UNIT 16 A STRUCTURAL STUDY OF HINDI AND ENGLISH SYNTAX
Structure 16.0 Objectives 16.1 Introduction 16.2 The Basic Sentence Structure in Hindi and English 16.3 Some Basic Word Order Universals 16.4 Key Words 16.5 Let Us Sum Up 16.6 Suggested Reading 16.7 Answers to Exercises 16.0 OBJECTIVES
After reading this Unit carefully, you will be able to: describe the basic sentence structures in Hindi and English; distinguish between intransitive, transitive, ditransitive verbs in Hindi and English; illustrate the use of the verb be; define direct object, indirect object, dependent clause and independent clause; and outline the differences between Hindi and English which are a result of the different word order of these two languages.
16.1 INTRODUCTION
A sentence is not just a string of words put next to each other. There are specific ways in each language in which words combine to form sentences. In this Unit we shall show how sentences are formed in Hindi and English and how the nature of the verb determines whether there should be no objects or one object or two objects in a sentence. We shall show that the position of the verb in a sentence plays a very important role in determining the position of many other elements such as the adjective, the preposition, the adverb etc. Apart from the exercises, we have also given you some in-text practice in translation. You will notice that in some sentences we have given the Hindi or English equivalents. But where we have not, we have left a blank line in which you are required to provide the translation. 162 THE BASIC SENTENCE STRUCTURE IN HINDI AND ENGLISH
We shall first study the basic sentence structure in Hindi and Englis. Let us consider the following Hindi sentences first. 1)Tm & m % Ram run -ing is 'Ram is running'. 2)m m 4 sn w% Ram Sita hitting is 'Ram is hitting Sita'. Notice that in sentences (1) and (2) Tm is the subject noun phrase and it occurs in the INITIAL (FIRST) position in the sentence. The verb in both the sentences occurs in the FINAL (LAST) position. In sentence (2),* is the object noun phrase and* is the POSTPOSITION that is attached to the object. Thus, the word order in Hindi is: SUBJECT(S) OBJECT(0) VERB(V) that is SOV Syntactic amtSemantlc Structures Let us now look at the word order in English. Let us consider the following sehtences =ndi to English) from English: 3) Ram is running. 4) The boy is beating Sita. Note that Ram and the boy which are the subject noun phrases occur in the INITIAL position and thg verb in (3) occurs in the FINAL position. However, when we look at sentence (4) we notice that the object noun phrase occurs after the verb in the FINAL position. Thus, the word order in English is SUBJECT(S) VERB(V) OBJECT(0) that is, SVO Thus we can say that Hindi is a verb-final language and English is a verb-medial language. The order in which words occur is more important in English than in Hindi because sentences (3) and (4) are ungrammatical if we say 3a. Is running Ram. 3b. Is Ram running. 4a. Saw the boy Sita. 4b. The boy Sita saw. Note that (3b) is ungrammatical only as a statement. As a question, it is alright. But we're concerned only with statements at present. Verbs such as 9n;n 'hit' in sentence (2) and beat in sentence (4) are called transitive verbs because they permit an object. The object of the verb rCrm 'hit' in (2) is .Fftm and the object of the verb beat in (4) is also Sita. Transitive verbs in English always require an object overtly whereas in Hindi and the other Indian languages, this is not the case. For example, for a question in sentence (9,the answer must contain an it as in (6) or else it is ungrammatical. We shall mark an ungrammatical sentence by '*'.
5) Did you buy the car? 6) Yes, I bought it. 7) * Yes, I bought. In contrast, in Hindi, in an answer to a bestion in (8), there need not be an overt object noun phrase as (9) illustrates. 8) m3 * ?dl$? question word YOU car bought Did you buy the car? 9) *6 * e-9 Yes I bought In fact, to have an overt object in Hindi may look a bit awkward as (10) illustrates. 10) 96, 3 w e-9 Ye5 I it bought Sentence (10) may be appropriate if the speaker is pointing out to a car which is there on the spot. It is interesting to note that some transitive verbs, however, are used intransitively. For example, in English. 11) We were eating at that time...... 12) She was writing...... Though both eat and write are transitive verbs, there is no overt object present. In Hindi too a transitive verb can be used-intransitively. 13) Pq 3U W -Xi!* We that time were studying 'We were studyin~atthat time.' 14) &¶I ?r?a wf@ .\Structural Stud ~I'Hindiand She always keeps singing E:II~I~\IIS?t~ta\ 'She keeps singing all the time.' In sentences (13) and (14), the object is not overtly expressed thus using the verbs intransitively. Verbs which permit two objects are called ditransitive verbs. Some examples of these verbs in Hindi are- 'to write', h 'to send7,* 'to give'. Some examples from English are teach, send, refurn.
