8.3: Interrogative pronoun ক /ke/ ‘who’~~

িক/কী /ki/ ‘what?’ has genitive and locative formsিকেসর /kiśer/ ‘of what?, for what?, what kind of?’ and িকেস /kiśe/ ‘on what?, because of what?, how?’. Because িক/কী /ki/ is used for non-human referents, there is no special inflected form for the objective case.

~~(8.10) িকেসর ভয়? kiś-er bhɔe what-GEN fear ‘fear of what?’~~

~~(8.11) আজ িকেসর গ নেব? aj kiś-er gɔlpo śun-b-e today what-GEN story hear-FUT-2.FAM ‘What kind of story do you want to hear today?’~~

~~(8.12) িকেস খােবন? kiś-e kha-b-en what-LOC eat-FUT-2.HON ‘What will (you) eat it on?’ Adverbs | 153~~

(8.13) িকেস ঝেলন সটা? kiś-e bujh-l-en śe-ṭa what-LOC understand-PST-2.HON 3SG-CLF ‘How did (you) understand that?’ When repeated,ক /ke/means ‘who, who-all, which (various) people?’ (8.14) ক ক কাল আসেব? ke ke kal aś-b-e who who tomorrow come-FUT-3.NHON ‘Who-all will be coming tomorrow?’ There are many idiomatic constructions using interrogatives:

~~(8.15) কােেক kot-theke where-from ‘from where, from somewhere’~~

~~(8.16) অ কাথায় ɔnnɔ kothae other where ‘where else’~~

~~(8.17) অ কাথাও ɔnnɔ kothao other anywhere ‘somewhere else, elsewhere’~~

~~(8.18) িক একটা ki æk-ṭa what one-CLF ‘something or other’~~

~~8.2 Adverbs~~

Adverbs, like adjectives, are modifiers of other words. In Bangla they can more orless modify any content word or words in a sentence other than nouns: adjectives, individual verbs as well as an entire predicate, other adverbs, and the sentence as a whole. Content words here means words with semantic content—as opposed to function words such as classifiers or postpositions, that express grammatical categories or relationships among words. 154 | Other Word Classes and Processes

Bangla has four sources of adverbs. First, some words are adverbs per se, such as তাড়াতািড় /taṛataṛi/ ‘rapidly’. Second, many adjectives can also be used as adverbs with no alteration; for example, ভােলা /bhalo/ ‘good, well’;অেনক /ɔnek/ ‘many, very’. Third, perfect participles (see Section 9.5.1) can sometimes be used adverbially. Finally, there are also morphological and syntactic means of turning adjectives and nouns into adverbs, as illustrated below. For example, an adjective or a noun with a locative ending may be used adverbially:

~~নীরব nirɔb ‘silent’ নীরেব nirɔbe ‘silently’~~

~~থম prothom ‘first’ থেম prothome ‘at first’~~

~~আগ ag ‘the forepart, tip’ আেগ age ‘ahead, early, previously’~~

Alternatively, an adjective or noun in construction withভােব /bhabe/ ‘essence; state’ or রকেম /rɔkom(e)/ ‘manner’ yields the meaning ‘in a . . . manner’. (8.19) ভােলা ভােব bhalo bhab-e good manner-LOC ‘well’

~~(8.20) এই ভােব e-i bhab-e this-EMPH manner-LOC ‘in this way’ Some examples of adverbs in context follow:~~

~~(8.21) সাগর ত খায়। śagɔr druto kha-Ø-e Sagar quick eat-PRS-3.NHON ‘Sagar eats quickly.’~~

(8.22) আিম কমত করেত পািরিন। ami ṭhikmoto kor-te par-Ø-i-ni 1.SG.NOM properly do-IPFP be.able-PRS-1-NEGPRF ‘I could not do [it] properly.’ Postpositions and prepositions | 155

~~(8.23) স সাবধােন ত লেলা। śe śabdhane khɔtɔ-ṭi khul-l-o 3.SG.NOM carefully wound-CLF.DIM open-PST-3.NHON ‘She carefully opened the wound.’~~

~~8.3 Postpositions and prepositions~~

Collectively known as adpositions, postpositions and prepositions are words that occur in construction with noun phrases to mark their grammatical function or relationship to other words within their NP or clause. Postpositions occur after the NP; prepositions occur before them. Most languages have a preponderance of one over the other: Bangla, as is typical in South Asia, has postpositions, with one exception (Section 8.3.2). Bangla adpositions tend to require, or govern, particular cases in their noun complements; our lists below are arranged according to governed case.

~~8.3.1 Postpositions~~

Most Bangla postpositions require object nouns to take either the nominative or genitive case, although a few require the objective. While Bangla does have a few postpositions that are not derived from other parts of speech, formally, most postpositions tend to be either nouns in the locative case (the majority fall into this group) or perfect participles (see Section 9.5.1). Because of this, they are not a closed class: it is possible for speakers to coin new postpositions, an unusual state of affairs cross-linguistically.² For this among other reasons, our inventory is not exhaustive, but we have tried to make it as comprehensive as possible and are including Shadhu forms, which we indicate as such, generally along with their corresponding Cholit forms. The postpositions one would be likely to hear in ordinary conversation is a much smaller subset of the group below. Postpositions can be divided into four groups, according to which case they govern in the preceding noun. Many postpositions govern case differently, depending on whether their noun has a human or non-human referent; for example, most of the postpositions under Section 8.3.1.4 require the genitive case for human nouns or pronouns but only optionally assign it in non-human nouns. All such forms are listed under both categories, with an explanatory footnote. Many postpositions can also act as adverbs, in which case they do not require a case ending on the preceding noun; these postpositions are also noted.

~~2 Thompson (2010, 228). This claim depends of course on how one defines postpositions. We do not take a strong stance here. 156 | Other Word Classes and Processes~~

Postpositions can be combined, as inআেগ থেক /age theke/ ‘since before’, under Section 8.3.1.1. When they do, the first member of the pair (which often loses itsfinal /-e/) governs case.

~~8.3.1.1 Postpositions requiring the genitive case The postpositions that govern the genitive case in their nouns are the following:~~

• অপ /onurup/ ‘like, similar to, as’ • অেপা /ɔpekkha/ ‘than, compared with’ This is the Shadhu version ofচাইেত /caite/,চেয় /ceye/, and থেক /theke/. Unlike them,অেপা /ɔpekkha/ requires the genitive case on the preceding noun or pronoun only when the latter has a human referent; otherwise, the genitive is optional.

• আেগ /age/ ‘before, in front of, previous to’ The word আেগ /age/ is also used as an adverb. • আেগ থেক /age theke/ ‘since before’ • আেশপােশ /aśepaśe/ ‘by, alongside, near, around’ • উেেশ /uddeśe/ ‘toward, in the direction of; for the purpose of’ • উেে /uddeśśe/ ‘aimed at, for the purpose of, in order to, with the intention of’ • উপর /upor/, উপের /upore/, ওপর /opor/,ওপের /opore/ ‘on, on top of, over, upon, above’ This word is also used as an adverb.

~~• উপর িদেয় /upor diye/,ওপর িদেয় /opor diye/ ‘on, on top of, above, over, by way of [lit. via the top of]’ This phrase is also used adverbially.~~

• কথা /kɔtha/ ‘about, concerning’ • কাছ থেক /kach theke/ ‘from (a human)’ • কাছাকািছ /kachakachi/ ‘around, near’ • কােছ /kache/ ‘by, at, near; to; from; with; at the home of’ This word is also used as an adverb.

~~• খািতের /khatire/ ‘for the sake of, in the interest of’ • চাইেত /caite/ ‘than, from, compared with’ Postpositions and prepositions | 157~~

~~• চার িদেক /cardike/, চািরিদেক /caridike/ ‘all around [lit. on four sides]’~~

~~• চার পােশ /carpaśe/, চািরপােশ /caripaśe/ ‘around (place)’~~

~~• চেয় /ceye/ ‘than, from, compared with’~~

• জ /jonno/, জে /jonne/ ‘for (a person), for the sake of; because of, due to; for the duration of; in order to, for the purpose of (with verbal noun)’ The following compounds built from জ /jonno/, জে /jonne/ are conjunctions, so they do not require the first element to be in the genitive case: এজে /ejonne/, এইজে /eijonno/ ‘therefore, for this reason, consequently’ সজ /śejonno/, সইজে /śeijonne/ ‘therefore, for this reason, consequently’ তাইজে /taijonne/, তাইজ /taijonno/ ‘therefore, for that reason, consequently’

~~• তের /tɔre/ ‘for’ This is a Shadhu form.~~

~~• তেল /tɔle/ ‘beneath, at the base of’~~

~~• /tullo/ ‘like, comparable to, equal to’~~

• থেক /theke/ ‘than, compared with, compared to’ When থেক /theke/ has the sense of ‘from (a place or time)’, the genitive case is optional. When it is a comparative, as here, the genitive is obligatory.

~~• দন /dorun/ ‘for, on account of, because of, owing to, due to; for the sake of’~~

~~• িদেক /dike/ ‘towards (time); to, in the direction of; at (a person or place)’~~

• ারা /dara/ ‘through, by, by means of (a person or thing)’ With this postposition, the genitive is required in the preceding noun or pronoun only when that noun/pronoun refers to a human; otherwise, it is optional.

~~• িনকট /nikɔt/,িনকেট /nikɔte/ ‘near (a human)’ This is the Shadhu form of কােছ /kache/.~~

~~• িনকট হইেত /nikɔt hoite/ ‘from (a human)’ This is the Shadhu form of কাছ থেক /kach theke/.~~

~~• িনচ িদেয় /nic diye/ ‘(via) below, underneath’~~

~~• িনচ পয /nic porjonto/ ‘down to’ 158 | Other Word Classes and Processes~~

~~• িনেচ /nice/, নীেচ /nice/ ‘below, under, beneath’ This word is also used as an adverb.~~

~~• িনিম /nimitto/, িনিমে /nimitte/ ‘for, on account of, due to, in order to, because of’~~

~~• ায় /næe/ ‘like, as, similar to’~~

~~• পে /pokkhe/ ‘by, with; for’~~

~~• পর /pɔr/, পের /pɔre/ ‘after, later, subsequent to’ This word is also used as an adverb.~~

~~• পর থেক /pɔr theke/ ‘since, after’~~

~~• পিরবেত /poribɔrte/ ‘instead of, in place of’~~

~~• পােত /pɔścate/ ‘behind, in back of’ This is a Shadhu form.~~

~~• পােন /pane/ ‘to, towards, at’~~

~~• পাশ িদেয় /paś diye/ ‘by (as in to pass by), (via) one side, alongside’ This phrase is also used adverbially.~~

~~• পাশাপািশ /paśapaśi/ ‘by, near’~~

~~• পােশ /paśe/ ‘beside, alongside, next to’ This word is also used as an adverb.~~

~~• িপছেন /pichone/, পছেন /pechone/,িপেছ /piche/ ‘behind, back, after’ These words are also used as adverbs.~~

~~• িপছন িদেয় /pichon diye/,পছন িদেয় /pechon diye/ ‘(via) the back, behind’ This phrase is also used adverbially.~~

~~• েব /purbe/ ‘before, prior to’~~

~~• িত /proti/ ‘to, towards (a person or thing); for; against’~~

~~• সে /prośɔŋge/ ‘pertaining to, in the context of, with respect to, concerning’ The genitive case required only with human pronouns; otherwise, it is optional.~~

~~• ফেল /fɔle/ ‘as a result of’ Postpositions and prepositions | 159~~

~~• বদেল /bɔdole/ ‘instead of, in place of’~~

~~• বাইের /baire/, বার /bar/, বািহের /bahire/ ‘out, outside of, beyond, away’ These words are also used as adverbs. The last one is a Shadhu form.~~

~~• বাবদ /babod/, বাবেদ /babode/ ‘on account of, due to’ The genitive case required only with human pronouns; otherwise, it is optional.~~

~~• িবপে /bipokkhe/ ‘against, in opposition to, on the opposing side of’~~

~~• িবে /biruddhe/ ‘against, in opposition to’~~

~~• িবষেয় /biśɔye/ ‘about, concerning, on the matter of, with respect to’ The genitive case required only with human pronouns; otherwise, it is optional.~~

~~• িভতর /bhitɔr/,ভতর /bhetɔr/, িভতের /bhitɔre/,ভতের /bhetɔre/ ‘in, inside of, within; into; between, among’ These words are also used as adverbs.~~

~~• ভতর থেক /bhetɔr theke/ ‘from inside’ This phrase is also used adverbially.~~

~~• িভতর িদেয় /bhitɔr diye/, ভতর িদেয় /bhetɔr diye/ ‘through, (via) within, inside’ This phrase is also used adverbially.~~

• মত/মেতা /mɔto/,মতন /mɔton/ ‘like, similar to; satisfying, suiting, equaling; to, worthy of (with a verbal noun); for (a period of time)’ These words are also used as adverbs.

~~• মে /moddhe/, মােঝ /majhe/ ‘between, among, in the midst of; in, into’~~

~~• ম িদেয় /moddho diye/ ‘(via) the middle, through, between, among, in the midst of; in, into’~~

~~• মাঝ িদেয়, ম িদেয়, মে িদেয় /majh diye/, /moddho diye/, /moddhe diye/ ‘through, by means of’ These phrases are also used adverbially.~~

~~• মাঝখােন /majhkhane/ ‘in, in the middle of’ • মােম /maddhome/ ‘through the medium of, by’~~

• মার ফত /marfot/, মার ফেত /marfote/ ‘by means of, through, per, via’ The genitive case required only with human pronouns; otherwise, it is optional. 160 | Other Word Classes and Processes

~~• সে /śɔŋge/,সােথ /śathe/ ‘with, in the company of’ These words are also used as adverbs.~~

~~• সে সে /śɔŋge śɔŋge/ ‘as, simultaneously with’~~

~~• সেক /śɔmpɔrke/ ‘about, concerning, in relation to, with respect to’ The genitive case required only with human pronouns; otherwise, it is optional.~~

~~• সে /śɔmmɔndhe/ ‘about, concerning, in relation to, with respect to’ The genitive case required only with human pronouns; otherwise, it is optional.~~

~~• সিহত /śohit/ ‘with’ This is the Shadhu form of সে /śɔŋge/,সােথ /śathe/.~~

~~• সাম েন /śamne/ ‘in front of, before, ahead’ These words are also used as adverbs.~~

~~• সাম েনিদেয় /śamne diye/ ‘(via) in front of, before, ahead’ This phrase is also used adverbially.~~

• হইেত /hoite/ ‘from,’হেত /hote/ ‘from’ The genitive case required only with human pronouns; otherwise, genitive is optional. Also, this is the Shadhu version ofথেক /theke/ ‘from’.

~~• হেয় /hoye/ ‘on behalf of’ (a person) হেয় /hoye/ has two other meanings which take the nominative case. (See Section 8.3.1.2.)~~

~~8.3.1.2 Postpositions requiring no particular case The postpositions that do not require a case suffix on their nouns are the following:~~

~~• অযায়ী /onujayi/ ‘according to, depending upon’~~

~~• অসাের /onuśare/ ‘according to, consequent upon, in imitation of’ The genitive is possible in older texts.~~

~~• অ /ɔntor/, অের /ɔntore/ ‘within, at the heart of (with expressions of time), after an interval of (if the number is one), every (for other numbers)’~~

~~• অবিধ /ɔbodhi/, অি /obdi/ ‘until, up to; since, from; even’~~

~~• উপলে /upolokkhe/ ‘on account of, for the purpose of, on the pretext of’ Postpositions and prepositions | 161~~

~~• ক /kortrik/ ‘by’ • ছাড়া /chaṛa/ ‘without, except for, except, but for, but, besides’~~

~~• ছেড় /cheṛe/ ‘leave, depart’~~

• িদয়া /diya/, িদেয় /diye/ ‘from, through, by way of; in, with, by (material); by means of (a thing)’ If the preceding noun or pronoun has a human referent, it must take the objective case.

~~• ধিরয়া /dhoriya/ ‘during’ This is the Shadhu form.~~

~~• ধের /dhore/ ‘for, during (with expressions of time); by, by means of, along, taking (with streets)’~~

~~• নাগাত /nagat/,নাগাদ /nagad/ ‘about, nearly, around; by (a certain time); until, up to’~~

• িনয়া /niya/,িনেয় /niye/ ‘with, in the company of; concerning, about, on the subject of’ If the preceding noun or pronoun has a human referent, it must take the objective case.

~~• পয /porjonto/ ‘since, from; until, up to, towards (time and place); even’~~

~~• বই /boi/ ‘without, except, other than’~~

~~• বােদ /bade/ ‘without, except for, excluding, after’~~

• িবনা /bina/, িবেন /bine/ ‘without’ This form is found as a postposition only in older Bangla. In the modern language, it has become a preposition that requires the locative case. (See Section 8.3.2.)

~~• বেয় /beye/ ‘by, by way of, along’~~

~~• তীত /betito/ ‘except, without, other than, but, save, excluding’~~

~~• িভ /bhinno/ ‘except, without, other than’~~

~~• যাবত /jabɔt/ ‘from, since; until; during, for’~~

~~• লইয়া /loiya/ ‘with, in the company of; concerning, about, on the subject of’~~

~~• সংা /śɔŋkranto/ ‘pertaining to, as regards, concerning, in connection with’ 162 | Other Word Classes and Processes~~

~~• সেও /śɔtteo/ ‘in spite of, despite, notwithstanding’~~

~~• সে /śɔmmɔndhe/ ‘concerning, about’~~

~~• হইেত /hoite/ ‘from, since’~~

• হেয় /hoye/ ‘via, by way of (a place); as’ In its other sense of ‘on behalf of’,হেয় /hoye/ requires the genitive case. • হল /holo/,হয় /hɔe/ ‘since, ago, for, it has been (with length of time)’

~~• িহসােব /hiśabe/, িহেসেব /hiśebe/ ‘as, in the capacity of’~~

~~8.3.1.3 Postpositions requiring the objective case The postpositions that govern the objective case in their nouns are the following:~~

~~• িদয়া /diya/, িদেয় /diye/ ‘by, by means of, with, involving (a person); via, through, across’³ This postposition often occurs with a causative verb.~~

~~• িনয়া /niye/,িনেয় /niya/, লইয়া /loiya/ ‘with, concerning, about’~~

~~8.3.1.4 Postpositions with optional genitive case If the genitive is not used, the governed noun or pronoun is in the nominative.~~

• অেপা /ɔpekkha/ ‘than, compared with’ This is the Shadhu version of চাইেত /caite/ , চেয় /ceye/ , andথেক /theke/. Unlike them, it requires the genitive case on the preceding noun or pronoun only when that noun/pronoun has a human referent; otherwise, the genitive is optional.

• থেক /theke/ ‘from; by; for, since’ (with time expressions) When থেক /theke/ is used as a comparative, the genitive case is obligatory. When it has the sense of ‘from, etc. (a place or time)’, as here, the genitive is optional.

• ারা /dara/ ‘through, by, by means of’ (a person or thing) The genitive is optional in the preceding noun or pronoun only when the noun or pronoun is non-human; otherwise, it is obligatory. Likeিদয়া /diya/,িদেয় /diye/ ‘by, by means of, with, involving (a person); via, through, across’, this postposition often occurs with a causative verb.

~~3 Often with a causative verb. Conjunctions | 163~~

• সে /prośɔŋge/ ‘pertaining to, in the context of, with respect to, concerning’ With this postposition, the genitive is optional in the preceding noun or pronoun only when the noun or pronoun is non-human; otherwise, it is obligatory.

• বাবদ /babod/, বাবেদ /babode/ ‘on account of, due to’ With this postposition, the genitive is optional in the preceding noun or pronoun only when the noun or pronoun is non-human; otherwise, it is obligatory.

• িবষেয় /biśɔye/ ‘about, concerning, on the matter of, with respect to’ With this postposition, the genitive is optional in the preceding noun or pronoun only when the noun or pronoun is non-human; otherwise, it is obligatory.

• মার ফত /marfot/, মার ফেত /marfote/ ‘by means of, through, per, via’ With this postposition, the genitive is optional in the preceding noun or pronoun only when the noun or pronoun is non-human; otherwise, it is obligatory.

• সেক /śɔmpɔrke/ ‘about, concerning, in relation to, with respect to’ With this postposition, the genitive is optional in the preceding noun or pronoun only when the noun or pronoun is non-human; otherwise, it is obligatory.

• সে /śɔmmɔndhe/ ‘about, concerning, in relation to, with respect to’ With this postposition, the genitive is optional in the preceding noun or pronoun only when the noun or pronoun is non-human; otherwise, it is obligatory.

~~• হইেত /hoite/ ‘from’ With this postposition, the genitive is optional in the preceding noun or pronoun only when the noun or pronoun is non-human; otherwise, it is obligatory.~~

~~8.3.2 Prepositions~~

Bangla has only one preposition—িবনা /bina/ , িবেন /bine/ ‘without’. It governs the locative case in the following noun. Although not uncommon, its postpositional alternative, ছাড়া /chaṛa/ ‘without, except for, except, but for, but, besides’, which does not require a case suffix, is more common.

~~8.4 Conjunctions~~

Conjunctions connect two or more words or larger constituents—noun phrases, verb phrases, clauses—and express a syntactic and semantic relationship between them. Coordinating conjunctions join constituents in a syntactically equal relationship, while 164 | Other Word Classes and Processes subordinating conjunctions subordinate one of the constituents to the other. Thanks to the Bangla prohibition against more than one finite verb in a clause, and the consequent use of non-finite verb forms to express multiple events, conjunctions are used less often in than in English. The major conjunctions in Bangla are listed in Section 8.4.1 and Section 8.4.2.

~~8.4.1 Coordinating conjunctions~~

• আর /ar/ As a conjunction,আর /ar/ means ‘and, and also; or not’. Its basic sense is ‘more’, so it also has adverbial and adjectival uses in the sense of ‘still, yet; on the other hand; moreover, further’ and ‘other, another; more’. Examples 8.24 and 8.25 illustrate its use as a conjunction:

~~(8.24) কলকাতা আর ঢাকা kolkata ar ḍhaka Kolkata and Dhaka ‘Kolkata and Dhaka’~~

~~(8.25) দই, িমি আর চা doi miśṭi ar ca yogurt sweet and tea ‘yogurt, sweets, and tea’~~

~~• -ও /-o/ The emphatic particle -ও /-o/ (Section 8.5.2) can serve as a conjunction meaning ‘and; also’ and is used interchangeably withআর /ar/:~~

~~(8.26) সারা ও যারা ই বান। sarah o zarah dui bon Sarah and Zarah two sister ‘Sarah and Zarah are two sisters.’~~

~~• এবং /eboŋ/ The conjunction এবং /eboŋ/ also has the meanings ‘and; also’, but is more formal than আর /ar/ or -ও /-o/: Conjunctions | 165~~

~~(8.27) সািহত, সীত, এবং লিলতকলা śahitto śoŋgito eboŋ lolitokola literature music and fine.arts ‘literature, music, and the fine arts’~~

~~• বা /ba/ This conjunction means ‘or’ in an affirmative utterance:~~

(8.28) বা ভাত একটা হেলই হেলা। ruṭi ba bhat æk-ṭa ho-le-i ho-l-o bread or rice one-CLF become-CND-EMPH become-PST-3.NHON ‘Bread or rice, either one is fine.’

~~• িকংবা/িকা /kiŋba ∼ kimba/ This conjunction also means ‘or’ in affirmative utterances:~~

(8.29) আমরা িচিড়য়াখানা িকংবা জাঘের যেত পাির। amra ciriyakhana kiŋba jadughor-e je-te par-Ø-i 1PL zoo or museum-LOC go-IPFP be.able-PRS-1 ‘We could go to the zoo or the museum.’

~~• অথবা /ɔthoba/ Likewise, অথবা /ɔthoba/ means ‘or’ in an affirmative utterance:~~

(8.30) আমােক এক থালা অথবা বা দাও। amake ek-ṭi thala ɔthoba bati da-Ø-o 1SG.OBJ one-CLF.DIM plate or bowl give-PRS-2.FAM ‘Give me a plate or bowl.’

~~• না /na/ The negative particle না /na/ can be used as a conjunctive to mean ‘or’ in interrogative sentences, whether direct or indirect:~~

(8.31) িম িক শাড়ী পরেব না সােলায়ার-কািমজ? tumi ki śari por-b-e na salwar-kamij 2SG Q sari wear-FUT-2FAM NEG salwar.kameez ‘Will you wear a sari or a salwar-kameez?’ 166 | Other Word Classes and Processes

~~(8.32) সাদা না কােলা? śada na kalo white NEG black ‘White or black?’~~

~~• িক /ki/ The interrogative particleিক /ki/ can also mean ‘or’, in expressions of doubt or uncertainty:~~

(8.33) মেয় িববােহর ােব সিত িক অসিত meye-ṭi bibaher prostabe śɔmmɔti ki ɔśɔmmɔti girl-CLF.DIM wedding proposal consent or dissent িকই কাশ করেলা না। kichu-i prɔkaś kor-l-o na anything-EMPH revelation do-PST-3.NHON NEG ‘The girl expressed neither consent nor refusal to the wedding proposal.’

~~• িকনা /kina/ The conjunction িকনা /kina/ is used to mean ‘whether (or not)’:~~

~~(8.34) িম আসেব িকনা বেলা। tumi aś-b-e kina bɔl-o 2SG come-FUT-2.FAM whether say.IMP-2.FAM ‘Tell [me] whether you will come or not.’~~

~~Some other coordinating conjunctions are:~~

~~• িক /kintu/ ‘but’~~

~~• তেব /tobe/ ‘but’~~

~~• অথচ /ɔthoco/ ‘but, however, yet’~~

~~• কারণ /karɔn/ ‘because’ See Section 10.5.4 for examples illustrating the difference betweenকারণ /karɔn/ ‘because’ and the subordinating conjunctionবেল /bole/.~~

~~• কননা /kenona/ ‘because’~~

~~• সজে /śejonne/ ‘therefore; so’ See Section 8.3.1.1 for related forms and the postposition this word is derived from. Conjunctions | 167~~

• অতএব /otoebo/ ‘hence; therefore; so’ This conjunction is, incidentally, the only Bangla word that contains an internal full vowel letterএ . • তাই /tai/ ‘so; therefore; that is why’

~~8.4.2 Subordinating conjunctions~~

~~Even more than coordination, subordination is largely expressed through the use of non-finite verbs, so there are not many subordinating conjunctions in Bangla. Alist follows.~~

~~• যন /jæno/ ‘so that; as, as if; [with NEG] lest’ The conjunction যন /jæno/ is used in a resultative sense, often for a wish or command. It can be affirmative or negative:~~

(8.35) টাকা-পয়সা জমা কর যন গাড়ী িকনেত ṭaka-pɔyśa jɔm-a kɔr-ɔ jæno gaṛi kin-te money save.up-VN do.IMP-2.FAM so.that car buy-IPFP পােরা। par-Ø-o be.able-PRS-2.FAM ‘Save up money so that you can buy car.’

(8.36) বরেফর উপর সাবধােন হােটা যন পেড় না bɔrɔf-er upɔr śabdhane haṭ-o jæno poṛ-e na ice-GEN on carefully walk.IMP-2.FAM so.that fall-PRFP NEG যাও। ja-Ø-o go-PRS-2.FAM ‘Walk carefully on the ice so that you don’t fall.’

(8.37) পক বসাটা যন বজায় থােক। poitriko bæbośaṭa jæno bɔjae thak-Ø-e ancestral business so.that in.position continue-PRS-3.NHON ‘May the ancestral business continue.’⁴

~~4 Seely (2002/2006, 60). 168 | Other Word Classes and Processes~~

~~• য /je/ ‘that; so that’ See Section 10.5.4 for a discussion of the complementizer /je/ and examples of its use.~~

~~• বেল /bole/ ‘because; that’ See Section 10.5.4 for a discussion of the complementizerবেল /bole/ and an example of its use. See also Section 4.1.5.~~

~~• যােত /jate/ ‘so that’ See Section 10.5.5 for a discussion of the complementizerযােত /jate/ and examples of its use.~~

~~8.5 Particles or clitics~~

Bangla has a number of short words that express either emphasis, inclusion, or conces- sion; or else certain speaker attitudes—surprise, certainty/uncertainty, vexation, and so on. Particles is a vague enough grammatical term that it safely encompasses them all, but we also tentatively label them clitics—a type of word that falls somewhere between an affix and a full word—since at least two of them seem to meet the criteriafor clitics: ⁵

~~• Clitics do not stand as phonological words on their own; they must be phonologically attached to a full word, generally by virtue of having no inherent stress.~~

~~• Clitics do not play a role in word-level phonological rules; for example, they do not trigger vowel assimilation.~~

• Clitics are not restricted to certain parts of speech, unlike, say, Bangla tense markers, which accrue only to verbal forms, or Bangla formality markers, which are only on nominal and verbal forms.

~~• Likewise, clitics never participate in agreement patterns.~~

~~• When associated with a particular word, a clitic is added after all derivational and inflectional affixes.~~

It is possible that some of these words are clitics and others not. In particular,-ই /-i/ and -ও /-o/ meet all the above criteria. Some might disagree that they meet the first one, because they can occur on demonstratives before the objective marker and in perfect verbs between the perfect participial base and the inflectional endings (Section

~~5 Dixon (2010, 221–222). Particles or clitics | 169~~

9.3.4.1). However, the objective morpheme itself is arguably a clitic, and perfect forms could be analyzed as compound verbs (Dasgupta 2003, 372), in which case the clitic is simply being inserted between two words. More research remains to be done on the behavior and status of the other particles. If associated with a particular word, Bangla particles usually follow that word. The first two listed here,-ই /-i/ and -ও /-o/, can be (and often are) written together with the preceding word, frequently with the full vowel letter rather than the vowel diacritic, as can be seen in the examples below. The other particles are always written as separate words.

~~8.5.1 The particle -ই /-i/~~

-ই /-i/ (inclusive/ emphatic) gives a sense of ‘just that and no other’ and is usually written together with the word to which it is giving emphasis, as shown in Table 8.4, the forms of which may perhaps be considered at least partially lexicalized.

~~এক æk ‘one’ একই æki ‘the same’~~

~~এখন ækhon ‘now’ এখিন ækhoni ‘right now, immediately’~~

~~আিম ami ‘I’ আিমই amii ‘I (and no one else)’~~

~~িক না kichu na ‘nothing’ িকই না kichui na ‘nothing at all’~~

~~Table 8.4: Common uses of inclusive particle -ই /-i/~~

~~-ই /-i/ can also add emphasis to an entire phrase or sentence: (8.38) খািনক বােদই khanik bade-i little.while after-EMPH ‘in a very short while’~~

(8.39) আংর কথা মেনই পড়ল না। aŋṭi-r kɔtha mon-e-i poṛ-l-o na ring-GEN word mind-LOC-EMPH fall-PST-3.NHON NEG ‘The matter of the ring did not enter her mind at all.’ 170 | Other Word Classes and Processes

~~-ই /-i/ occurs frequently with demonstratives (see Section 7.4.1), attaching to the right side of either the demonstrative or the noun:~~

~~(8.40) এই আম e-i am this-EMPH mango ‘this mango’~~

(8.41) এ আমই e am-i this mango ‘this mango’ When it follows either the perfect participle (Section 9.5.1) or the imperfect participle (Section 9.5.2), -ই /-i/ translates as ‘just when, as soon as, immediately after’, and so on.

~~8.5.2 The particle -ও /-o/~~

The particle-ও /-o/ , also listed above as a conjunction, conveys an inclusive, emphatic, or concessive sense, with meanings such as ‘even; still’, ‘too, also,’ and, in negative sentences, ‘neither’ or ‘not either’. With the perfect participle,-ও /-o/ gives a concessive sense, as in ‘although, even though’, and similarly with the words in Table 8.5. It is usually written together with the word it follows.

~~Table 8.5: Common uses of inclusive/concessive particle -ও /-o/~~

~~যিদ jodi ‘if’ যিদও jodio ‘even if, although’~~

~~তেব tobe ‘then’ ত/তও tobu, tobuo ‘nevertheless’~~

~~এখ ækhon ‘now’ এখনও, এখেনা ækhono ‘still’~~

~~তখন tɔkhon ‘then’ তখনও, তখেনা tɔkhono ‘still (then)’~~

~~Adding-ও /-o/ to an interrogative yields an indefinite pronoun or adverb, as in Table 8.5. Particles or clitics | 171~~

~~Table 8.6: Common uses of inclusive/concessive particle -ও /-o/~~

~~কাথা kotha ‘where’ কাথাও kotha-o ‘somewhere’~~

~~কখন kɔkhon ‘when’ কখনও/কখেনা kɔkhon-o ‘sometimes’~~

~~কান kon ‘which’ কানও/কােনা kon-o ‘some’~~

~~8.5.3 The particle ত, তা /to/~~

~~ত, তা /to/ is a sort of intensifier: it expresses uncertainty, thus serving as a sortof interrogative particle, turning a statement into a question:~~

(8.42) িম এই চা-টাই খােব তা? tumi e-i ca-ṭa-i kha-b-e to 2SG.FAM.NOM this-EMPH tea-CLF-EMPH eat-FUT-2.FAM INT ‘You will have this tea, won’t you?’⁶ With pronouns or a negative it is emphatic or expresses certainty and/or convic- tion: (8.43) বািড় পাি না তা কাথাও। baṛi pa-cch-Ø-i na to kothao house find.IPF-IPF-PRS-1 NEG INT anywhere ‘I’m not finding a house anywhere.’⁷

(8.44) েনিছ। িক স তা আগােগাড়া িমে। śune-ch-Ø-i. kintu śe to agagoṛa mitthæ hear.PRF-PRF-PRS-1 but 3SG INT beginning.to.end false ‘I heard. But it’s absolutely untrue.’⁸

~~(8.45) না তা! na to NEG INT ‘No! [= I’m rather surprised you asked.]’⁹~~

6 Seely (2002/2006, 325), quoting Jibanananda Das. 7 Seely (2002/2006, 325), quoting Jibanananda Das. 8 Seely (2002/2006, 325), quoting Saratcandra Cattopadhyay. 172 | Other Word Classes and Processes

~~8.5.4 The particle বা /ba/~~

~~In combination with interrogatives or their derivatives,বা /ba/ gives a sense of gener- ality (‘whatever’, ‘however’), vexation, or frustration:~~

~~(8.46) মেয় বা িক করেব? meye-ṭi ba ki kor-b-e girl-CLF.DIM INT what do-FUT-3.NHON ‘What(ever) would the girl do?’~~

~~(8.47) বাবােকই বা িক বলেবা? baba-ke-i ba ki bol-b-o father-OBJ-EMPH INT what say-FUT-1 ‘What would I say to father?’~~

(8.48) তার পিরবেত িমই বা কন tar poribɔrte tumi-i ba kæno 3SG.NHON instead 2SG.FAM.NOM-EMPH INT why িগেয়িছেল? giye-ch-il-e go.PRF-PRF-PST-2.FAM ‘Instead of him/her, why did you even go?’

(8.49) হয়ত বা স আসেব না। hoeto ba śe aś-b-e na maybe INT 3.SG.NHON come-FUT-3.NHON NEG ‘Perhaps s/he will not come.’ As described in Section 8.4.1,বা /ba/ can also mean ‘or’.

~~8.5.5 The particle য /je/~~

~~য /je/ expresses surprise or assertiveness. It is often post-verbal, which makes it clause- or sentence-final:~~

~~9 Seely (2002/2006, 325). Reduplication | 173~~

(8.50) আর এক দরী করেল, বাসটা ধরেত ar ekṭu deri kor-le bas-ṭa dhor-te and a.little late do-CND bus-CLF catch-IPFP পারেতন না য। par-t-en na je be.able-PST.HAB-3.HON NEG INT ‘Had (you) been a bit more late, (you) would have missed [lit. not been able to catch] the bus.’

~~8.5.6 The particle যা /ja/~~

~~যা /ja/is used in exclamations: (8.51) যা মজা! ja mɔja! how/what fun ‘How/what fun!’~~

~~8.5.7 The interrogative particle িক /ki/~~

~~The particle িক /ki/, which indicates a yes-or-no question, is an enclitic, but it is covered above in Section 8.1.~~

~~8.6 Reduplication~~

Reduplication is a morphological process in Bangla; that is, it operates at the morphological level rather than the syntactic level, affecting individual words, not phrases. There are two kinds of reduplication in Bangla: the repeating of whole words and the repeating of parts of words. Note that when glossing reduplication, we provide a morpheme-by-morpheme gloss for the first member and indicate the second by REDUP. A semantic gloss is given only if the word has a lexical meaning in addition to its use in reduplication. 174 | Other Word Classes and Processes

~~8.6.1 Reduplication of whole words~~

8.6.1.1 Repetition of verbs As discussed in Section 9.5.1 and Section 9.5.2, certain non-finite verb forms can be repeated for a variety of effects. Perfect participles are repeated to express either a recurring action or an ongoing state.¹⁰ Imperfect participles can be repeated to express simultaneity of an action with the action of the main verb, translatable into English as a clause using while or as.¹¹ When repeated with a negative /na/ between (or occasionally preceding) them, imperfect participles give an inceptive sense, as in ‘as the action was barely beginning’, or ‘before the action could even get started’.¹² Finite verbs can be repeated to express an imminent action:

(8.52) অকার ায় হেলা হেলা। ɔndhɔkar prae ho-l-o holo dark almost become-PST-3.NHON REDUP ‘It was just about to get dark. (Lit. The dark almost happened happened.)’

