Kokborok grammar
Kokborok grammar is the grammar of the Kokborok language, also known as Tripuri or Tipra which is spoken by the Tripuri people, the native inhabitants of the state of Tripura. It is the official language of Tripura, a state located in Northeast India.
Syntax
[edit]The principal structures of affirmative sentences in Kokborok are the following:
Subject
Naisok
Naisok
Complement
chwrai kaham.
boy good
Naisok is a good boy.
Subject
Naisok
Naisok
Object
mai
rice
Verb
chao.
eat
Naisok eats rice.
Possessive
Nini
Your
Subject
(bu)mung
name
Question
tamo?
what
What is your name?
Subject
Nwng
You
Question
tamoni bagwi
what for
Verb
phai?
come
Why have you come?
Subject
Nwng
You
Verb and Question
thangnaide?
will go
Will you go?
Subject
Nwng
You
Verb and Command
thangdi.
go
You go.
Person
[edit]In Kokborok grammar use of the notion of 'person' is almost absent; the form of verb is same for one who speaks, one who is spoken to, and one who is spoken about.
Number
[edit]In Kokborok there are two numbers: Singular and plural. The plural marker is used at the end of the noun or pronoun. There are two plural markers: rok and song. Rok is universally used while song is used with human nouns only. The plural marker is normally used at the end of the noun or pronoun. But when the noun has an adjective the plural marker is used at the end of the adjective instead of the noun.
Examples:
- Bwrwirok Teliamura o thangnai. These women will go to Teliamura.
- O bwrwi naithokrok kaham rwchabo. These beautiful women sing very well.
Gender
[edit]In Kokborok there are four genders: masculine gender, feminine gender, common gender, and neuter gender. Words which denote male are masculine, words which denote female are feminine, words which can be both male and female are common gender, and words which cannot be either masculine or feminine are neuter gender.
| chwla | man – masculine |
| bwrwi | woman – feminine |
| chwrai | child – common |
| buphang | tree – neuter |
There are various ways to change genders of words:
| bwsai | husband | bihik | wife |
| phayung | brother | hanok | sister |
| kiching | male friend | mare | female friend |
| sikla | young man | sikli | young woman |
| achu | grandfather | achui | grandmother |
| When the masculine words ends in a, the a is dropped. | |||
| bwsa | son | bwsajwk | daughter |
| kwra | father-in-law | kwrajwk | mother-in-law |
| pun | goat | punjua | he goat | punjwk | she goat |
| tok | fowl | tokla | cock | tokma | hen |
| takhum | swan | takhumchwla | drake | takhumbwrwi | duck |
Case and case endings
[edit]In Kokborok there are the nominative, accusative, instrumental, ablative, locative and possessive cases.
| Nominative | o |
| Accusative | no |
| Instrumental | bai |
| Ablative | ni |
| Locative | o |
| Possessive | ni |
These case suffixes are used at the end of the noun/pronoun and there is no change in the form of the noun.
Adjective
[edit]In Kokborok the adjectives come after the words they qualify. This rule is strictly followed only in the case of native adjectives. In case of loan adjectives the rule is rather loose. Kokborok adjectives may be divided into four classes:
- pure adjectives
- compound adjectives
- verbal adjectives
- K-adjectives
The first three classes may include both native and loan words. The fourth class is made of purely native words. e.g.:
- hilik – heavy, heleng – light
- bwkha kotor – (heart big) – brave, bwkha kusu – (heart small) – timid
- leng – tire, lengjak – tired, ruk – to boil, rukjak – boiled.
- kaham – good, kotor – big, kisi – wet.
Numerals
[edit]Kokborok numerals are both decimal and vigesimal.
- sa
- nwi
- tham
- brwi
- ba
- dok
- sni
- char
- chuku
- chi
- ra – hundredth
- sara – one hundred
- sai – thousandth
- sasai- one thousand
- rwjag – a lakh
A numeral is organised as:
chi
ten
+
+
sa
one
11
See also
[edit]References
[edit] | This article has an unclear citation style. (February 2020) |
- A simplified Kokborok Grammar, by Prof. Prabhas Chandra Dhar, 1987