' In normal word order in Hindi the indirect object (10) ALWAYS comes first and the direct object (DO) follows it. Thus, the order is: I0 DO '
For example: . ' 15)Tm * h Ram Sita to book will give I0 DO 'Ram will give a book to Sita.' . In this sentence the person who receives (recipient) is Sita and the noun* precedes the noun f4ZFH 'book'. In English, however,,there are two word orders possible. For example:
16) a. Ramwillgive Mary ' the book INDIRECT DIRECT OBJECT OBJECT b. Rhm will give the book to Mary. DIRECT INDIRECT OBJECT OBJECT Sentences (16a) and (16b) have the same meaning. In (a) the indirect object precedes the direct object. In (b) the direct object precedes the indirect object. It is the order in (b) which is considered to be the normal basic word order for nonverb-final languages such as English. We should not go into further details on this. Thus, the order of the indirect object and direct object in English is: DO I0 There is a type of verbs in Hindi as well as English where the subject of an intransitive verb corresponds to the object of a transitive verb. For examljle:
17)m door opened 'The door opened.' ' 18) 7f4 ?V3fm * Rama door opened 'Rama opened the door.' In (17), the subject ism'door' and that becomes the object in (18) i.e.,w'to open'. The verb in sentence (18) is called the causative form of the verb in (17). Some more pairs of this type are: Intransitive Causative 3WmI 'to be boiled' 3TFFI'l 'to boil' mFll 'to burn' WIT 'to burn' h 'to fall' f4-Fl.I 'to drop' Fh 'to sleep' T-" 'to put some one to sleep' The verbs in column I1 are called the CAUSATIVE VERBS. English too has this type of pairs and in English, some of these pairs are homophonous (that is they have the same form). For examp1e:open in the sentence. The door opened.
and open in the sentence I opened the door. Syntactic and Semantic Structures ~oAemore pairs include: (Hindi to English) Intransitive Causative close close melt melt burn burn boil boil cut cut The special feature of Hindi and many other Indian languages is that in addition to the causative forms discussed above, these languages have another causative verbal form which can take two objects. The second cqusative of a sentence such as (18) is as in (19): 19) % 3 71'4 4 3- Sita Ram by door had (it) opened 'Sita made Ram open the door.' In (19)' the verb- has two objects- 'door' andm. Verbs such as- are termed as second causatives. Some examples of the second causative are: m'aml 'to make someone boil something' n 'to make someone bum something' fmWll 'to make someone drop something' w 'to make someone put someone to sleep' Interestingly, English does not have one single verb like Hindi which will denote the second causative meaning. In English, as we have seen above in the glosses of the Hindi verbs, a paraphrase of the action is used to express a second causative. We have so far discussed intransitive, transitive and ditransitive verbs. We shall now discuss the nature of the verb be in Hindi and English. The verbh 'to be' in Hindi has the following forms in various tenses and persons. The two functions of the forms in set I below are to (a) denote tense and (b) denote existence or presence. The main function of the forms in set I1 below is to denote a process.