~~8.6.1.2 Repetition of other parts of speech Pronouns can be repeated to express plurality:~~

(8.53) কউ কউ খােব আর কউ keu keu kha-b-e ar keu someone REDUP eat-FUT-3.NHON and someone খােব না। kha-b-e na eat-FUT-3.NHON NEG ‘Some folks will eat and others won’t.’¹³ Repetition can also give a distributive sense:

~~(8.54) িদেন িদেন din-e dine day-LOC REDUP ‘day by day, day after day’~~

~~10 See Section 9.5.1.2 for examples. 11 See Section 9.5.2.2 for an example. 12 See Section 9.5.2.2 for an example. 13 Seely (2002/2006, 41). Reduplication | 175~~

(8.55) িম রাায় কাথায় কাথায় থামেব? tumi rasta-e kothae kothae tham-b-e 2SG.NHON.NOM road-LOC where REDUP stop-FUT-2.FAM ‘What various places will you stop on the road?’ Finally, repetition of whole words can be used to intensify, as in 8.56 through 8.58:

~~(8.56) ডাগর ডাগর কােলা নয়ন ḍagɔr ḍagɔr kalo noyon large REDUP black eye ‘great big black eyes’~~

(8.57) বরেফর মে ধীের ধীের গািড় চািলও। borofe-r moddhe dhire dhire gaṛi cali-o ice-GEN amidst slowly REDUP car drive.FUT.IMP-2FAM ‘Drive the car very slowly on the ice.’

(8.58) ভাই ক বেলা জাের জাের কথা না bhai ke bol-o jore jore kɔtha na brother CMPL say.FUT.IMP-2FAM loud loud word NEG বলেত। bol-te say-IPFP ‘Tell Brother not to speak so loudly.’

8.6.1.3 Reduplicative expressives Bangla has an entire class of onomatopoeic, or imitative, words that Klaiman (1990) calls reduplicative expressives. These are words consisting of two repeated nonsense syllables, such asিমটিমট /miṭmiṭ/, which suggests flickering, ঝমঝমor /jhɔm-jhɔm/, which suggests jingling, as in 8.59.

(8.59) আিম মলর ঝমঝম আওয়াজ েনত ami mɔl-er jhɔm-jhɔm awaj śun-te 1SG.NOM anklet-GEN IMIT-REDUP sound hear-IPFP পাি। pa-cch-Ø-i be.able.IPF-IPF-PRS-1 ‘I hear the loud jingling sound of an anklet.’ 176 | Other Word Classes and Processes

As with 8.56 above, these onomatopoeic expressions frequently involve repetition for an intensifying effect. Note that in 8.60, the repeated sound is in the role of the nominal complement to a conjunct verb (See Section 10.3.3 and Section 10.3.2.)

(8.60) পাকামাকেড় িপলিপল করেছ। pokamakɔre pil-pil kor-ch-Ø-e insects IMIT-REDUP do.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘It is swarming with insects [lit. doing pil-pil].’

~~8.6.2 Partial reduplication~~

~~With partial reduplication, also known as echoic reduplication, a word is repeated with the initial sound altered.~~

8.6.2.1 Partial reduplication with initial consonant insertion If the word begins with a vowel, a consonant is inserted at the beginning, and if it begins with a consonant, that first consonant is replaced. In both cases, the new consonant is usually aট /ṭ/, although others such asব /b/, ফ /f/, and শ /ś/ can be used. The two halves of the construction are either written separately or joined by a hyphen. The meaning is translatable as ‘and such’, ‘and so on’, ‘or something’, etc., often with a derogatory, dismissive, or at least informal connotation:¹⁴

~~(8.61) বই-টই boi-ṭoi book-PRT.RED ‘books and such’~~

~~(8.62) দখা-টখা dækh-a-ṭækha look-VN-PRT.RED ‘looking around and so on’~~

~~(8.63) আীয়-টাীয় ãttio-ṭãttio relative-PRT.RED ‘relatives and such’~~

~~14 All of these examples of partial reduplication come from Dimock, Bhattacharji, and Chatterjee (1997, 361). Reduplication | 177~~

~~(8.64) আসেব টাসেব aś-b-e ṭaśbe come-FUT-3.NHON PRT.RED ‘will come or something’~~

8.6.2.2 Partial reduplication with final vowel change¹⁵ There are a number of derived forms, usually originating from verbal nouns, but also occasionally from other parts of speech, that are based on a reduplication process. They are called reciprocal reduplicates, as they are often words that express reciprocal or mutual action (Dasgupta 2003, 358). They are formed from a word ending in either /o/ or আ /a/, which is then repeated, withই /i/ substituted for the original final vowel in the second half of the compound. These compounds exhibit both kinds of historical vowel raising—anticipatory (Section 3.3.1.1.2) and progressive (Section 3.3.1.1.3). If the stem vowel of the original word is /ɔ/ , the finalই /i/ triggers raising to /o/ in the second constituent, as in the first example below. If, on the other hand, the stem vowel of the original word is high (ই/ঈ /i/ or উ/ঊ /u/), the vowel of the second syllable is raised, as in the third example below. As far as we can determine, this process is no longer productive: such forms are lexicalized. Examples:

~~বলা বলাবিল bɔla → bɔlaboli ‘to say, speak’ ‘mutual speaking, conversation’~~

~~লখা লখােলিখ lekha → lekhalekhi ‘to write’ ‘correspondence’~~

~~লািল লা jhulojhuli jhula → ‘repeated swinging; earnest ‘to swing; to lean’ solicitation’~~

~~খ েখািখ mukho → mukhomukhi ‘face’ ‘face-to-face’~~

~~Derived forms of this sort are often used as the noun complement in light verb constructions with the verbsহওয়া /hɔoya/ ‘to be’ or করা /kɔra/ ‘to do’.~~

~~15 See Section 9.5.4 for more on verbal nouns. 178 | Other Word Classes and Processes~~

~~8.7 Lengthened consonants~~

~~A small closed class of words has undergone reduplication through doubling of the medial consonant. The effect is to make the word emphatic. The following words can be transformed this way:~~

~~বড় ব bɔṛo → bɔḍḍo ‘big; very’ ‘very big; extremely’~~

~~কখেনা . . . না কনা . . . না kɔkhono na → kɔkkhono na ‘never’ ‘never ever’~~

~~কাথাও . . . না কাাও . . . না kothao na → kotthao na ‘nowhere’ ‘nowhere at all’~~

~~িক . . . না িক . . . না kichu na → kicchu na ‘none, nothing’ ‘nothing at all’~~

~~কত ক kɔto → kɔtto ‘so much, a lot’ ‘so very much’~~

~~ছাট ছা choṭo → choṭṭo ‘small’ ‘very small’ 9 Verbs~~

~~9.1 Inflectional features~~

~~9.1.1 Verbal categories~~

Bangla verbs agree with their subjects in person and formality level, but not number, having historically lost that distinction. The citation form for verbs is the verbal noun, formed by adding one of three nominal suffixes to the stem:-অ /-a/ , -ওয়া /-wa/, or -ন/-না /-no/. ¹ There are three tenses—past, present, and future—and three aspects—perfect, imperfect (often referred to as continuous), and conditional/past habitual. We choose to use the terms perfect and imperfect rather than perfective and imperfective with Bangla because we agree with Dixon (2010, 153–155) about the difference between the two categories, perfectness and perfectivity, and the importance of not conflating the two, as is so often done. The former pair (perfect/imperfect) expresses the completion versus non-completion of an event relative to the speech event or speech act, while the latter pair (perfective/imperfective) has to do with whether the temporality of the event is even under consideration—a sort of ±temporal category that does not exist in Bangla. The former is therefore more appropriate with respect to Bangla verbs. We use imperfect rather than continuous for the sake of analytic and terminological symmetry with the term perfect. Along with the imperative mood, these categories interact to yield ten simple verb conjugations: simple present, present imperative, present imperfect, present perfect, simple future, future imperative, simple past, conditional/past habitual, past imperfect, and past perfect. Bangla also has compound predicates; they will be addressed later under Section 10.3.2 and Section 10.3.3.

~~9.1.2 Personal, tense, and aspect suffixes~~

The Bangla verbal suffixes can be seen in Table 9.1. Bangla verb morphology falls somewhere in between fusional and purely agglutinative. Verbal endings can be teased apart, but there is some overlap in roles, and tense and aspect can be simultaneously encoded not only by a dedicated suffix, but also by stem shape and personal suffix. For example, there are three sets of personal suffixes for finite verb forms, one for each tense—present, future, and past, as shown in Table 9.1. In addition, the three tenses are marked overtly by tense suffixes. The present tense suffix is -Ø, the future suffixes are -ব- /-b-/ in the simple future and Ø alternating with-ব- /-b-/ in the future impera-

1 These last two, -ন and -না , are orthographic variants only. 180 | Verbs tive, and the past tense suffixes are-ত- /-t-/ for conditional/past habitual and -ইল-/-ল- /-(i)l-/ for all other past tense forms. Imperfect aspect is marked by--/-ছ- /-(c)ch-/, and the perfect by-ছ- /-ch-/. The চ /c/ of the imperfect suffix is deleted after a C-final stem, so there are many imperfect forms with surface aspectual affixes identical to those of perfect² forms. However, this does not render imperfect and perfect forms indistinguishable, as the distinction is also encoded in the stems of those verb forms; so in fact, aspect is doubly marked in some verb forms. When this is the case, our morpheme gloss lines reflect the double marking. Because Bangla verbs do not show number agreement, personal endings are the same for singular and plural subjects. Parenthetical vowels are included in Table 9.1 to reflect the suffixes for forms with a C-final stem. Stems are described byconjugation class and finite form below, under Section 9.2 and Section 9.3 respectively. Some dialectal forms are included in the table and marked as such. The second familiar affix -আ /-a/under simple future is heard in non-standard Dhaka Bangla. These dialectal variants are for the most part not represented in the paradigm tables of Section 9.3.

2 This deletion rule in the imperfect aspect also applies to stems of class 5 verbs that have inserted an /i/ after the stem vowel to yield a stem ending in ওই /oi̯/ or আই /ai̯/, a fact that provides the sort of phonological evidence that could be brought to bear in a much-needed study of Bangla diphthongs. The deletion of চ /c/ after the sequences /oi/ and /ai/ in parallel with its deletion after C-stems would suggest that the two are VV̯—not VV—sequences; that is, true diphthongs. See ∼ Section 3.2.1 and cf. the imperfect variants চাইিছ /caichi/ চাি /cacchi/ NSTD , where the first form exhibits this চ /c/-deletion after আই /ai̯/. Inflectional features | 181

~~Future Present Tense Suffix = Ø/-ব- Past Person Tense Suffix =Ø -b-~~

Simple, Con- Imperfect, ditional/ Simple, or Perfect Past Imper- Simple Imperative Imperative Tense Habitual/ fect, or Future Suffix = Tense/Aspect Perfect -ল-/-ইল Suffix = -ত- -(i)l- -t-

~~-ও -আম -o -am -ই -উম -ও -উম 1 1 3 -i -um DCB -o -um KCB - -এম 2 3 -mu DCB -em LIT~~

~~-ই -স/-ইস -স/-ইস -ই -ইস 2.INTM Ø -i -(i)ś -(i)ś -i -iś~~

~~-এ -ও -এ -ও -e -o -e 2.FAM -o -আ -ইও -আ 4 5 -a NSTD -io -a DCB~~

~~-ন/-এন -ন/-উন -এন -এন 2.HON/3HON -(e)n -(u)n -en -en~~

~~-ও -এ -ক/-উক -এ 3.NHON -o -e -(u)k -e~~

~~-এ 5 -e KCB~~

~~1 Class 1 & 2; FUT suffix = Ø in these forms 2 Class 3 & 4; FUT suffix = Ø in these forms 3 Simple past & past habitual only 4 Classes 6 & 7 5 Simple past only~~

~~Table 9.1: Personal and tense suffixes 182 | Verbs~~

~~9.1.3 Verbal stem allomorphy~~

One of the most significant morphological features of the verbs of spoken Bangla is vowel alternation, which affects primarily verbs with monosyllabic stems. (See Sec- tion 3.3.1.1.2 for a discussion of how verbal stem alternations fit into the broader topic of Bangla vowel raising.) The alternations are due to umlaut, the result of previously phonologically conditioned vowel raising, as illustrated by the following chart:

~~• e → i~~

~~• æ → e~~

~~• o → u~~

~~• ɔ → o~~

~~• a → e~~

In a few instances, the conditioning high vowel in the following syllable remains (for example, those Class 5 forms that take an-ই- /-i-/ after the stem vowel), but for the most part they have been lost through sound change. The last alternation, /a ∼ e/, is not usually included in discussions of vowel raising, nor do most descriptions consider the a-stem verbs to participate in the same process of verb stem allomorphy covered by the first four typical Bangla vowel raising alternations ³above, but we do, because the behavior is parallel with that of other verb stem alternations. The stem with the lower vowel is called the primary stem of the verb, and the one with the higher vowel the secondary stem; for example, the primary stem ofদওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’ isদ- /de-/, and its secondary stem isিদ- /di-/. The form of the stem covaries with the verb class and tense/aspect/mood in ways we describe under the individual verb class sections (Section 9.2) and illustrate in the verb paradigm charts (Section 9.3). All perfect forms are built on secondary stems; the other patterns of stem allomorphy are more complicated. Bangla orthography does not represent the alternations ɔ → o and æ → e, because the inherent vowel can be realized as either /ɔ/ or /o/, andএ as either /æ/ or /e/; so for example,কের could represent either /kɔre/ or /kore/, andদেখ either /dækhe/ or /dekhe/. In speech, however, both intonation and vowel quality indicate what form the verb is.

3 Indeed, it is the case that /a ∼ e/ is otherwise a rare alternation throughout the language (it shows up only in progressive assimilation, discussed in Section 3.3.1.1.3). Verb conjugation classes | 183

~~9.2 Verb conjugation classes~~

Seely (2002/2006) divides Bangla verbs into seven conjugation classes according to stem-shape and inflectional behavior. We prefer his analysis to others’ and explain why below. The seven classes are described in Section 9.2.1 through Section 9.2.7, with examples of each provided in citation form, along with both primary and secondary stems (Section 9.1.3). The citation form is the verbal noun, formed by one of three suffixes added to the primary stem. The seven classes could be reduced to three according to verbal noun suffixes and stem-shape:

~~• Closed monosyllables, or consonant-stem verbs (classes 1 and 2); primary stem+-আ /-a/: (C)VC-a~~

~~• Open monosyllables, or vowel-stem verbs (classes 3, 4, and 5); primary stem+-ওয়া /-wa/: (C)V(V)-wa~~

~~• Di- or trisyllable (classes 6 and 7); primary stem+-ন /-no/ or -না /-no/: (C)V(V/C)(C)a-no~~

In fact, Smith (1997, 10–11) analyzes them this way, calling his three classes A, B, and C, respectively. However, we prefer Seely’s analysis, as it better elucidates differences in conjugation by distinguishing between verbs with a stem-vowel of-আ /a/ and verbs with other stem-vowels, as well as the light or heavy quality of the initial syllables in Class 6 and 7 verbs respectively.⁴ The analysis in Thompson (2010, 142–158) overlaps substantially with that of Seely (2002/2006); she gives six conjugation classes. However, she groups Seely’s 4 and 5 together into what she calls class 4, and his classes 6 and 7 into her class 5. She then adds a class 6 comprised of dialectal variants of her class 5. Again, we prefer Seely’s group- ings to Thompson’s because they give more fine-grained insights into the conjugation behavior of the verbs as will be seen in the discussion below, and we do not think that variation should be a basis of conjugation class. Because the verb classes are organized according to phonological shape, orthography sometimes makes a verb’s conjugation class opaque because common conjunct verb constructions of the form Noun/Adjective+Verb (Section 10.3.3), though rarely, may be written without a space, obscuring the verb’s shape. For example, the verb

4 The terms consonant-stems, or C-stems, for classes 1 and 2, and vowel-stems, or V-stems, for classes 3–7, will occasionally be used as cover terms, however, as in the discussion of vowel alternation in Section 7.2. 184 | Verbs

মট েগজ দওয়া /mɔrṭgej dewa/ ‘to give a mortgage’ consists of the English loanword মট েগজ /mɔrṭgej/ ‘mortgage’ plus the Bangla verbদওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’, a class 3 verb in the classification below. This may not be obvious at first glance. An inventory and discussion of the seven classes follows.

~~9.2.1 Class 1: (C)VC-; V ≠ /a/~~

Class 1 verbs consist of all verbs with a consonant-final, monosyllabic stem, where the stem vowel is any vowel other thanআ /a/. Class 1 verbs use their secondary stems in all finite forms except for certain simple present and present imperative forms: simple present second familiars, honorifics, and third non-honorifics; and present second intimate and familiar imperatives. They use their secondary stems to form all non-finite forms except verbal nouns, for which they use their primary stems. Some examples of class 1 verbs and their stems are:

~~Citation form Primary stem Secondary stem~~

~~করা কর- কর- kɔr-a kɔr- kor- ‘to do’~~

~~শানা শান- ন- śon-a śon- śun- ‘to hear’~~

~~9.2.2 Class 2: (C)aC-~~

The verbs of class 2 also have consonant-final, monosyllabic stems, but their stem vowel is আ /a/. Class 2 verbs form all finite verbs from their primary stem, except perfect forms. Among the non-finite verbs, they use their primary stems to form perfect participles and their secondary stems to form imperfect participles, conditionals, and verbal nouns. Two examples of Class 2 verbs are below:

~~Citation form Primary stem Secondary stem~~

~~জানা জান- জন- jan-a jan- jen- ‘to know’~~

~~থাকা থাক- থক- thak-a thak- thek- ‘to stay’ Verb conjugation classes | 185~~

~~9.2.3 Class 3: (C)V-; V ≠ a~~

The stems of Class 3 verbs are vowel-final and monosyllabic, with any stem vowel but আ /a/. Class 3 verbs stem alternations are almost exactly like those of class 1 verbs: secondary stems are used in most finite forms, except for certain simple present and present imperative forms: primary stems are in simple present second familiars, honorifics, and third non-honorifics; and in present second intimate and familiar imperatives. The only difference is in the future forms: where class 1 verbs have secondary stems in all future forms, class 3 have primary stems in all but simple future second intimate and future imperative second intimate and familiar. As for non-finite verbs, perfect participles are formed on class 3 primary stems, and imperfect participles, conditionals, and verbal nouns on their secondary stems. To our knowledge, this class has only eight verbs in it, listed below, with their stems:⁵

~~Citation form Primary stem Secondary stem~~

~~ছয়া ছ- - chõya ঁ chõ- chũ- ‘to touch’~~

~~দ(ও)য়া দ- িদ- dewa de- di- ‘to give’~~

~~দায়া দা- - dowa do- du- ‘to milk (a cow); to exploit’ LIT~~

~~ধায়া ধা- - dhowa dho- dhu- ‘to wash, rinse’~~

~~নায়া য়া- - noya no- nu- ‘to bow, submit’ LIT~~

~~ন(ও)য়া ন- িন- newa ne- ni- ‘to take’~~

~~শায়া শা- - śo-wa śo- śu- ‘to lie down’~~

5 The <ও > of দ(ও)য়া /dewa/ ‘to give’ and ন(ও)য়া /newa/ ‘to take’ is sometimes omitted in informal writing to reflect the colloquial pronunciations /dea/ ∼ /deya/. 186 | Verbs

~~হওয়া হ- হ- hɔ-wa hɔ- ho- ‘to become, to be’~~

~~9.2.4 Class 4: (C)a-~~

Class 4 stems are likewise vowel-final and monosyllabic, but their stem vowelআ is /a/. Verbs of this class use their secondary stems more than the a-stem verbs of class 2 verbs: class 4 secondary stems are used not only in the perfect, but also for simple past and past habitual/conditional forms. In addition, as with classes 1 through 3, class 4 verbs use their primary stems to form perfect participles and their secondary stems to form imperfect participles, conditionals, and verbal nouns.

~~Citation form Primary stem Secondary stem~~

~~খাওয়া খা- খ kha-wa kha- khe- ‘to eat’~~

~~পাওয়া পা- প- pa-wa pa- pe- ‘to get, obtain’~~

~~9.2.5 Class 5: (C)ɔ(i)- or (C)a(i)-~~

There are ten Bangla verbs whose stem shapes do not differentiate them from those of class 3 or class 4, as they have monosyllabic, vowel-final stems, with either an /ɔ/or an /a/ as the stem vowel. However, they are grouped into their own conjugation class, because they behave differently from class 3 and 4 verbs in the following ways:

• A stem augment ই /i/ is inserted after the stem vowel in future, simple past, past habitual/ conditional, imperfect, imperfect participle, and conditional forms (although it is optional in the present imperfect for a-stems of this class).

~~• They have different stem allomorphy patterns.~~

~~• Like C-stem verbs, /-cch-/ is deleted in the imperfect, and their surface imperfect affix is-ছ- /-ch-/ instead of the expected /-cch-/ seen in other V-stem verbs.~~

Like class 2 verbs, class 5 a-stem verbs build finite forms on primary stems in all verbs except the perfect forms, which use the secondary stem in /e/ or /o/. Class 5 ɔ-stems, however, also use their secondary stem in the imperfect forms and in the conditional/past habitual. For non-finites, the primary stem is used to build imperfect Verb conjugation classes | 187 participles for the a-stem class 5 verbs only and in conditionals; while the secondary stem is used in participles and in imperfect participles of ɔ-stems. We know of only ten verbs in class 5, five with ɔ-stems and five with a-stems, although occasionally verbs of other classes can behave like a class 5 verb; for example,পাওয়া /pa-wa/ ‘to get, receive’, which has alternate forms for the present imperfect tense that follow a class 5 paradigm. The verbs of class 5 are:

~~Citation form Primary stem Secondary stem~~

~~কওয়া ক- ক- kɔ-wa kɔ- ko- ‘to say’~~

~~গাওয়া গা- গ- ga-wa ga- ge- ‘to sing’~~

~~চাওয়া- চা- চ- ca-wa ca- ce- ‘to want’~~

~~ছাওয়া- ছা- ছ- cha-wa cha- che- ‘to cover’~~

~~নাওয়া না- ন- na-wa na- ne- ‘to bathe’~~

~~বওয়া bɔ-wa ব- ব- ‘to carry, tote, convey; to bɔ- bo- flow’~~

~~বাওয়া বা- ব- ba-wa ba- be- ‘to row a boat’~~

~~রওয়া র- র- rɔ-wa rɔ- ro- ‘to remain, stay, exist’~~

~~লওয়া ল- ল- lɔ-wa lɔ- lo- ‘to take, receive’~~

~~শওয়া শ- শ- śɔ-wa śɔ- śo- ‘to bear, tolerate, withstand’ 188 | Verbs~~

~~9.2.6 Class 6: (C)VCa- or (C)Vwa-~~

Class 6 consists of causative verbs (Section 9.6),—derived verbs — which have polysyllabic stems due to the causative suffix-আ- /-a-/ (for C-stems) or-ওয়া- /-wa-/ (for V-stems). They inflect certain finite and non-finite forms differently from verbs inother classes. Causatives of shape CVCa- have a variant of shape CVCo- if the first vowel is high ( ই /i/,উ /u/, or ঔ /ou/); this is the standard form in KCB; for example,পৗঁেছােনা /poũcho-no/ ‘to arrive at’. (See Section 3.3.1.1.3 for more on this progressive height assimilation.) Class 6 includes not only causatives but also what might be called pseudo-causatives, verbs that are formally but not semantically causative, such asপৗঁেছােনা /poũcha-no/ ‘to arrive at’ above orমােনা / মান /ghumano/ ‘to sleep’. For more information on causatives, see below, Section 9.6. Some examples of causative verbs are:

~~Citation form Primary stem Secondary stem~~

খাওয়ােনা khawano খাওয়া- খ- ‘to feed’ khawa- khe- (cf. খাওয়া khawa ‘to eat’ ) শখােনা śekhano শখা- িশখ- ‘to teach’ śekha- śikh- (cf. শখা śekha ‘to learn’ ) পৗঁেছােনা পৗঁেছা- পৗঁিছেয়- poũchono poũcho- poũchie- ‘to arrive at’ KCB

~~9.2.7 Class 7: (C)VCCa- or (C)VVCa- (“three-letter” verbs)~~

The so-called three-letter (3-অর /ɔkkhor/) verbs are verbs whose stems contain three Bangla letters, where letter is defined as either (1) an independent vowel letter or(2) a consonant with or without an inherent vowel or vowel diacritic. The difference between class 6 and class 7 verbs is that class 7 verbs have a heavy first syllable: the phonological shape of their stem is either (C)VCCa- or (C)VVCa-, which is why three Bangla characters are required to represent them. The verbs of this class do not have stem allomorphy. Some examples follow:

~~Citation form Stem Verb paradigms | 189~~

~~কামড়ান kamṛano কামড়া ‘to bite’ kamṛa- (CVCCa-)~~

~~আটকান aṭkano আটকা- ‘to impede’ aṭka- (VCCa-)~~

~~ঠাওরান ṭhaorano ঠাওরা- ‘to view, see; visualize; view as’ ṭhaora- (CVVCa-)~~

~~আওড়ান aoṛano আওড়া- ‘to recite repeatedly’ aoṛa- (VVCa-)~~

There are also a handful of what are called four-letter (4-অর ) verbs, of the shape CVCVCVCa-. These verbs are all onomatopoeic and pattern exactly like 3-অর verbs, so they can be considered as belonging to class 7 as well. Both 3-অর and 4-অর verbs would fall under the category of pseudo-causatives—causative in form, but not in meaning.

~~9.3 Verb paradigms~~

~~9.3.1 Simple present~~

9.3.1.1 Morphology of the simple present The verb forms for the present tense are given in Table 9.2. The present tense is marked by the absence of a tense suffix, also describable as the use of a Ø suffix. Class1verbs use their secondary stems in the first person and second person intimate; Class 3 verbs use their secondary stems in the first person. (This is synchronic vowel raising conditioned by the high vowel in the personal suffix—see Section 3.3.1.1.2.) As mentioned above in Section 9.1, Bangla orthography does not reflect the stem vowel alternation in verbs with an inherent vowel in the primary stem, such asহওয়া /hɔwa/. 190 | Verbs কামড়ােনা kamṛano Class 7 ড়াই কাম kamṛai ড়াস কাম kamṛaś কামড়াও kamṛao কামড়ান kamṛan কামড়ায় kamṛae ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano Class 6 শখাই śekhai শখাস śekhaś শখাও śekhao শখান śekhan শখায় śekhae ‘to teach’ চাওয়া cawa Class 5 চাই cai চাস caś চাও cao চান can চায় cae ‘to want’ খাওয়া khawa Class 4 খাই khai খাস khaś খাও khao খান khan খায় khae ‘to eat’ হওয়া hɔwa Class 3 হই hoi হস hɔś হও hɔo হন hɔn হয় hɔe ‘to become’ থাকা thaka Class 2 থািক thaki থািকস thakiś থােকা thako থােকন thaken থােক thake ‘to stay’ শানা śona Class 1 িন śuni িনস śuniś শােনা śono শােনন śonen শােন śone ‘to hear’ Simple present; tense suffix = Ø Person 1 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.2: Verb paradigms | 191~~

9.3.1.2 Uses of the simple present The present tense is used to express regular or habitual present actions, as in 9.1; general truths, as in 9.2; actions or states that began in the past and are continuing into the present, as in 9.3; a historical present that often occurs in narratives of past events, as in 9.4; and finally, a number of contexts that could be described as irrealis, where in certain other languages—for example, Hindi—one would expect the subjunctive, as in 9.5. (9.1) অেনক লাক তেক িচ লেখন। ɔnek lok tã-ke ciṭhi lekh-Ø-en many people 3SG.HON-OBJ letter write-PRS-3.HON ‘Many people write letters to him.’⁶

(9.2) িথবীর সকল মাষ শাি চায়। prithibi-r śɔkol manuś śanti ca-Ø-e earth-GEN every person peace want-PRS-3.NHON ‘Everybody in the world wants peace.’⁷

~~(9.3) আিম ২০১০ থেক গািড় চালাই। ami 2010 theke gaṛi cala-Ø-i 1SG.NOM 2010 from car drive-PRS-1 ‘I have been driving since 2010.’~~

(9.4) রবীনাথ ১৮৮৫ থেক ১৮৯৫এর মে তর robindronath 1885 theke 1895-er moddhe tã-r Rabindranath 1885 from 1895-GEN into 3SG.HON-GEN াী ইিরা দবী চৗরাণীেক অেনক িল bhratuśputri indira debi coudhurani-ke ɔnek-guli niece Indira Devi Caudhurani-OBJ many-CLF.PL.DIM িচ লেখন। ciṭhi lekh-Ø-en letter write-PRS-3.HON. ‘From 1885 to 1895 Tagore writes many letters to his niece Indira Devi Caudhurani.’⁸

~~6 Murphy (1959). 7 Murphy (1959). 8 Seely (2002/2006, 153). 192 | Verbs~~

~~(9.5) ি হেল, ঘের থাকেত পাির| briśṭi ho-le ghɔr-e thak-te par-Ø-i rain become-COND house-LOC stay-IPFP can-PRS-1 ‘If it rains we might stay home.’~~

~~9.3.2 Present imperative~~

9.3.2.1 Morphology of the present imperative Table 9.3 shows the present imperative verb forms. First person and second person familiar forms of all classes are identical to their present indicative counterparts, as are the honorific present imperatives of classes 4 through 7. Second person intimate imperative forms are identical to the primary stem. In class 1 and 3 verbs, the primary stem is used in some forms of the present imperative; namely, second intimate and familiar. Bangladeshi speakers commonly also use the simple present form of the third person for second and third person honorific imperatives; for example,থােকন /thaken/ instead ofথান /thakun/, so those forms also use primary stems. Verb paradigms | 193 কামড়ােনা kamṛano Class 7 কামড়াই kamṛai কামড়া kamṛa কামড়াও kamṛao কামড়ান kamṛan কামড়াক kamṛak ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano Class 6 শখাই śekhai শখা śekha শখাও śekhao শখান śekhan শখাক śekhak ‘to teach’ NSTD চাওয়া cawa চাক cak Class 5 চাই cai চা ca চাও cao চাইেয়ন caiyen চান can ‘to want’ খাওয়া khawa খাক khak Class 4 খাই khai খা kha খাও khao খান khan ‘to eat’ DCB হওয়া hɔwa হক hok Class 3 হই hoi হ hɔ হও hɔo হন hon হন hɔn ‘to become’ thak থাক DCB ∼ ∼ থাকা thaka thakuk Class 2 থািক thaki থা thak থােকা/ক thako থান thakun থােকন thaken থাক ‘to stay’ DCB শানা śona Class 1 িন śuni শান śon শােনা/ন śono ন śunun শােনন śonen ক śunuk ‘to hear’ Present imperative; tense suffix = Ø Person 1 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.3: 194 | Verbs~~

~~9.3.2.2 Uses of the present imperative The present imperative expresses a command or request: লেখা /lekho/ ‘Write!’,খাও /khao/ ‘Eat!’~~

~~9.3.3 Present imperfect~~

9.3.3.1 Morphology of the present imperfect Table 9.4 shows present imperfect verb forms. Class 5 verbs insertই /i/ after the stem vowel in both imperfect tenses, although if the stem vowel isআ /a/, the ই /i/ is optional. Classes 1, 3, and class 5 (ɔ-stems only) use their secondary stems in the present imperfect; in the case of class 5 ɔ-stems, probably because of vowel raising conditioned by the addition ofই /i/after the stem vowel in future forms. The imperfect affix--/-ছ- is /-(c)ch-/; the alternate form reflects the fact চthat /c/is deleted after C-stems. This deletion rule applies also to class 5 stems—evidence that the /oi/ and /ai/ of the augmented stem are diphthongs, because the insertedই /i/ here acts like a consonant in triggering /c/-deletion (see Section 3.2.1). Both DCB and KCB verbs of class 5 can omit-ছ- /-i-/ and therefore have চাি /cacchi/ instead of চাইিছ /caichi/, and so on. Dasgupta (2003, 372) analyzes imperfect verbs as “a tight compound of the progressive stem of the verb with the light copula element /ch/.” This is accurate historically and to some extent as a synchronic description, although his claims are not universally agreed upon in the latter respect. By tight compound, he means that no third element can intervene between the two parts of the verb form. (See Section 9.3.4.1 for a similar analysis of perfect forms.) Verb paradigms | 195 কামড়ােনা kamṛano Class 7 কামড়াি kamṛacchi কামড়ািস kamṛacchiś কামড়াো kamṛaccho কামড়ােন kamṛacchen কামড়াে kamṛacche ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano Class 6 শখাি śekhacchi শখািস śekhacchiś শখাো śekhaccho শখােন śekhacchen শখাে śekhacche ‘to teach’ NSTD NSTD NSTD NSTD NSTD চাওয়া cawa Class 5 চাইিছ caichi চাি cacchi চাইিছস caichiś চািস cacchiś চাইছ caicho চা caccho চাইেছন caichen চােন cacchen চাইেছ caiche চাে cacche ‘to want’ খাওয়া khawa Class 4 খাি khacchi খািস khacchiś খাচেছা khaccho খােন khacchen খাে khacche ‘to eat’ /-(c)ch-/

--/-ছ- Class 3 হওয়া hɔwa হি hocchi হিস hocchiś হো hoccho হেন hocchen হে hocche ‘to become’ Class 2 থাকিছ thakchi থাকিছস thakchiś থাকেছা thakcho থাকেছন thakchen থাকেছ thakche থাকা thaka ‘to stay’ Class 1 নিছ śunchi নিছস śunchiś নেছা śuncho নেছন śunchen নেছ śunche শানা śona ‘to hear’ Present imperfect; tense suffix aspect Ø; = suffix = Person 1 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.4: 196 | Verbs~~

9.3.3.2 Uses of the present imperfect The present imperfect tense is used to express ongoing actions in the present, as in 9.6; the immediate future, as in 9.7; a present equational relation, as with the copula in 9.8; as well as continuous actions that began in the past and are continuing into the present (9.9) and a historical present in narratives of past events, similarly to the regular present tense (9.10).

~~(9.6) আিম সলাই করা িশখিছ| ami śælai kɔr-a śikh-ch-Ø-i 1SG sew do-VN learn.IPF-IPF-PRS-1 ‘I am learning to sew.’~~

~~(9.7) িম িক আজ রােত আসেছা? tumi ki aj rat-e aś-ch-Ø-o 2SG.FAM.NOM Q today night-LOC come.IPF-IPF-PRS-2.FAM ‘Are you coming tonight?’~~

~~(9.8) এ হে আমার দা e-ṭi ho-cch-Ø-e amar dadu 3SG-CLF become.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON 1SG.GEN grandfather বািড়| baṛi house ‘This is my grandfather’s house.’~~

(9.9) স দশ বছর ধের গান śe dɔś bɔchɔr dhore gan 3SG.NHON.NOM ten year during song করেছ| kor-ch-Ø-e do.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘She has been singing for ten years.’

(9.10) হানাবািড়েত যখন কলাম তখন আমার শরীর hanabaṛi-te jɔkhɔn ḍuk-l-am tɔkhɔn amar śorir haunted house-LOC when enter-PST-1 then 1SG.GEN body কপেছ| kãp-ch-Ø-e tremble.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘When I walked into the haunted house, my body was trembling.’ Verb paradigms | 197

~~9.3.4 Present perfect~~

9.3.4.1 Morphology of the present perfect Table 9.5 shows present perfect verb forms. Classes 1 through 6 use their secondary stems in perfect forms because both the present and past perfect are formed with the perfect participle (Section 9.5.1) as a base, to which the perfect affix has been added. The perfect affix is-ছ- /-ch-/. Alternative forms for Class 7 are available, based on the variant perfect participle form (Section 9.5 and Section 9.5.1.1): কামেড়িছ /kamṛechi/, কামেড়িছস /kamṛechiś/, কামেড়েছা /kamṛecho/, কামেড়েছন /kamṛechen/, and কামেড়েছ /kamṛeche/. Dasgupta (2003, 372) analyzes the perfect verb form as “a half-loose compound of the perfect stem of the verb with the light copula element....” As with imperfect verbs, this is accurate historically and works to some extent as a synchronic description, although his claims are not universally agreed upon. He explains half-loose compound to mean certain particles can be inserted between the perfect participle and the copula element, as inখেয়ইেছ /kheye-i-ch-Ø-e/ ‘has indeed eaten (eat.PRF-EMPH-PRF- PRS-3.NHON)’ andখেয়ওেছ /kheye-o-ch-Ø-e/ ‘has also eaten (eat.PRF-INCL-PRF-PRS- 3.NHON)’. (See Section 9.3.3.1 for a similar analysis of imperfect forms.) 198 | Verbs Class 7 কামড়ােনা kamṛano কামিড়েয়িছ kamṛiyechi কামিড়েয়িছস kamṛiyechiś কামিড়েয়েছা kamṛiyecho কামিড়েয়েছন kamṛiyechen কামিড়েয়েছ kamṛiyeche ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano Class 6 িশিখেয়িছ śikhiyechi িশিখেয়িছস śikhiyechiś িশিখেয়েছা śikhiyecho িশিখেয়েছন śikhiyechen িশিখেয়েছ śikhiyeche ‘to teach’ চাওয়া cawa Class 5 চেয়িছ ceyechi চেয়িছস ceyechiś চেয়েছা ceyecho চেয়েছন ceyechen চেয়েছ ceyeche ‘to want’ খাওয়া khawa Class 4 খেয়িছ kheyechi খেয়িছস kheyechiś খেয়েছা kheyecho খেয়েছন kheyechen খেয়েছ kheyeche ‘to eat’ /-ch-/

হওয়া hɔwa Class 3 হেয়িছ hoyechi হেয়িছস hoyechiś হেয়েছা hoyecho হেয়েছন hoyechen হেয়েছ hoyeche ‘to become’ -ছ- থাকা thaka Class 2 থেকিছ thekechi থেকিছস thekechiś থেকেছা thekecho থেকেছন thekechen থেকেছ thekeche ‘to stay’ শানা śona Class 1 েনিছ śunechi েনিছস śunechiś েনেছা śunecho েনেছন śunechen েনেছ śuneche ‘to hear’ Present perfect; tense suffix aspect Ø; = suffix = Person 1 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.5: Verb paradigms | 199~~

9.3.4.2 Uses of the present perfect The present perfect tense is used for past actions whose effects extend to the present, as in 9.11; or whose time of occurrence is not important, as in 9.12; or that take place in a narrative, as in 9.13 (for rhetorical effect, such as vividness).

