Awadhi grammar
Awadhi grammar is the set of structural rules of the Awadhi language, an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Indian subcontinent. This deals with its phonology, morphology and syntax.
Awadhi follows the Subject–object–verb word order. The morphological word classes are noun, pronoun, adjective, verb whereas post-positions and adverbs are defined on syntactic ground.
Phonology[edit]
Vowels[edit]
Awadhi contains both voiced and voiceless vowels. The voiced vowels are: ʌ, ə, aː, ɪ, iː, ʊ, uː, e, eː, o, oː. The voiceless vowels, also described as "whispered vowels" are: i̥, ʊ̥, e̥.[1]
Vowel Combinations[edit]
| Combination | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | Transliteration | ||
| /ɪaː/ | /d͡ʒɪaː/ | jiā | "elder sister" |
| /ɪeː/ | /d͡ʒɪeː/ | jiē | "became alive" |
| /ʌiː/ | /nʌiː/ | naī | "new" |
| /ʌɪ/ | /bʰʌɪ/ | bhai | "became" |
| /ʌeː/ | /gʌeː/ | gaē | "(they) went" |
| /ʌʊ/ | /t̪ʌʊ/ | tau | "then" |
| /ʌuː/ | /gʌuː/ | gaū | "cow" |
| /ʊʌ/ | /kʊ̃ʌn/ | kũan | "wells (obl.)" |
| /ʊiː/ | /d̪ʊiː/ | duī | "two" |
| /ʊaː/ | /bʊaː/ | buā | "father's sister" |
| /uːiː/ | /ruːiː/ | rūī | "cotton" |
| /aːoː/ | /aːoː/ | āō | "come" |
| /aːeː/ | /kʰaːeː/ | khāē | "eaten" |
| /aːiː/ | /aːiː/ | āī | "came" |
| /aːuː/ | /naːuː/ | nāū | "barber" |
| /eːiː/ | /d̪eːiː/ | dēī | "will give" |
| /eːʊ/ | /d̪eːʊ/ | dēu | "give" |
| /oːɪ/ | /hoːɪ/ | hōi | "may be" |
| /oʊ/ | /hoʊ/ | hōu | "be" |
| Combination | Example | Meaning | |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPA | Transliteration | ||
| /ɪeʊ/ | /pɪeʊ/ | pieu | "(you) drank" |
| /ʊɪaː/ | /gʰʊ̃ɪaː/ | ghũiā | "the root of Arum" |
| /aːeʊ/ | /kʰaːeʊ/ | khāeu | "(you) ate" |
| /ʌɪaː/ | /bʰʌɪaː/ | bhaiā | "brother" |
Consonants[edit]
| Bilabial | Dental/ | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | (ɳ) | (ɲ) | (ŋ) | ||
| Plosive | voiceless | p | t | ʈ | tʃ | k | |
| voiceless aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | ʈʰ | tʃʰ | kʰ | ||
| Affricate | voiced | b | d | ɖ | dʒ | ɡ | |
| voiced aspirated | bʱ | dʱ | ɖʱ | dʒʱ | ɡʱ | ||
| Fricative | voiceless | s | h | ||||
| voiced | ɦ | ||||||
| Flap | plain | ɽ | |||||
| voiced aspirated | ɽʱ | ||||||
| Trill | r | ||||||
| Approximant | ʋ | j | |||||
| Lateral Approximant | l | ||||||
Word Formation[edit]
Following are the morphological processes of stem formation in Awadhi language:
Affixation
An affix is used to alter the meaning or form of a word. It can be either a prefix or a suffix.
- Example: Prefix bē– preceding the root saram means "shameless" while apna followed by –pan means "belonging-ness".
Compounding
Two or more stems are combined to form one stem.
- Example: nīlkanṭh means "blue bird" and banmānus means "forest man" or "chimpanzee".
Reduplication
This process involves repetition of certain forms. It may be complete, partial or interrupted.
- Complete reduplication: It denotes continuity of action.
- Example: jāt-jāt for "going on".
- Partial reduplication: It denotes similarity of one object to other.
- Example: hãpaṭ-dãpaṭ for "panting".
- Interrupted reduplication: It stresses on the instant condition of the action that follows and expresses abundance of something.
- Example: khētaī khēt "between the fields"; garmaī garam "the very hot".
References[edit]
- ↑ Greenberg, Joseph Harold; Kemmer, Suzanne (1990). On Language: Selected Writings of Joseph H. Greenberg. Stanford University Press. ISBN 9780804716130. Search this book on
Bibliography[edit]
- Saksena, Baburam (1938). Evolution of Awadhi: A Branch of Hindi. Indian Press; Allahabad. Search this book on
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