a present tense, I person singular. 8 present tense I1 & 111 person singular. 8 present tense I1 & 111 person plural. ~n/* past tense singular. */df past tense plural Set I1 !13= past tense singular R past tense plural The forms of set I, %/$/ */ */ a/ have two functions to perform. When these occur with the main verb (as in sentence (20)-(22) below), they perform the function of carrying the tense. 20) Tm sn w t Ram go -ing is (tense marker)
211m ;jn 7@ ft Sita go -ing was (tense marker) 'Sita was going.' 22) * * * b children play -ing were (tense marker) 'The children were playing.' rhese forms when they occur as main verbs denote existence or presence. For A Structural Study ofHindi and cxample: English Syntax 3 rn 8 God is 'God exists.' 3 * =wit 3 6 those people room in are 'Those people are in the room.' 25) %Fl Fi 3w-h 3 a yesterday we Agra in were 'We were in Agra yesterday.' The forms of set I1 denote a process when they occur as a main verb. In such cases too, the forms of set I also occur as carriers of tense markers. 26) & 3 $ rain occur -ing is 'It is raining.' 27) %Fl ~n* e !$WOrr yesterday here a explosion occurred had 'An explosion had occurred here yesterday.' English too has several forms of the verb be and these have similar function as in Set I of Hindi i.e., they also carry the tense and denote existence or presence. nese forms are: am I person singular, present tense are I1 person singular and I, 11, 111 person plural, present tense is TI person singular, present tense was singular, past tense were plural, past tense Corresponding to set I1 of Hindi, there is no form of the verb be in English. In English there are action verbs such as happen, take place, occur etc. For example: 28) What happened here last night? ...... 29) It took place 100 years ago.
The verb 'to be' is also used in the possessive construction in which possession is expressed. For example: 30) Flh~ T7 hl a neartat us a lot of money is 'We have a lot of money'. 31) 351 FihiI if arZm t those people in strength not is 'Those people do not have strength.' 32) ?lW =# rn %id % Radha of four girls are 'Radha has four girls.' As you might have noticed, in Hindi, a form of dhl denotes, among other things, possession whereas in English it is the verb have that denotes possession. We shall not go into further details. In arder to have a comprehensive idea of Hindi and English sentence structure, we shall now look at the position of occurrence of the dependent or subordinate clause in a sentence. By subordinate clause, we mean, a clause that cannot stand on its own. For example: 33) dyl fB; 3 * mmm?i m* we heard that those people this year abroad from will return 'We heard that those people would return from abroad this year.' Notice that the underscored clause with* in the beginning is the subordinate clause and it cannot occur by itself. That is why such dauses are called dependent a. "n'ac'ic"d"manli'str~"~r" It requires another clause such as &an: 'we heard' which has the capacity to occur' (Hindi to Engl~\h) by itself. That is the reason why this type of a clause is called an independent clause. We shall call tlic fg; 'that' sul7ot-dinatc clau\c as complcmcnt clauses. 71'lic complement cl:~uscin Hindi occurs to tlic I
In (-3).(hat she would win the race is tlic suho~.dinatcclausc. Kaniala told Sarita is the main clause. .lust as in Hindi, the subordinate clause occurs to the KIGHTof the verb of the niain cl;~i~sc.Thus the order is: MAIN CLAIISI; ' SUR0KI)INAl'E ('1.14uSE In English. thcre is onc vcrv import;~ntpoint to rcmenihcr. If tlic verb of tlic main clause is in the past tense, the vcrh of the sul~ordin;~leclause also hi~sto be in tlic 1~1sttense. l'li;~~is why. wc'vc to ilsc' wo111d ill tlie subordinate clal~scand will cannor occur in its place. It is thcrcforc incorrect to say: 35) *Kalnal:t told Sarita that she will win the race. 36) *Ka~nwrote to lnc tlii~the will go to America ncxt ycui In contrast. there is n1.1 such restriction in Hindi. The niain vcrh may be in thc past tcnsc and the suho~dinatcvcrh may be in the fi~tiirctcnsc ;IS (lie I'ollowingscntcnccs from Hindi il1ustr;rtc: 371rn3afe-n 36tfl Kamnla Sarita to said that I race ill will win 'Kamala told S;~ritathat she would win the r;rcc.' ns3 y$l he^[ I% yrTT?Isr;tfm;r rn Ram mc had written that he nest year Americ;~ will go 'Rani wrote to me that he'd go to America ncxt year.' The other typc of suhordinatc clausc that we shnll considcr is the ~.clativcclause. Wc shall discuss the position of the occurrence of thc relative clause in the following section. But before that, Ict us do the I'ollowing cxcrcisc.