(9.11) স আজই সানারগ পিরদশন śe aj-i śonargã poridɔrśɔn 1SG.NOM today-EMPH Sonargaon visit কেরেছ| kore-ch-Ø-e do.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘He has visited Sonargaon just today.’

~~(9.12) রখা িক িবেদশ িগেয়েছন? Rekha ki bideś giye-ch-Ø-en Rekha Q abroad go.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.HON ‘Has Rekha been abroad?’~~

(9.13) গতকাল সায় লশােনর একটা গীজায় িবেয় gɔtokal śɔndhae gulśan-er ek-ṭa girja-e biye yesterday evening Gulshan-GEN one-CLF church-LOC wedding হেয়েছ| hoye-ch-Ø-e become.PRF-PRF-PRS-3NHON ‘Yesterday evening a wedding took place in a Gulshan church.’

(9.14) মাধবীর মাথাথা কেরেছ| madhobi-r mathabætha kore-ch-Ø-e Madhobi-GEN headache do.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Madhobi has a headache.’ Both present and past perfect verbs are negated by a construction composed of the corresponding simple present form with the negativeিন /ni/. There is therefore no tense distinction in negative perfect verb constructions:

~~(9.15) আম এখেনা পােকিন| am-ṭi ækhɔno pak-Ø-e-ni mango-CLF.DIM now ripen-PRS-3.NHON-NEG.PRF ‘The mango has not ripened yet.’ 200 | Verbs~~

~~9.3.5 Simple future~~

9.3.5.1 Morphology of the simple future Table 9.6 shows the simple future verb forms. Although most future verb forms are built on primary stems, there are a few exceptions: Class 1 verbs use their secondary stems in all persons, and class 3 verbs use theirs in the second person intimate only. Class 5 ɔ-stems also use their secondary stem in all persons, probably due to vowel raising conditioned by the addition ofই /i/after the stem vowel in future forms. The future tense suffix is-ব- /-b-/. The final syllable of the first person future can be written as either-বা or -ব, pronounced as /-bo/ in either case. The tendency is to spell consonant stems with-বা and vowel stems with-ব , as is done in the table. Verb paradigms | 201 কামড়ােনা kamṛano Class 7 কামড়াব kamṛabo কামড়ািব kamṛabi কামড়ােব kamṛabe কামড়ােবন kamṛaben কামড়ােব kamṛabe ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano Class 6 শখাব śekhabo শখািব śekhabi শখােব śekhabe শখােবন śekhaben শখােব śekhabe ‘to teach’ NSTD NSTD NSTD NSTD NSTD চাওয়া cawa Class 5 চাইব caibo চাব cabo চাইিব caibi চািব cabi চাইেব caibe চােব cabe চাইেবন caiben চােবন caben চাইেব caibe চােব cabe ‘to want’ খাওয়া khawa Class 4 খাব khabo খািব khabi খােব khabe খােবন khaben খােব khabe ‘to eat’ হওয়া hɔwa Class 3 হব hɔbo হিব hobi হেব hɔbe হেবন hɔben হেব hɔbe ‘to become’ থাকা thaka Class 2 থাকেবা thakbo থাকিব thakbi থাকেব thakbe থাকেবন thakben থাকেব thakbe /-b-/ ‘to stay’

-ব- শানা śona Class 1 নেবা śunbo নিব śunbi নেব śunbe নেবন śunben নেব śunbe ‘to hear’ Future tense; tense suffix = Person 1 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.6: 202 | Verbs~~

9.3.5.2 Uses of the simple future The future tense is used to express a future state or action as in 9.16; propriety (translatable as ‘may’ or ‘should’ in English), as in 9.17; or ability (translatable as ‘can’); desire or intent, as in 9.18; or probability, as in 9.19.

~~(9.16) বা হেব| bɔnna hɔ-b-e flood become-FUT-3.NHON ‘It’s going to flood.’~~

(9.17) গভবতী মিহলারা মপান করেব না| gɔrbhɔboti mohila-ra mɔddɔpan kor-b-e na pregnant woman-HUM.PL.NOM drink do-FUT-3.NHON NEG ‘Pregnant women shouldn’t drink alcohol.’

~~(9.18) িম িক আমার সােথ যােব? tumi ki amar śathe ja-b-e 2SG.FAM Q 1SG.GEN with go-FUT-2.FAM ‘Will you go with me?’~~

(9.19) িশকােগার মাট লাকসংা দশ এগােরা িমিলয়ন śikago-r moṭ lokśɔŋkhæ dɔś ægaro miliyon Chicago-LOC total population ten eleven million হেব িনয়। ho-b-e niścɔe become-FUT-3.NHON certainly ‘The total population of Chicago certainly would be ten or eleven million.’ The particle’খন/খন /khon/ (an abbreviation ofএখন /ækhon/ ‘now’) occasionally appears with the future tense, although it is considered old-fashioned:

~~(9.20) আা, দাব ’খন এক পের। accha, do-b-o khon ek-ṭu pɔre yes give-FUT-1 now one-CLF after~~

~~‘OK, OK, I’ll give (it to you) in a minute!’ (KCB)⁹~~

~~9 Seely (2002/2006, 93). Verb paradigms | 203~~

~~9.3.6 Future imperative~~

9.3.6.1 Morphology of the future imperative Table 9.7 shows future imperative verb forms. Most future imperatives are identical to other tense forms; the second familiar is the only person that has distinct future imperative forms. The second intimate forms are the same as those of the simple present, and the rest (first person and both honorific and non-honorific forms) use theregu- lar future. In second familiar forms, classes 1 through 5, as well as class 6 verbs with a vowel other than /a/, use their secondary stems. In addition, both classes 6 and 7 delete the finalআ /a/ of their stem and insertই /i/. The future tense suffix,-ব- /-b-/, does not occur in second intimate or familiar forms. Just as in the regular future, the final syllable of the first person future canbe written as either-বা or -ব, pronounced as /-bo/ in either case. 204 | Verbs কামড়ােনা kamṛano Class 7 কামড়ােবা kamṛabo ড়া কা kamṛaś িড়ও কা kamṛio ড়ােবন কা kamṛaben ড়ােব কা kamṛabe ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano Class 6 শখা śekhabo শখা śekhaś িশিখও śikhio শখােবন śekhaben শখােব śekhabe ‘to teach’ Class 5 চাওয়া cawa চাইেবা caibo চা caś চও ceo চাইেবন caiben চাইেব caibe ‘to want’ Class 4 খােবা khabo খাওয়া khawa খা khaś খও kheo খােবন khaben খােব khabe ‘to eat’ Class 3 হেবা hɔbo হওয়া hɔwa হ hoś হও hoo হেবন hɔben হেব hɔbe ‘to become’ /-b-/

-ব- Class 2 থাকেবা thakbo থাকা thaka থািক thakiś থেকা theko েবন থা thakben েব থা thakbe ‘to stay’ Class 1 নেবা śunbo িন śuniś েনা śuno েবন śunben েব śunbe শানা śona ‘to hear’ Future imperative; tense suffix = Person 1 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.7: Verb paradigms | 205~~

9.3.6.2 Uses of the future imperative The affirmative future imperative is nearly identical in meaning to the present imperative: িলেখা /likho/ ‘Write!’ খও /kheo/ ‘Eat!’ Although the difference between the present and future imperatives is vague and slight in the affirmative, there is a large distinction between the two when the negative না /na/ is used. In the present imperative,না /na/ does not negate, but rather gives the sense of a polite request, which could be translated as ‘please’ or the somewhat parallel ‘why don’t you . . .’. In the future imperative,না /na/ makes the command straight- forwardly prohibitive: ‘do not do X’. Vowel quality and intonation indicate which form is meant: Present Imperative: বেলা না /bɔlo na/ ‘Please speak!’ Future Imperative: বেলানা /bolona/ ‘Don’t speak!’

~~9.3.7 Simple past~~

9.3.7.1 Morphology of the simple past Table 9.8 shows simple past tense verb forms. In class 5 verbs anই /i/ is inserted after the stem vowel. Classes 1, 3, 4, and 5 (ɔ-stems only) use their secondary stems in the simple past, the latter probably as a result of raising following i-insertion. Classes 2, 5 (a-stems), 6, and 7 use their primary stems. The past tense suffix-ল- is /-l-/. 206 | Verbs কামড়ােনা kamṛano Class 7 কামড়ালাম kamṛalam কামড়ািল kamṛali কামড়ােল kamṛale কামড়ােলন kamṛalen কামড়ােলা kamṛalo ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano Class 6 শখালাম śekhalam শখািল śekhali শখােল śekhale শখােলন śekhalen শখােলা śekhalo ‘to teach’ Class 5 চাওয়া cawa চাইলাম cailam চাইিল caili চাইেল caile চাইেলন cailen চাইেলা cailo ‘to want’ Class 4 খলাম khelam খিল kheli খেল khele খেলন khelen খেলা khelo খাওয়া khawa ‘to eat’ Class 3 হলাম holam হিল holi হেল hole হেলন holen হেলা holo হওয়া hɔwa ‘to become’ /-l-/

Class 2 থাকলাম thaklam থাকিল thakli থাকেল thakle থাকেলন thaklen থাকেলা thaklo থাকা thaka ‘to stay’ -ল- Class 1 নলাম śunlam নিল śunli নেল śunle নেলন śunlen নেলা śunlo শানা śona ‘to hear’ Simple past; tense suffix = Person 1 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.8: Verb paradigms | 207~~

9.3.7.2 Uses of the simple past The simple past can express narrative past, as in 9.21; sudden or unexpected actions, as in 9.22; the immediate future, usually with the verbচলা /cɔla/ ‘to move, go’ in the first person, as in 9.23; or a negative supposition or presumption, withনাই /nai/ (negative না /na/+emphatic -ই /-i/), as in 9.24. (9.21) স কােনা সাড়া িদেলা না| śe kono śaṛa di-l-o na He any response give-PST-3.NHON NEG ‘He did not respond.’

(9.22) কসমস তাড়াতািড় খেলন িক তিন পািন kośmoś taṛataṛi khe-l-en kintu tokkhuni pani Cosmos quickly eat-PST-3.HON but right.away water খেলন না| khe-l-en na eat-PST-3.HON NEG ‘Cosmos ate quickly, but then didn’t drink water right away.’

~~(9.23) আিম পড়েত চললাম| ami poṛ-te col-l-am 1SG.NOM study-IPFP go-PST-1 ‘I am going to study.’~~

(9.24) আর আিম কথা নাই বললাম? ar ami kɔtha nai bol-l-am and 1SG.NOM word NEG say-PST-1 ‘And if I don’t talk/speak anymore?’ In the simple past, হওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to be’ can describe a present condition (9.25) or give a definition9.26 ( ).

~~(9.25) অেনক দরী হল| ɔnek deri ho-l-o a.lot late become-PST-3.NHON ‘It’s quite late.’~~

~~(9.26) ইিতহাস হল ইিতহাস| itihaś ho-l-o itihaś history become-PST-3.NHON history ‘History is history.’ 208 | Verbs~~

~~9.3.8 Conditional/past habitual~~

9.3.8.1 Morphology of the conditional/past habitual Table 9.9 shows the conjugation for conditional/past habitual verb forms. Class 5 verbs insert an ই /i/ onto the stem, which may explain the use of the secondary stem for class 5 ɔ-stems. As with the simple past forms, classes 1, 3, 4, and 5 (ɔ-stem) verbs use their secondary stems in this tense; classes 2, 5 (a-stem), 6, and 7 use their primary stems. The suffix for these forms-ত- is /-t-/. There are a number of ways to analyze it; we have chosen to view it as portmanteau morpheme that encodes tense (past) and aspect (imperfect, but in this case with a specifically habitual reading), making the past habitual sense primary and the modal —that is, irrealis—sense a semantic extension of that past habitual use. Verb paradigms | 209 কামড়ােনা kamṛano Class 7 কামড়াতাম kamṛatam কামড়ািতস kamṛatiś কামড়ােত kamṛate কামড়ােতন kamṛaten কামড়ােতা kamṛato ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano Class 6 শখাতাম śekhatam শখািতস śekhatiś শখােত śekhate শখােতন śekhaten শখােতা śekhato ‘to teach’ চাওয়া cawa Class 5 চাইতাম caitam চাইিতস caitiś চাইেত caite চাইেতন caiten চাইেতা caito ‘to want’ খাওয়া khawa Class 4 খতাম khetam খিতস khetiś খেত khete খেতন kheten খেতা kheto ‘to eat’ /-t-/

হওয়া hɔwa Class 3 হতাম hotam হিতস hotiś হেত hote হেতন hoten হেতা hoto ‘to become’ -ত- থাকা thaka Class 2 থাকতাম thaktam থাকিতস thaktiś থাকেত thakte থাকেতন thakten থাকেতা thakto ‘to stay’ শানা śona Class 1 নতাম śuntam নিতস śuntiś নেত śunte নেতন śunten নেতা śunto ‘to hear’ Conditional/past habitual; tense/aspect suffix = Person 1 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.9: 210 | Verbs~~

~~9.3.8.2 Uses of the conditional/past habitual As past tense forms, these verbs represent a customary, repeated, or habitual action or state in the past:~~

(9.27) আপনার বাবা-মা িক করেতন, কাথায় apnar baba-ma ki kor-t-en, kothae 2.HON.GEN father-mother what do-PST.HAB-3.HON where থাকেতন? thak-t-en? live-PST.HAB-3.HON ‘What did your father and mother do, where did they live?’ As conditionals, they express a hypothetical, a counterfactual, or a conditional:

(9.28) িক খাওয়াতাম তােদর? ki kha-wa-t-am tader what eat-CAUS-PST.HAB-1 3PL.NHON.OBJ ‘What would I feed them?’ If the sentence is in the form of an ‘if. . .then’ statement, two conditional constructions are possible:

• First, the subordinate clause may start withযিদ /jodi/ ‘if’; and the main clause with তাহেল /tahole/ ‘then’; the verbs of both clauses are in the conditional/past habitual tense:

(9.29) িম যিদ সখােন যেত, তাহেল আমা tumi jodi śekhane je-t-e, tahole amar 2SG.FAM.NOM if there go-PST.HAB-FAM then 1SG.GEN সে দখা হেতা। śɔŋge dækh-a ho-t-o with see-VN become-PST.HAB-3.NHON ‘If you had gone there, you would have met me.’¹⁰

• Or second, the main clause uses a conditional participle (Section 9.5.3) and the subordinate uses a conditional/past habitual form. In this case, if and then are not explicitly expressed:

~~10 Murphy (1959, 142). Verb paradigms | 211~~

(9.30) এক িবাম করেল, দান হেতা| ekṭu bisram kor-le darun ho-t-o a.little rest do-COND nice become-PST.HAB-3.NHON ‘It would have been nice, if I had rested a little.’

~~9.3.9 Past imperfect~~

9.3.9.1 Morphology of the past imperfect Table 9.10 shows the past imperfect verb forms. Verbs of class 5 insert anই /i/ after the stem vowel. Classes 1, 3, and class 5 ɔ-stem verbs use their secondary stems in the past imperfect. All others use primary stems. The past tense suffix is-ইল- /-il-/, and the imperfect affix is--/-ছ- /-(c)ch-/. The alternate form for the latter reflects the fact চthat /c/is deleted after C-stems, as well as the stems of class 5 verbs. Application of /c/-deletion to class 5 stems suggests that the /oi/ and /ai/ of the augmented stem can be analyzed as diphthongs, because the inserted ই /i/ is behaving like a consonant in triggering /c/-deletion (see Section 3.2.1). 212 | Verbs Class 7 ড়ােনা কা kamṛano কামড়ািলাম kamṛacchilam কামড়ািিল kamṛacchili কামড়ািেল kamṛacchile কামড়ািেলন kamṛacchilen কামড়ািেলা kamṛacchilo ‘to bite’ Class 6 শখােনা śekhano শখািলম śekhacchilam শখািিল śekhacchili শখািেল śekhacchile শখািেলা śekhacchilo শখািেলন śekhacchilen ‘to teach’ NSTD NSTD NSTD NSTD NSTD Class 5 চাওয়া cawa চাইিছলাম caichilam চািলাম cacchilam চাইিছিল caichili চািিল cacchili চাইিছেল caichile চািেল cacchile চাইিছেলন caichilen চািেলন cacchilen চাইিছল caichilo চািল cacchilo ‘to want’ /-(c)ch-/ Class 4 খািলাম khacchilam খািিল khacchili খািেল khacchile খািেলন khacchilen খািেলা khacchilo খাওয়া khawa ‘to eat’

--/-ছ- Class 3 হিলাম hocchilam হিিল hocchili হিেল hocchile হিেলন hocchilen হিেলা hocchilo হওয়া hɔwa ‘to become’ /-il-/; aspect suffix =

-ইল- Class 2 থাকিছলাম thakchilam থাকিছিল thakchili থাকিছেল thakchile থাকিছেলন thakchilen থাকিছেলা thakchilo থাকা thaka ‘to stay’ Class 1 নিছলাম śunchilam নিছিল śunchili নিছেল śunchile নিছেলন śunchilen নিছেলা śunchilo শানা śona ‘to hear’ Past imperfect; tense suffix = Person 1st 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.10: Verb paradigms | 213~~

~~9.3.9.2 Uses of the past imperfect The past imperfect tense is used for continuous past actions:~~

(9.31) গত সােহ আিম ভারতীয় চলি দখিছলাম| gɔtɔ śɔptah-e ami bharotiyo cɔlɔcitro dekh-ch-il-am past week-LOC 1SG.NOM indian movie watch.IPF-IPF-PST-1 ‘Last week I was watching an Indian movie.’

~~9.3.10 Past perfect~~

9.3.10.1 Morphology of the past perfect Table 9.11 shows past perfect verb forms. As with the present perfect, Classes 1 through 6 use their secondary stems in in past perfect forms, as both the present and past perfect are formed with the perfect participle as a base, to which the perfect affix has been added. The past tense suffix-ইল- is /-il-/, and the perfect affix is-ছ- /-ch-/. Alternative forms for Class 7 are available, based on the variant perfect participle form (Section 9.5 and Section 9.5.1.1): কামেড়িছলাম /kamṛechilam/,কামেড়িছিল /kamṛechili/, কামেড়িছেল /kamṛechile/,কামেড়িছেলন /kamṛechilen/, andকামেড়িছল /kamṛechilo/. 214 | Verbs Class 7 কামড়ােনা kamṛano কামিড়েয়িছলাম kamṛiyechilam কামিড়েয়িছিল kamṛiyechili কামিড়েয়িছেল kamṛiyechile কামিড়েয়িছেলন kamṛiyechilen কামিড়েয়িছল kamṛiyechilo ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano Class 6 িশিখেয়িছলাম śikhiyechilam িশিখেয়িছিল śikhiyechili িশিখেয়িছেল śikhiyechile িশিখেয়িছেলন śikhiyechilen িশিখেয়িছল śikhiyechilo ‘to teach’ চাওয়া cawa Class 5 চেয়িছলাম ceyechilam চেয়িছিল ceyechili চেয়িছেল ceyechile চেয়িছেলন ceyechilen চেয়িছল ceyechilo ‘to want’ খাওয়া khawa Class 4 খেয়িছলাম kheyechilam খেয়িছিল kheyechili খেয়িছেল kheyechile খেয়িছেলন kheyechilen খেয়িছল kheyechilo ‘to eat’ /-ch-/

-ছ- হওয়া hɔwa Class 3 হেয়িছলাম hoyechilam হেয়িছিল hoyechili হেয়িছেল hoyechile হেয়িছেলন hoyechilen হেয়িছল hoyechilo ‘to become’ /-il-/; aspect suffix =

-ইল- থাকা thaka Class 2 থেকিছলাম thekechilam থেকিছিল thekechili থেকিছেল thekechile থেকিছেলন thekechilen থেকিছল thekechilo ‘to stay’ শানা śona েনিছলাম śunechilam েনিছিল śunechili েনিছেল śunechile েনিছেলন śunechilen েনিছল śunechilo ‘to hear’ Past perfect; tense suffix = Person Class 1 1st 2.INTM 2.FAM 2.HON/ 3.HON 3.NHON

~~Table 9.11: Verb paradigms | 215~~

~~9.3.10.2 Uses of the past perfect The past perfect is used for events that have been completed prior to the time of the utterance, or speech event, as in the following examples.~~

(9.32) আেমিরকা আসার েব িম ইংেরিজ amerika aś-a-r purbe tumi ingreji America come-VN-GEN before 2SG.FAM.NOM English িশেখিছেল| śikhe-ch-il-e learn.PRF-PRF-PST-2.FAM ‘You had learned English before you came to America.’

(9.33) ২০১৩ সােলর আেগ আমােদর িবেয় 2013 śal-er age amader biye 2013 year-GEN before 1PL.GEN wedding হেয়িছল| hoye-ch-il-o become.PRF-PRF-PST-3.NHON ‘We had gotten married before 2013.’

(9.34) গীজাটা আেগ দেখিছলাম, তাই তামােদর সােথ girja-ṭa age dekhe-ch-il-am tai tomader śathe church-CLF before see.PRF-PRF-PST-1 do 2PL.FAM.GEN with গলাম না| ge-l-am na go-PST-1 NEG ‘I had seen the church before, so I did not go with you.’ Like present perfect verbs, past perfect verbs are negated by a construction composed of the corresponding simple present form with the negativeিন /ni/: (9.35) রংর যাওয়ার আেগ স কখেনা নীলগাই rɔŋpur ja-wa-r age śe kɔkhono nilgai Rangpur go-VN-GEN before 3SG.NHON ever nilgai দেখিন| dækh-Ø-æ-ni see-PRS-3.NHON-NEG.PRF ‘She had never seen a nilgai before she moved to Rangpur.’ 216 | Verbs

~~9.4 Irregular verbs~~

A number of the most common Bangla verbs have some irregular forms that do not fall into the conjugation patterns illustrated in Section 9.3. Their irregular paradigms are described in the following sections.

~~9.4.1 আছ- /ach-/ ‘to be present, exist’~~

Bangla has two ‘be’ verbs:হওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to be; become; happen’, which serves as a copula when in the non-canonical position between subject and predicate of an equational sentence (Section 10.1.2), and আছ- /ach-/ ‘be present; exist’, the existential be. The former is regular in its conjugation and was exemplified above in Section 9.3. The verb আছ- /ach-/—which has no verbal noun form, and is therefore referred to by its stem—is irregular. It occurs only in the present and simple past tenses (the verbথাকা /thaka/ ‘to stay’ or sometimesহওয়া /hɔwa/ are used in all other tenses) and is conjugated in Table 9.12 in the present tense, and in the simple past tense in Table 9.13.

~~আিম আিছ ami achi~~

~~ই আিছস tui achiś~~

~~িম আছ tumi acho~~

~~আপিন আেছন apni/tini achen~~

~~স আেছ śe ache~~

~~Table 9.12: Simple present: আছ- /ach-/ ‘be present; exist’ Irregular verbs | 217~~

~~আিম িছলাম ami chilam ami chilum আিম িছম KCB~~

~~ই িছিল tui chili~~

~~িম িছেল tumi chile~~

~~আপিন িছেলন apni/tini chilen~~

~~স িছল śe chilo~~

~~Table 9.13: Simple past: আছ- /ach-/ ‘be present; exist’~~

~~9.4.2 দওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’~~

দওয়া /dewa/ is irregular only in the present tense, but it also has dialectal variants in the first person future:দাব/দােবা /dobo/ KCB and িদব/িদেবা /dibo/ DCB , as well as an alternative verbal noun form, দয়া /deya/. Table 9.15 shows the conjugation of দওয়া /dewa/ in the present tense.

~~আিম িদই ami dii~~

~~ই িদস tui diś~~

~~িম দাও tumi dao~~

~~আপিন/িতিন দন apni/tini dæn~~

~~স দয় śe dæe~~

~~Table 9.14: Simple present: দওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’ 218 | Verbs~~

~~9.4.3 নওয়া /newa/ ‘to take’~~

~~নওয়া /newa/ is conjugated just like the irregular verbদওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’, including its alternative verbal noun form:নয়া /neya/.~~

~~আিম িনই ami nii~~

~~ই িনস tui niś~~

~~িম নাও tumi nao~~

~~আপিন/িতিন নন apni/tini næn~~

~~স নয় śe næe~~

~~Table 9.15: Simple present: দওয়া /newa/ ‘to give’~~

~~9.4.4 ন- /nɔ-/ ‘not to be, not to exist’~~

The negative copula verb occurs only in the present tense and as a conditional participle. Murphy (1959) says it also occurs as a verbal noun নওয়া /nɔwa/ , but Seely (2002/2006) and Radice (2003) both say the form does not exist. Table 9.16 shows the conjugation ofন- /nɔ-/ ‘not to be, not to exist’ in present tense. Conditional Participle:নইেল /noile/ Irregular verbs | 219

~~আিম নই ami noi~~

~~ই নস tui noś~~

~~িম নও tumi nɔo~~

~~আপিন/িতিন নন apni/tini nɔn~~

~~স নয় śe nɔe~~

~~Table 9.16: Present~~

~~9.4.5 যাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’~~

The following forms ofযাওয়া /jawa/ are irregular. Table 9.17 shows the conjugation of the simple past tense, Table 9.18 shows the present perfect, and Table 9.19 shows the past perfect. In Table 9.18, the second forms are more colloquial, but very common and not considered non-standard.

~~আিম গলাম ami gelam ami gelum আিম গম KCB~~

~~ই গিল tui geli~~

~~িম গেল tumi gele~~

~~আপিন/িতিন গেলন apni/tini gelen~~

~~স গল śe gælo~~

~~Table 9.17: Simple past: যাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’~~

~~Perfect Participle:িগেয় /giye/ Conditional Participle:গেল /gele/ 220 | Verbs~~

~~আিম িগেয়িছ ami giyechi আিম গিছ ami gechi~~

~~ই িগেয়িছস tui giyechiś ই গিছস tui gechiś~~

~~িম িগেয়ছ tumi giyecho িম গছ tumi gæcho~~

~~আপিন/িতিন িগেয়েছন apni/tini giyechen আপিন/িতিন গেছন apni/tini gæchen~~

~~স িগেয়েছ śe giyeche স গেছ śe gæche~~

~~Table 9.18: Present perfect: যাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’~~

~~আিম িগেয়িছলাম ami giyechilam আিম িগেয়িছম KCB ami giyechilum ami gechilam আিম গিছলাম~~

~~ই িগেয়িছিল tui giyechili ই গিছিল tui gechili~~

~~িম িগেয়িছেল tumi giyechile িম গিছেল tumi gechile~~

~~আপিন/িতিন িগেয়িছেলন apni/tini giyechilen আপিন/িতিন গিছেলন apni/tini gechilen~~

~~স িগেয়িছল śe giyechilo স গিছল śe gechilo~~

~~Table 9.19: Past perfect: যাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’ Irregular verbs | 221~~

~~9.4.6 আসা /aśa/ ‘to come’~~

~~The verbআসা /aśa/ is regular, with exceptions in the present imperative, shown in Table 9.20, and the simple past, shown in Table 9.22.~~

~~ই আয় tui ae~~

~~িম এস tumi eśo tumi aśo িম আস DCB~~

~~Table 9.20: Present imperative: আসা /aśa/ ‘to come’~~

~~In addition to regular forms, আসা /aśa/ has variant irregular forms in the simple past, based on a stem /e-/:~~

~~আিম এম/এলাম /ami elum/ or /ami elam/, etc.~~

~~Table 9.21: Simple past: আসা /aśa/ ‘to come’~~

~~The conditional participle has the formএেল /ele/ in KCB, although DCB has the more regular আসেল /aśle/. 222 | Verbs~~

~~আিম এলাম ami elam ami elum আিম এম KCB~~

~~ই এিল tui eli~~

~~িম এেল tumi ele~~

~~আপিন/িতিন এেলন apni/tini elen~~

~~স এল śe ælo~~

~~Table 9.22: Simple past: আসা /aśa/ ‘to come’, irregular variants~~

~~9.5 Non-finite forms~~

Bangla has four non-finite verb forms; that is, verbs that do not take personal endings and cannot occur in a simple declarative sentence by themselves. They are perfect participles, imperfect participles, conditional participles, and verbal nouns. Each of the non-finite forms can occur as part of a complex predicate of thenon-finite formVerb +Verbfinite. Examples of such constructions are given in the subsections below; the forms are exemplified for each conjugation class in Table 9.23. Non-finite forms | 223 কামড়ােনা kamṛano Class 7 কামিড়েয় kamṛiye ∼ কামেড় kamṛe কামড়ােত kamṛate কামড়ােল kamṛale কামড়ােনা kamṛano ‘to bite’ শখােনা śekhano িশিখেয় śikhiye শখােত śekhate শখােল śekhale শখােনা śekhano Class 6 ‘to teach’ চাওয়া cawa চেয় ceye চাইেত caite চাইেল caile চাওয়া cawa Class 5 ‘to want’ খাওয়া khawa খেয় kheye খেত khete খেল khele খাওয়া khawa Class 4 ‘to eat’ হওয়া hɔwa হেয় hoye হেত hote হেল hole হওয়া hɔwa Class 3 ‘to become’ থাকা thaka থেক theke থাকেত thakte থাকেল thakle থাকা thaka Class 2 ‘to stay’ শানা śona েন śune নেত śunte নেল śunle শানা śona Class 1 ‘to hear’ Non-finite verb forms Perfect participle Imperfect participle Conditional participle Verbal noun (= citation form)

~~Table 9.23: 224 | Verbs~~

~~9.5.1 Perfect participle~~

The perfect participle has also been called the conjunctive (Chatterji 1926) or conjunctive participle (Dasgupta 2003), perfective participle (Smith 1997; Thompson 2010), perfect participle (Radice 2003), or past active participle (PAP) (Seely 2002/2006). While it can be used to describe simultaneous events and therefore has functions similar to conjunctions, we prefer the term perfect participle because it best captures the fact that the verb primarily encodes an event prior to the event described by the main verb of the utterance yet still relevant tw it (Section 9.1.1), in contrast with imperfect participles, where the temporal relationship between the two events is not encoded at all.

9.5.1.1 Morphology of perfect participles Rules for forming the perfect participle are given below. The-য় /-y/ of V-stems and classes 6 and 7 is not necessarily pronounced: C-Stems (classes 1 and 2): secondary stem+-এ /-e/ V-Stems (classes 3, 4, and 5): secondary stem+-য় /-ye/ Polysyllabic Stems (classes 6 and 7): • a-stems: primary stem+-ইেয় /-iye/ • Others: secondary stem+-ইেয় /-iye/

~~• Class 6 verbs with a high vowel before the causative vowel may also form perfect participles as consonant stems do, with an -এ /-e/ or -য় /-ye/.¹¹ (See below, Section 9.6.)~~

• Note also the alternative forms in-এ /-e/ for all class 7 verbs, as shown in Table 9.23. The perfect participle for the causative ofদওয়া /dewa/, দওয়ােনা /dewano/ ‘to cause, to give’, is িদইেয় /diie/. It is built on the secondary stem.

9.5.1.2 Uses Bangla perfect participles resemble the conjunctive participles, or converbs, of other Indo-Aryan and of Dravidian languages in their function of indicating events in a series, as well as their use in compound verb constructions (see both Section 4.1.2.2 and Section 10.3.2). If the subject of a perfect participle is human, then it has to be the same as the subject of the main verb. If the participle’s subject is not human, it can differ from the subject of the main verb. Perfect participles differ in this respect from the other three non-finite verbs, none of which are restricted as to subject in this way.

~~11 The one exception is the verb মােনা /ghumano/ ‘to sleep’, which does not have an alternate perfect participle in -এ /-e/. Non-finite forms | 225~~

Perfect participles can express a sequence of actions, as in 9.36. They are also occasionally used to express an action or process that co-occurs with the main verb, as in 9.37 (see Section 9.5.2.2). In all such uses, all but the final verb will be perfect participles.

(9.36) তারপর িকটা ের, রোরার িভতর িগেয় tarpɔr kichuṭa ghur-e restora-r bhitɔr gi-ye then little roam-PRFP restaurant-GEN inside go-PRFP খেলা| khe-l-o eat-PST-3.NHON ‘After that they travelled a bit, went inside the restaurant, and ate.’

(9.37) িশ মােয়র কােল হেস ঝপ śiśu-ṭi ma-er kol-e heś-e jhap child-CLF.DIM mother-GEN lap-LOC laugh-PRFP jump িদেলা| di-l-o give-PST-3.NHON ‘Laughing, the child jumped into mother’s lap.’ In addition, a participle can convey means or manner with respect to the main verb, as in 9.38:

(9.38) লােক েল হেস ম েব। lok-e śun-le heś-e mor-b-e people-PL hear-COND laugh-PRFP die-FUT-3.NHON ‘If people heard they would die of laughter.’¹² A negated perfect participle can mean ‘without or instead of doing X’, as in 9.39. In construction with the word উপায় /upae/ ‘way’, the negated participle means ‘nothing (to do) but X’, as in 9.40:

(9.39) নিমতা আর ডাােরর অেপা না কের nomita ar ḍakṭar-er ɔpekkh-a na kor-e Nomita anymore doctor-GEN wait-VN NEG do-PRFP হাসপাতােল গল| haspatal-e gæ-l-o hospital-LOC go-PST-3.NHON ‘Instead of waiting for the doctor, Nomita went to the hospital.’

~~12 From Smith (1997, 136). 226 | Verbs~~

(9.40) িলশেক না ডেক উপায় িছল না| puliś-ke na ḍek-e upae chi-l-o na police-OBJ NEG call-PRFP way be-PST-3NHON NEG ‘There was nothing to do but call the police.’ When the perfect participle of a non-stative verb is reduplicated, it expresses action repeated over a period of time, as in 9.41 and the last verb in 9.42; and a reduplicated stative perfect participle describes a state, as in the first verb of 9.42:

(9.41) ধ নািড়েয় নািড়েয় চাল ও িচিন িমিশেয় রাা dudh naṛiye naṛiye cal o cini miś-iye ranna milk stir REDUP rice and sugar mix-PRFP cooking করেবন| kor-b-en do-FUT-2.HON ‘Stir the milk (repeatedly), mix rice and sugar, and cook.’

(9.42) িমেয় িমেয় িদন পার করেব, না ghum-iye ghumiye din par kor-b-e na sleep-PRFP REDUP day crossing do-FUT-2.FAM NEG ের ের? ghur-e ghur-e roam-PRFP REDUP ‘Will you spend the day sleeping or roaming around?’ Many postpositions are formally perfective participles, as with the perfect participle of ধরা /dhɔra/ ‘to hold; take’ in 9.43. See Section 8.3.1 for more. (9.43) এই রাা ধের যাব। e-i rasta dhore ja-bo this-EMPH road along go-FUT-1 ‘‘I’ll take/go along this road.’ A list of some common collocations of perfect participles with finite verbs follows:

~~• েজঁ /khũje/ ‘having searched’+পাওয়া /pawa/ ‘to find’ = ‘to find’~~

~~• িনেয় /niye/ ‘having taken’+আসা /aśa/ ‘to come’ = ‘to fetch, bring, carry’~~

~~• িফিরেয় /firiye/ ‘having caused to return’+দওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’ = ‘to give back’~~

~~• িফের /fire/ ‘having turned’+চাওয়া /cawa/ ‘to look back’ orদখা /dækha/ ‘to look’ = ‘to turn and stare’~~

~~• জিড়েয় /joṛiye/ ‘having entwined’+ধরা /dhɔra/ ‘to hold’ = ‘to hold, embrace’ Non-finite forms | 227~~

~~• তািকেয় /takiye/ ‘having stared’+দখা /dækha/ ‘to look’ = ‘to look, gaze’~~

~~9.5.2 Imperfect participle~~

Taking a cue from Smith (1997) and Thompson (2010), who both call these next terms imperfective participles,¹³ we use the term imperfect participle for what is more frequently called the infinitive in Bangla. ¹⁴ We do this because the parallel terms highlight the fact that perfect and imperfect participles serve somewhat complementary functions, and because perfect/imperfect describe the semantics of what they each express. Both appear in construction with finite verbs, with the perfect participle usually expressing an event prior to the event indicated by the main verb, and the imperfect participle expressing an event that is in some way incomplete, in the sense that it is either unfinished, or it is anticipated. Unlike perfect participles, however, imperfect participles do not occur in a series expressing a sequence of events, although they can be reduplicated (Section 9.5.2.2).