Exercise 1 A) Mark whether thc following verbs in Hindi arc intransitive. transitive or 130th or ditr:~nsitivc.
'to he closed' 'to chew' 'to walk' 'to run' 'to make sorneone run' 'to teach' 'to slip' 'to write' 'to change' 'to wear' B) Mark whether the following verbs in English are intransitivc. transitive or both. I) to drink 2) to talk 3) to sleep 4) to burn 5) to tear 6) to phone 71 tr, wpsr 8) to fall A Structural Study uf Hindi ~IIIII I 9) to walk English S>III:B\ 10) to build
16.3 SOME BASIC WORD ORDER UNIVERSALS
In the last section we've seen that the word order in Hindi and English is different. Hindi is a language in which the verb occurs in the FINAL position whereas in English the verb occurs in the MEDIAL position of a sentence that is, Hindi is an SOV language and English is an SVO language. There are certain linguistic features which are typically associated with certain types of word orders. These are called word order universals. By word order universals we mean the features that are shared by languages which belong to the SOV group or the SVO group. It is generally agreed that there are certain linguistic features in a language which depend on the position of the verb in a sentence. Let us now see the differences between Hindi and English which automatically follow from the differences in word order. i) Hindi an SOV language has postpositions where as English an SVO language has prepositions. For example, in sentence (39) from Hindi: 39)faia-m h Tt book table on is 'The book is on the table.' The postposition,m 'on' follows the noun* 'table'. That is, the order in which the noun and postposition occurs is NOUN + POSTPOSITION English has prepositions. That is, the preposition precedes the noun. For example: 40) The book is on the table. The preposition on precedes the noun the table. ii) The genitive precedes the governing noun in verb-final languages whereas the genitive follows the governing noun in nonverb-final languages. Let us look at Hindi and English examples. 41)- W b Delhi of mayor 'The mayor of Delhi.' 42) the mayor of Delhi. Here the governing noun is mayor. In Hindi the genitivew precedes the noun mayor where as in English, it follows the noun. It may be noticed that the apostrophe -s in English is similar to the genitive in Hindi in terms of its occurrence. That is, the apostrophe -s precedes the governing noun. For example : 43) The mayor's cap. 44) * MI mayor of cap iii) In the last section, we've already seen that in verb-final languages such as Hindi, the indirect object (10) (recipient) ALWAYS precedes the direct object (DO) in thc normal word order. For example: 45) 7r4 ~~~ Ram Sita to book will give (10) (DO) 'Ram will give a book to Sita.' In this sentence the person who receives (recipient) is the I0Sita and this noun Sita precedes the nounfs(arsr 'book' which is the DO. Syntactic and Semantic Structures iv) In verb-final languages such as Hindi, the auxiliary verb follows the main verb (Hindi to English) For example : 46) Fa7 ?la d &3 Sita bread eat -ing may be 'Sita might be eating bread'. In this sentence,= is the main verb and the auxiliaryT&M '-ing might be' follows the main verb. On the other hand, in English the main portion of the auxiliary precedes the verb and only an affix follows the verb. For example : 47) Sita might have been eating bread.'