9.5.2.1 Morphology of imperfect participles Rules for forming the imperfect participle are given below. Class 5 verbs insert the stem augment first: Classes 1, 3, 4, and class 5, ɔ-stem: secondary stem+-ত /-te/ Classes 2, 5 (a-stem), 6, and 7: primary stem+-ত /-te/

9.5.2.2 Uses The subject of an imperfect participle does not have to be the same as the subject of the main verb. Imperfect participles pair with finite verbs to express incomplete events; for example, purpose, often with verbs of motion, asin 9.44:

(9.44) স িক ফল িকনেত যায় িন? śe ki fɔl kin-te ja-Ø-e ni 3SG.NHON Q fruit buy-IPFP go-PRS-3.NHON NEG.PRF ‘Didn’t he go to buy the fruit?’¹⁵ They are also used as complements of verbs of intent, feeling, attitude, and so on, such as want, begin, try, like, or hate, as in 9.45; verbs of speech and thought, as in

13 See Section 9.1.1 for why we choose imperfect over imperfective. 14 Dasgupta (2003), however, also departs from common practice with infinitive-participle, or infiniciple, for short. 15 Seely (2002/2006, 210). 228 | Verbs

9.46; verbs of cognition, as in 9.47; and in construction with direct objects governed by verbs of perceiving, as in 9.48. In addition, verbs of perception often occur in imperfect participle form with predicate adjectives, as in 9.49.

~~(9.45) আিম ওেক দখেত চাই। ami oke dekh-te ca-Ø-i 1SG.NOM 3SG.OBJ see-IPFP want-PRS-1 ‘I want to see him.’¹⁶~~

(9.46) রামেক বাজাের যেত বেলেছা িক? ram-ke bajar-e je-te bole-ch-Ø-o ki Ram-OBJ market-LOC go-IPFP tell.PRF-PRF-PRS-2.FAM Q ‘Have you told Ram to go to the market?’¹⁷

(9.47) হাত দখেত তা আিম জািন না। hat dekh-te to ami jan-Ø-i na hand see-IPFP EMPH 1SG.NOM know-PRS-1 NEG ‘But I can’t [lit. don’t know how to] read palms.’¹⁸

(9.48) আিম এক কািকলেক ডাকেত এবং কদেত ami ek-ṭi kokil-ke ḍak-te eboŋ kãd-te 1SG.NOM one-CLF.DIM cuckoo-OBJ call-IPFP and weep-IPFP নম। śun-l-um hear-PST-1

~~‘I heard a cuckoo call out and cry.’ (KCB)¹⁹~~

(9.49) মেয় দখেত নেত ম নয়। meye-ṭi dekh-te śun-te mɔndɔ nɔ-Ø-e girl-CLF.DIM see-IPFP hear-IPFP bad not.be-PRS-3.NHON ‘The girl is not bad to see or hear.’ Reduplication of an imperfect participle expresses continuing action simultaneous with the main verb, corresponding to a while or as clause in English, as in 9.50.A negated reduplicated imperfect participle means ‘no sooner than X’ or ‘as X was barely

16 Seely (2002/2006, 210). 17 Seely (2002/2006, 210). 18 Seely (2002/2006, 211). 19 Seely (2002/2006, 210). Non-finite forms | 229 beginning’, as in 9.51. An emphatic particleই /-i/ can also be added to the second imperfect participle.

(9.50) একটা ছেল কােছ আসেত-আসেত বলেলা ‘ার æk-ṭa chele kache aś-te-aśte bol-l-o, skor one-CLF boy near.to come-IPFP-REDUP say-PST-3.NHON score কেতা‘? kɔto how.many

~~‘A guy, as he was coming toward (us), asked, “What’s the score?”’ (KCB)²⁰~~

(9.51) ’ িমিনট যেত না যেত দিখ সই ছেল du’ miniṭ je-te na je-te dekh-Ø-i śe-i chele two minute go-IPFP NEG REDUP see-PRS-1 that-EMPH boy ফর লেত আর কেরেছ। fer dul-te arombho kore-ch-Ø-e again swing-IPFP beginning do.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Not two minutes had gone by till I see that that boy has begun to swing once again.’ With the emphatic particleই /-i/ the imperfect participle expresses action simultaneous with the beginning of the main verb’s event, with a connotation of ‘as soon as’, as in 9.52.

(9.52) সাংসািরক জীবন হেতই ামী ও śaŋśarik jibon śuru ho-te-i śami o domestic life beginning become-IPFP-EMPH husband and ী ঝগড়া কের িদেলা| stri jhɔgra śuru kor-e di-l-o wife fight beginning do-PRFP give-PST-3.NHON ‘As soon as domestic life began, husband and wife began to quarrel.’ There are a number of idiomatic imperfect participle+finite verb constructions. An imperfect participle withথাকা /thaka/ ‘to remain’ expresses a continuing action: (9.53) চা ঠাা হেত থােক। ca ṭhanḍa ho-te thak-Ø-e tea cold become-IPFP remain-PRS-3.NHON ‘The tea is getting cold.’

~~20 Seely (2002/2006, 199). 230 | Verbs~~

With দওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’, it can mean ‘let/allow (someone) to do X’: (9.54) তামােদর সে িক আমােক যেত দেব? tomader śɔŋge ki amake je-te de-b-e 2SG.FAM.GEN with Q 1SG.OBJ go-IPFP give-FUT-2.FAM ‘Will you let me go with you?’²¹ An imperfect participle in construction withপারা /para/ ‘to be able’ can express permission, as in 9.55; possibility, as in 9.56; or ability, as in 9.57.

(9.55) আিমও িক তামােদর সে আসেত পাির? ami-o ki tomader śɔŋge as-te par-Ø-i 1SG.NOM-EMPH Q 2SG.FAM.GEN with come-IPFP be.able-PRS-1 ‘May I come with you?’²²

~~(9.56) আিম কালেক আসেত পাির। ami kalke as-te par-Ø-i 1SG.NOM tomorrow come-IPFP be.able-PRS-1 ‘I might come by tomorrow.’²³~~

(9.57) ও লাকটা ব বদমাশ। আিম তােক o lok-ṭa khub bɔdmaś ami take that person-CLF very scoundrel 1SG.NOM 3SG.NHON.OBJ দখেত পাির না। dekh-te par-Ø-i na see-IPFP be.able-PRS-1 NEG ‘That fellow is a scoundrel. I can’t stand [lit. am unable to look at] him.’²⁴ In construction with the imperfect participle,পাওয়া /pawa/ ‘to get, obtain’ also expresses ability:

~~21 Seely (2002/2006, 226). 22 Seely (2002/2006). 23 Seely (2002/2006). 24 Seely (2002/2006). Non-finite forms | 231~~

(9.58) স গােছর পছ েন িকেয় আেছ। śe gach-er pechone luk-iye ach-Ø-e 3SG.NHON tree-LOC behind hide-PRFP be-PRS-3.NHON আিম তােক দখেত পাি না। ami take dekh-te pa-cch-Ø-i na 1SG.NOM 3.NHON.OBJ see-IPFP get.IPF-IPF-PRS-1 NEG ‘He is hiding behind a tree. I am unable to see him.’²⁵ While both পারা /para/ and পাওয়া /pawa/ signify ability when used with the imperfect participle, in cases where a distinction can be made,পারা /para/ generally has to do with what might be called internal ability andপাওয়া /pawa/ with external ability. In the two previous examples, the first speaker’s inability to see ‘that fellow’ (পাির না /pari na/) is due to his dislike, a circumstance internal to him, and the second speaker’s inability to see someone (পাি না /pacchi na/) is caused by that person’s hiding behind a tree, a circumstance external to him. Finally, the imperfect participle in combination withআেছ /ache/ ‘is’ and নই /nei/ ‘is not’ express obligation, affirmative and negative respectively:

~~(9.59) িবধবােক মাছ খেত আেছ? bidhɔba-ke mach khe-te ach-Ø-e widow-OBJ fish eat-IPFP be-PRS-3.NHON ‘Should widows eat fish?’²⁶~~

~~(9.60) িভতের িসগােরট খেত নই। bhitore sigareṭ khe-te nei inside cigarette eat-IPFP is.not ‘One should not smoke inside.’²⁷~~

~~9.5.3 Conditional participle~~

The conditional participle has also been called the conjunctive or absolutive (Chatterji 1926), and conditional conjunctive Seely 2002/2006. The majority (Smith 1997; Thomp- son 2010; Radice 2003; Dasgupta 2003) call it the conditional participle, and we do too, as that term unambiguously captures its function and is parallel with the nomen- clature for the two previous non-finite verb forms.

~~25 Seely (2002/2006). 26 Seely (2002/2006). 27 Seely (2002/2006). 232 | Verbs~~

~~The subject of the conditional verb does not have to be the same as the subject of the main verb.~~

9.5.3.1 Morphology of the conditional participle Rules for forming the conditional participle are given below. Class 5 verbs insert the stem augment first: Classes 1, 3, 4, and class 5, ɔ-stem: secondary stem+-ল /-le/ Classes 2, class 5 a-stems, 6, and 7: primary stem+-ল /-le/

9.5.3.2 Uses The conditional participle is used to form conditional and temporal clauses which would be rendered in English as clauses with ‘if’ or ‘when’. These clauses are somewhat interchangeable with যিদ /jodi/+finite verb constructions. In its temporal sense, the conditional will sometimes be followed byপর /pɔr/ in a construction that means ‘after doing X’, similar to the Verbal Noun-GEN+পর/পের /pɔr, pɔre/ construction described in Section 9.5.4. Section 10.5.2 illustrates some if...then sentences using conditional participles. There are several other modal expressions that use the conditional; for example, a conditional participle with হওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to become’, expresses something desired: (9.61) তাহেল িদেনশেক িজেস করেলই তা tahole dineś-ke jiggeś kor-le-i to then Dinesh-OBJ question do-COND-EMPH INT হয়। hɔ-Ø-e become-PRS-3.NHON ‘In that case, why not ask Dinesh.’ ‘In that case, it would be good to ask Dinesh.’²⁸ A construction withচলা /cɔla/ ‘to move; go’ in the third person would yield a meaning of possibility or acceptability:

~~28 Satyajit Ray, quoted by Seely (2002/2006, 282). Non-finite forms | 233~~

(9.62) ায় চনা যায় না বলেলই prae cen-a ja-Ø-e na bol-le-i almost recognize-VN go-PRS-3.NHON NEG say-COND-EMPH চেল। cɔl-Ø-e move-PRS-3.NHON ‘It could be said that (you) almost weren’t recognizable.’²⁹ A conditional participle withপারা /para/ ‘to be able’ in the past habitual yields a construction similar to the meaning in 9.61, but with a sarcastic connotation, as in:

(9.63) ই আমােদর বলেলই tui amader bol-le-i 2SG.INTM.NOM 1PL.OBJ say-COND-EMPH পারিতস। par-t-iś be.able-PST.HAB-2.INTM ‘You could have at least told us.’³⁰ And a conditional participle with বচা /bãca/ ‘to live, survive’ expresses a sense of hope: ‘if only, it would be great if’:

~~(9.64) পচটার মে পৗঁছেল বিচ। pãcṭa-r moddhe põuch-le bãc-Ø-i five-GEN inside arrive-COND live-PRS-1 ‘If only I get there by five o’clock!’³¹~~

~~9.5.4 Verbal noun~~

Most descriptions, including ours, call this form the verbal noun, although Dasgupta (2003) has gerund-participle, or gerciple for short. As a form with both nominal and verbal properties, the verbal noun can take singular case endings and also classifiers, and it may have arguments—either a subject or an object. It is not required to have an expressed subject; however, if it does, the subject may be in either the nominative or genitive case and does not have to coincide with the subject of the main verb.

~~29 Satyajit Ray, quoted by Seely (2002/2006, 283). 30 Seely (2002/2006, 283). 31 Seely (2002/2006, 283). 234 | Verbs~~

9.5.4.1 Morphology of verbal nouns 9.5.4.1.1 Common form Rules for forming the the common form of the verbal noun are given below: Classes 1 and 2: primary stem+-আ /-a/³² Classes 3, 4, and 5: primary stem+-ওয়া /-wa/ Classes 6 and 7: secondary stem+-ন /-nɔ/ or -না /-no/

9.5.4.1.2 Alternate form There is an alternate verbal noun form in-বা /-ba/. Class 5 verbs use their augmented stem in-ই /-i-/to form it. It is formed as follows: Classes 1 and 5, ɔ-stems: secondary stem+-বা /-ba/ Other class 1and 5, and classes 2, 3, 4, 6, and 7: primary stem+-বা /-ba/

9.5.4.2 Uses All the uses of verbal nouns boil down to the fact that it provides a means for substan- tivizing—in the sense of making it capable of being a noun or a modifier—a verb or a clause headed by a given verb. The verbal noun is used, first of all, as the citation form of the verb; in this metalinguistic use, it gives speakers a way of talking about a particular verb as a linguistic object. It can also be used as the subject or object of another verb, as in 9.65 and 9.66, or a complement of a conjunct verb (Section 10.3.3), as in 9.67, where it must be in the genitive case.

~~(9.65) করার আেগ শানা ভােলা| prosno kɔr-a-r age śon-a bhalo question do-VN-GEN before listen-VN good. ‘It’s good to listen before questioning.’~~

(9.66) স-রকম িশােক আিম শংসা কেরিছ| śe-rɔkɔm śikkh-a-ke ami prɔśɔŋśa kore-ch-Ø-i that-kind teach-VN-OBJ 1SG.NOM praise do.PRF-PRF-PRS-1 ‘I have praised that kind of teaching.’

~~(9.67) স কদার ভান করেলা| śe kãd-a-r bhan kɔr-l-o 3SG.NHON.NOM weep-VN-GEN pretence do-PST-3.NHON ‘She pretended to weep.’~~

~~32 Dialectal forms are found ending in -ঔ /-o/ NSTD rather than -আ /-a/. Non-finite forms | 235~~

A verbal noun in the genitive can also be used to modify another noun, (9.68), including a noun that is part of conjunct verb, as in 9.69, with the compound verb ইিত করা /iŋgit kɔra/ ‘to indicate’. A verbal noun in the nominative can furthermore be used as sort of passive participle to modify a noun, as in 9.70. If the subject is included, the subject takes a genitive case suffix, as in 9.71.

~~(9.68) শাওয়ার ঘর śo-wa-r ghɔr sleep-VN-GEN room ‘bedroom [lit. room for sleeping]’~~

(9.69) নানা তােক আেরা কােছ সের বসার nana take aro kache śor-e bɔś-a-r Grandfather 3SG.NHON.OBJ more near move-PRFP sit-VN-GEN ইিত কেরন। iŋgit kɔr-Ø-en indication do-PRS.3.HON ‘Grandfather indicated to her to sit closer.’³³

~~(9.70) ওই ভাঙা গলাস o-i bhaŋ-a gelaś that-EMPH break-VN glass ‘that broken glass’~~

(9.71) ওই রােজর ভাঙা গলাস o-i raj-er bhaŋ-a gelaś that-EMPH Raj-GEN break-VN glass ‘that glass that Raj broke’ Conjunct verbs (Section 10.3.3) like the one in 9.69 can use a verbal noun in the noun slot: (9.72) দখা হওয়া dækh-a hɔ-wa see-VN become-VN ‘to meet’ Verbal nouns also feature in certain Bangla constructions that might be called passives (Section 10.3.1.1), as in 9.73. The difference between these constructions and a typical passive is that they may contain an intransitive verb, as in 9.74. Thompson (2010,

~~33 Seely (2002/2006, 77). 236 | Verbs~~

493) calls these latter impersonal passives and reports they can only occur with the verbsহওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to become’ andযাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’. (9.73) গািড়টা িবি করা হেয়েছ| gaṛi-ṭa bikri kɔr-a hoye-ch-Ø-e car-CLF sell do-VN become.PRF.PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘The car has been sold.’

(9.74) আমার ফরা হেলা না| amar fer-a ho-l-o na 1SG.GEN return-VN become-PST-3.NHON NEG ‘I did not return.’ Case-marked in the genitive and followed by postpositions such asপর /pɔr/ ‘after’, আেগ /age/ ‘before’, and সময় /śɔmoe/ ‘time’ or জ /jonno/ ‘for’, verbal nouns occur in temporal or purpose clauses:

~~(9.75) আমরা যাওয়ার সময় amra ja-wa-r śɔmoe 1.PL.NOM go-VN-GEN time ‘when we go’~~

~~(9.76) আপনারা খাওয়ার পর apnara kha-wa-r pɔr 2PL.HON.NOM eat-VN-GEN after ‘after you-all ate’~~

(9.77) িসেনমার ং দখার জ লাক জড় cinema-r śuting dækh-a-r jonno lok jɔṛɔ movie-GEN shooting see-VN-GEN for people gather হেয়েছ| hoye-ch-Ø-e become.PRF.PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘A crowd of people has gathered to watch a movie being shot.’ Another sort of temporal clause, expressing an event that has happened right before another, can occur with a verbal noun+মা/মাে /matro, matre/ ‘amount; measure’, as in 9.78. The alternate verbal noun form in /-ba/ is sometimes used in this construction. মা /matro/ is often written together with the verbal noun. Non-finite forms | 237

(9.78) আিম বাইের আসা মা আমার িদেক িফের ami baire aś-a matro amar dike fir-e 1SG.NOM outside come-VN amount 1SG.GEN toward turn-PRFP লজ নাড়েত লাগল। lej naṛ-te lag-l-o tail move-IPFP begin-PST-3.NHON ‘As soon as I stepped outside, he turned toward me and began to wag his tail.’ At the end of a dependent clause, with a locative suffix, a verbal noun expresses or implies cause, with the following independent clause expressing the result:

(9.79) ি পড়ােত খলাটা হল না। briśṭi pɔṛa-te khæla-ṭa ho-l-o na rain fall-LOC game-CLF become-PST-3.NHON NEG ‘Because of the rains the game was not played.’³⁴ Verbal nouns occur in construction withকথা /kɔtha/ ‘word, story, statement’ acting as a quotative particle to indicate indirect speech, as in 9.80. It appears to serve to nominalize a clause in 9.81, but further research is needed.

(9.80) মা মাসীেক ফান কের বড়ােত আসার ma maśi-ke fon kor-e bæṛa-te aś-a-r mother aunt-OBJ phone do-PRFP travel-LOC come-VN-GEN কথা বেল| kɔtha bɔl-Ø-e word tell-PRS-3.NHON ‘Mother calls Aunty over the phone and asks her to come visit.’

(9.81) তামার মেন আেছ আমার যাবার কথা? tomar mone ach-Ø-e amar ja-ba-r kɔtha 2SG.FAM.GEN mind be-PRS-3.NHON 1SG.GEN go-FUT-GEN word ‘Do you recall (the matter of) my going?’³⁵ A verbal noun with কথা /kɔtha/ ‘word, story, statement’ can have a mild deontic, or obligatory, meaning when it expresses action that is expected to or scheduled or should to take place, as in 9.82. If the verbal noun has a human subject in a similar construction, that subject will take a genitive suffix.

~~34 Seely (2002/2006, 66). 35 Satyajit Ray, quoted by Seely (2002/2006, 81). 238 | Verbs~~

(9.82) আগামী ১৯শ সের থেক অেিলয়া িে agami 19ś-e śepṭembɔr theke ɔśṭreliya-r brisben come 19th-LOC September from Australia-GEN Brisbane শহের গ হওয়ার কথা। śɔhor-e gems śuru hɔ-wa-r kɔtha city-LOC games beginning become-VN-GEN word ‘The games are due to begin in Brisbane, Australia, from the coming 19th of September.’³⁶ Other expressions involving verbal nouns with the wordsউিচৎ /ucit/ ‘fitting, proper’ and দরকার /dɔrkar/ ‘necessity’ have stronger deontic meaning. Examples can be seen in Section 10.6.5. A potential or deontic effect can also be conveyed with a verbal noun and apro- noun: (9.83) তামার িক িক করার আেছ? tomar ki kichu kɔr-a-r ach-Ø-e 2SG.NHON.GEN Q something do-VN-GEN be-PRS-3.NHON ‘Have you something to do?’

(9.84) যা বলার আিম বলিছ| ja bɔl-a-r ami bol-ch-Ø-i CMPL.NOM say-VN-GEN 1SG.NOM say.IPF-IPF-PRS-1 ‘I am saying what has to be said.’ Finally, verbal nouns are used with the verbs আেছ /ache/, নই /nei/, and নয় /nɔe/ in the following ways:

(9.85) আমার তামােক কতকেলা কথা বলার amar toma-ke kɔtok-gulo kɔtha bɔl-a-r 1SG.GEN 2SG.FAM-OBJ some-CLF.PL word say-VN-GEN আেছ। ach-Ø-e be-PRS-3.NHON ‘I have something to tell you.’³⁷

~~36 Seely (2002/2006, 81). 37 Seely (2002/2006, 81). Causatives | 239~~

~~(9.86) আমার আর িক বলবার নই। amar ar kichu bol-ba-r nei 1SG.GEN more something say-VN-GEN is.not ‘I have nothing more to say.’³⁸~~

~~9.6 Causatives~~

A causative verb in Bangla is a derived verb built from a simple verb stem to yield the meaning ‘cause (someone) to do X’, where X is the original verb. For example, the causative of খাওয়া /khawa/ ‘to eat’ is খাওয়ােনা /khawano/ ‘to feed’, literally, ‘to cause to eat’. Due to their phonological shape, all causative verbs conjugate as class 6 verbs. This section describes how they are derived from verbs of classes 1 through 5.

~~9.6.1 Morphology of causatives~~

Class 1 and 2 verbs form causatives by adding-আ- /-a-/ to the primary stem, yielding a causative stem of shape (C)VCa- (identical in shape to the non-causative verbal noun). For example, the causative verbদখান /dækhano/ ‘to show’ (stem =দখা /dækha-/) is derived from the simple verbদখা /dækha/ ‘to see’ (stem = দখ- /dekh-/). Class 3, 4, and 5 verbs, form causatives by adding-ওয়া- /-wa-/ to the primary stem, yielding a causative stem of (C)Vwa- (also identical in shape to the non-causative verbal noun). So from খাওয়া /khawa/ ‘to eat’ (stem =খা- /kha-/), the causative verb খাওয়ান /khawano/ ‘to feed’ (stem = খাওয়া- /khawa-/) is formed. As can be seen in these examples, the verbal noun of the causative is formed by adding-ন/-না /-no/ (or -বা /-ba/ for the alternate verbal noun) to the causative stem. If the stem vowel is high (ই /i/, উ /u/, orঔ /ou/), the causative stem of class 1 and 2 verbs has an alternative stem of shape (C)VCo- before all endings due to progressive assimilation (see Section 3.3.1.1.3). As mentioned above in Section 9.5.1, these same high-vowel causatives can sometimes have a perfect participle formed according to the rule for non-causatives—that is, a perfect participle in-এ /-e/ rather than -ইেয় /-iye/—whether or not other non-causative forms of the verb exist.

~~9.6.2 Causatives of pseudo-causative verbs~~

Pseudo-causative verbs—that is, verbs with a causative shape but not a causative meaning, likeপাঠােনা /paṭhano/ ‘to send’ (see Section 9.2.6)—also belong to class 6 because

38 Seely (2002/2006, 79). 240 | Verbs they are similarly conjugated. Because they are already shaped like causative verbs, they cannot be made into semantic causatives through morphological means. To express the causative of a pseudo-causative verb, a speaker would have to circumlocute; for example, by using the compound verb ম পাড়ােনা /ghum paṛano/ ‘to lull to sleep’ (Section 10.3.3).

~~9.6.3 Triple causatives~~

There are also a few causatives formed from intransitive ɔ-stem verbs by changing the stem vowel from অ /ɔ/ toআ /a/. With some of these verbs, another causative may then be formed from either the original ɔ-stem or the “strengthened” a-stem, so that some verbs have as many as three causative forms, as shown in Table 9.24.

~~লা jɔla ‘to burn (non-causative)’~~

~~ালা jala ‘to cause to burn, ignite, irritate’~~

~~লােনা jɔlano ‘to cause to burn, ignite’~~

~~ালােনা jalano ‘to cause to burn, ignite; to annoy, to irritate’~~

~~Table 9.24: Triple causative~~

~~Sentences 9.87 through 9.90 show that these variations have similar or overlapping meanings:~~

(9.87) বিশ ঝাল খাবার খেল ক লা beśi jhal khabar khe-le buk jɔla excessive spicy food eat-COND chest burning কের| kɔr-Ø-e do-PRS-3.NHON ‘Eating excessively spicy food causes heartburn. (lit. if [you] eat excessively spicy food, [your] chest burns)’ Causatives | 241

~~(9.88) ধয়ায় আমার চাখ ালা করেছ| dhõae amar cokh jala kor-ch-Ø-e smoke 1SG.GEN eye burning do.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘The smoke is irritating my eyes.’~~

(9.89) কখেনা গীজােত েরািহতেক প লােত দখা kɔkhono girja-te purohit-ke dhup jɔla-te dækh-a sometime church-LOC priest-OBJ incense burn-IPFP see-VN যায়| ja-Ø-e go-PRS-3.NHON ‘Sometime the priest is seen burning incense in the church.’

(9.90) ছাট বালক তার বানেক অেনক ালায়| choṭo balɔk-ṭi tar bon-ke ɔnek jala-Ø-e little boy-CLF.DIM 3SG.GEN sister-OBJ a.lot burn-PRS-3.NHON ‘The little boy irritates his sister a lot.’ Although in the above examples, the three different causative forms share the same meaning, there are other similarly formed verb sets in which each causative verb’s meaning differs, as shown in Table 9.25 and in sentences 9.91 through 9.94. Dic- tionaries do not always list all meanings.

~~সরা śɔra ‘to move aside, to step aside; to issue forth’~~

~~সারা śara ‘to finish a task; to cure, heal; to correct, restore; to repair, mend’~~

~~সরােনা śɔrano ‘to cause s.o. or s.t. to move aside; to transfer; to dismiss’~~

~~সারােনা śarano ‘to repair, mend; to correct, to restore’~~

~~Table 9.25: Triple causative with variant meanings~~

~~(9.91) পােশ সের বেসা| paśe śor-e bɔś-o aside move.aside-PRFP sit.IMP-2.FAM ‘Move aside and sit [there].’ 242 | Verbs~~

~~(9.92) আিম সব কাজ সারলাম| ami śɔb kaj śar-l-am 1SG.NOM all task finish-PST-1 ‘I finished all the work.’~~

(9.93) পিরবহন অিধদর তােক লনােত poribohon odhidɔpto-r ta-ke khulna-te transportation department-GEN 3SG.NHON-OBJ Khula-LOC সরােলা| śɔra-l-o transfer-PST-3.NHON ‘The department of transportation transferred him to Khulna.’

(9.94) অনীক যপািত সারােনার কােজ দ| ɔnik jɔntropati śar-ano-r kaj-e dɔkkho Anik appliance repair-VN-GEN work-LOC expert ‘Anik is an expert in repairing appliances [lit. in the work of repairing appliances].’

~~9.7 Negation~~

~~Bangla has several ways of negating verbs.~~

~~9.7.1 না /na/~~

9.7.1.1 As a negator of verbs না /na/ corresponds to English ‘no’ and is also the most common Bangla particle for negating verbs. It negates all verb forms exceptআছ- /ach-/ in the present tense and any verb in the present perfect or past perfect (see Section 9.7.4). Usually, না /na/ immediately follows the verb it negates, but in the following cases it precedes the verb:

~~• Non-finite verbs (See Section 9.5)~~

~~• Finite verbs in clauses beginning with যিদ /jodi/ ‘if’~~

~~• Verbs of dependent clauses meaning ‘whether (or not)’; in these cases,না /na/ precedes the second verb: Negation | 243~~

~~(9.95) যাও বা না যাও আিম যাব। ja-Ø-o ba na ja-Ø-o ami ja-b-o go-PRS-2.FAM or NEG go-PRS-2.FAM 1SG.NOM go-FUT-1 ‘Whether you go or not, I’m going.’~~

~~• Verbs in emphatic negative expressions:~~

(9.96) িম নাই বা যােব আিম যাব। tumi na-i ba ja-b-e ami ja-b-o 2SG.FAM.NOM NEG-EMPH or go-FUT-2.FAM 1SG.NOM go-FUT-1 ‘So what if you don’t go, I’ll go.’

Two other cases where না /na/ may precede the verb are: first, with the correlative pronounsয /je/ (nominative singular) and যারা /jara/ (nominative plural), as in: (9.97) যই বাংলা না বেল স je-i baŋla na bɔl-Ø-e, śe CMPL-EMPH Bangla NEG speak-PRS-3.NHON 3SG.NHON.NOM ঝেব না। bujh-b-e na understand-FUT-3.NHON NEG ‘Whoever doesn’t speak Bangla will not understand.’ This contrasts with: (9.98) য বাংলা বেল না স je baŋla bɔl-Ø-e na, śe CMPL.NOM Bangla speak-PRS-3.NHON NEG 3SG.NHON.NOM আমার মামােতা ভাই। amar mamato bhai 1SG.GEN maternal.uncle brother ‘The one who doesn’t speak Bangla is my cousin.’ The placement of না /na/ after the verb, as in the second sentence, usually means the referent of য /je/ is a specific person, although this is not absolute. Secondly, the negative may precede the verb with certain instances of the subordinating conjunction যন /jæno/ ‘so that; as, as if; lest’; for example, when it is paired with a present tense verb, which expresses a prayer or desire, as in 9.99. In this usage, না /na/ almost always precedes the verb. 244 | Verbs

(9.99) সরদার বেল িদেয়েছ কউ যন śɔrdar bol-e diye-ch-Ø-e keu jæno leader say-PRFP give.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON someone so.that এই বাংেলার কােছ না যায়। e-i baŋlo-r kache na ja-Ø-e this-EMPH bungalow-GEN near NEG go-PRS-3.NHON ‘The government has ordered that no one should go near this bungalow.’³⁹ In written Bangla,না /na/ is often joined to the verb when following it.

~~9.7.1.2 Other uses of না /na/: The negative can also be used to mean ‘or’, between alternatives:~~

(9.100) মাছ না সি, কানটা খােব? mach na śobji kon-ṭa kha-b-e fish NEG vegetable which-CLF eat-FUT-2.FAM ‘Fish or vegetable, which one will you eat?’ It is also used in the phrases না . . . না /na . . . na/ ‘neither . . . nor’ andএক টা না একটা /ækṭa na ækṭa/ ‘one or another, something or another’, and as a discourse marker, mostly in women’s speech:

(9.101) ... জােনা, আিম না, কালেক রাে ... jan-Ø-o, ami na, kalke ratr-e know-PRS-2.FAM 1SG.NOM DM yesterday night-LOC এক টা দেখিছলা। æk-ṭa śɔpno dekhe-ch-il-am one-CLF dream see.PRF-PRF-PST-1 ‘...you know, I, well, I had a dream last night.’⁴⁰ Finally, না /na/ is used in the constructionহয় . . . না হয় /hɔe . . . na hɔe/, হয় . . . নয় /hɔe . . . nɔe/ ‘either . . . or’, with each word preceding their word, phrase, or clause: (9.102) হয় িম নাহয় আিম সখােন যাব। hɔe tumi nahɔe ami śekhane ja-b-o either 2SG.FAM.NOM or 1SG.NOM there go-FUT-1 ‘Either you or I shall go there.’⁴¹

~~39 Smith (1997, 165). 40 Seely (2002/2006, 310). Negation | 245~~

(9.103) হয় িম সখােন যাও নয় আিম hɔe tumi śekhane ja-Ø-o nɔe ami either 2SG.FAM.NOM there go-PRS-2.FAM or 1SG.NOM যাব। ja-b-o go-FUT-1 ‘Either you go there, or I shall.’⁴² By itself, না হয়/নয় /na hɔe, nɔe/ can mean ‘at least’, ‘all right, in that case’, or ‘what if, how about if, why not’.

~~9.7.2 নই /nei/ ‘is not’~~

The non-inflecting, or defective, verbনই /nei/ ( নাই /nai/ in Bangladesh) is used as the negative counterpart toআছ- /ach-/ in the present tense. It is also used with the imperfect participle for sentences of prohibition:

(9.104) গভবতী মিহলােদর মপান করেত নই| gɔrvɔboti mohila-der dhumpan kor-te nei pregnant woman-HUM.PL.GEN smoke do-IPFP is.not ‘Pregnant women shouldn’t smoke.’

~~9.7.3 ন- /nɔ-/ ‘not to be, not to exist’ (the negative copula)~~

The verb ন- /nɔ-/ is used to negate equational sentences; that is, sentences with a subject-complement construction, which do not require a verb for positive statements. These sentences are always understood to be in the present tense. In colloquial usage, speakers will often substitute the non-inflectingনা /na/ for the various inflected formsন- of /nɔ-/. It does not have a verbal noun form so we refer to it by its stem, but is conjugated regularly, in the present tense only, as a class 3 verb, with a secondary stem ofন- /no-/. See under Section 9.4.4 for the conjugation of ন- /nɔ-/.

~~41 Seely (2002/2006, 310). 42 Seely (2002/2006, 310). 246 | Verbs~~

~~9.7.4 িন /ni/ (the perfect negative)~~

Verbs in the perfect aspect, both present and past, are negated with a construction consisting of the simple present form of the verb plus the perfect negatorিন /ni/.⁴³ িন /ni/ always follows the verb and, likeনা /na/, is often written together with it. (9.105) িতিন তা কেরনিন। tini ta kɔr-Ø-en-ni 3SG.HON.NOM that do-PRS-3HON-NEG.PRF ‘He didn’t do that.’⁴⁴

~~(9.106) আমার ধা পায়িন| amar khudha pa-Ø-e-ni 1SG.GEN hunger get-PRS-3.NHON-NEG.PRF ‘I am not hungry.’~~

~~9.7.5 নারা /nara/~~

~~Used mostly in poetic language,নারা /nara/ ‘to be unable’ occurs in constructions with the imperfect participle. It is a regular class 2 verb and occurs only in the present tense.~~

~~43 নাই /nai/ DCB 44 Seely (2002/2006, 307). Thomas J. Conners and Dustin A. Chacón 10 Syntax~~

The ordering of words and phrases in Bangla is fairly flexible. Without changing the sentence’s core meaning, syntactic elements may appear in a variety of positions, adding nuances such as backgrounding or emphasizing certain information. Bangla has many syntactic properties in common with other Indo-Aryan family members. However, Bangla and its more closely related sisters – such as Oriya and Asamiya – have a number of features that make them quite distinct from other northern Indo-Aryan languages. In this chapter we describe the salient aspects of Bangla syntax, giving special attention to some of its more distinctive features.

~~10.1 Word order and clause structure~~

The basic word order of a neutral active declarative sentence is subject, indirect object, direct object, verb. Auxiliaries and modals follow the main verb, as demonstrated in 10.1. The subsequent sections show that there are many ways of deviating from this order. (10.1) আনীকা শাহীরেক একটা উপহার িদেয়েছ। anika śahir-ke æk-ṭa upohar diye-ch-Ø-e Aniqua Shaheer-OBJ one-CLF present give.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Aniqua gave Shaheer a present.’

~~10.1.1 Scrambling~~

The above represents only the basic word order; many elements of the clause can be put in other positions in a phenomenon often called scrambling. For instance, the subject or object may be placed at the beginning or end of the sentence to highlight different aspects of discourse-relevant information—such as new or old information—or to background or foreground information, and so forth. Additionally, longer phrases can be put at the end of the sentence, after the verb. These operations are optional, and the basic word order is always available (Thompson 2010). Most work that has been done on scrambling has explored the nature of the underlying syntactic structures. Different configurations of constituents can alter the scope of negation or the ability of a noun to antecede an anaphor. However, very little research has been done specifically on the semantics and pragmatics of the various phenomena we collectively refer to as scrambling. Some work on scrambling has tried to identify a specific focus position for leftward scrambling, though this is inconclu- sive. This lack of research on scrambling particularly holds for Bangla and other South 248 | Syntax

Asian languages. In our discussion, we simply note that various types of scrambling— leftward or rightward movement of constituents—serve to alter the information structure in some salient way. We use the descriptive term highlight, but this does not imply any theoretical claim. Much more work needs to be done to understand the full nature of scrambling, particularly its semantic and pragmatic constraints. In 10.2, the objectগাড়ী /gari/ ‘car’ is shifted to the beginning of the sentence to emphasize it.

(10.2) গাড়ী| গাড়ীটা তা আিম চািলেয়িছ গতকাল| gaṛi gaṛi-ṭa to ami caliye-ch-Ø-i gɔtɔkal car car-CLF INT 1SG.NOM drive.PRF-PRS-1 yesterday ‘The car. The car I drove yesterday.’ Likewise, the objectএক দান ধারনা /ekti darun dharona/ ‘one great idea’ in 10.3 is shifted to the end of the sentence to highlight it.

(10.3) আমার আেছ এক দাণ ধারণা| amar ach-Ø-e ek-ṭi darun dharona 1SG.GEN be-PRS-3.NHON one-CLF.DIM great idea ‘I have a great idea.’ And similarly, the subjectসিত কথা /śotti kɔtha/ ‘true word’ in 10.4 is shifted towards the end to be highlighted.

(10.4) আিম তা বেলিছ সিত কথা| ami to bole-ch-Ø-i śotti kɔtha 1SG.GEN INT say.PRF-PRF-Ø-1 true word ‘I told the truth.’ In contrast, if a subject or object is exceptionally long, it may optionally be positioned at the end of the sentence. In 10.5 and 10.6, the long subject and long object are postposed, respectively.

(10.5) মেনােযাগ আকষণ করেলা অেনক িফেরাজা রেঙর monojog akorśon kor-l-o onek firoza rong-er attention attract do-PST-3.NHON a.lot turquoise color-GEN শাড়ী পরা নারী| śari pɔr-a nari sari wear-VN woman ‘The woman wearing the turquoise sari attracted a lot of attention.’ Word order and clause structure | 249

(10.6) বর কেরা এবােরর বািক মালকিড় ber kɔr-Ø-o e-bar-er baki malkoṛi bringing.out do-PRS-2.FAM this-time-GEN remaining dough সব? śɔb all ‘Bring out all the remaining dough.’ Additionally, the position immediately preceding the verb can optionally be used for highlighting the focus of a sentence, as in 10.7 (Sharbani 2003). Essentially any phrase may appear in this position—arguments, prepositional phrases, adverbs, and so on. (10.7) না, কােনা তা ডাকিপয়ন দয়িন াপকেক na kono to dakpion de-Ø-i-ni prapok-ke NEG any INT mailman give-PRS-3-NEG.PRF recipient-OBJ বািল| bandil package ‘No, the mailman did not deliver the package to the recipient.’ Scrambling may occur across clauses as well. For instance, the examples show that the direct object হামেলট /hæmleṭ/ ‘Hamlet’ of the verbপড়া /pɔṛa/ ‘to read’ may appear either before that verb, or before any other verb. Note that there is a shift in emphasis depending on where it appears, however (Simpson and Bhattacharya 2004). Not all speakers find these constructions felicitous.

(10.8) জন ভাবেলা মির বলেলা হামেলট jɔn bhab-l-o meri bol-l-o su hæmleṭ John think-PST-3.NHON Mary say-PST-3.NHON Sue Hamlet পেড়েছ। poṛe-ch-Ø-e read.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘John thought Mary said it was Hamlet that Sue read.’

(10.9) জন ভাবেলা মির হামেলট বলেলা jɔn bhab-l-o meri hæmleṭ bol-l-o su John think-PST-3.NHON Mary Hamlet say-PST-3.NHON Sue পেড়েছ। poṛe-ch-Ø-e read.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘John thought it was Hamlet Mary said that Sue read.’ 250 | Syntax

(10.10) জন হামেলট ভাবেলা মির বলেলা jɔn hæmleṭ bhab-l-o meri bol-l-o su John Hamlet think-PST-3.NHON Mary say-PST-3.NHON Sue পেড়েছ। poṛe-ch-Ø-e read.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘It was Hamlet John thought Mary said that Sue read.’

(10.11) জন ভােব মির বেল এক jɔn bhab-Ø-e meri bɔl-Ø-e su ek-ṭi John think-PRS-3.NHON Mary say-PRS.3.NHON Sue one-CLF.DIM বই পেড়েছ। boi poṛe-ch-Ø-e book read.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘John thinks a book Mary says Sue read.’

~~10.1.2 The two be verbs~~

In general verbs come at the end of the sentence; this is not the case, however, with the verb হওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to become’ in its copular use. In sentences of the type “A = B”, called equational sentences, হওয়া /hɔwa/ appears between the subject and the complement. In this usage, the interpretation is ultimately present tense, though the verb may morphologically be in the simple past or the present imperfect. These points are demonstrated below. (10.12) বাংলােত ‘cat’ হে বড়াল’। bangla-te ‘cat’ ho-cch-Ø-e beṛal Bangla-LOC ‘cat’ become.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘beṛal’ ‘In Bangla, cat is ‘beṛal’.’

(10.13) বাংলােত ‘cat’ হেলা বড়াল’। bangla-te ‘cat’ ho-l-o beṛal Bangla-LOC ‘cat’ become-PST-3.NHON ‘beṛal’ ‘In Bangla, cat is ‘beṛal’.’ When হওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to become’ is used to mean ‘to happen’ or ‘to tend to be’, it appears at the end, as shown in 10.14. Word order and clause structure | 251

(10.14) শহীদ িমনাের একটা হরতাল śohid minar-e æk-ṭa hɔrtal Shaheed Minar-LOC one-CLF demonstration হেলা। ho-l-o become-PST-3.NHON ‘A demonstration took place at the Shaheed Minar.’ The non-inflecting wordমােন /mane/ ‘means’ is also used between the subject and object:

(10.15) বাংলােত ‘cat’ মােন ‘বড়াল’। bangla-te ‘cat’ mane beṛal Bangla-LOC ‘cat’ means ‘beṛal’ ‘In Bangla, ‘cat’ means ‘beral’.’

10.1.2.1 আছ- /ach-/ ‘be’ In addition to the negative copula (Section 9.4.4) and হওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to become’ in its equational uses, Bangla has the existential verbআছ- /ach-/ ‘be’ (Section 9.4.1). It is used when stating location or expressing a temporary state, as in 10.16 and 10.17.

(10.16) তামার বড়াল টিবেলর উপের আেছ। tomar beṛal ṭebil-er upor-e ach-Ø-e 2SG.FAM.GEN cat table-GEN top-LOC be-PRS-3.NHON ‘Your cat is on the table.’

(10.17) এই ঘের ব ঠাা আেছ। e-i ghɔr-e khub ṭhanḍa ach-Ø-e this-EMPH room-LOC very cold be-PRS-3.NHON ‘It is very cold in this room.’ The use of the copula here is optional. The sentences 10.18 and 10.19 are synonymous with those in 10.16 and 10.17, respectively.

~~(10.18) তামার বড়াল টিবেলর উপের। tomar beṛal ṭebil-er upor-e 2SG.FAM.GEN cat table-GEN top-LOC ‘Your cat is on the table.’ 252 | Syntax~~

~~(10.19) এই ঘের ব ঠাা। e-i ghɔr-e khub ṭhanḍa this-EMPH room-LOC very cold ‘It is very cold in this room.’~~

~~10.1.3 Questions~~

10.1.3.1 Question marker Yes/no questions are formed in Bangla with the interrogative cliticিক /ki/. There is no change in word order in questions. The question markerিক /ki/ generally appears after the first word or the first phrase in the clause, as discussed inSection 8.1. Sen- tence 10.20 exemplifies a question with neutral information structure; that is without highlighting any particular part of the question.

(10.20) আপিন িক আেমিরকা থেক? apni ki amerika theke 2SG.HON.NOM Q America from ‘Are you from America?’ The question marker may appear in multiple positions, without affecting the core meaning of the sentence. The only place it is not found is at the beginning of the sentence. The examples in 10.21 and 10.22 show the question marker appearing in two different positions, although they are essentially synonymous. Note also the useof the DCB intimate verbal ending -ba:

(10.21) কালেক ােসর পের আমােদর সােথ িক কােফেত kalke klas-er pore amader śathe ki kæfe-te tomorrow class-GEN after 1PL.GEN with Q cafe-LOC আসবা? aś-b-a come-FUT-2.INTM

~~‘Will you come with us to the cafe after class tomorrow?’ (NSTD)~~

(10.22) কালেক িক ােসর পের আমােদর সােথ কােফেত kalke ki klas-er pore amader śathe kæfe-te tomorrow Q class-GEN after 1.PL.GEN with cafe-LOC আসবা? aś-b-a come-FUT-2.INTM

~~‘Will you come with us to the cafe after class tomorrow?’ (NSTD) Word order and clause structure | 253~~

The interrogative marker does not co-occur with interrogative words. In the sentences below, it is ungrammatical to useিক /ki/: (10.23) স কােক দখেলা? śe ka-ke dekh-l-o 3SG.NHON.NOM who-OBJ see-PST-3.NHON ‘Whom did she see?’

~~(10.24) স কাথায় গেলা? śe kothae gæ-l-o 3SG.NHON.NOM where go-PST.3-NHON ‘Where did he go?’~~

10.1.3.2 Wh-phrases In Bangla, there is no need to place question words like who or what at the beginning of a sentence. Thus, in simple clauses, Bangla is often described as a wh-in-situ language; that is, question words occur in the position in which they are interpreted. This is shown in 10.27, where কাথায় /kothae/ ‘where?’ goes in the same slot in which the corresponding statement places the parallel non-wh phrase,কলকাতায় /kolkata-e/ ‘to Kolkata’. (10.25) িম কাথায় যােব? tumi kothae ja-b-e 2SG.FAM where go-FUT-2.FAM ‘Where will you go?’

(10.26) িম কলকাতায় যােব| tumi kolkata-e ja-b-e 2SG.FAM Kolkata-OBJ go-FUT-2.FAM ‘You will go to Kolkata.’ Question words do not, however, have to appear in this canonical position. Like all phrases in Bangla, question words are subject to scrambling operations, with whatever concomitant discourse function that scrambling operation expresses. Thus, the question in 10.28 may also be asked in either of the two following ways, with associated shifts in highlighting information.

~~(10.27) িম যােব কাথায়? tumi ja-b-e kothae 2SG.FAM go-FUT-2.FAM where ‘Where is it that you will go?’ 254 | Syntax~~

(10.28) কাথায় িম যােব? kothae tumi ja-be where 2SG.FAM go-FUT.2.FAM ‘Where is it that you will go?’ However, when embedding multiple clauses, the question word obligatorily appears in the main clause. Thus, the sentence in 10.29 is potentially ambiguous. The default interpretation is a question asking where Fareesa said that Fatema fell (i.e., the place where Fareesa’s saying took place). An alternative interpretation could also be a question asking where Fatema fell according to Fareesa (i.e., where Fatema’s falling took place). Note that the ambiguity is also present in the English translation (Simpson and Bhattacharya 2004).

(10.29) ফারীসা কাথায় বলেলা ফােতমা পেড় fariśa kothae bol-l-o fatema poṛ-e Fareesa where say-PST-3.NHON Fatema fall-PRFP গেলা? gæ-l-o go-PST-3.NHON ‘Where did Fareesa say that Fatema fell?’ If the wh-word is not in the main clause, then a low scope, declarative interpretation is the only one available.

(10.30) ফারীসা বলেলা ফােতমা কাথায় পেড় fariśa bol-l-o fatema kothae poṛ-e Fareesa say-PST-3.NHON Fatema where fall-PRFP গেলা? gæ-l-o go-PST-3.NHON ‘Fareesa said, “Where did Fatema fall?’ ‘Fareesa said where Fatema fell.’

10.1.3.2.1 Wh-phrase structure The interrogative words have already been described in Section 8.1. In Bangla, complex wh-expressions are formed by usingকত /kɔto/ ‘how much’ followed by an adjective, verb, or noun. This is shown with an adjective below.

(10.31) তামার ছেলেমেয়রা কত বড়? tomar chele-meye-ra kɔto bɔṛo 2SG.FAM.GEN boy-girl-HUM.PL how.much big ‘How old are your children? [Asking about age]’ Noun phrase structure | 255

~~Note that when asking how old someone or something is in Bangla, one asks how much its age is.~~

~~(10.32) তামার বয়স কত? tomar bɔyoś kɔto? 2SG.FAM.GEN age how.much ‘How old are you?’~~

~~10.2 Noun phrase structure~~

~~The noun phrase in Bangla consists of a noun preceded by any number of modifiers, although phrases in which only modifiers appear are also possible.~~

~~10.2.1 Word order~~

The ordering of elements in the Bangla noun phrase is possessor, demonstrative, quantifier+classifier, adjectives, and the noun. All of these modifiers are, of course, optional (Bhattacharya 1999).

(10.33) রােমর ওই িতনটা র র ram-er o-i tin-ṭa śundor kukur Ram-GEN that-EMPH three-CLF beautiful dog ‘those three beautiful dogs of Ram’s’ There is also a reinforcerয /je/, similar to here in the colloquial English this here book. This is used to give a particular emphasis on the object being referred to, or a contrastive interpretation. It is optional, and is placed after the demonstrative when it occurs. (10.34) এই য র e-i je kukur this-EMPH REINF dog ‘this here dog’ For kinship terms—words that refer to family members—the possessor may either appear in its canonical position preceding the head now, or it can follow the head noun. There is no distinction in meaning between these two forms. This alternation is only allowed for kinship terms. Bhattacharya (1999) refers to this as kinship inversion.

~~(10.35) আমার েড়া আা amar buṛo amma 1SG.GEN elderly mother ‘my elderly mother’ 256 | Syntax~~

~~(10.36) েড়া আা আমার buṛo amma amar elderly mother 1SG.GEN ‘my elderly mother’~~

10.2.1.1 Adjective placement Adjectives normally go before the noun and after the quantifier+classifier, as already mentioned. With multiple adjectives, size adjectives precede color adjectives, and speaker evaluation adjectives precede manner adjectives. This is the same order as in English. Thus, in 10.37 we see the quantifier+classifier precede the adjectives. In 10.38, we see হয়তবা /hɔytoba/ ‘possible’—which expresses the perspective of the speaker (an evalu- ating adjective)—precede the manner adjective ত /drutɔ/ ‘quick’ (Bhattacharya 1999).

~~(10.37) দশ চকচেক নন গািড় doś-ṭi cɔkcɔke nɔtun gaṛi ten-CLF.DIM shiny new car ‘ten shiny new cars’~~

(10.38) সা ত সমাধান śɔmbhabbɔ drutɔ śɔmadhan likely quick solution ‘a likely quick solution’ However, some adjectives may be placed before the quantifier and classifier, particularly if the adjective describes the quantity or modifies the quantifier and the noun as a phrase. It is said in these cases that the adjective takes scope over the numeral and head noun. (10.39) আমার গত পচটা বািড়েত পাষা র িছেলা। amar gɔto pãc-ṭa baṛi-te pośa kukur chi-l-o 1SG.GEN last five-CLF house-LOC pet dog be-PST-3.NHON ‘There were pet dog in my last five houses.’

(10.40) পিবের িয় ইটা জায়গা ঢাকা আর চাম। pobitr-er priyo dui-ṭa jaega ḍhaka ar cɔṭṭogram Pabitra-GEN favorite two-CLF place Dhaka and Chittagong ‘Pabitra’s favorite two places are Dhaka and Chittagong.’ Additionally, adjectives may appear before the quantifier+classifier if they have an emphatic meaning (Thompson 2010). Noun phrase structure | 257

~~(10.41) ব র অেনকেলা পািখ khub śundor ɔnek-gulo pakhi very beautiful a.lot-CLF.PL bird ‘many very beautiful birds’~~

~~10.2.2 Headless noun phrases~~

In Bangla, it is possible for quantifiers and adjectives to appear without a noun to modify. In these cases, they are sometimes referred to as headless noun phrases, although it not always clear that they are indeed noun phrases. Bangla has two primary uses for headless noun phrases—modifying other parts of speech or referring to things without giving a noun as a label. In 10.42 and 10.43, অেনক /ɔnek/ ‘a lot’ is used without a noun. These examples differ in that in 10.42 অেনক /ɔnek/ ‘a lot’ occurs with a classifier, and it appears with no classifier in 10.43. There is no distinction in meaning between these two uses. In both cases, it is translated to English as a lot or much. One might analyze the headless noun phrase as a modifier of a verb or as an argument of the verb in these examples. Either way, this demonstrates that a quantifier may be used without a classifier.

(10.42) এখােন ান পিরবতন করার সময় থেক অেনক িক ekhane sthan poriborton kɔr-a-r śɔmoe theke ɔnek-kichu here place change do-VN-GEN time from a.lot-CLF ঘেটেছ| ghɔṭ-e-ch-Ø-e occur.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘A lot has happened since I moved here’

(10.43) এখােন ান পিরবতন করার সময় থেক অেনক ekhane sthan poriborton kɔr-a-r śɔmoe theke ɔnek here place change do-VN-GEN time from a.lot ঘেটেছ| ghɔṭ-e-ch-Ø-e occur.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘A lot has happened since I moved here’ The examples in 10.44 and 10.45 illustrate the use of অেনক /ɔnek/ ‘a lot’ to modify an adjective. Again, the classifier is optional. In this case, the headless noun phrase is translated as very. 258 | Syntax

~~(10.44) স অেনকটা িবাত ন| śe ɔnek-ṭa bikkhæto noṭi 3SG.NOM a.lot-CLF famous actress ‘She’s a very famous actress’~~

(10.45) স অেনক িবাত ন| śe ɔnek bikkhæto noṭi 3SG.NOM a.lot-CLF famous actress ‘She’s a very famous actress’ Apart from these modifying uses, a classifier may be suffixed onto an adjective to refer to something that is describable with that adjective. Thus,লালটা /lal-ṭa/ ‘red-CLF’ in might be translated as the red one. Note that লাল /lal/ ‘red’ is normally treated as an adjective in Bangla, suggesting that the classifier construction is a headless noun phrase. Alternatively, one might think of this as turning an adjective into a noun.

(10.46) আিম কান শািড়টা চাই? লালটা চাই! ami kon śaṛi-ṭa ca-Ø-i lal-ṭa ca-Ø-i 1SG.NOM which sari-CLF want-PRS-1 red-CLF want-PRS-1 ‘Which sari do I want? I want the red one!’

~~10.2.3 Definiteness marking~~

~~As mentioned in Section 7.4.3, placing a classifier likeটা /ṭa/ or েলা /gulo/on a noun expresses definiteness (and singular number or plural number, respectively).~~

~~(10.47) বইটা boi-ṭa book-CLF ‘the book’~~

(10.48) বইেলা boi-gulo book-CLF.PL ‘the books’ If the classifier is attached to a numeral or other quantifier, the classifier andquan- tifier may be placed after the noun to give a definite interpretation. These arethemost common strategies for marking definiteness on a noun. The classifierজন /jɔn/cannot be used in such a way with no quantifier, however (Dasgupta 1983). Noun phrase structure | 259

~~(10.49) ীের সাতটা নীল কলম śudipt-er śat-ṭa nil kɔlom Sudipta-GEN seven-CLF blue pen ‘seven blue pens of Sudipta’s’~~

(10.50) ীের নীল কলম সাতটা śudipt-er nil kɔlom śat-ṭa Sudipta-GEN blue pen seven-CLF ‘the seven blue pens of Sudipta’s’ The objective markerক /ke/ can be used to mark direct objects that refer to humans. Note that the ক /ke/ attaches to only the last item in a series, not all of them. Thus, the entire complex noun phrase is the direct object, as seen in 10.51. Thus, both elements in this example are emphasized.

~~(10.51) আিম ছেল আর মেয়ক দেখিছ। ami chele ar meye-ke dekhe-ch-Ø-i 1SG.NOM boy and girl-OBJ see.PRF-PRF-PRS.1 ‘I saw the boy and the girl.’~~

~~10.2.4 Quantifiers and classifiers~~

In Bangla, classifiers (see Section 4.2.3 and Section 7.4.3) cliticize onto a numeral or other quantifier, though they may cliticize onto the bare noun itself if there isnoquan- tifier and if the noun receives a definite interpretation. In a few marginal constructions, the classifier may appear in what is referred toasa full form that is historically derived and does not cliticize. Unlike in the more common classifier systems, the classifier in Bangla primarily conveys definiteness, number, countability and formality level; and only secondarily humanness, size, shape and speaker attitude. The inventory and morphological properties of Bangla classifiers are discussed in Section 7.4.2. The classifier is relevant to a number of syntactic structures, as we discuss here.

~~10.2.4.1 Bare nouns Quantified nouns may appear without a classifier if theyarea classifier-less noun, or if the quantifier has been scrambled to another position.~~

10.2.4.1.1 Nouns with and without classifiers Not all nouns need a classifier when quantified. Those which do not are called classifier- less nouns (Chacón 2011). For example, nouns that refer to times or measurements do 260 | Syntax not need a classifier, nor do nouns that refer to family members, shown in 10.52 and 10.53 respectively.

(10.52) আিম িতন মােসর জ ঢাকােত িছলাম। ami tin maś-er jɔnno ḍhaka-te chi-l-am 1SG.NOM three month-GEN for Dhaka-LOC be-PST-1 ‘I was in Dhaka for three months.’

(10.53) আমার আট ভাই আেছ। amar aṭ bhai ach-Ø-e 1SG.GEN eight brother be-PRS-3.NHON ‘I have eight brothers.’ Quantifiers may be used without a classifier in order to introduce referents atthe beginning of a text:

(10.54) ই রাজা িছেলা। dui raja chi-l-o two king be-PST-3.NHON ‘There were once two kings.’ The presence of a classifier indicates number and whether a noun is countor mass. With a non-plural classifier cliticized to a quantifier, the noun’s referents are conceived of as single units, either as a single countable individual or as multiple in- dividuals (Dasgupta 1983). Thus, in 10.55, 10.57 and 10.58 the classifierটা /ṭa/, which is unmarked for number, allows an interpretation in which there is a lot of day, speed, or road. In 10.56 and 10.59, since the classifierটা /ṭa/is cliticized onto a numeral— which requires multiple reference by virtue of its meaning—the noun phrase refers to multiple individual days or roads.

~~(10.55) অেনকটা িদন ɔnek-ṭa din a.lot-CLF day ‘many/long days [lit. much day]’~~

~~(10.56) িতনেট িদন tin-ṭe din three-CLF day ‘three days’ Noun phrase structure | 261~~

~~(10.57) অেনকটা গিত ɔnek-ṭa goti a.lot-CLF speed ‘much speed’~~

~~(10.58) অেনকটা রাা ɔnek-ṭa rasta a.lot-CLF road ‘a long way [lit. much road]’~~

(10.59) িতনেট রাা tin-ṭe rasta three-CLF road ‘three roads’ With a plural classifier, the noun’s referent is interpreted as consisting of multiple units. Thus, since the plural classifierেলা /gulo/ appears attached to the quantifier অেনক /ɔnek/ ‘a.lot’, this example refers to multiple roads. (10.60) অেনকেলা রাা ɔnek-gulo rasta a.lot-CLF.PL road ‘many roads’ With no classifier, a mass interpretation is available:

(10.61) অেনক জল ɔnek jɔl a.lot water ‘much water’ The classifier is not needed with an explicit measure word. Thus, with the quanti- fiersিকেলা /kilo/ ‘kilo’ and পয়ালা /peyala/ ‘cup’, which provide a measurement and a unit of measurement respectively, no classifier is needed with the quantifier.

~~(10.62) অেনক িকেলা তল ɔnek kilo tel a.lot kilo oil ‘many kilos of oil’~~

~~(10.63) কেয়ক পয়ালা চা kɔyek peyala ca some cup tea ‘some cups of tea’ 262 | Syntax~~

10.2.4.1.2 Floating quantifiers The quantifier and classifier complex may appear in positions other than itscanoni- cal position adjacent to the noun it modifies. Instead, it may appear after the verb, or before the verb (Bhattacharya and Simpson 2011). This is often called quantifier float (Dasgupta 1988). For some varieties, this strategy has a particular emphatic interpretation. As the noun generally occurs with the numeral, this may be odd or unacceptable for some speakers.

(10.64) রিব রােশদেক কেয়কটা ছিব িদেলা। robi raśed-ke kɔyek-ṭa chobi di-l-o Robi Rashed-OBJ several-CLF picture give-PST-3.NHON ‘Robi gave several pictures to Rashed.’

~~(10.65) সামীরা িমি খেয়েছ চারটা। śamira miśṭi kheye-ch-Ø-e car-ṭa Samira sweets eat.PRF-PRF.PRS-3.NHON four-CLF ‘Samira ate four sweets.’~~

10.2.4.2 “The whole” Additionally, there are three forms diachronically related to the classifiers-টা /-ṭa/, -খানা /-khana/, and -জন /-jɔn/—these areগাটা /goṭa/,খান /khan/, andজনা /jɔna/, respectively. These are occasionally referred to as ‘full forms’. One of these forms used before a noun with no quantifier can express the whole, as in the whole book. Note that the noun can still be modified by one of the productive classifiers, which is cliticized to the noun. Not all Bangla speakers use this construction, however, and it most likely represents a frozen expression for those speakers who do. An adjective likeেরা /puro/ ‘entire, whole’ can be used instead. In the latter strategy, a classifier can still appear cliticized onto the head noun for a definite interpretation.

~~(10.66) আিম গাটা বইটা পড়লাম। ami goṭa boi-ṭa poṛ-l-am 1SG.NOM CLF book-CLF read-PST-1 ‘I read the whole book.’~~

~~(10.67) আিম েরা বইটা পড়লাম। ami puro boi-ṭa poṛ-lam 1SG.NOM whole book-CLF read-PST.1 ‘I read the whole book.’ Noun phrase structure | 263~~

10.2.4.3 Indefinite number In Bangla, there are a number of ways of expressing indefinite number. This is expressed in English with the phrase or so in noun phrases like three or so boys. These strategies are presented in order of most to least common. See Section 7.4.2.1.2 for more discussion. One strategy for expressing a numerically approximate meaning is concatenating two adjacent numerals before the classifier without any conjunction or marking onthe numerals. This is equivalent to locutions like three or four in English.

(10.68) চার, পচটা গািড় car pãc-ṭa gaṛi four five-CLF car ‘four or so cars’ One may also use an adjective likeঅমািনক /ɔnumanik/ ‘approximately’ before the quantifier:

(10.69) আমািনক চার-টা গািড় anumanik car-ṭa gaṛi approximately four-CLF car ‘approximately four cars’ Alternatively, one may suffix the morphemeএক /ek/ (most likely related to the number এক /æk/ ‘one’) onto the numeral before the classifier to express indefinite number. This strategy is rarer than the previous two.

(10.70) চারকটা গািড় car-ek-ṭa gaṛi four-INDF-CLF car ‘four or so cars’ A similar strategy is to affixএক /ek/ to the quantifier with the “full form” of the classifier preceding the quantifier+ek complex. There is no classifier affixed onto the quantifier in these cases.

(10.71) গাটা চারক গািড় goṭa car-ek gaṛi CLF four-INDF car ‘four or so cars’ With this kind of strategy, nouns that refer to spans of time and other kinds of measurements will appear in the same position as a classifier instead of following the quantifier—preceding the numeral. This is another major difference between classifier- less nouns and others. 264 | Syntax

~~(10.72) সাহ চােরক śɔptaho car-ek week four-INDF ‘four or so weeks’~~

~~10.2.5 Associative plurals~~

The human plural marker রা /ra/and its objective/genitive formদর /der/ can be used with proper names to mean either the group of people with that name, or a person of that name and his or her associates. This is sometimes called an associative plural. Thus, in 10.73, রামরা /ram-ra/ ‘Ram-PL’ may either refer to the Rams—perhaps a family or a group of people all named Ram—or the one person Ram and his group (say, his family or his friends). Note that as shown in 10.74, only the final member of a set is marked with the associative plural. The associative plural reading is only available with personal, not surnames. See Section 5.4.5.

~~(10.73) রামরা আসেব। ram-ra aś-b-e Ram-HUM.PL.NOM come-FUT-3.NHON ‘The Rams will come.’ ‘Ram (and others) will come.’~~

(10.74) গীতা লিলতাদর সােথ চেক gita lolita-der śath-e cɔndro-ke Gita Lalita-HUM.PL.GEN with-LOC Chandra-OBJ দেখেছা। dekh-e-ch-o see.PRF-PRF-PRS-2.FAM ‘You have seen Chandra with Gita, Lalita, (and others).’¹

~~10.3 Verbal phrase structure~~

~~10.3.1 Valency~~

~~As mentioned in Section 10.1, the canonical word order for an active sentence is SOV,or subject, object, verb. In the majority of cases, the subject receives the nominative case,~~

1 Adapted from Smith (1997). Verbal phrase structure | 265 often zero-marked. The direct object also generally receives the nominative case, unless it is an object with a particular emphatic interpretation or if it is animate. Indirect objects normally receive the objective case markerক /ke/. This is exemplified above in 10.1. Non-nominative subjects—that is, oblique subject constructions—are discussed further in Section 10.6.

10.3.1.1 Passives Bangla does not have a morphological passive, but there are two ways of constructing a periphrastic passive. The first way uses the verbal noun form of the main verb with a finite form ofহওয়া /hɔ-wa/ ‘become-VN’. This method most clearly mirrors the use of the passive in English. Normally there will be no agent expressed with a passive, although in some higher registers the postpositionারা /dara/ ‘by’ is used to introduce an agent. In reducing the number of overt arguments, this passive construction is said to be valency-reducing. The verb in 10.75 has only one argument, the patient of the action, মাংস /maŋśo/ ‘meat’, because there is no stated agent. (10.75) ওই মাংস রাা করা হেব। o-i maŋśo ranna kɔr-a hɔ-b-e that-EMPH meat cooking do-VN become-FUT-3.NHON ‘That meat will be cooked.’ The verbal noun can also be used as a modifier of noun with a passive meaning, as in 10.76 and 10.77. See Section 7.3 and Section 9.5.4.2 for more examples of this use of the verbal noun. It is possible to introduce an agent in these constructions in the genitive case, as has been done in 10.77. In these uses, it might be more apt to translate it as a relative clause into English, perhaps in an active voice. Section 10.5.3 has more discussion of Bangla relative clauses, as well as another example of this passive use of the verbal noun with an agent.

(10.76) ওই রাা করা মাংস এখােন রােখা। o-i ranna kɔr-a maŋśo ekhane rakh-Ø-o that-EMPH cooking do-VN meat here put-IMP.PRS-2.FAM ‘Put that cooked meat here.’

(10.77) ওই সজীেবর রাা করা মাংস এখােন o-i śɔjib-er ranna kɔr-a maŋśo ekhane that-EMPH Sojib-GEN cooking do-VN meat here রােখা। rakh-o put-IMP.PRS-2.FAM ‘Put that meat that Sojib cooked here.’ 266 | Syntax

In addition to the verbal noun, a form ofযাওয়া /jawa/ ‘go’ can be used to form the second kind of passive. This kind of construction expresses not only a passive meaning, but also an abilitative one. That is, দখা যায় /dækha jae/ below may best be translated as ‘can be seen’, not ‘is seen’.

(10.78) এই জানালা থেক শহরটা দখা যায়। e-i janala theke śɔhor-ṭa dækh-a ja-Ø-e this-EMPH window from city-CLF see-VN go-PRS-3.NHON ‘From this room, the city can be seen.’ There is no promotion of objects or change in linear order with these passive constructions, and objects still receive the objective case marker. As only animate direct objects are marked with the objective case marker, we can see this clearly when the object is animate:

~~(10.79) আনীকাক রাায় দখা হেলা। anika-ke rasta-e dækh-a ho-l-o Aniqua-OBJ road-LOC see-VN become-PST-3.NHON ‘Aniqua was seen on the road.’~~

~~(10.80) আনীকাক রাায় দখা যায়। anika-ke rasta-e dækh-a ja-Ø-e Aniqua-OBJ road-LOC see-VN go-PRS-3.NHON ‘Aniqua can be seen on the road.’~~

10.3.1.2 Causatives See Section 9.6 for a description of the morphology of causatives. In addition to the valency-reducing operation of the passive, there is a valency- increasing process by which a verb can be made causative. If the verb is intransitive, then turning it into a Class 6 verb adds a causative meaning, as shown in 10.81, where the light verb constructionঅিভনয় করা /obhinɔe kɔralo/ ‘to act [lit. do acting]’ is made into a causative with the addition of the causative affix-আ- /-a-/ to the light verb element. Sometimes this might be translated in English with a word like cause or make, but some English intransitive/transitive pairs are non-causative/causative pairs in Bangla, such as the pair in 10.82 and 10.83. In addition to the causative marker, the light verb is also different in these two examples, see Section 10.3.2 for further discussion.

(10.81) িডেরার অিভেনতােক সারা রাত অিভনয় করােলা। ḍirekṭar obhinetạ-ke śara rat obhinɔe kɔr-a-l-o director actor-OBJ all night acting do-CAUS-PST-3SG.FAM ‘The director made the actor act all night.’ Verbal phrase structure | 267

~~(10.82) আিম খেয় িনলাম| ami khey-e ni-l-am 1SG.NOM eat-PRFP take-PST-1 ‘I ate.’~~

~~(10.83) আিম বাােক খাইেয় িদলাম| ami bacca-ṭi-ke khaiy-e di-l-am 1SG.NOM child-CLF.DIM-OBJ eat.CAUS-PRFP give-PST-1 ‘I fed the baby.’~~

~~(10.84) িম খবর জানেত| tumi khɔbɔr-ṭi jan-t-e 2SG.FAM.NOM news-CLF.DIM know-PST.HAB-2.FAM ‘You knew the news.’~~

(10.85) িম খবর তােক জািনেয় tumi khɔbɔr-ṭi take janiy-e 2SG.FAM.NOM news-CLF.DIM 3.NHON.OBJ know.CAUS-PRFP িদেয়ছ| diye-ch-Ø-o give.PRF-PRF-PRS-2.FAM ‘You have informed him of the news.’ Causativizing a transitive verb may make it ditransitive, thereby increasing its valency. In 10.87, the normally transitive verbখাওয়া /khawa/ ‘to eat’ becomes the ditransitive খাওয়ােনা /khawano/, which may best be translated as ‘to feed’. The additional benefactor argument is introduced by the causative morpheme in 10.87.

~~(10.86) বাা ধ খাে। bacca-ṭi dudh kha-cch-Ø-e child-CLF.DIM milk eat.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘The child is drinking milk.’~~

(10.87) আা বাােক ধ খাওয়াে। amma bacca-ṭi-ke dudh khaw-a-cch-Ø-e mother child-CLF.DIM-OBJ milk eat-CAUS-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Mother is feeding the child milk.’ Using the imperfect participle plus a form ofদওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’ as a light verb can also express causation. The periphrastic agent is expressed using the participial postpositionিদেয় /diye/, and the subject is interpreted as the indirect cause. I This 268 | Syntax construction may also be interpreted as a permissive, meaning ‘to let’ or ‘to allow’, another valency-changing operation.

(10.88) হডাার হাসান মশাইেক িদেয় অংক hedmasṭar haśan mɔśai-ke diy-e ɔŋko headmaster Hasan mister-OBJ give-PRFP mathematics পড়ােত িদেলন। pɔṛ-a-te di-l-en read-CAUS-IPFP give-PST-3.HON ‘The Headmaster made Mr. Hasan teach mathematics.’ The meanings of causatives are often very idiosyncratic, and may best be learned case by case, given that the forms are not always predictable. For instance, although one might expect the causative form of পড়া /pɔṛa/ ‘to read’—পড়ােনা /pɔṛ-a-no/ ‘read- CAUS-VN’—to mean ‘to cause to read’, it actually means something slightly different— it means ‘to teach’!

~~10.3.2 Light verb constructions~~

Verbs that occur after the perfect participle of another verb are called light verbs. These verbs are also referred to in the literature as compound verbs. In form, light verbs are homophonous with verbs with independent lexical meaning. However, when used as a light verb, they lose their normal lexical meaning in favor of adding an extra parameter of meaning to the verb in the perfect participle form. They are therefore sometimes described as “semantically bleached”. The light verb can add a range of benefactive, self-benefactive, mirative, perfect, and various other subtle meanings to an utterance. It is perhaps best to demonstrate by example, and by showing how they are distinct from sequences of perfect participles. Light verb constructions (LVCs) are formally identical to a perfect participle and full verb sequence, meaning that the distinction between the two is one of interpretation. For example, in one interpretation of 10.89, the verb ফলা /fæla/ ‘to throw’ loses its primary lexical meaning because it is being used as a light verb that expresses telicity. Unlike a perfect participle+full verb sequence, a LVC represents a single event, which is conveyed by the lexical verb, not the light verb. However, since the sentence is ambiguous, it could also be analyzed as consisting of the perfect participle ofখাওয়া /khawa/ ‘to eat’ followed by another full verbফলা /fæl-a/. In this case, the sentence refers to two separate, subsequent events of eating and throwing. Thus, on the perfect participle+full verb interpretation, this sentence means that Arunima quickly ate the apple and then threw it. The completion nuance inখেয় ফলেলা /khee fello/ is expressed through the translation ‘eat up’, and not just ‘eat’, though the shades of meaning light verbs contribute rarely have exact counterparts in English. Since the light verb meaning is the most reasonable, we gloss it accordingly below. Verbal phrase structure | 269

(10.89) অিনমা আেপল ব তাড়াতািড় খেয় orunima apel-ṭi khub taṛataṛi khey-e Arunima apple-CLF.DIM very quickly eat-PRFP ফলেলা। fel-l-o throw-PST-3.NHON ‘Arunima very quickly ate up the apple.’

10.3.2.1 Subjects and light verbs The use of different light verbs with the same lexical verb can affect the type of subject. Certain light verbs select for or highlight various aspects of the subject, such as agency, volitionality, affectedness, etc. This can be in addition to the effect that the lightverb has on the clause as a whole (such as perfective, benefactive, etc).