Note that the auxiliary might have been precedes the main verb and only the suffix -ing follows the main verb. v) In verb-final languages such as Hindi, in sentences involving comparison the marker of comparison always FOLLOWS the object that you are comparing with. For example : 48) sim %W?rt $I C Sita Kamla than tall is STANDARD MARKER OF OF COMPARISON COMPARISON Sita is taller than Kamala.' Note that we are trying to compare Sita's height with that of Kamala's , that is, Kamala is the standard for comparing. The comparative marker* therefore follows the stundard Kamala. Let us look at the English sentence : 49) Sita is tall-er than Kamala. COMPARATIVE STANDARD MARKER COMPARISON Thc compnr~~tivemarker than precedes the standard of comparison Kamala. vi) In verb-final languages adverbs denoting time PRECEDE place adverbs whereas in nonverb-final languages such as English place adverbs PRECEDE time adverbs. Thc followi~igexamples from Hindi and English are illustrative. SO) wl rn 3 37 3 m Rani Sita with tomorrow Connaught place in will meet TIME PLACE 5 1) Ram will meet Sita in Connaught Place tomorrow PLACE TIME vii) Both in Hindi and English adjectives, numerals PRECEDE the noun. 52) zGA f$lar;zr good book ~d~ec~ivetloltrl m M four books t~u~ner(ii 1101111 53) good books adjective noun four books numeral noun viii) A relative clause modifies a noun. A relative clause in Hindi may precede the noun, follow the noun or may be 'away' from the noun. Some of the relative pronouns in Hindi are Zh 'who', GIZl 'when', Gl# 'where'. Let us look at a relative clause with Zh and thc threc possible ways one can express it in Hindi. 54) a. 13 FF$=~ TW*] 4 M 3 mmC which boy is singing he films in works c. dr jf wmw [$ ifw81 A Str~teturalStudy of Hindi and w English Syntax that boy films in works who is singing ' Notice that all the three sentences have the same meaning. The relative clause is placed in brackets in all the three sentences and we can see that it occurs in THREE DIFFERENT positions as mentioned above. The rilative pronoun$ in (a) is like a demonstrative pronoun* in* FI?+W'that boy'. The relative pronoun$ in (b) and (c) is like the personal pronoun* 'he7,'she' or the relative pronoun who in English. That is, the relative pronoun in (b) and (c) is-a full-fledged pronoun unlike the one in (a). Let us now look at the relative clause (given in brackets below) in English. 55) The boy [who is singing] is my brother.
Notice that the relative clause in (55) occurs to the RIGHT of the head noun the boy. In English sometimes the relative clause occurs to the right of the independent clause. For example. 56) A boy came in who met with an accident...... When we compare the Hindi and English relative clause, we observe that : i) In Hindi, there are three possible ways of forming a relative clause whereas in English, there is only one preferred way. ii) In ~i~dia relative pronoun functions as a full relative pronoun as in (54b) and (54c) as well as a demonstrative pronoun as in (54a) whereas, in English, it always functions only as a full relative pronoun. It is interesting to note that in verb-final languages, the relative clause-occurs usually to the LEFT of the head noun. iii) In nonverb-final languages such as English, in expressions indicating WEATHER, we normally find a pronoun such as it as the subject. o or example : 57) It is raining in July in Delhi...... 58) It is cold in December...... 59) It is too hot in this room.
Notice that though it occurs in the subject position, it is not the real subject. It just fills a gap in the subject position. For example, the it that occurs in sentences such as: 60) It's a pen. the it refers to the pen. That is why, as an answer to a question in sentence (61): 61) What is it ? We can say : 62) It's a pen. On thc other hand, the it in sentences (573459) cannot be questioned by what is it? What we mean is when someone asks what is it? we cannot answer saying it is hot, it is cold or it is dark etc. Notice you do not hear such questions as in (63). 63) What is raining ? In verb-final languages, we do not find an expression equivalent (similar) to it. Let uq look at the following Hindi sentences.
1- F3 W rain occur ing is 'It is raining.' 5) m* T 3s ** here very cold is 'It is very cold here.' SynUcUc and Semantic Slruclures 66) ?rif (Hlndi to English) m 4 TF eit last night- very hot was 'Last night, it was very hot.' In the above sentences, m,a andd are subjects. How do we know this? All these subject noun phrases are feminine singular. Notice that the verb in the above sentences 'agrees' with thew and that is why, it is in feminine singular. Just as there is no expression in Hindi equivalent to it, there is no expression equivalent to there in sentences such as (67) and (68) below in English : 67) There is someone in the room...... 68) There is a book on the table.
The location of where someone is in sentence (67) is indicated by in the room and in sentence (68) by on the table. The word there has absol'utely no meaning except to fill the gap in the subject position. That is why this there is called an expletive there as opposed to the there in sentences such as (69) and (70) which is meaningful. 69) They sleep there. 70. She'll go there right now.