~~(10.90) গলাসটা ভেঙ গেলা। gelas-ṭa bheŋ-e gæ-l-o glass-CLF break-PRFP go-PST-3.NHON ‘The glass broke.’~~

(10.91) বাা গলাসটা ভেঙ ফলেলা। bacca-ṭi gelas-ṭa bheŋ-e fel-l-o child-CLF.DIM glass-CLF break-PRFP throw-PST-3.NHON ‘The child broke the glass.’ In 10.90 above, a form of the light verbযাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’ appears. This use of this verbs conveys that the action was complete. The subject here is a patient, the thing acted upon—it was the glass what was broken. The agent is unspecified. However, in 10.91, a form of the light verbফলা /fæla/ ‘to throw’ appears. The subject here is the agent, the one acting upon the glass. This distinction is captured by the use of the two different light verbs. Note also that in 10.91, there is an additional argument in the clause. This is also a reflection of the different light verb.

10.3.2.2 Scrambling Light verbs may not be modified separately from the main verb, although negation markers and other modifiers may intervene between the main verb and the light verb (Paul 2004). This is not common, however, and the normal order has modifiers preceding the entire verbal complex. The modifiers have scope over the entire event: the example above doesn’t mean that Arunima ate the apple, and that the finishing was quick; rather, the apple-eating event was quick, and it was completed (Ramchand 1990). 270 | Syntax

Although verbs and their modifying light verbs generally occur adjacent to each other, with the light verb following the participle, it is possible for them to be shuffled around. The following examples demonstrate a number of the possible variations:

(10.92) আমার মন ভেঙ গেলা, জাড়া লাগােনা amar mɔn bheŋ-e gæ-l-o, joṛ-a lag-ano 1.SG.GEN heart break-PRFP go-PST-3.NHON attach-VN put-VN গেলা না| gæ-l-o na go-PST-3.NHON NEG ‘My heart was broken, [and] it could not be put together.’

(10.93) আমার মন গেলা ভেঙ, জাড়া লাগােনা amar mɔn gæ-l-o bheŋ-e joṛ-a lag-ano 1SG.GEN heart go-PST-3.NHON break-PRFP attach-VN put-VN গেলা না| gæ-l-o na go-PST-3.NHON NEG ‘My heart was broken, [and] it could not be put together.’

(10.94) ভাত খেয়েছা, এবার এক িমেয় bhat kheye-ch-Ø-o ebar ek-ṭu ghum-iye rice eat.PRF-PRF-PRS-2.FAM now one-CLF sleep-PRFP নাও| na-Ø-o take-IMP.PRS-2.FAM ‘You have eaten rice, now take a nap.’

(10.95) ভাত খেয়েছা, নাও| এবার এক bhat kheye-ch-Ø-o na-Ø-o ebar ek-ṭu rice eat.PRF-PRF-PRS-2.FAM take-IMP.PRS-2.FAM now one-CLF িমেয়| ghum-iye sleep-PRFP ‘You have eaten rice, now take a nap.’ Verbal phrase structure | 271

10.3.2.3 Light verb inventory The more common light verbs are given below, along with their corresponding lexical verb meaning. In the right hand column are listed the most common nuances connoted by the light verb, and whether they occur with transitive or intransitive verbs. The list is by no means exhaustive. Some verb collocations may be thought of as either verb+verb compounds, or as a sequence of a perfect participle and a main verb expressing two closely related events. An example of this is িনেয় আসা /niye aśa/, which may be translated as the English word ‘to bring’. See Section 9.5.1 for a list of some of these forms.

~~(10.96) ওই বইটা িনেয় এেসা! o-i boi-ṭa niy-e eś-Ø-o that-EMPH book-CLF bring-PRFP come-IMP.PRS-2.FAM ‘Bring that book!’ 272 | Syntax~~

~~The action is complete; used with transitive ফলা /fæla/ ‘to throw’ verbs~~

~~The action is complete; used with transitive তালা /tola/ ‘to raise’ verbs~~

~~The action is complete and was directed নওয়া /newa/ ‘to take’ towards or was for the subject; generally used with transitive verbs~~

~~The action is complete, and was directed দওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’ towards or was for the indirect object; generally used with transitive verbs~~

~~The action is complete; used with পড়া /pɔṛa/ ‘to fall’ intransitive verbs~~

~~The action is complete; used with ওঠা /oṭha/ ‘to rise’ intransitive verbs~~

The action happened suddenly, the action is complete, the action is yet ongoing, or—with যাওয়া /jawa/ ‘to go’ verbs of motion—the action is moving away from the speaker; used with intransitive and transitive verbs

The action happened suddenly, the action is complete, the action has been ongoing, আসা /aśa/ ‘to come’ or—with verbs of motion—the action is moving away from the speaker; used with intransitive and transitive verbs

The state that resulted from the action, commonly used with intransitive verbs; আছ- /ach-/ ‘to be,’থাকা /thaka/ ‘to stay’ minimal semantic distinction between ‘to be’ and ‘to stay’

~~রাখা /rakha/ ‘to keep’ The action was performed for the future~~

~~Table 10.1: Light verbs Verbal phrase structure | 273~~

~~10.3.3 Conjunct verbs~~

Some predicative constructions are formed by combining a verb with either an adjective or a noun in constructions often referred to as conjunct verbs (Section 4.1.2.1). Many analyses class these together with light verb constructions, as both types of verbal collocation make use of a semantically bleached but phonologically full set of verbs. This subtype is referred to as a nominal or adjectival light verb construction, or a Noun-Verb (N-V) LVC, as opposed to a Verb-Verb LVC. Most commonly, the verb used is either হওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to become’, for intransitive verbs, orকরা /kɔra/ ‘to do; make’, for transitive verbs (usually). Sometimes, however,দওয়া /dewa/ ‘to give’ and others are used.

10.3.3.1 Uses of conjunct verbs The combination of a meaning-bearing noun or adjective with a particular semantically bleached light verb is largely idiosyncratic. The conjunct verb and the noun or adjective must be adjacent. For these constructions, the noun or adjective contributes the meaning of the predicate, and the verbal element is bleached of most semantic content, but not reduced phonologically. As verbs are a closed class in Bangla, this is an extremely common strategy for obtaining new verbs in the language, and almost all borrowed verbs pattern this way; for example, ফা করা /fæks kɔra/ ‘to fax’. One might think of the light verb in these constructions as a verbalizer, because it turns a substantive (including a loanword that has been interpreted as a noun) into a verb.

(10.97) আিম কিউটার বহার করেত জািন। ami kompiyuṭar bæbohar kor-te jan-Ø-i 1SG.NOM computer use do-IPFP know-PRS-1 ‘I know how to use a computer.’

~~(10.98) আমার গািড় পিরার করেত হেব। amar gaṛi poriṣkar kor-te hɔ-b-e 1SG.GEN car clean do-IPFP become-FUT-3.NHON ‘I need to clean my car.’~~

(10.99) অ লাকেক সাহা করা িকল না। onno lok-ke śahajjo kɔr-a muśkil na other people-OBJ help do-VN difficulty NEG ‘It isn’t difficult to help other people.’ 274 | Syntax

(10.100) অেনক বাঙালী িহ কালীমা েজা দয়। ɔnek baŋali hindu kalima pujo dæ-Ø-e a.lot Bengali Hindu Kali worship give-PRS-3.NHON ‘A lot of Bengali Hindus worship Kali.’

~~(10.101) ভার হওয়ার আেগ এেসা| bhor how-a-r age eś-Ø-o dawn become-VN-GEN before come-PRS.IMP-2.FAM ‘Come before the dawn.’~~

(10.102) ভয় হওয়ার কান কারণ নই| bhoe ho-wa-r kono karon nei fear become-VN-GEN any reason is.not ‘There is no reason to be afraid.’ Additionally, sometimes a verbal noun appears in the noun slot of a conjunct verb.

~~(10.103) আবার দখা কির! abar dækh-a kor-Ø-i again see-VN do-PRS-1 ‘Let’s meet again!’~~

10.3.3.2 Selection Normally we conceive of the verb as selecting or determining the arguments of the clause, but with compound verb constructions, the argument is selected by both the verb and the compounded noun/adjective. Ultimately, this is idiosyncratic (Ghosh and Chakraborty 2006); in other words, although the verb is the same in all of these cases, the form and interpretation of the arguments differs depending on what noun or adjective the verb is compounded with. In 10.104, the compound verb ম করা /prem kɔra/ ‘to love’ selects for a comitative argument. On the other hand, the compound verbভরসা করা /bhɔrśa kɔra/ ‘to rely’ selects for an argument embedded in a postpositional phrase headed byওপর /opor/ ‘on’ in 10.105. Finally, in 10.106, we see that the compound verbশংসা করা /prośoɳśa kɔr-a/ ‘to praise’ selects for a genitive argument.

(10.104) রাম সীতার সে ম কের। ram sita-r śɔŋge prem kɔr-Ø-e Ram Sita-GEN with love do-PRS-3.NHON ‘Ram loves Sita. (lit. Ram does love with Sita.)’ Verbal phrase structure | 275

~~(10.105) আিম তামার ওপর ভরসা কির। ami tomar opor bhɔrśa kor-Ø-i 1SG.NOM 2SG.FAM.GEN on reliance do-PRS-1 ‘I rely on you. (lit. I do relying on you.)’~~

(10.106) উিন তামার অেনক শংসা uni tomar ɔnek prɔśoŋśa 3SG.HON.NOM 2SG.FAM.GEN a.lot praise করিছেলন। kor-ch-il-en do.IPF-IPF-PST-3.HON ‘He was praising you a lot. (lit. He was doing your many praises.)’ The noun in a compound verbal construction can also be modified by an adjective, as seen in 10.107. In this example the compound verb selects for a non-nominative subject as well.

~~(10.107) আমার বড় আন হেলা। amar bɔṛo anɔndo ho-l-o 1SG.GEN big joy become-PST-3.NHON ‘I experienced a great joy.’~~

~~10.3.4 Imperfect participles~~

Many uses of the imperfect participle have been discussed in Section 9.5.2; here we mention several others. Most imperfect participles are used as the objects of verbs such as চা করা /cesṭa kɔra/ ‘to try to do’, চাওয়া /cawa/ ‘to want’,বলা /bɔla/ ‘to say’,জানা /jana/ ‘to know’ andপারা /para/ ‘to be able’, to mean ‘to try to‘, ‘to want to’,’to tell (someone) to (do something)‘, ‘to know how to’, and ‘to be able to’, respectively.

(10.108) সবাই ব বড় বািড়েত থাকেত চায়। śɔbai khub bɔṛo baṛi-te thak-te ca-Ø-e everyone very big house-LOC live-IPFP want-PRS-3.NHON ‘Everyone wants to live in a big house.’

~~(10.109) তােক িবাম করেত বললাম। take bisram kor-te bol-l-am 3SG.FAM.OBJ rest do-IPFP say-PST-1 ‘We told her to rest.’ 276 | Syntax~~

(10.110) বাংলা বণমালায় িলখেত জােনা? baŋla bɔrnomala-e likh-te jan-Ø-o Bangla alphabet-LOC write-IPFP know-PRS-2SG.FAM ‘Do you know how to write in the Bangla alphabet?’

(10.111) তামােক নেত পারিছ না! tomake śun-te par-ch-Ø-i na 2SG.FAM.OBJ hear-IPFP be.able.IPF-IPF-PRS-1 NEG ‘I can’t hear you!’ Two verbs that have distinct interpretations with an imperfect participial complement are দওয়া /de-wa/ ‘to give’ and ছাড়া /chaṛ-a/ ‘to leave.behind’, which, in this context, mean ‘to let’ and ‘to stop’, forming permissive and cessive clauses, respectively. Note that one ‘eats’ cigarettes in Bangla.

(10.112) এত কাশেল আপনার হয়েতা িসেট খেত æto kas-le apnar hɔeto sigreṭ khe-te that.much cough-COND 2SG.HON.GEN maybe cigarette eat-IPFP ছাড়া উিচ। chaṛ-a ucit leave-VN proper ‘If you’re coughing that much, maybe you should quit smoking.’

(10.113) আমােক ওই তবলা বাজােত দেবন? amake o-i tɔbla baj-a-te de-b-en 1SG.OBJ that-EMPH tabla ring-CAUS-IPFP give-FUT-2.HON ‘Will you let me play that tabla?’ The imperfect participle may also be used with purposive clauses, or clauses that express the reason why an action was performed. In this usage, the imperfect participle clause may be translated not as ‘to X’, but as ‘in order to X’, as illustrated in 10.114. The purposive clause may appear either before or after the sentence. See Section 10.5.5 for forming a purposive clause with a distinct subordinating conjunction.

(10.114) নন আীয়েদর সােথ কথা বলেত স notun attiyo-der śathe kɔtha bol-te śe new relative-PL.GEN with-LOC word say-IPFP 3SG.NOM বাংলা িশখেছ| baŋla śikh-ch-Ø-e Bangla learn.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘He’s learning Bangla in order to speak with his new relatives’ Verbal phrase structure | 277

~~When used as the subject of a verb, the verbal noun is used, and not the imperfect participle. See Section 9.5.4.~~

(10.115) বলার আেগ ভাবা ভােলা। bɔl-a-r age bhab-a bhalo say-VN-GEN before think-VN good ‘It’s good to think before speaking.’ As discussed in Section 10.7, the negation markerনা /na/ appears pre-verbally with both the verbal noun and the imperfect participle, because they are non-finite verbal forms.

10.3.4.1 Other uses of the imperfect participle The imperfect participle may be reduplicated to give a meaning similar to while in En- glish, shown in 10.116 (see Section 8.6.1.1). Similarly, inserting the negation marker between the two reduplicated elements may also mean ‘while’ or ‘as soon as’, as shown in 10.117. Attaching the emphatic markerই /i/ has a similar effect to reduplicating with the negation marker, exemplified in 10.118.

(10.116) সংগীত নেত নেত নাচা ভােলা লােগ। śoŋgit śun-te śunte nac-a bhalo lag-Ø-e music hear-IPFP REDUP dance-VN good strike-PRS-3.NHON ‘(I) like to dance while listening to music.’

(10.117) তানভীর ঘের কেত না কেত মেঝর উপের tanvir ghɔr-e ḍhuk-te na ḍhukte meje-r upore Tanvir room-LOC enter-IPFP NEG REDUP table-GEN on ভাঙা ট দেখ। আয হেয়েছ| bhaŋ-a pleṭ dekh-e aścorjo hoye-ch-Ø-e break-VN plate see-PRFP surprise become.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘As soon as Tanvir entered the room, he saw the broken plates on the table and was surprised.’

(10.118) তানভীর ঘের কেতই মেঝর উপের ভাঙা tanvir ghɔr-e ḍhuk-te-i meje-r upore bhaŋ-a Tanvir room-LOC enter-IPFP-EMPH table-GEN on break-VN ট দেখ আয হেয়েছ| pleṭ dekh-e aścorjo hoye-ch-Ø-e plate see-PRFP surprise become.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘As soon as Tanvir entered the room, he saw the broken plates on the table and was surprised.’ 278 | Syntax

~~10.4 Postpositions~~

Adpositions in Bangla generally appear after their complement noun phrase, and are thus called postpositions instead of prepositions. Most postpositions in Bangla are derived from nouns in the locative case. Their complement is marked as genitive. In other words, whereas in English we say on the table, in Bangla something more akin to at the table’s top is said, where the at notion is expressed via the locative case. Di- achronically this accounts for most nominal postpositions; synchronically however, these may have been lexicalized by many speakers as monomorphemic. Not all postpositions are derived historically from locative nouns; 10.126 shows the use of an unambiguous postpostion. Postpositions that express a relative location in space or time between two objects frequently are of this form. See Section 8.3 for more discussion.

(10.119) বইটা টিবেলর উপের আেছ। boi-ṭa ṭebil-er upor-e ach-Ø-e book-CLF table-GEN top-LOC be-PRS-3.NHON ‘The book is on the table. (lit. The book is at the table’s top.)’

(10.120) ওই বাের িভতের িক িক আেছ। o-i bakś-er bhitor-e ki ki ach-Ø-e that-EMPH box-GEN interior-LOC what REDUP be-PRS-3.NHON ‘What-all is inside that box? (lit. What all is at the box’s interior?)’

~~(10.121) আমার কােছ এেসা। amar kach-e eś-o 1SG.GEN vicinity-LOC come-IMP.PRS.2.FAM ‘Come near me. (lit. Come to my vicinity.)’~~

(10.122) িশেকর সােথ পড়েত চাই। śikkhok-er śath-e poṛ-te ca-Ø-i teacher-GEN company-LOC study.IPFP want-PRS.1 ‘I want to study with the teacher. (lit. I want to study in the teacher’s company.)’ Some notions expressed as adpositions in other languages are not expressed by the Bangla periphrastic nominal postpositions. Many of this second class of postpositions are formally the same as the perfect participle. In fact, it is an analytic question whether there is any difference between, say,থেক /theke/ ‘from’ and থেক /thek-e/ ‘come-PRFP’, apart from distributional environment. See Section 9.5.1.2 for more details. In either case, the examples below illustrate these other classes of postpositions— those that seem to be similar to perfect participles and those that can stand by themselves. Note that িদেয় /diye/ ‘with [< give-PRFP]’ is an instrumental marker—used to Postpositions | 279 mark an instrument of an action—whereasসােথ /śathe/ ‘with [< company-LOC]’ is a comitative marker—used to mark with whom the subject performed an action. Both of these are best expressed by English with, though Bangla distinguishes between the two. (10.123) বাই হেয় ঢাকােত এেসিছ। dubai hoe ḍhaka-te eśe-ch-Ø-i Dubai via Dhaka-LOC come.PRF-PRF-PRS-1 ‘I came to Dhaka via Dubai.’

~~(10.124) িড় িদেয় মাংস কাটিছ। chuṛi diye maŋśo kaṭ-ch-Ø-i knife with meat cut.IPF-IPF-PRS-1 ‘I’m cutting the meat with a knife.’~~

~~(10.125) আপিন িক আেমিরকা থেক? apni ki amerika theke 2SG.NOM.HON Q America from ‘Are you from America?’ The following exemplifies an unambiguous postposition.~~

(10.126) এই গলাস ভাঙা হেলা রাম ারা। e-i gelas bhaŋ-a ho-l-o ram dara this-EMPH glass break-VN become-PST-3.NHON Ram by ‘This glass was broken by Ram.’ It’s also important to note that it is very common to use the wordকাছ /kach/ ‘vicinity’ with nouns denoting humans between the postposition and the noun, instead of just the noun. This is illustrated below.

(10.127) ওই সব উপহার সীতার কাছ থেক। o-i śɔb upohar sita-r kach theke that-EMPH all present Sita-GEN near from ‘Those presents are all from Sita.’ There is one preposition in Bangla,িবনা /bina/ ‘without’. Its complement noun phrase receives a locative case marking. Optionally,িবনা /bina/ may appear after the noun it modifies, in which case the locative case marker mayিবনা attach to /bina/, yielding িবেন /bine/ ‘without.’ 280 | Syntax

(10.128) িবনা েন আমরা িক ভােব কলকাতায় bina ṭren-e amra ki bhab-e kolkata-e without train-LOC 1PL.NOM what manner-LOC Kolkata-LOC যােবা? ja-b-o go-FUT-1 ‘How will we go to Kolkata without a train?’

(10.129) েন িবনা আমরা িক ভােব কলকাতায় ṭren bina amra ki bhab-e kolkata-e train without 1PL.NOM what manner-LOC Kolkata-LOC যােবা? ja-b-o go-FUT-1 ‘How will we go to Kolkata without a train?’

(10.130) েন িবেন আমরা িক ভােব কলকাতায় ṭren bin-e amra ki bhab-e kolkata-e train without-LOC 1PL.NOM what manner-LOC Kolkata-LOC যােবা? ja-b-o go-FUT-1 ‘How will we go to Kolkata without a train?’ Finally, there are a few instances in which it possible to stack postpositions, sometimes called compound postpositions. For example,িদেয় /diye/ ‘through [< give-PRFP]’ can mean ‘through’, but compounding িদেয় /d-iye/ with িভতর /bhitor/ ‘inside’ high- lights that whatever event is being described was an event of motion through the inside of something, as opposed to, say, by means of the complement noun phrase. An example of this is given below.

(10.131) পািখ জানালার িভতর িদেয় উেড় pakhi-ṭi janala-r bhitor diye ur-e bird-CLF.DIM window-GEN inside through fly-PRFP গেলা। gæ-l-o go-PST-3.NHON ‘The bird flew through the window.’ Subordinate clauses | 281

~~10.5 Subordinate clauses~~

~~10.5.1 Perfect participles as subordinators~~

To form the perfect participle, a secondary verb stem is followed by-এ /-e/ for verbs ending in -আ /-a/and -ইেয় /-iye/for verbs ending in-আেনা /-ano/. The perfect participle can be used to subordinate one clause to another. In doing so, it has a fairly flexible word order and a number of uses. For example, it may be used to express two events that occur sequentially or that co-occur, depending on context. In the former use, the perfect participle is often translated as ‘having done X’, and thus implies a certain temporal ordering between the two events. Such constructions are quite commonly used in South Asian languages. See Section 9.5.1.

(10.132) ছা তার কাজ সবই কের chatro-ṭi tar kaj śɔb-i kor-e student-CLF.DIM 3SG.NHON.GEN work all-EMPH do-PRFP বািড়েত িফের গেলা। baṛi-te fir-e gæ-lo home-LOC return-PRFP go-PST.3.NHON ‘The student, having finished all of his work, went home.’ Cliticizing the inclusive/concessive particle-ও /-o/ to a perfect participle gives that subordinate clause a meaning akin to ‘although...’, as shown below. The conditional participle may be used in a similar way, as described in Section 10.5.2.

(10.133) ছা তার কাজ সবই না chatro-ṭi tar kaj śɔb-i na student-CLF.DIM 3SG.NHON.GEN work all-EMPH NEG কেরও বািড়েত িফের গেলা। kor-e-o baṛi-te fir-e gæ-l-o do-PRFP-INCL home-LOC return-PRFP go-PST-3.NHON ‘The student, although not having finished all of his work, went home.’ The negation marker না /na/ ‘NEG’ appears before the perfect participle, as in 10.133. This is because the perfect participle is a non-finite subordinate verb form. See Section 10.7. Generally, the clause headed by the perfect participle and the main clause share a subject. The subject may appear in either clause. Thus, 10.133 can also be worded as 10.134: 282 | Syntax

(10.134) তার কাজ সবই না কেরও tar kaj śɔb-i na kore-o 3SG.NHON.GEN work all-EMPH NEG do-PRFP-INCL ছা বািড়েত িফের গেলা। chatro-ṭi baṛi-te fir-e gæ-l-o student-CLF.DIM home-LOC return-PRFP go-PST-3.NHON ‘The student, although not having finished all of his work, went home.’ The following two examples show that it is possible for the two clauses to have distinct subjects, however. In 10.135, the subject of the second clause,রাা /rasta/ ‘road’, differs from the subject of the first িclause, /bṛiśṭi/ ‘rain’. Similarly, the subject is left implicit in the first clause in 10.136, whereas the subject of the second clause isিক /ki/ ‘what’ (Sarkar 1976).

~~(10.135) ি হেয় রাা কাদা হেলা। bṛiśṭi ho-e rasta kada ho-l-o rain become-PRFP road muddy become-PST-3.NHON ‘After it rained, the road became muddy.’~~

~~(10.136) বাংলা পেড় িক হেব? baŋla poṛ-e ki hɔ-b-e Bangla read-PRFP what become-FUT-3.NHON ‘After (you) learn Bangla, what‘ll happen?’~~

~~10.5.2 Conditionals~~

As mentioned in Section 9.5.3, there is a conditional participle that essentially translates to if ... then in a conditional statement. Alternatively, one can use the wordযিদ /jodi/ ‘if’ in the first clause, followedতেব by /tɔbe/ ‘then’ in the second clause. Instead ofতেব /tɔbe/, oftentimesযিদ /jodi/ may be followed byতা /to/ ‘then’ andতা হেল /ta ho-le/ ‘then [< that become-COND]’. Note thatযিদ /jodi/ can occur either before or after the subject of its clause.

(10.137) সীতা ভারেত সফর করেল তাজ মহল দখেব। śita bharot-e śɔfor kor-le taj mɔhol dekh-b-e Sita India-LOC travel do-COND Taj Mahal see-FUT-3.NHON ‘If Sita travels to India, she will see the Taj Mahal.’ Subordinate clauses | 283

(10.138) সীতা যিদ ভারেত সফর করেব, তেব তাজ মহল śita jodi bharot-e śɔfor kor-b-e tɔbe taj mɔhol Sita if India-LOC travel do-FUT-3.NHON then Taj Mahal দখেব। dekh-b-e see-FUT-3.NHON ‘If Sita travels to India, she will see the Taj Mahal.’

(10.139) যিদ সীতা ভারেত সফর করেব তেব তাজ মহল jodi śita bharot-e śɔfor kor-b-e tɔbe taj mɔhol if Sita India.LOC travel do-FUT-3.NHON then Taj Mahal দখেব। dekh-b-e see-FUT-3.NHON ‘If Sita travels to India, she will see the Taj Mahal.’ In a conditional clauses beginning withযিদ /jodi/or ending in a conditional participle, the negation marker না /na/ must appear pre-verbally. This is also discussed in Section 10.7. Affixing the inclusive/concessive particleও /o/ontoযিদ /jodi/ gives rise to something akin to English although, just as happens when it is affixed onto a perfect participle, as we saw in Section 10.5.1. This is demonstrated in 10.140. Likewise, the conditional participle withও /o/ expresses a meaning like ‘even though’ or ‘even if’, shown in 10.141. (10.140) সীতা যিদও ভারত সফর কের তাজ মহল śita jodi-o bharot-e śɔfor kor-Ø-e taj mɔhol Sita if-INCL India-LOC travel do-PRES-3.NHON Taj Mahal দখেব না। dekh-b-e na see-FUT-3.NHON NEG ‘Although Sita is traveling to India, she won’t see the Taj Mahal.’

(10.141) সীতা ভারেত সফর করেলও তাজ মহল śita bharot-e śɔfor kor-le-o taj mɔhol Sita India-LOC travel do-COND-INCL Taj Mahal দখেব না। dekh-b-e na see-FUT-3.NHON NEG ‘Even if Sita goes to India, she won’t see the Taj Mahal.’ 284 | Syntax

~~There is a subordinating conjunctionসেও /śɔtteo/ ‘despite’ that has a similar meaning, which we discuss in Section 10.5.5.~~

~~10.5.3 Relative and correlative clauses~~

Relative and correlative clauses were briefly discussed in Section 6.4. They are a type of complement clause introduced by a relative clause marker—a particular type of com- plentizer, or a word that introduces a complement clause (Section 10.5.4). There are a number of relative clause markers used to create subordinate clause constructions in Bangla. For these constructions, the relative clause comprises the first half of the sentence, and the main clause in the second, with a pronoun placeholder marking the function that the relative marker plays in the subordinate clause. The placeholder (called the correlative) may appear in any argument or adjunct role. Below are a few examples, followed by Table 10.2, which lists some corresponding relative and correlative pro-forms. Notice, however, that there is no one-to-one correspondence between relative clause marker and correlative marker; this is illustrated in the example sentences. The relative marker যত /jɔto/ ‘how much’ in 10.142 introduces a relative clause expressing an amount. In the main clause,অত /ɔto/ ‘that much’ is a placeholder marking the function that the relative marker plays in the subordinate clause. Specifically, it is a pronoun (‘that much’) representing what Aniqua has. Similar grammatical relations can be seen in 10.143. (10.142) যত টাকা শাকীেরর আেছ, jɔto ṭaka śakir-er ach-Ø-e how.much.REL money Shakeer-GEN be-PRS-3.NHON আনীকার অত আেছ। anika-r ɔto ach-Ø-e Aniqua-GEN that.much be-PRS-3.NHON ‘Aniqua has as much money as Shakeer has.’

(10.143) আপিন যখন বাংলােদেশ িছেলন, তখন apni jɔkhon baŋladeś-e chi-l-en tɔkhon 2SG.HON.NOM when.REL Bangladesh-LOC be-PST-3.HON then িক বাংলায় কথা বলেতন ? ki baŋla-e kɔtha bol-t-en Q Bangla-LOC word say-PST.HAB-3.HON ‘When you were in Bangladesh, did you speak Bangla?’ Subordinate clauses | 285

Table 10.2 lists some other relative markers and their correlatives. Note that the relatives are often formally parallel to their corresponding interrogative, differing only in the initial consonant:য /j/instead of ক /k/.

~~Relative Commonly used correlative~~

~~যমন তমন /jæmon/ /tæmon/ ‘how, as’ ‘as so’~~

~~অত যত /ɔto/∼ /jɔto/ তত ‘how much’ /tɔto/ ‘that much’~~

~~যখন তখন /jɔkhon/ /tɔkhon/ ‘when’ ‘then’~~

~~যখােন সখােন /jekhane/ /śekhane/ ‘where’ ‘there’~~

~~Table 10.2: Relatives and correlatives~~

Additionally, there are morphologically complex relatives formed with the com- plementizerয /je/ or the relative quantifierযত /jɔto/ ‘how much’. Some examples are given in Table 10.3. As correlative markers, the complementizersয /je/ and যা /ja/ can be used to impart a specific indefinite interpretation, rather than a general one, especially when it would be ambiguous otherwise. For instance, the pronounকউ /keu/ ‘someone’ may refer either to a particular ‘someone’ the speaker has in mind or to ‘someone’ in general. The sentence 10.144 is therefore open to interpretation becauseকউ /keu/ allows either reading.

~~(10.144) কউ আসেত পাের| keu as-te par-Ø-e someone come-IPFP be.able-PRS-3.NHON ‘Someone [= either a specific person, or else anyone] can come.’ 286 | Syntax~~

~~Relative Commonly used correlative~~

~~অতণ যতণ /ɔtokhon/∼ /jɔtokhon/ ততণ ‘how long; as long as’ /tɔtokhon/ ‘that long; that long’~~

~~অতিদন যতিদন /ɔtodin/∼ /jɔtodin/ ততিদন ‘how many days; how long’ /tɔtodin/ ‘that many days; that long’~~

~~অতর যতর /ɔtodur/∼ /jɔtodur/ ততর ‘how far’ /tɔtodur/ ‘that far’~~

~~যভােব সভােব /jebhabe/ /śebhabe/ ‘which way’ ‘that way’~~

~~Table 10.3: Morphologically complex relatives and correlatives Subordinate clauses | 287~~

10.5.3.1 Modifying nouns Correlative clauses are the primary way of constructing relative clauses for modifying nouns. In the general case, a form of the third person neutral demonstrative— either the demonstrative determiner or the demonstrative pronoun—is used in the main clause to refer back to the modified noun. There is a classifier suffixed tothe noun phrases in these examples due to the fact that they receive a singular definite interpretation and refer to inanimates. However, the classifier is not obligatory for correlatives. (10.145) য বইটা ল িলেখেছ আিম je boi-ṭa Tutul likhe-ch-Ø-e ami CMPL book-CLF Tutul write.PRF-PRF-PRS.3-NHON 1SG.NOM সটা পছ কির। śe-ṭa pɔchondo kor-Ø-i 3SG-CLF like do-PRS-1 ‘I like the book that Tutul wrote.’

(10.146) যটা ল িলেখেছ আিম je-ṭa Tutul likhe-ch-Ø-e ami CMPL-CLF Tutul write.PRF-PRF-PRS.3-NHON 1SG.NOM সই বইটা পছ কির। śe-i boi-ṭa pɔchondo kor-Ø-i 3SG-EMPH book-CLF like do-PRS-1 ‘I like the book that Tutul wrote.’ As we see in 10.145 and 10.146, the noun may appear in either the main clause or the relative clause. It is possible for there to be no noun at all. When there is no noun, it is interpreted as what is sometimes called a free relative. This is reflected in the gloss ‘what’ in 10.147. (10.147) যা ল িলেখেছ আিম সটা ja Tutul likhe-ch-Ø-e ami śe-ṭa CMPL Tutul write.PRF-PRF-PRS.3-NHON 1SG.NOM 3SG-CLF পছ কির। pɔchondo kor-Ø-i like do-PRS-1 ‘I like what Tutul wrote.’ It’s also possible for a verbal noun to be used before a head noun to give a relative clause-like interpretation. This type of construction is exemplified below. If the verbal noun has an explicit subject, that subject is in the genitive case. (See also Sec- tion 9.5.4.2.) This is similar to one of the Hindi -wallah constructions, where that morpheme is added to the oblique infinitive to create an adjectival clause that is often best 288 | Syntax rendered in English with a relative clause. However, there is no morpheme like Hindi -wallah used in Bangla.

(10.148) সয় ভাঙা জানালা মরামত করেলা| śɔnjɔy bhaŋ-a janala mæramɔt kor-l-o Sonjoy break-VN window repair do-PST-3.NHON ‘Sonjoy fixed the broken window.’

(10.149) রিহমার খাতা রাখা বা। rohima-r khata rakh-a bakśo Rohima-GEN exercise.book keep-VN box ‘the box that Rohima keeps notebooks in (lit. Rohima’s exercise book-keeping box)’

(10.150) আহেমেদর সবসময় পরা কাপড়। ahmed-er śɔbśɔmoe pɔr-a kapɔṛ Ahmed-GEN always wear-VN clothes ‘the clothes that Ahmed always wears (lit. Ahmed’s always-worn clothes)’ The negation markerনা /na/ ‘NEG’ appears pre-verbally with this construction, as in other non-finite subordinate clauses (see Section 10.7).

~~10.5.4 Complement clauses~~

Complement clauses are clauses that appear in sentences as arguments. For instance, in the English utterance John said that Mary won, that Mary won is a complement clause and the argument of the verb said. Bangla has a number of syntactic strategies for assembling complement clauses. In the first, and perhaps most common type, the complementizerয /je/follows the verb and introduces the complement clause. This is the most common strategy in Indo-Aryan languages, even though objects generally precede the verb in Bangla and in most other South Asian languages. The complementizer can also follow an adjective to introduce a complement in an adjectival clause of the type, it is good/shocking/impossible/etc. that... Note in the examples below the use of the non-standard, DCB, form of ‘to win’. Subordinate clauses | 289

(10.151) নািদতা বলেলা য ফািহম খলাটা nanḍita bol-l-o je fahim khæla-ṭa Nandita say-PST-3.NHON CMPL Fahim game-CLF িজতেতেছ। jitte-ch-Ø-e win.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Nandita said that Fahim is winning the game.’

(10.152) অসব য ফািহম খলাটা িজতেতেছ। ɔśombhob je fahim khæla-ṭa jitte-ch-Ø-e impossible CMPL Fahim game-CLF win.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘It’s impossible that Fahim is winning the game.’ The complement clause may also precede the verb. One strategy is to place the complement clause before the verb and the complementizerয /je/ after some phrase in the complement clause. This has a particular kind of emphatic interpretation on the complement clause. Note the relative positions of the complementizer and the verbs below. (10.153) নািদতা ফািহম য খলাটা িজতেতেছ। nanḍita fahim je khæla-ṭa jitte-ch-Ø-e Nandita Fahim CMPL game-CLF win.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON বলেলা। bol-l-o say-PST-3.NHON ‘It was that Fahim is winning the game that Nandita said.’ Alternatively, instead of using the complementizerয /je/, the quotative complementizer বেল /bole/— derived from the perfect participle of বলা /bɔla/ ‘to say’—can be placed after the pre-verbal complement clause. This can only be used to mark thecom- plement of verbs of saying, not the complement of adjectives or other kinds of verbs, however. (Bayer 1999, Bayer 2001, Bhattacharya 2000)

(10.154) নািদতা ফািহম খলাটা িজতেতেছ। বেল nanḍita fahim khæla-ṭa jitte-ch-Ø-e bole Nandita Fahim game-CLF win.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON CMPL বলেলা। bol-l-o say-PST-3.NHON ‘Nandita said that Fahim is winning the game.’ 290 | Syntax

This previous construction is ambiguous. Subordinate clauses that end inবেল /bole/ can be used to express a purpose, similar to clauses that begin with the coordi- nator কারণ /karɔn/ ‘because’. These two strategies are illustrated below. (10.155) কারণ আা সারািদন বাইের কাজ করেলন, আজ karɔn abba śaradin bair-e kaj kor-l-en aj because Father all.day outside-LOC work do-PST-3.HON today রাত িবাম করেত চান। rat śudhu bisram kor-te ca-Ø-n night only rest do-IPFP want-PRS-3.HON ‘Because Father worked outside all day, tonight he just wants to rest.’

(10.156) আা সারািদন বাইের কাজ করেলন বেল, আজ abba śaradin bair-e kaj kor-l-en bole aj Father all.day outside-LOC work do-PST-3.HON CMPL today রাত িবাম করেত চান। rat śudhu bisram kor-te ca-Ø-n night only rest do-IPFP want-PRS-3.HON ‘Because Father worked outside all day, tonight he just wants to rest.’ In both 10.155 and 10.156 above, the complementizer can be omitted. Unlike other subordinate clauses (see Section 10.7), the negation marker না /na/ ‘NEG’ appears only after the verb in complement clauses.