The proof of this comes from questions. The there in (67) and (68) cannot be questioned whereas the there in (69) and (70) can be. For example : 71) * Where is someone in the room? 72) * Where is a book on the table ? 73) Where do they sleep ? 74) Where will she go right now ? Another test we could apply to check the difference in the two theres is that the expletive there does not have a translational equivalent in Hindi, whereas the other there in (69) and (70) does. 75) m? 3 * % there room in someone is 76) h vi d FfiaW % table on there book is
77) *3T**
To summarize the above discussion, we ,may say that only nonverb-final languages such as English may have expletive expressions e.g. 'it' and 'there7. We have so far discussed some of the differences between Hindi and English which are the result of the fundamental difference in word order, namely, the position of the verb in the sentence.
Exercise I1 A) Mark the direct object and indirect object in the following sentences and translate them into Hindi. 1) Radha teaches Hindi to foreigners ...... 2) Madhu wrote a letter to Malati ...... 3) Did Kamala send you the books? ...... 4) Our father brought new clott~:~for us. 5) Can you buy me a gift? A Slruclural Sludy ul Hindi and ...... Enylkh SVII~X 6) Did they give the book to Anoop? ...... 7) The captain passed on the message to the commander...... 8) The postman did not deliver the letter to my neighbour...... 9) We sent a telegram to his parents.
10) The carpenter made this table for my daughter...... B) Fill in the appropriate form of the verb and then translate the following sentences: 1) Rekha told me that she ...... (send) the book tomorrow...... 2) Malati wrote to Madhu that she ...... (visit) her next week...... 3) Meena mentioned tome that she ...... (attend) the party tonight...... 4) Rakesh told Vimala that he ...... not (attend) the party yesterday.
5) Have you written to him that you ...... ( Ilu! r Ihc book next year?
C) See whether the following sentences are grammatical or ungrammatical and correct them where necessary. Then translate them into Hindi. 1) They ate...... 2) Meena gave.
3) Shyam writes well...... 4) This book reads well...... 5) I've seen...... 6) He drinks a lot...... 7) She slept...... 8) This pen writes well...... 9) Have you seen...... 10) They make. Syntactic and SenunUc Shdura (Hindi to English) 16.4 KEY WORDS
intransitive verb: takes no object transitive verb: takes one object ditransitive verb: takes two objects indirect object: normally the object that receives (recipient) genitive: of or 's in English or 8ir & in Hindi subordinate (dependent) clause: clauses which cannot stand on their own complement clause: that or %.clause
LET US SUM UP
In this Unit. we have discussed the sentence structures of Hindi and English; intransitive, transitive and ditransitive verbs; the different uses of the verb be in Hindi and English; direct object and indirect object; and subordinate (dependent) clauses and independent clauses.
16.6 SUGGESTED READING
If you would like to read further, you may consult the following books, if available: Huddleston, R. 1984. Introduction to the Grammar of English, Cambridge University Press. Kachru, Y. 1980. Aspects of Hindi Grammar, New Delhi, Manohar Publication.
16.7 ANSWERS TO EXERCISES
Excercise I A) 1) Intransitive 2) Transitive 3) Intransitive 4) Intransitive 5) Transitive 6) Transitive 7) Intransitive 8) Transitive 9) Intransitive as well as Transitive 10) Transitive B) 1) Intransitive as well as Transitive 2) Intransitive as well as Transitive 3) Intransitive 4) Intransitive as well as Transitive 5) Intransitive as well as Transitive 6) Transitive 7) Transitive 8) Intransitive 9) Intransitive 10) Transitive Exercise I1 A) 1) Direct object (DO) Hindi Indirect object (10) Foreigners 2) DO letter I0 Malati r 3)DO book A Structural Study &Hindi md I0 you English Syntax 4) DO new clothes I0 us 5) DO gift I0 me 6) DO the book Anoop the message the commander letter my neighbour telegram his parents this table my daughter p B) 1) would send 2) would visit 3) would attend I 4) could attend 5) would buy I C) 1) Grammatical eat is used intransitively 2) Ungrammatical give is a transitive verb and therefore it requires an overt object 3) Grammatical write is used intransitively 4) Grammatical read is used intransitively 5) Ungrammatical see is a transitive verb and therefore it requires an overt object 6) Grammatical drink is used intransitively 7) Grammatical sleep is an intransitive'verb 8) Grammatical write is used intransitively 9) Ungrammatical see is a transitive verb and therefore, requires an overt object 10) Ungrammatical make is a transitive verband therefore, requires an overt object