~~10.5.5 Other subordinate clauses~~

In what is called a purposive clause, the subordinating conjunctionযােত /jate/ ‘so that’ can be used to express the purpose for an event in a main clause.যােত /jate/ precedes the purposive clause, which may be positioned almost anywhere in the matrix sentence. (10.157) স বাংলা িশখেছ যােত নন śe baŋla śikh-ch-Ø-e jate notun 3SG.NOM Bangla learn.IPF-IPF-PRS.3-NHON so.that new আীয়েদর সােথ কথা বলেত পারেব। atiyo-der śath-e kɔtha bol-te par-b-e relative-PL.GEN with-LOC word say-IPFP be.able-FUT-3.NHON ‘He’s learning Bangla so that he will be able to speak with his new relatives.’ িক না /ki na/ ‘Q NEG’ may be added to the end of a complement clause to signal that the complement clause is an indirect question. This type of construction may best Non-canonical case-marking | 291 be translated as ‘whether ... or not’. Note the contrast between 10.158 and 10.159. The former asserts that Sita will come—and that Ram will want to know that fact, whereas the latter does not assert that Sita will come. (10.158) রাম জানেত চাইেব য সীতা ram jan-te cai-b-e je sita Ram know-IPFP want-FUT-3.NHON CMPL Sita আসেব। aś-b-e come-FUT-3.NHON ‘Ram will want to know that Sita will come.’

(10.159) রাম জানেত চাইেব সীতা আসেব িক ram jan-te cai-b-e sita aś-b-e ki Ram know-IPFP want-FUT-3.NHON Sita come-FUT-3.NHON Q না। na NEG ‘Ram will want to know whether Sita will come or not.’ There is another subordinating conjunction,সেও /śɔtteo/ ‘despite’, which occurs at the end of the subordinate clause. The predicate of this clause appears in the verbal noun form. (10.160) সীতা ভারেত সফর করা সেও তাজ মহল sita bharot-e śɔfor kɔr-a śɔtteo taj mɔhol Sita India-LOC travel do-VN despite Taj Mahal দখেব না। dekh-b-e na see-FUT-3.NHON NEG ‘Despite going to India, Sita won’t see the Taj Mahal.’

~~10.6 Non-canonical case-marking~~

Bangla has a number of constructions in which the subject receives a different case than the canonical nominative—usually the genitive or the objective case, though in some rare cases even the locative case: (10.161) আমােত তামােত অেনক ব িছেলা| ama-te toma-te ɔnæk bondhuttɔ chi-l-o 1SG-LOC 2SG.FAM-LOC a.lot friendship be-PST-3.NHON ‘You and I were good friends.’ 292 | Syntax

Constructions where the subject is marked with a non-canonical case are often referred to as dative subject constructions. This refers to the type of construction and not to the actual case forms used. The subjects in these constructions tend to have reduced agency or volitionality, and are therefore sometimes called experiencer subjects as well. The subject can be marked with objective, genitive, or locative case. Because the case can vary, and to distinguish them from subjects marked with the canonical nominative case, we refer to them collectively as oblique case-marked subjects, or simply oblique subjects. We discussed these briefly in Section 5.2.1 and Section 5.4.3, but we will discuss their properties more in depth here. As can be seen in all of the examples in this section, non-canonical subjects do not trigger agreement with the verb. Instead, the verb appears with default agreement, third person singular. One reason the subject does not trigger agreement in these constructions is that the subject is most often not the agent; that is, the one performing the action. They are therefore sometimes also referred to as impersonal constructions.

~~10.6.1 Oblique subjects vs. nominative subjects~~

Many of these constructions come in pairs. The genitive case subject form is usually used to express a low level of volitionality or intention; that is, to characterize the event as somehow inadvertent, as opposed to the subject’s acting as an agent to cause the event. This is a subtle distinction that is best gained from context and practice, though it is important to recognize that these kinds of forms exist. This is exemplified withপা ভাঙা /pa bhaŋ-a/ ‘leg break-VN’, in 10.162, and its causative counterpart পা ভাঙা /pa bhaŋ-a-no/ ‘leg break-CAUS-VN’, in 10.163. The genitive subject is much more natural here, as otherwise there would be a sugges- tion that the subject broke his leg on purpose! In order to force the causative reading, the verb takes the causative marker and the subject appears in the nominative case. This genitive/nominative subject alternation does not always coincide with a non-causative/causative alternation, however (Klaiman 1980).

~~(10.162) তার পা ভেঙেছ। tar pa bheŋe-ch-Ø-e 3SG.NHON.GEN leg break.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘He broke his leg.’~~

~~(10.163) স পা ভািঙেয়েছ। śe pa bhaŋiye-ch-Ø-e 3SG.NHON.NOM leg break.CAUS.PRF-PRF.PRS-3.NHON ‘He broke his leg [on purpose].’ Non-canonical case-marking | 293~~

~~10.6.2 লাগা /laga/ ‘to strike’~~

With a genitive subject,লাগা /laga/ ‘to strike’ can be used withভােলা /bhalo/ ‘good’ andখারাপ /kharap/ ‘bad’ to express likes and dislikes, respectively. (10.164) আমার চা ভােলা লােগ। amar ca bhalo lag-Ø-e 1SG.GEN tea good strike-PRS-3.NHON ‘I like tea.’

(10.165) আমার চা খারাপ লােগ। amar ca kharap lag-Ø-e 1SG.GEN tea bad strike-PRS-3.NHON ‘I dislike tea.’ In addition to expressing likes and dislikes,লাগা /laga/ ‘to strike’ can also express need, when used without adjective, such as in:

~~(10.166) আমার কলম লাগেছ। amar kɔlom lag-ch-Ø-e 1SG.GEN pen strike.IPF-IPF-PRS-3.NHON ‘I need a pen.’~~

~~10.6.3 Oblique and nominative pairs~~

Klaiman (1980) lists six categories of verbs that have an alternation between a genitive subject and a nominative subject, with glosses that try to capture the semantic distinctions. Below is a table of some of her examples for each of the categories. Note that not all genitive subject constructions have a corresponding nominative subject construction. Note also that many of these examples are formally complex predicates of some kind. We ignore the internal structure of these for the moment, in favor of giving a more idiomatic gloss. The difference between the genitive subject on the one hand and the nominative subject on the other can be seen in the contrasting pairs with the nominal light verb constructions formed with দির /deri/ ‘delay’. In both of these constructions, the nominal head দির /deri/, appears with a light verb form a nominal LCV, or light verb construction. The light verbs are the Bangla equivalents of ‘become’ and ‘do’, and the corresponding LVCs they form similarly form an intransitive/transitive set. When the subject of theদির /deri/ LVC appears in the nominative form, the phrase means ‘to delay’, or ‘to cause to be late’. In such cases, the subject is the agent, effecting change. When the subject of the দির /deri/ LVC appears in the genitive form, however, the resulting phrase means ‘to be late’. In these cases, the subject is not acting volitionally, 294 | Syntax but rather, is experiencing the state of being late. Note that these distinctionsদির হওয়া /deri hɔwa/ ‘to be late (lit. delay become)’ , with the light verb ‘to be’ occurs with the genitive subject andদির করা /deri kɔra/ ‘to delay (lit. delay do)’ with the light verb ‘to do’ occurs with the nominative subject. Category 1: Sensory and mental experiences

~~Genitive subject form Nominative subject form~~

~~মেন আছ- মেন করা mone ach- mone kɔra ‘to think (lit. mind-LOC be)’ ‘to think (lit. mind-LOC do)’~~

~~মেন পড়া মেন রাখা mone rakha ‘to keep in mind-VN mone pɔṛa (lit. mind-LOC keep-VN)’ ‘to remember (lit. mind-LOC fall-VN)’~~

সেহ আছ- ∼ সেহ হওয়া সেহ করা śɔndeho ach- ∼ śɔndeho hɔwa śɔndeho kɔra ‘to suspect (lit. suspicion be) ∼ to become ‘to suspect (lit. suspect do-VN)’ suspicious-VN (lit. suspicion become-VN)’

~~Category 2: Emotional experiences~~

~~Genitive subject form Nominative subject form~~

আন আছ- ∼ আন হওয়া আন করা anɔndo ach- ∼ anɔndo hɔwa anɔndo kɔra ‘to be pleased (lit. joy be) ∼ to be pleased ‘to rejoice (lit. joy do)’ (lit. joy become)’

~~আশা আছ- ∼ আশা হওয়া আসা করা aśa ach- ∼ aśa hɔwa aśa kɔra ‘to hope (lit. hope be) ∼ to hope (lit. hope ‘to hope (lit. hope do)’ become)’~~

~~হািস পাওয়া হাসা haśi pawa haśa ‘to feel like laughing (lit. laughing get)’ ‘to laugh’~~

~~Category 3: Physical and biological experiences~~

~~Genitive subject form Nominative subject form~~

~~থা হওয়া ∼ থা করা bætha hɔwa ∼ bætha kɔra — ‘to feel pain (lit. pain become ∼ pain do)’ Non-canonical case-marking | 295~~

~~Genitive subject form Nominative subject form~~

~~লকােনা লকােনা culkano culkano ‘to itch’ ‘to scratch’~~

ক করা ∼ ক পাওয়া ক হওয়া kɔsṭo kɔra ∼ kɔsṭo pawa kɔsṭo hɔwa ‘to make an effort, go to a lot of trouble ∼ to ‘to be distressed (lit. trouble become)’ suffer pain (lit. trouble do ∼ trouble get)’

~~Category 4: Need/duty/obligation~~

~~Genitive subject form Nominative subject form~~

~~চাই চাওয়া cai cawa ‘need’ ‘want-VN’~~

~~দপকার আছ-∼ দরকার হওয়া dɔrkar ach- ∼ dɔrkar hɔwa — ‘to need (lit. necessity be) ∼ to need (lit. necessity become)’~~

~~Category 5: Possession/existence~~

~~Genitive subject form Nominative subject form~~

~~চলা চলান cɔla cɔl-ano ‘to suffice (lit. to move)’ ‘to make/cause to do (lit. move-CAUS.VN)’~~

~~হওয়া hɔwa — ‘to suffice (lit. to become)’~~

~~Category 6: Happenstance~~

~~Genitive subject form Nominative subject form~~

~~দির হওয়া দির করা deri hɔwa deri kɔra ‘to be late (lit. delay become)’ ‘to delay (lit. delay do)’~~

~~লাভ হওয়া লাভ করা labh hɔwa labh kɔra ‘gain-VN ∼ profit-VN (lit. profit become-VN)’ ‘profit-VN (lit. profit do-VN)’ 296 | Syntax~~

~~10.6.4 Expressing possession with an oblique subject~~

Bangla, like many South Asian languages, does not have a verb meaning ‘to have’. In- stead, the concept of possession is expressed by a possessive form of the possessor and the verb আছ- /ach-/ ‘be’. This is illustrated below. (10.167) আিতেফর বাংলােদশী পতাকা আেছ। atif-er baŋladeśi pɔtaka ach-Ø-e Atif-GEN Bangladeshi flag be-PRS-3.NHON ‘Atif has a Bangladeshi flag’ One might be tempted to interpret this sentence as expressing something like “Atif’s Bangladeshi flag exists” or “There is Atif’s Bangladeshi flag”; however, the possessor and the possessed noun do not necessarily need to appear adjacent to one another, unlike what is normally observed with noun phrases. We can postpose the possessor or insert a question marker between the possessor and the possessee. Thus the owner is the grammatical subject.

(10.168) আিতেফর িক বাংলােদশী পতাকা আেছ। atif-er ki baŋladeśi pɔtaka ach-Ø-e Atif-GEN Q Bangladeshi flag be-PRS-3.NHON ‘Does Atif have a Bangladeshi flag?’

(10.169) বাংলােদশী পতাকা আেছ আিতেফর। baŋladeśi pɔtaka ach-Ø-e atif-er Bangladeshi flag be-PRS-3.NHON Atif-GEN ‘It’s a Bangladeshi flag that Atif has.’

~~10.6.5 Deontic modals~~

Deontic modals are words that are used to express differing degrees of obligation. There are three ways to express obligation in Bangla, and they are all impersonal constructions. The strongest—akin to verbal constructions with have to or must in English— is formed by using the imperfect participle followed by a form ofহওয়া /hɔwa/ ‘to become’, normally in the future or the present tense (10.170). Similarly, using the genitive form of the verbal noun followed byদরকার /dɔrkar/ ‘need’ can also be used to express necessity (10.171). A slightly less strong construction uses the verbal noun followed by উিচৎ /ucit/ ‘proper’ (10.172). This last method is similar to an English construction with supposed to or should. Finally, the verbal noun may be used in the genitive with কথা /kɔtha/ ‘word’ in a construction that is also akin to an English supposed to construction (10.173). These latter two may be placed into the past or the future tense by Non-canonical case-marking | 297 using the past tense forms of আছ- /ach-/ ‘be’ or the future forms ofহওয়া /hɔ-wa/ ‘to become’, respectively.

(10.170) আপনার িতিদন বাংলা চচা করেত apnar proti-din baŋla cɔrca kor-te 2SG.HON.GEN every-day Bangla practice do-IPFP হেব। hɔ-b-e become-FUT-3.NHON ‘You must study Bangla daily.’

(10.171) আপনার িতিদন বাংলা চচা করার দরকার। apnar proti-din baŋla cɔrca kɔr-a-r dɔrkar 2SG.HON.GEN every-day Bangla practice do-VN-GEN need ‘You must study Bangla daily.’

(10.172) আপনার িতিদন বাংলা চচা করা উিচৎ। apnar proti-din baŋla cɔrca kɔr-a ucit 2SG.HON.GEN every-day Bangla practice do-VN proper ‘You should study Bangla daily.’

(10.173) আপনার িতিদন বাংলা চচা করার কথা। apnar proti-din baŋla cɔrca kɔr-a kɔtha 2SG.HON.GEN every-day Bangla practice do-VN word ‘You are supposed to study Bangla daily.’

~~10.6.6 Objective case~~

Unlike what is seen in impersonal constructions in many other languages, arguments in Bangla are not promoted to being the grammatical subject, even when an agent is not marked with the nominative case. Therefore, regardless of whether the subject in 10.174 and 10.175 is nominative or genitive, the object of liking does not change the agreement of the verb and still takes the objective case. In this case, the third person informal agreement may be seen as default agreement, since there is no subject for it to agree with. These constructions convey similar meaning, however the use of the nominative subject is slightly more direct and assertive whereas the genitive subject is more indirect and, where indirectness conveys politeness, it is also seen as more polite. 298 | Syntax

~~(10.174) আিম তামােক পছ কির। ami tomake pɔchondo kor-Ø-i 1SG.NOM 2SG.FAM.OBJ like do-PRS-1 ‘I like you.’~~

~~(10.175) আমার তামােক পছ হয়। amar tomake pɔchondo hɔ-Ø-e 1SG.GEN 2SG.FAM.OBJ like become-PRS-3.NHON ‘I like you.’~~

~~10.7 Negation~~

The negation marker in Bangla isনা /na/. In finite matrix clauses, it is placed after the verb. This is demonstrated 10.176 in and 10.177. (10.176) িহী কথা বিল না। hindi kɔtha bol-Ø-i na Hindi word say-PRS-1 NEG ‘I don’t speak Hindi.’

(10.177) আজ িবিরয়ানী খােবা না। aj biriyani kha-b-o na today biryani eat-FUT-1 NEG ‘I don’t want to eat biryani today.’ Bangla has a special negation marker for the perfect aspect, both present and past. This special negation is formed by using the present tense form of the verb, and affixing িন /ni/. It is most commonly translatable as didn’t or haven’t. This is exemplified in 10.178 and 10.179. (10.178) িকই বিলিন। kichu-i bol-Ø-i-ni anything-EMPH say-PRS-1-NEG.PRF ‘I didn’t say/ haven’t said anything.’

~~(10.179) আজ িবিরয়ানী খাইিন। aj biriyani kha-Ø-i-ni today biryani eat-PRS-1-NEG.PRF ‘I didn’t eat/ haven’t eaten biryani today.’ Negation | 299~~

In all non-finite contexts (with the perfect participle, conditional participle, orim- perfect participle, for instance), the negation markerনা /na/occurs before the inflected verb form. (10.180) যিদ িতিদন চচা না কেরা, সবই jodi proti-din cɔrca na kor-Ø-o śɔb-i if every-day practice NEG do-PRS-2.FAM all-EMPH েল যােব। bhul-e ja-b-e forget-PRFP go-FUT-2.FAM ‘If you don’t study every day, you’ll end up forgetting everything.’

(10.181) য বড়াল এখনও খায়িন, je beṛal ækhon-o kha-Ø-e-ni CMPL cat now-INCL eat-PRS-3.NHON-NEG.PRF স আমার। śe amar 3SG.NHON.NOM 1SG.GEN ‘The cat that hasn’t eaten yet is mine.’

(10.182) যেথ না মােনা সহজ হেত jɔthesṭo na ghum-ano śɔhoj ho-te enough NEG sleep-VN easy become-IPFP পাের। par-Ø-e be.able-PRS-3.NHON ‘It can be easy not to sleep enough.’

(10.183) িকই না বেল চেল kichu-i na bol-e col-e anything-EMPH NEG say-PRFP move-PRFP গেছ। gæ-ch-Ø-e go.PRF-PRF-PRS-3.NHON ‘Without saying anything, she left.’ In subordinate contexts in which the verb is finite, however, the negation marker may optionally either precede or follow the verb, As noted above, in a jodi conditional, the negation must precede the verb . Thus, 300 | Syntax

(10.184) যিদ িতিদন চচা কেরা না, সবই jodi proti-din cɔrca kɔr-Ø-o na śɔb-i if every-day practice do-PRS.2.FAM NEG all-EMPH েল যােব। bhul-e ja-b-e forget-PRFP go-FUT-2.FAM ‘If you don’t study every day, you’ll end up forgetting everything.’

(10.185) িতিদন চচা না করেল সবই েল proti-din cɔrca na korle śɔb-i bhul-e every-day practice NEG do- all-ENMPH forget-PRFP যােব। ja-b-e go-FUT-2.FAM ‘If you don’t study every day, you’ll end up forgetting everything.’

(10.186) য বড়াল এখনও খাে না স je beṛal ækhon-o khacch-e na śe CMPL cat now-EMPH eat-PRES.PROG NEG 3SG.NHON.NOM আমার। amar 1SG.GEN ‘The cat that isn’t eating now is mine.’ The negation markerনা /na/may be used to carry an implication that a choice is exclusive, and thus may be translated as ‘either...or....’ Further,না /na/ may also be used between two noun phrases in an interrogative context to mean or. বা /ba/ ‘or’ andঅথবা /ɔthoba/ ‘or’ also may be used to mean or. (See Section 8.4.1 for examples.) The negation marker may also be used between two imperfect participles to express as soon as or while, as mentioned in Section 10.3.4. References Cited

Abbi, Anvita 1990. Experiential Constructions and the ‘Subjecthood’ of the Experiencer NPs in South Asian Languages. In Experiencer Subjects in South Asian Languages. Ed. by Manindra K. Verma: 254– 266. Anderson, Gregory D. S. 2007. The Munda Verb: Typological Perspectives. Trends in Linguistics. Stud- ies and Monographs 174. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Anttila, Raimo 1989. Historical and Comparative Linguistics. 2nd revised ed. Amsterdam/Philadel- phia: John Benjamins. Azad, Humayun 1983. Pronominalization in Bengali. Dhaka, India: University of Dhaka. Bashir, Elena 1996. Mosaic of Tongues – Part II: Quotatives and Complementizers in Northwest Indo- Aryan, Burushaski, and Balti. In Studies of Popular Culture in Pakistan. Ed. by William Hanaway. Islamabad: Lok Virsa. Bayer, Josef 1999. Final complementizers in hybrid languages. Journal of Linguistics 35: 233–271. — 2001. Two grammars in one: sentential complements and complementizers in Bengali and other South-Asian languages. In The Yearbook of South Asian Languages and Linguistics: Tokyo Symposium on South-Asian Languages – Contact, Convergence, and Typology. Ed. by Peri Bhaskararao and Kārumūri V. Subbārāo. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Bhattacharya, Tanmoy 1999. The Structure of the Bangla DP. PhD thesis. University College London. — 2000. Peripheral and Clause-Internal Complementizers in Bangla: A Case for Remnant Move- ment. In Proceedings of Western Conference on Linguistics. Ed. by Vida Samiian. Fresno, CA: 100– 112. — 2001. Bengali (Bangla). In Facts About the World’s Languages: An Encyclopedia of the World’s Major Languages: Past and Present. Ed. by Jane Garry and Carl Rubino. New York: H.W. Wil- son: 65–71. Bhattacharya, Tanmoy and Andrew Simpson 2011. Diagnosing double object constructions in Bangla/Ben- gali. Lingua 121.6: 1067–1082. Bird, Steven and Gary Simons 2003. Seven dimensions of portability for language documentation and description. Language 79.3: 557–582. Borghoff, U.M., P. Rödig, J. Scheffczyk, and L. Schmitz 2006. Long-Term Preservation of Digital Docu- ments: Principles and Practices. Berlin: Springer. Bowern, Claire 2008. The Diachrony of Complex Predicates. Diachronica 25.2: 161–185. Bright, William 1966. Dravidian Metaphony. Language 42.2: 311–322. Brugman, Claudia, Thomas Conners, Anne David, and Amalia Gnanadesikan 2013. Beyond Aspect: The Participant in South Asian Light Verb Constructions. In Penser le lexique-grammaire: perspectives actuelles. Ed. by Fryni Kakoyianni-Doa. Paris: Éditions Honoré Champion: 265–276. Butt, Miriam 2003. The Light Verb Jungle. Harvard Working Papers in Linguistics 9: 1–49. Chacón, Dustin 2011. Classifying Bengali as Southeast Asian: an Analysis of Definiteness and Quan- tificational Approximateness in the DP. Journal of South Asian Linguistics 4. Chatterji, Suniti Kumar 1926. The Origin and Development of the Bengali Language. New Delhi, India: Rupa Company. — 1986. A Bengali Phonetic Reader. Kolkata: Rupa. Cutler, Norman 1987. Songs of Experience: The Poetics of Tamil Devotion. Indiana University Press. Dasgupta, Probal 1983. The Bangla classifier /Ta/, its penumbra, and definiteness. Indian Linguis- tics 44: 11–26. — 1988. Bangla Quantifier Extraction, Unaccusative in-situ, and the ECP. Linguistic Inquiry 9.4: 691– 698. — 2003. Bangla. In The Indo-Aryan Languages. Ed. by George Cardona and Dhanesh Jain. London and New York: Routledge. 302 | References Cited

David, Anne 2014. Descriptive Grammar of Pashto and Its Dialects. Vol. I. CASL Grammar Series. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. Davis, Mark and Martin Dürst 2008. Unicode Normalization Forms. Unicode Standard Annex #15. Standard. url: http://unicode.org/reports/tr15/. Dimock, Edward, Somdev Bhattacharji, and Suhas Chatterjee 1997. Introduction to Bengali, Part 1. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers and Distributors. Dixon, R. M. W. 2010. Basic Linguistic Theory, Volume 1: Methodology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Emeneau, M. B. 1956. India as a Linguistic Area. Language 32.1: 3–16. Feldman, Anna and Jirka Hana 2010. A Resource-Light Approach to Morpho-Syntactic Tagging. Lan- guage and Computers: Studies in Practical Linguistics, 70. Amsterdam: Rodopi. Ferguson, Charles A. and Munier Chowdhury 1960. The Phonemes of Bengali. Language 36.1: 22–59. Ghosh, Sanjukta and Siddharth Chakraborty 2006. Identification and Characterization of N-V Com- plex Predicates in Bangla. In The First National Symposium on Modeling and Shallow Parsing of Indian Languages. Bombay. Hacker, Paul 1958. Zur Funktion einiger Hilfsverben im modernen Hindi. Mainz: Verlag der Wis- senschaften und der Literatur. Hai, M. A. 1975. Dhonibiggan o Bangla dhonitatto. Dhaka: Barnamichil. Hayes, Bruce and Aditi Lahiri 1991. Bengali Intonational Phonology. Natural Language and Linguistic Theory 9: 47–96. Hook, Peter 1991. The Emergence of Perfective Aspect in Indo-Aryan Languages. In Approaches to Grammaticalization, Vol. II. Ed. by E. Traugott and B. Hein. Amsterdam: John Benjamins: 59–89. — 2001. Where Do Compound Verbs Come From? (And Where Are They Going?) In The Yearbook of South Asian Languages and Linguistics: Tokyo Symposium on South-Asian Languages – Con- tact, Convergence, and Typology. Ed. by Peri Bhaskararao and Kārumūri V. Subbārāo. New Delhi: Sage Publications. Jenny, Mathias, Tobias Weber, and Rachel Weymuth 2014. The Austroasiatic Languages: A Typolog- ical Overview. In The Handbook of Austroasiatic Languages. Ed. by Paul Sidwell and Mathias Jenny. Vol. 1. Leiden: Brill: 13–143. Jiang, Haowen 2010. Malayalam: A Grammatical Sketch and a Text. Unpublished manuscript, Dept. of Linguistics, Rice University. Kar, Somdev 2010. Syllable Structure of Bangla: An Optimality-Theoretic Approach. Newcastle-upon- Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Karim, Piar 2011. Light Verbs and Noun Verb Agreement in Hunza Burushaski. Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies 3.3. Katenina, T. E. 1957. Kratkii ocherk grammatiki iazyka khindi. In Russko-khindi slovar. Ed. by A. Beskrovny. Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe Izadatel’stvo Inostrannykh i Natsional’nykh Slovarei: 1279– 1376. Khan, Sameer ud Dowla 2007. The distribution and realization of H tones in Bengali. UCLA Working Papers in Phonetics 106. — 2008. Intonational Phonology and Focus Prosody of Bengali. Dissertation. UCLA. Klaiman, Miriam 1980. Bengali Dative Subjects. Lingua 51: 275–295. — 1987 (revised 1990). Bengali. In The World’s Major Languages. Ed. by Bernard Comrie. London: Routledge: 75–95. Knuth, Donald E. 1992. Literate Programming. CSLI Lecture Notes. Stanford: Center for the Study of Language and Information. Krishnamurti, Bh. 1998. Telugu. In The Dravidian Languages. Ed. by Sanford Steever. London: Rout- ledge. — 2003. The Dravidian Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. References Cited | 303

Kuiper, F. B. J. 1967. The Genesis of a Linguistic Area. Indo-Iranian Journal 10.2–3: 81–102. Masica, Colin P. 1991. The Indo-Aryan Languages. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. — 2005. Defining a Linguistic Area: South Asia. Second ed. New Delhi: Chronicle Books. Murphy, John D. 1959. A Bengali Handbook. Ft. George G. Meade, MD: National Security Agency. Narula, Shamsher Singh 1955. Scientific History of the Hindi Language. New Delhi: Hindi Academy. Paul, Soma 2004. An HPSG Account of Bangla Compound Verbs and LKB Implementation. PhD thesis. University of Hyderabad. Radice, William 2003. Teach Yourself Bengali. Blacklick, OH: McGraw-Hill. Ramanujan, A. K. and Colin P. Masica 1969. Towards a Phonological Typology of the Indian Linguistic Area. In Current Trends in Linguistics. Vol. 5. The Hague: Mouton: 543–577. Ramchand, Gilian Catriona 1990. Complex Predicate Formation in Bangla. In Ninth West Coast Confer- ence on Formal Linguistics. Ed. by Aaron Halpern. CSLI: 443–458. Resnik, Philip, Mari B. Olsen, and Mona Diab 1999. The Bible as a parallel corpus: Annotating the “Book of 2000 Tongues”. Computers and Humanities 33: 129–153. Sarkar, Pabitra 1976. The Bengali Verb. International Journal of Dravidian Linguistics 5: 274–297. — 1985. Bangla diswar dhoni. Kolkata: Bhasa. — 1986. Aspects of Bengali syllables. Paper presented at the National Seminar on the Syllable in Phonetics and Phonology. Hyderabad. Seely, Clinton B. 2002/2006. Intermediate Bangla (Bengali). Muenchen: LINCOM Europa (2002); PDF Digital Edition (2006). Shapiro, Michael C. and Harold F. Schiffman 1981. Language and Society in South Asia. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass. Sharbani, Banerji 2003. Focus, Word Order, and Scope Effects in Bangla. Folia Linguistica 37.1–2. Simpson, Andrew and Tanmoy Bhattacharya 2004. Obligatory Overt Wh-Movement in a Wh-in-situ Language. Linguistic Inquiry 34.1: 127–142. Smith, W. L. 1997. Bengali Reference Grammar. Stockholm Oriental textbook series 1. Stockholm: Association of Oriental Studies. Sridhar, S. N. 1990. Kannada. London: Routledge. Stayton, Bob 2007. DocBook XSL: The Complete Guide. 4th ed. Sagehill Enterprises. url: http:// www.sagehill.net/book-description.html. Strand, Richard n.d. Nuristan: Hidden Land of the Hindu-Kush. Website. url: http : / / nuristan . info/index.html#NURISTAN. Subbārāo, Kārumūri V. 2012. South Asian Languages: A Syntactic Typology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thompson, Hanne-Ruth 2010. Bengali: A Comprehensive Grammar. London: Routledge. Unicode Consortium n.d. The Unicode Standard. Standard. Mountain View, CA. url: http://www. unicode.org/versions/latest/. Yarowsky, David 2002. Modeling and Learning Multilingual Inflectional Morphology in a Minimally Supervised Framework. PhD thesis. Johns Hopkins.

~~Michael Maxwell, Thomas Conners and Anne Boyle David A The Digital Grammar~~

~~A.1 Overview~~

This book is a grammar of Bangla. The print version of the grammar is produced from an electronic form written in XML (Extensible Markup Language). This is supplemented by a formal grammar, also written in XML, which encapsulates the morphological and phonological part of the descriptive grammar, and which may be used to build a morphological parser. This formal grammar is available for download from deGruyter Mou- ton. This appendix describes how the technical aspects of the grammar are conceptu- alized. Included is a brief description of the structure of the formal grammar, and the twin processes for converting the XML document into a print grammar (specifically, a PDF) and into a morphological parser. As an XML document, the grammar is structured into two separate but largely parallel grammars, which we refer to as the descriptive grammar and the formal grammar. The contents of this book constitute the descriptive grammar—a linguistic description of Bangla in English. The other grammar is a formal grammar of Bangla morphology and phonology, suitable for automatic extraction and conversion into a form usable by a computer program. The formal grammar portion of the XML document is intended to be converted into a morphological parser (essentially, software which can analyze Bangla words in terms of their constituent morphemes); the descriptive grammar portion is intended to be converted into Portable Document Format (PDF) for printing or on-line viewing. When the grammar is converted to PDF, the parts containing the formal grammar can optionally be included.. The mechanism for producing the PDF (or other output formats) in these two forms is sketched in Section A.6. The formal grammar may be used in several ways:

~~• As a grammar which is easily converted into computational tools, such as morphological parsers.~~

~~• As a template for writing similar grammars of other languages.~~

~~• As a resource for automated grammar adaptation to related languages.~~

These intended uses are described in more detail in Section A.3. It is also possible to use the technique called “Literate Programming” (Knuth 1992) to convert both the descriptive and the formal grammars into a single PDF for readers who wish to see both. Literate Programming was developed as a way of improving the documentation of computer programs by allowing the programmer to embed pieces of a computer program into a prose document describing the program, in an order and 306 | The Digital Grammar arrangement that would make sense to the reader, rather than an arrangement that might be required by the computer language’s compiler program. Weaving together the two grammars allows the strengths of each to support the weaknesses of the other. In particular, a descriptive grammar written in a natural language such as English allows for nuanced descriptions of various phenomena and constructions; whereas a formal grammar requires unambiguous descriptions. In the form in which both are woven together, where the English description allows for multiple possible interpretations, referring to the formal grammar could disambiguate the intended meaning. Conversely, a weakness of formal grammars (and particularly formal grammars that are computer-readable, as is ours) is that they tend to be difficult for people to comprehend. Again, our intention is that the meaning of the formal grammar will be clarified by the prose of the descriptive grammar. The descriptive andformal grammar sections on a given topic are written in parallel fashion, making it easy to perform such disambiguation or clarification. The two grammars further support each other in providing test examples. The examples in the paradigm tables and the examples of usage can serve as tests of parser implementations, supplementing the use of corpora for parser testing. This is particularly important since some paradigm cells are likely to be sparsely attested in typical corpora. But since the complete paradigms of exemplar words are provided in this descriptive grammar, the parser can be tested on those more rarely used parts of the paradigm.

~~A.2 Audience~~

The grammar is in a format which is expected to be useful to linguists ten years or a hundred years from now, whether they wish to understand the structural properties of Bangla, or to use the grammar or parser on a new platform or computer environment. Linguists and learners of Bangla form the primary audience of this book. Since these users are largely concerned with understanding how the grammar works, and with the functional meaning of constructions, the formal grammar may be of less interest. This is why we have presented the formal grammar separately One additional intended user is a computational linguist. Since the formal grammar is especially concerned with morphology, and in particular with supporting the creation of morphological analysis tools, this application assumes that the computational linguist is knowledgeable about technology for morphological analysis, and conversant in basic linguistic terminology for morphology and phonology. For such a user, both the descriptive grammar and the formal grammar will be of interest. Another audience we have tried to keep in mind is the linguist who is charged with describing the grammar of another language, particularly of a related language. Such a person may wish to adopt the model given here to this other language. Depending on the purpose, the descriptive grammar, the formal grammar, or both, may be of interest More on uses of this grammar | 307 to those users. For the sake of all audiences, we have presented the linguistic analysis in a straightforward way, avoiding, where possible, jargon and theory-specific terminology.

~~A.3 More on uses of this grammar~~

In this section we describe in more detail the potential applications we see for this grammar, beginning with computational uses. XML is a computer representation of text in which the function of pieces of text is indicated by tags. It provides a mechanism for describing the structure (as opposed to the display format) of documents. Specifically, the descriptive grammar’s source document is structured as a DocBook XML¹ document; DocBook is a form of XML that has been developed for book- and article-like documents, particularly technical documents like this one. The DocBook formalism, and the modifications to that formalism that we have used in this project, are described in more detail in the documentation supporting the formal grammar. The XML source of this grammar is available. For some purposes (such as converting the grammar into a form suitable for use with computational tools, as described in the next sub-section), the native XML is the appropriate format. But for other purposes, such as reading the grammatical description, it is convenient to format the text for viewing by converting the XML tags into formatting appropriate to the printed page. This can be done by a variety of means, since the DocBook XML format is a widely used format, and many tools are available for conversion. We describe in Section A.6 the method we have used to convert it to camera-ready copy as PDF. In the following section, we describe how the XML document is converted into software.

~~A.3.1 The grammar as a basis for computational tools~~

As we have discussed, because this document is intended as a description of the grammar of Bangla which will be simultaneously unambiguous and understandable, it is suitable for implementation as a computational tool, and in particular as a morphological parser or generator.² We describe the method for converting this grammar, and

1 We use DocBook version 5, with some extensions described later. 2 Finite State Transducers (FSTs) combine parsing and generation capabilities. Therefore, if the morphological parsing engine being used is an FST (such as the Xerox or Stuttgart Finite State Transducer tools), the “parsing” engine serves both as a parser and as a generator. Technically, we should therefore use the term “transducer” for the computational program which uses our grammar, but we continue to refer to this as a “parsing engine” for reasons of familiarity. 308 | The Digital Grammar in particular the formal grammar of Bangla morphology and phonology, into a form usable by computational tools in Section A.3.1.1. The descriptive grammar also includes a description of Bangla syntax. However, there is no formal grammar of the syntax, largely because it is difficult to define a formal grammar mechanism for syntax which would be as generic and theory neutral as the formal grammar schema for morphology and phonology. In theory, a grammar intended to be used by a computer does not need a descriptive component, written in natural language; a formal grammar, written in some unambiguous format, would suffice. In fact, such formal grammars have already been written for a variety of natural languages—and in many programming languages. A benefit to blending the XML formal grammar with a descriptive grammar, using the technology of Literate Programming (briefly described in Section A.1), renders this grammar both understandable by humans, as well as unambiguous to computers. This further makes the grammar more portable to future computing environments by extensively documenting in English each construct of the formal grammar. The result is that a computational linguist who is unfamiliar with our formal grammar schema should be able to understand the meaning of the formal grammar itself by referring to the descriptive grammar.

A.3.1.1 Building a parser and generator Using this grammar’s source document to produce computational implementation (a parser) requires several steps. In the first step, the formal grammar is extracted from the grammatical description as a whole (including the descriptive grammar). This operation has been programmed as a simple XSLT (Extensible Stylesheet Language Trans- formation), which operates on the complete XML grammar to extract the formal grammar in its XML format.³ Second, this extracted XML grammar is translated into the programming language of the chosen morphological parsing engine. This conversion could be done by any program which can parse XML and convert the result into other formats. We have implemented our converter in the Python programming language. We chose Python because it allows the use of an object-oriented programming approach, in which each linguistic structure expressed as an element in the XML grammar corresponds to a class. For example, there are elements in the XML grammar corresponding to classes in the Python converter for linguistic objects such as affixes, phonological rules, and allomorphs. This part of the converter program is analogous to the front end of a programming language compiler: it ensures that the formal grammar is syntactically correct, and if so gener- ates an intermediate representation in terms of Python objects.

~~3 An example of a piece of this formal grammar structure in XML form is given in Section A.3.2. More on uses of this grammar | 309~~

The other half of the converter is specific to the particular morphological parsing engine being targeted, and it rewrites the grammar into that programming language. This half is thus analogous to the back end of a programming language compiler: it translates from the intermediate representation of the grammar as Python objects, into the target programming language.⁴ Our converter currently targets the Stuttgart Finite State Transducer tools.⁵ Target- ing a different parsing engine would require rewriting this half of the converter forthe new parsing engine. The converter program is generic in terms of the language being described: that is, the same converter will work for a grammar of any language for which an XML grammar conforming to the schemas has been written.⁶ The final step of the conversion process is to use the parsing engine to compile the converted grammar together with an electronic dictionary of the language.⁷ In summary, the XML-based grammars serve as a stable way to define the morphological analysis of natural languages, so that the grammars can be used by different parsing engines. The converter can be used for any language for which the morphology has been described using the formal grammar. When a new and better parsing engine is developed, and the grammar needs to be ported to that new parsing engine, only part of the converter needs to be changed; the grammatical description can be re-used without change.

4 Modern programming language compilers often include a “middle end,” where optimization is done. This is not directly relevant to our converter, since any optimization is highly dependent on the target programming language. In fact, the back end of our converter currently does do some optimization for the Stuttgart Finite State Transducer (SFST). In particular, SFST’s own compilation phase becomes very slow and memory-intensive under certain circumstances. In order to avoid this, our converter breaks large compilation steps into shorter ones. This affects only SFST’s compilation; the final morphological transducer would be virtually the same regardless of this optimization. 5 The Stuttgart Finite State Transducer is an open source program, available from http://www.ims.uni-stuttgart.de/projekte/gramotron/SOFTWARE/SFST.html; it supports the kinds of constructions needed for most languages. 6 While the converter accounts for the morphological constructions needed for Bangla, there are some linguistic constructs in other languages, such as infixes and reduplication, which are allowed in the formal grammar schema but are not yet handled by the converter. 7 Normally, an electronic dictionary is a required resource. Fortunately, dictionaries are almost always more easily obtained than grammars, at least grammars of the sort required for morphological parsing. Electronic dictionaries will, however, require effort to convert them into the form required by the parsing engine. For some languages, this work will be simply extracting words belonging to the various parts of speech into separate files; for other languages, including Bangla, more information is required, including declension classes (for nouns and adjectives) and stem class allomorphy. The details of how this information needs to be represented will vary, depending on the particular parsing engine. 310 | The Digital Grammar

~~A.3.2 The grammar as a description~~

This grammar is primarily a linguistic description of the Bangla language. By linguistic description we mean a description that uses such established linguistic constructs as allomorph and morphosyntactic features. A formal grammar also constitutes a description, and in fact one which may help disambiguate a descriptive grammar. As an XML document, however, a formal grammar is difficult for people to read. It is possible, in order to make the formal grammar more accessible to linguists (particularly to linguists who are not familiar with the XML notation), to add to our XML-to-PDF conversion process the capability of converting the XML formal grammar notation into a notation more similar to a traditional linguistic description. For example, the XML representation of inflectional affixation in agglutinating languages uses a structure which (in somewhat simplified form) looks like the following (this example is based on Turkish):

For a linguist, a more useful (and more readable) display of this XML structure might be the following table, in which the slots have been treated as columns in a table of affixes, and the individual affixes are displayed as a pairing of aglossand Spell correction | 311 form, rather than a reference to the definition of the affix elsewhere (the “idref” inthe above XML code):

~~Stem Number suffix slot Case suffix slot~~

~~-Ø “-Singular” -Ø “-Nominative”~~

~~-in “-Genitive”~~

~~(Noun) -e “-Dative” -ler “-Plural” -i “-Accusative”~~

~~-den “-Ablative”~~

~~-de “-Locative”~~

We emphasize that this is a matter of how the XML structure is displayed, not a change in the underlying XML. This particular step (the conversion process from our XML-based grammar to a display in the form of tables or other forms familiar to linguists) is not implemented yet. However, the use of an XML formalism for both the descriptive and formal grammars means that when the display mechanism is programmed, we will be able to produce versions of this grammar as PDFs and other formats which incorporate the new display, without changing the underlying XML documents.

~~A.4 Spell correction~~

A morphological parser can serve as a spell checker. That is, in the absence of special rules allowing for spelling variation, a parser requires that words be spelled in a particular way in order to be parsed. Failure of a word to parse can therefore be con- strued to mean that the word is misspelled (although in fact, many parse failures can be attributed to other errors, such as a missing lexeme in the dictionary). However, it is frequently the case—particularly in less documented languages— that spelling conventions are not as fixed as they are for languages like English. This could obviously be important in the application of computer processing to printed texts, because while a morphological parser acts as a spell checker, it does not by itself constitute a spell corrector. That is, when a word fails to parse, the parser cannot suggest a corrected spelling. However, it is possible to build a spell corrector on top of a morphological parser. Spelling variation may in fact result from several different causes. In the absence of spelling standardization, some, but not all, variations can be termed errors; but regardless, all variation can cause problems for morphological parsing. Spell correction 312 | The Digital Grammar is therefore an important technology that can complement morphological parsing. We do not treat spelling variation in the formal grammar. However, the finite state technology currently used for morphological parsing can also be used to encode spelling variation rules.⁸

~~A.5 Grammar adaptation~~

There are hundreds of languages for which one might want to build morphological parsers.⁹All of these, we believe, can benefit from grammar writing using the multi- use framework we have developed. There are two major ways that our work could be leveraged so as to make grammars of a large number of languages, and tools built on those grammars, available: by having it serve as a model or template for other grammar writers; and by automatically or semi-automatically adapting the formal grammar of one language to another language. The two sub-sections below discuss each of these approaches in turn.

~~A.5.1 Manual grammar building~~

The traditional way to produce morphological parsers is to rely on highly trained linguists and computational linguists to learn the programming language for some morphological parsing engine (or to write one’s own parsing engine), learn the grammar and perhaps the writing system of the target language, and then use the former knowledge to encode the latter knowledge. An obvious impediment to this approach is that it is difficult to find one person who combines all these skills. Another difficulty, discussed above, is that parsing engines tend to be replaced with newer and better engines after a few years, rendering the parser that was built with so much expert effort obsolete. The multi-use grammar method which we have developed provides a way to avoid the first problem: to the extent that the descriptive and formal grammars are separable, they can be written by people who bring either of two skill sets: one, knowledge of the grammar (and writing system) of the target language; the other, experience in computer programming. It is, we believe, easier to find two different people (or perhaps two teams of people), one with each of these skill sets, than it is to find one person

8 Ideally, such rules are given “weights” which encode the likelihood that a given spelling variation will be found. Some finite state tools allow the use of such weights. 9 There are in the neighborhood of 7000 languages in the world today (http://ethnologue.org is a standard reference on languages of the world). Of these, perhaps 1500 to 2000 are written languages, and probably the majority of these have non-trivial inflectional morphologies. Over 300 languages have at least a million speakers. Grammar adaptation | 313 with both skills. We have in fact employed this division of labor in writing our grammars, and it has become clear that this approach to grammar writing makes it easier to build teams that can construct grammars and morphological parsers. The two grammars must still be written collaboratively, which calls for a close working relationship between the descriptive grammar writer and the formal grammar writer. While the authors of this pair of descriptive and formal grammars have worked in nearby offices, we believe that this working relationship can probably be more remote; e.g., it might be mediated by email or other collaborative technologies, allowing a descriptive grammar writing team from the linguistics department located in the country where a language is spoken, together with a formal grammar writing team from a computer science department, perhaps in a different country. It may be possible to further reduce the expertise needed to write grammars, if new grammars can be modeled after existing grammars. Although this grammar is the second in the series to appear, it was largely completed prior to the Pashto Grammar. All of the grammars in the present series, particularly those with more than trivial amounts of inflectional morphology, make use of this same framework. Using grammars as models might work best if the new grammars were for languages related to the ones already described, since the typology of the languages would be similar. But the use of model grammars may prove useful for unrelated languages as well. We have also developed grammar testing tools based on the information in the descriptive grammar. In particular, these tools use the example sentences and paradigm tables of the descriptive grammar as a source of parser test cases. Such testing of course needs to be supplemented by testing against corpora, which may reveal morphological constructions not previously described.

~~A.5.2 Automated grammar adaptation~~

Rather than writing grammars by hand, another approach to grammar adaptation would be to create a computer program that could automatically adapt an existing formal grammar to work for another language, related to the initial target language. (A computer could not be expected to adapt a descriptive grammar, since that would require understanding of an English grammatical description, something which is well beyond the current state of the art.) This task might be done with various sorts of resources in the third language: corpora, bilingual corpora in the third language and English, bilingual corpora in the third language and the initial target language, dictionaries of the third language, etc. In particular, the Bible is available in nearly every written language and therefore constitutes a parallel corpus (Resnik, Olsen, and Diab 1999). While the vocabulary of the Bible is not always useful in a modern context, there is no reason good Bible translations in two related languages could not serve as the ba- 314 | The Digital Grammar sis for converting the formal grammar of the morphology of one language into a formal grammar of the other language’s morphology. Some work on automatic grammar adaptation has been described in Yarowsky (2002) and Feldman and Hana (2010).

~~A.6 Formatting the grammar for viewing~~

This section describes the method we have used to convert this grammar into the print version. For formatting this grammar, we chose a typesetting method in the form of XeTeX, a Unicode-aware version of TeX and LaTeX, and developed by Jonathan Kew. (XeTeX is released under a free license; the latest distribution is currently included in the TeX Live distributions; see http://tug.org/texlive/.) The result is, we believe, quite pleasing. We chose this method over the usual method for formatting XML DocBook documents, which is through the use of XSL-FO (XSL Formatting Objects, see Stayton 2007). While this method works well in other cases (provided it is supplemented with the XSL transformations needed for our literate programming and interlinear text extensions), we were not satisfied that any of the available XSL-FO processors did a good jobof typesetting the script required for Bangla. It remained to find a way to convert our DocBook XML files into XeTeX. Fortunately, we found the dblatex program, which was designed to convert DocBook into LaTeX (and now into XeLaTeX). The author, Benoît Guillon, has been very helpful in modifying it to work well with XeTeX. Again, this is an open source program, available from Sourceforge http://sourceforge.net/projects/dblatex/. We have tweaked it slightly to allow for the conversion of the literate programming constructs and interlinear text; the latter was made easier by the existence of Michael Covington’s LaTeX macros for interlinear text. Again, these are freely licensed, and available in the same Tex Live distribution as XeTeX. One might ask why we did not write the grammar in LaTeX directly (or XeTeX). The main reason for this is that XML is a content markup system, while LaTeX is a presentation markup system. In part because of this, XML is now recognized as a standard for long term preservation of documents, particularly linguistic documents (see e.g. Borghoff et al. 2006 and Bird and Simons 2003). Content markup means that not only is the markup easily extensible, but by means of the judicious use of tags, we can extract elements for various purposes. For example, as mentioned in Section A.5.1, we can automatically extract all the words in both interlinear examples and example words in text, and use them to test a parser. In outline, the steps we have used to format this grammar are the following:

~~1. Combine the various files of the descriptive and formal grammars into asingle file, using the xsltproc program and the XSL weave stylesheet. Formatting the grammar for viewing | 315~~

2. Run dblatex to convert this file into a XeLaTeX file. Any non-DocBook standard elements, such as interlinear text and in-line examples, must be provided with special code to convert them into the format expected by XeLaTeX.

3. For all sequences of characters which require a special font (e.g. characters in the Devanagari block of Unicode), we wrap the sequences in a special tag, telling XeLaTeX to use the appropriate font for these characters. Special care needs to be taken at this point with punctuation marks, which can interact badly with right-to-left scripts.

~~4. Run XeTeX to produce a PDF.~~

~~B Unicode Representation~~

~~B.1 Diacritics~~

We said before (Section 3.4.2.2) that the dashed circle does not appear before vowel affixes in the descriptive grammar because we have followed Indic grammatical tradition by using a vowel letter, rather than a vowel diacritic, to represent a vowel-initial suffix when discussing it. However, in any other context in which we are discussing vowel diacritics or other symbols that in context may appear only with another a character for example, the candrabindu (◌ঁ ), the dashed circle is used as a placeholder for that other character. For example, many of the affixes in the formal grammar, where those affixes consist of a single vowel diacritic, are depicted with the circle, because the formal grammar requires that they contain the actual characters representing the suffix. As mentioned in Section 2.4, some vowel diacritics, such as◌ , violate the usual left-to-right rendering of sounds in the Bangla script: they are written to theleft of the consonant (or consonants) that the vowel sound follows—for example,ক /ke/— rather as if the English word bed were spelled ebd. The Unicode representation follows the pronunciation, not the visual representation, so that such vowel diacritics are written after (to the right of) the consonants that they are pronounced after. The correct on-screen (visual) representation is handled by the computer’s operating system or windows manager, which in effect reverses the vowel diacritic and the consonant. Not all operating systems do this correctly. Alphabetization in dictionaries also follows the pronunciation order rather than the linear order. Two Bangla vowel diacritics,◌া and ◌ৗ , are written in two parts, one part before their associated consonant (or consonants), and one part after the consonant. The Unicode representation for these vowels consists of a single character, and it is written after the consonant. Again, the correct display on a computer system mustbe handled by the computer’s operating system. Some characters in Unicode can be represented as the combination of two characters. For Bangla, this includes the candrabindu, the Unicode symbol ◌ঁ, which represents nasalization on a vowel. In the written form, it nevertheless usually appears as a diacritic over the (last) consonant preceding the vowel. The Unicode representation of this character, however, follows the vowel character that is being nasalized. As with the vowel diacritics, the proper display of this diacritic is the responsibility of the operating system.

~~B.2 Normalization~~

~~In some cases, Unicode provides two distinct ways of representing characters. In Bangla, this happens with the following characters: 318 | Unicode Representation~~

• The vowel diacritic O: this can be represented by the single Unicode character U+09CB ◌া , or by the sequence of Unicode characters U+09C7 (the vowel diacritic E,◌ ) plus U+09BE (the vowel diacritic AA,◌া ). It is more or less coincidental that the two halves of the vowel diacritic O appear on either side of the consonant they follow.

• The vowel diacritic AU, which can be represented by the single Unicode character U+09CC ◌ৗ, or by the sequence of Unicode characters U+09C7 (the vowel diacritic E, ◌) plus U+09D7 (the AU length mark,◌ৗ ). Again, it is more or less coincidental that the two halves of the vowel diacritic O appear on either side of the consonant they follow.

• The letter RRA, which can be represented by the single Unicode character U+09DC ড় , or by the sequence U+09A1 (the letter DDA,ড ) plus U+09BC (the Nukta, which appears as a dot under the preceding letter).

~~• The letter RHA, representable as U+09DDঢ় , or as the sequence U+09A2 (the letter DDHA, ঢ) plus the Nukta, U+09BC.~~

~~• The letter YYA, representable as U+09DF য়, or as the sequence U+09AF (the letter YA, য) plus the Nukta, U+09BC.~~

In order to compare two sequences of characters (for example, to look up a word in a dictionary), both sequences of characters must be represented in the same way. Where there are two Unicode representations for the same character, as in the cases above, this poses a problem; the sequences must be converted to a common representation. This conversion process is referred to as normalization. For Unicode, there are two standard normalized forms which are relevant to Bangla: NFC (Canonical Compo- sition) and NFD (Canonical Decomposition).¹ For all five cases described above, the NFD form is the sequence of two Unicode characters. That is, the NFD form for the vowel diacritic O is U+09CB plus U+09C7,etc. For the first two cases described above—the vowel diacritic O and the vowel diacritic AU—the NFC form is the single character, U+09CB and U+09CC respectively. However, for the last three cases—the letter RRA, the letter RHA, and the letter YYA—the NFC form is the same as the NFD form.² Normalization is important for the formal grammar given here. In particular, in order for a parser to be built using the formal grammar and a dictionary, the forms of

1 There are two other normalization forms, NFKC and NFKD; for purposes of the Bangla script, these are equivalent to NFC and NFD respectively (Davis and Dürst 2008). 2 The reason for this rather confusing difference between the first two cases on the one hand, and the other three cases on the other hand, has to do with the Unicode “Stability” policy. See the charts at http://www.unicode.org/charts/normalization/chart_Bengali.html, and the table at http://unicode.org/Public/UNIDATA/CompositionExclusions.txt. Normalization | 319 characters as used in the formal grammar will probably need to be converted into whatever Unicode form matches the same characters in a dictionary. The forms used in the formal grammar in this document are NFC. If possible, this normalization should be done after the formal grammar has been extracted and converted into a form inwhich any references to phonemes have been converted into the actual Unicode characters representing those phonemes. In that way, those characters will have been normalized in the same way that actual Unicode characters contained in the grammar are normalized.

~~Index~~

A-insertion 86, 87 Asamiya 5, 7, 9, 14, 17, 42, 48, 50, 55, Abbreviations 3–4 247 Ability 230, 231 Aspect 179 Abugidas 10, 11 – habitual 180, 186, 208–210 Accusative case 70 – imperfect 180, 186, 194–196, 208, 211– – see also Objective case 213 Adjectives 111–119, 256–258, 288 – imperfective 179 – as predicates 111, 112, 120 – see also Aspect imperfect – attributive 111 – perfect 180, 184, 186, 197, 199, 213– – comparative 112, 114 215, 219, 220, 246 – demonstrative 99, 121 – perfective 179 – derivation of 116 – see also Aspect perfect – of quantity 76 Aspiration see Consonants aspirated – ordering of 111 Assamese see Asamiya – superlative 115 Auxiliary verbs see Verbs auxiliary Adverbs 116, 153–156, 158–160 – derivation of 154, 170 Bangla Affixes 308, 310 – classification 5–7 – see also Suffixes – dialects 1, 9–10 Affricates 16 – see also Dialects Agents 265, 269, 292, 297 – diglossia see Diglossia Agreement – history 7–9, 49, 116, 147 – absent in adjectives 111 – ISO code 5 – absent with oblique subjects 292, 297 – literature 8 – default 297 – name 5 – in verbs 179 – official status 5, 9 – with pronouns 81 – orthography see Script Allomorphy 308 – script see Script – in classifiers 137 – speakers 1, 5 – in pronouns 82, 85–86, 90 – standardization 8 – in verbs 182, 186 – where spoken 1, 5, 8 Alphabets 10 Bangladesh 5, 9, 55, 137 – see also Abugidas Bengali see Bangla Alphasyllabaries 10 Bhakti poetry 7 – see also Abugidas Bhojpuri 5 Anaphors 247 Bihari languages 5 Arabic 27 Brāhmī 10 Burushaski 41–43, 45, 48 322 | Index

Calcutta Colloquial Bangla see Kolkata – in deictic constructions 121 Colloquial Bangla – ordering of 136, 137, 140, 144 Case 53, 54, 57, 68, 78, 81, 82 – types of 136 – instrumental nominative 77 – with indefinites 135 – nominative/accusative 68 – with interrogatives 135, 151 – non-canonical 291 – with numbers 146 – on pronouns 82, 152 – with quantifiers 123–125, 258 – on verbal nouns 233 – with verbal nouns 233 – with postpositions 155 Clitics 53, 168, 173, 259, 281 – with quantifiers 124 – see also Particles – see also Genitive case Comparatives 112–114 – see also Locative/instrumental case Complement clauses 288–290 – see also Nominative case Complementizers 168, 284, 285, 288– – see also Objective case 290 Causative verbs see Verbs causative – quotative 48 Cause clauses 237 Complex predicates 43–47, 222 Charyapada 7 – see also Light verbs Children 139 Compound verbs 46, 224, 234, 235 Chin 9 – see also Complex predicates Chittagonian 9 Concessive clauses 281, 283 Cholit Bangla 8, 155 Concessive particle 170 Chākmā 9 Conditional clauses 210, 232, 242, 282 Classifiers 50, 53, 54, 57, 76, 78, 99, Conjunct verbs 44, 273–275 111, 135–148, 259–263 Conjunctions 163–168 – -gacha, -gachi 147 – coordinating 164 – -guli 54, 78, 81, 140, 146 – subordinating 167 – -gulo 54, 78, 81, 140, 146, 258, 261 Conjunctive participles 8 – -jɔn 78, 138, 142, 146 Consonant lengthening see Gemination – -khana 141–143 Consonants 16–18, 23 – -khani 142, 143 – aspirated 23, 26, 43 – -phala, -phali 148 – clusters 23 – -ṭa 136–138, 142, 146, 258, 260 – geminate 17, 23, 30, 34 – -ṭi 137, 138, 142 – nasal 17 – -ṭuk, -ṭuku, -ṭukun, -ṭukuni 142 – orthography see Script orthography con- – and definiteness 258, 287 sonants – and humanness 136–138 – palatal 26 – and living things 141 – retroflex 26, 29, 42, 49 – and quantity 136 Copula 196, 216, 218, 250 – and shape 136, 141 Corpora 306, 313 – definition of 135 Correlative clauses see Relative clauses – frozen 147 Correlative pronouns see Pronouns cor- – functions of 142 relative Index | 323

Countability 136, 140, 143, 259, 260 Emphasis 70, 100, 101, 114, 121, 143, Counterfactuals 210 164, 169–171, 178, 229, 243, Cyrillic script 10 249, 255, 256, 259, 262, 277, 289 Dative case 70 English 10, 16, 17, 21, 184, 311 – see also Objective case Equational sentences 68, 250 Dative subjects 74, 292 Ergativity 50 – see also Oblique subjects Exclamations 173 Definiteness 53, 54, 57, 76, 81, 124, 136, Experiencer subjects see Oblique sub- 139–142, 144, 146, 258, 259 jects Deixis 81, 82, 90, 99, 121, 136 – see also Demonstratives Focus 247 Demonstratives 136, 170, 287 Formal grammar 305–315 Deontic modal 237 Formality 81, 139, 142, 179, 184, 185, Devanagari 10, 11, 315 192, 203, 259 Dhaka Colloquial Bangla 19, 82, 90, 138, – and diminutives 138 142, 217, 252 – in pronouns 82, 87, 90, 92, 95, 96 Dialects Fricatives 16 – Chittagonian see Chittagonian – see also Sibilants – Dhaka Colloquial Bangla see Dhaka Col- Future tense see Tense future loquial Bangla, 9, 54 – Kolkata Colloquial Bangla see Kolkata Geminates see Consonants geminate Colloquial Bangla, 8, 9, 54 Gemination 178 – literary 21, 55, 77, 246 Gender 53, 81 – nonstandard 55, 76 Genitive case 53, 54, 63, 65, 72, 76, 108, – Rajbangsi see Rajbangsi 109, 113–115, 119, 129, 138, 156– – spoken 9, 34, 129, 136, 146, 245 160, 162, 163, 233–237, 278, – Standard Colloquial Bangla 1, 9, 137 291 – standard written 1, 8 – marking attributes 72 – Sylheti see Sylheti – marking objects of postpositions 74 – women’s 244 – marking possession 72 Dictionaries 309, 311 – marking subjects 73, 292–295 Diglossia 7–8 Glide insertion 61 Diminutives 137, 140, 142 Glides 14, 15, 24, 26 Diphthongs 14, 15, 49, 180 Glossing 3 Direct objects see Objects direct Hindi 5, 28, 50, 287 Discourse 100, 247 Historical present 191, 196 Disjunction 244 Honorifics 53, see Formality Dravidian languages 41, 42, 45, 47–49, Humanness 53–55, 57, 76, 78, 224, 259, 51, 224 279 Echo words 111, 176 – and case marking 70, 76 – and classifiers 136–138 324 | Index

– and quantifying pronouns 108 Loanwords 16, 17, 21, 27, 46, 60, 184, – in locative expressions 76, 81, 101, 105 273 – in plural 61, 65 Locative case see Locative/instrumen- – in pronouns 81, 82, 84, 92, 95, 96, tal case 101, 103, 105 Locative/instrumental case 53–55, 57, – marked in plural 54 67, 69, 75, 84, 101, 154, 155, – postpositions and 155, 158–163 161, 163, 237, 278, 279, 291

I-deletion 86 Magahi 5 Immediate future 196, 207 Mahābhārata 7 Inclusion 169, 170 Maithili 5 Indefinite article 137, 139, 141 Malayalam 5, 43 India 5, 8, 10, 41 Measure words see Classifiers Indirectness 297 Metaphony see Vowel height raising Indo-Aryan languages 5, 7, 41–43, 45, Middle Bangla 7, 8 47–50, 68, 70, 96, 129, 224, Modal verbs see Verbs modal 247, 288 Modality 202, 230, 232, 243, 296 Information structure 247, 252 Modern Bangla 7 Instrumental case see Locative/instru- Morphological parser 305, 308, 309, 311, mental case 312 International Alphabet of Sanskrit Translit- Morphology 8, 305, 306 eration 26 Morphophonology 20 International Phonetic Alphabet 13, 26 Munda 5 Interrogatives 103, 135, 149–153, 170, Munda languages 41–43, 45, 47–49, 51 172, 252, 253 Māgadhī languages 5, 7, 14, 17, 42, 48, – ke 151 49, 51 – ki 150, 152, 166 Narration 191, 196, 199, 207 – kæmon 150 Nasal consonants see Consonants nasal – kɔto 151 Nasal deletion 86 IPA 34, 35 Nasalized vowels 14, 42, 43, 86, 90 Irrealis 191, 208 Negation 171, 242–246, 298 Kharia 5 – and tense 242 Kinship terms 255, 260 – of equation 245 Kolkata Colloquial Bangla 19, 28, 82, – of existential 218, 245 86, 90, 137, 142, 188, 194, 217 – of imperfect participles 205, 228 Kurux 5, 49, 51 – of perfect participles 225 – of perfects 199, 215, 298 Language Day 9 – of verbal nouns 120 Light verbs 43, 44, 177, 235, 266–271, – of verbs 242 273 – ordering of 242, 243, 246, 288, 290, – see also Conjunct verbs 298, 299 Literate programming 306, 308, 314 – scope of 247 Index | 325

Negative particles 151, 165, 174, 242, Oriya 5, 7, 14, 48–50, 247 244–246, 269, 277, 281, 298– Orthography see Script 300 – order of 106 Pakistan 8, 9, 41 Nicobarese 5 Palatal consonants see Consonants palatal Nominative case 53, 54, 61, 68, 81, 90, Particles 168–173 108, 160, 162, 233, 292 – -i 169, 170 – plural 61 – -o 170 Noun phrases 72, 99, 124, 137, 142– – ba 172 144, 255–264, 287 – ja 173 – headless 257 – je 172 Nouns 53–80 – ki 173 – allomorphy 60–61 – negative see Negative particles – as modifiers 119 – ordering of 169 – bare 143 – orthography of 169 – derivation of 78–80, 111, 135, 146 – to 171 – inflection 54–78 Pashto 41, 42, 45, 47, 48, 50 – plural 76 Passives 235, 265 – unmarked 69 Permission 230 – with classifiers 136 Persian 27, 44 Number 53, 142 Person 82, 179 – in adjectives 111 Personal names 28, 76, 264 – in nouns 54, 55, 57, 68, 76 Phonemes 14–18 – in pronouns 81, 82, 84, 95, 106 – in loanwords 16 – indefinite 263 – transcription of 13 – specified by classifiers 84, 95, 136, 140, Phonemic transcription see Transcrip- 141 tion – unmarked in verbs 179, 180 Phonology 8, 13–25, 42–43, 48–50, 305, Number names 76, 78, see Quantifiers 306, 308 Nuristani languages 41–43, 45, 47, 50 – previous work 13, 15, 16, 24 Phonotactics 18–24 Objective case 53–55, 57, 66, 70, 83, Plural 53, 78, 81, 261 95, 161, 259, 266, 291, 297 – associative 264 Objects 68, 70 – indefinite collective 77 – direct 69, 249, 259 – locative 76 – indirect 69, 71 – marked by reduplication 174 – of postpositions 69, 71 – nominative 61 Obligation 231, 296 – not marked 76 Oblique subjects 47, 54, 68, 74, 76, 292 – nouns 76 Old Bangla 7 – objective 66 Onomatopoeia 47, 176, 189 – objective/genitive human 65 Oraon 5 – see also Number 326 | Index

Possession 296 Quantifiers 108, 109, 123–136, 140, 142, Possessive see Genitive case 146, 258–263 Possibility 230, 232 – approximate 130 Postposing of constituents 248 – indefinite 135 Postpositions 155–163, 226, 278–280 – interrogative 105, 135 – assigning case 70, 71, 74 – number names 124, 143 – derivation of 278 – cardinal 125, 129 – locative 76, 84 – ordinal 125, 128, 129 – not assigning case 68, 70 Questions – of comparison 112, 115 – embedded 254 – participial 150 – indirect 290 – with genitive case 156, 162 – Wh- 253, 254 – with objective case 162 – word order in 252 – with verbal nouns 236 – yes/no 173, 252 Predicate adjectives 228 Quotative 237 Predicate nominals 68 Prefixes Rajbangsi 9 – negative 120 Ray, Satyajit 29 Prepositions 161, 163, 279 Reduplication 47, 111, 173–177, 226– – see also Postpositions 228 Present tense see Tense present – echoic 176 Pro-forms see Pronouns, 96, 109 – of imperfect participle 277 Prohibition 245 – partial 176 Pronouns 8, 81–110, 171 – reciprocals 177 – correlative 92, 95–97, 243, 284–286 – total 174, 175 – see also Pronouns relative Relative clauses 96, 284–288 – demonstrative 81, 90, 99, 121, 140 – free relatives 287 – derivation of 136, 140, 170 Retroflex consonants 17, see Consonants – first person 81, 87 retroflex – indeclinable 109 Roman script 10 – indefinite 105, 106 Romanization see Transcription – interrogative 103, 105, 136, 138, 151 Rāmāyaṇa 7 – negative 106 Sanskrit 8, 11, 15, 23, 28, 34, 60, 73, – personal 81, 87–95, 108 114–117, 129 – quantifying 108, 109 Scrambling 247, 253 – reflexive 100, 101 – and light verbs 269 – relative 95–99, 284–286 Script 10–11 – second person 81, 85, 87, 101 – alphabetical order 34 – third person 81, 86, 90, 92, 95, 96 – apostrophe 28, 105, 125 Proximity see Deixis – biśɔrgo 34 Purposive clauses 236, 276, 290 – candrabindu 317 Python programming language 308, 309 – conjunct consonants 30 Index | 327

– conjunct letters 11 Slang 142 – dashed circle 27, 34, 317 South Asian Sprachbund 41–48, 105, – hoshonto 11 135 – hyphen 120 Speaker attitude 259 – independent vowel see Script vowel Specificity 81, 243 letter – see also Definiteness – inherent vowel 10, 25–27, 61, 182 Spell checker see Spell correction – khɔnḍo tɔ 29 Spell correction 311 – nukta 318 Stop consonants 16 – numerals 124 Stress 24 – on computers 11, 317 Stuttgart Finite State Transducer 309 – orthography 13, 20, 25–34, 60 Subjects 68, 281, 291–293, 296, 297 – consonants 29 – of conditional participles 232 – etymological spellings 28 – of imperfect participles 227 – nasals 29 – of perfect participles 224 – of echo words 176 – of verbal nouns 233 – of suffixes 27, 317 – see also Oblique subjects – particles 169 Subordinate clauses 281–291 – sibilants 30 Suffixes 82 – spelling variation 28, 311 – -a 179, 183, 234 – verbs 183, 188, 189, 200, 203 – -ami 79 – vowels 26, 182 – -ba 234, 239 – word spacing 183, 244 – -dar 79 – relation to phonology 13, 15, 27, 29 – -der/-eder 54, 61, 65 – typesetting 314 – -derke 54, 82 – virama see Script hoshonto – -dig 55 – visarga see Script biśɔrgo – -e 224, 239 – vowel diacritic see Script vowel diacritic, – -e, -ye 116 10, 27, 55, 60, 317, 318 – -e/-te 67, 77, 78 – vowel length 26 – -ete 55 – vowel letter 10, 26, 27, 55, 60 – -i 79 – vowel sign 10 – -ik 79, 117 – yɔ-phola 28, 29, 33 – -ito 73, 119 – ɔntɔśtho yɔ 33 – -iye 224, 239 – ɔntɔśtho ɔ 33 – -kar, -ker 116 Shadhu Bangla 8, 155–162 – -ke 66 Sibilants 17, 30, 49 – -le 232 Singular – -na 79 – genitive 63 – -no 179, 183, 234, 239 – locative 76 – -nto 119 – nominative 61 – -o 116 – objective 66 – -r/-er 63 328 | Index

– -ra 76 – present 20, 179, 184, 185, 189–192, – -ra/-era 61, 62 194–197, 199, 216–221 – -re 55 Tibeto-Burman languages 41, 43, 47, 48, – -ta 79 50, 51 – -te 227 Time 69, 143, 162, 259, 263 – -tɔmo 115 – see also Tense – -tɔro 114 Transcription 25–28, 30, 31, 34, 35 – -wa 179, 183, 234 Transliteration see Transcription – -ṭa 78 Turkish 44, 310 – -ṭi 78 – adjectival 116 Umlaut 13, 20 – classifiers see Classifiers Uncertainty 171 – nominal 54–60, 68, 78, 79 Unicode 11, 35, 39, 315, 317 – allomorphy 61–68 Urdu 8 – plural 61, 76, 77, 146 Valency 264–268 – plural human 59 Verbal adjectives 73, 120 – plural non-human 59 – see also Verbal nouns – portmanteau 54 Verbal nouns 120, 179, 183–186, 216– – pronominal 82, 87–89, 91–96, 104, 218, 222, 233, 239, 265, 277, 105 287, 296 – verbal 179, 181, 183, 195, 197, 198, 201, – as modifiers 120 204, 206, 209, 212–214 – in passives 265 – causative 188 – reduplication of 177 Superlatives 115 Verbalizers see Conjunct verbs Suppletion Verbs 179–246 – in pronouns 90 – absolutive see Verbs participles con- Suppositions 207 ditional Sylheti 9 – aspects see Aspect Syllabification 15, 24 – auxiliary 247 Syntax 247–300, 308 – borrowed 273 Tagore, Rabindranath 8 – causative 162, 188, 239–241, 266, 267, Tamil 5, 43, 47, 51 292 Telicity 268 – triple causatives 240, 241 Telugu 5, 43, 51 – citation form 179, 183, 234 Temporal clauses 232, 236 – classes 183, 197, 203, 205, 208, 213 Tense 179 – class 1 184, 185, 189, 192, 194, 200, – future 20, 179, 185, 186, 194, 200– 211, 224, 227, 232, 234, 239 205, 217 – class 2 184, 186, 224, 227, 232, 234, – past 180, 186, 205–213, 215–217, 219– 239, 246 222 – class 3 185, 186, 189, 192, 194, 200, 211, 224, 227, 232, 234, 239 Index | 329

– class 4 186, 192, 224, 227, 232, 234, – imperfect 170, 184–187, 222, 227, 239 246, 275, 277, 296 – class 5 180, 182, 186, 194, 200, 211, – past 184, 185, 219 224, 227, 232, 234, 239 – past active see Verbs participles per- – class 6 188, 224, 227, 234, 239 fect – class 7 188, 192, 197, 213, 224, 227, – perfect 73, 154, 155, 170, 174, 197, 232, 234 213, 224–227, 239, 268, 278, 281 – compound see Compound verbs – present 119 – conditional 180, 184–187, 208, 210, – participles; conditional 222 232 – participles; perfect 222 – see also Verbs participles conditional – passive see Passives – conjunct see Conjunct verbs – phonology of 20, 22, 28 – conjunctive see Verbs participles con- – pseudo-causative 188, 239 ditional – stems 182–186, 188, 192, 197, 200, – conjunctive participles see Verbs par- 208, 211, 213, 224, 227, 232, 234, ticiples perfect 239, 240 – converbs 224 – tenses see Tense – see also Verbs participles perfect – three-letter 188 – defective 216, 218, 245, 246 Vowel deletion 61 – derivation 188 Vowel height 18 – ditransitive 70, 267 – assimilation see Vowel height raising – existential 216–218, 251 – neutralization 19 – four-letter 189 – raising 19, 22, 27, 29, 85, 90, 116, 137, – gerund-participle see Verbal nouns 177, 182, 194, 200 – imperative 179, 180, 184, 185, 192– Vowels 14–16, 49 194, 203–205, 221 – ablaut 117 – Imperfect participles 174 – deletion 61, 63, 64 – infinitive 227 – harmony see Vowel height raising – see also Verbs non-finite – height see Vowel height – see also Verbs participles imperfect – mutation 23, 116, 117 – inflection 179 – nasalized see Nasalized vowels – irregular 216–221 – orthography see Script orthography vow- – light see Light verbs els – modal 247, 296 – non-finite 222, 242 West Bengal 5, 8, 9 – of cognition 228 Word order 111, 124, 133, 137, 144, 247– – of motion 227 255 – of perception 228 – demonstratives 121 – participles 187 – in noun phrases 96, 99, 255 – conditional 210, 218, 219, 221, 231– – of adjectives 256 233 – of complement clauses 289 – of quantifiers 262 330 | Index

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