Khasi/Grammar

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Parts of speech

Nouns

Gender and Number

  • Articles 'ka' and 'u' function respectively as the feminine and masculine singular articles. They typically come before nouns.
    • ka khun<n><sg><f> ↔ 'daughter'
    • u khun<n><sg><m> ↔ 'son'
  • The gender of a noun cannot be shown by the article in the plural, as the plural article is 'ki', and it carries no gender. Instead, a marker-word is often attached to indicate gender, such as the most general 'kynthei' meaning female and 'shinrang' meaning male.
    • ki lang-kynthei<n><pl><f> ↔ 'she-goats', 'ewes'
    • ki lang-shinrang<n><pl><m> ↔ 'he-goats', 'rams'
  • There are more specific terms for some words. These specific terms are often epithets describing a feature of a male or female of such a word. For example:
    • ki massi-kyrtong<n><pl><m> ↔ 'bulls', 'male cows'
      • massi<n> ↔ 'cow'
      • kyrtong<adj><m> ↔ 'fat', 'strong'

Cases and Associated Pronouns

Khasi has no inflectional case system, but rather it distinguishes the different cases with pronoun use.

  • Nominative
    • The noun without any prepositions
    • U briw u la wan<nom> ↔ 'The man came'
  • Accusative
    • Noun with and sometimes without 'ia'/'ya'/'ïa'
    • U la shem ia u briw<acc> ↔ 'He found the man'
  • Dative
    • Takes 'ha', 'sha', or 'ia'/'ya'/'ïa' (to or as)
    • U la ai ha nga ia ka kitab<dat> ↔ 'he gave me the book'
    • ‘He gave me a book’ would be ‘he gave to I a book’
  • Instrumental
    • Takes 'da' (by, with)
    • U la phot ia la ka kti da ka wait<ins> ↔ 'He cut his hand with an ax'
  • Ablative
    • Takes 'na' (from, as)
    • U Hom u la mih na la ing<abl> ↔ 'Hom came out of his house'
  • Genitive
    • Takes 'jong' (of)
    • Ka ing jong ka kymi<gen> ↔ 'His mother's house'
  • Locative
    • Takes 'ha' or 'sha' (in, at, to; as)
    • Ka kymi ka don ha ing<loc> ↔ 'His mother is at home'
  • Vocative
    • Takes 'Ah!' (Oh) or 'Ko!' (my, our)
    • Ah Blei!, Ko Kyra! <voc> ↔ 'Oh God', 'My/our Father!'

Diminutives

  • In Khasi, diminutives show "endearment, smallness, inferiority, [and] contempt," according to H. Roberts.
  • To form the diminutive in the singular, 'i' is typically used as the article.
    • i briw <n> ↔ 'The little man'
  • In the plural, additional particles are attached, such as '-ria,' '-rit,' '-rit,' 'khun' (child). They may also be used in the singular.

Morphology

Abstract Nouns

  • Most abstract nouns are formed by adding the prefix 'jing' to a a verb or adjective or by applying the feminine singular article 'ka' to an adjective
    • ka jingleh<n> ↔ 'action'
      • leh<inf> ↔ 'to do'
    • ka babha<n> ↔ 'the good'
      • babha<adj> ↔ 'good'
  • Sometimes the 'ka' + adjective formation drops the 'ba' prefix found in an adjective
    • ka suk<n> ↔ 'happiness'
      • suk<adj> ↔ 'happy'
  • Some words formed like abstract nouns might actually be common nouns that used to be abstract nouns.
    • ka jing khang <n> ↔ 'a door', lit 'a shutting'

Agentive Marker

  • 'nong' attaches to verb to create a noun
    • nongtuh <n> ↔ 'thief'
      • tuh <inf> ↔ 'to steal'

Other Prefixes

  • According to Eugénie J. A. Henderson, "overt prefixes of less common occurrence include shi- ‘one'; mar- ‘facing, matching’; kat- ‘to such a degree’; kum- ‘like’; hang- ‘place where.’"

Verbs

  • kyrhuh<vblex><pres><actv> ↔ 'roar'
  • bam<vblex><pres><actv> ↔ 'eat'

Adjectives

  • Adjectives agree with nouns.
  • The adjectives typically begin with prefix 'ba'
    • babha<adj> ↔ 'good'
    • barit<adj> ↔ 'small'
  • It may, however, not use 'ba.' In fact, there can be a difference in meaning associated with the 'ba-' prefix.
    • u briw-bastad<adj> ↔ 'a learned man'
    • u briw-stad<adj> ↔ 'an astrologer'
    • u soh-baiong<adj> ↔ 'a black fruit'
    • u soh-iong<adj> ↔ 'a plum (black)'
  • As can be seen, the versions without the 'ba-' prefix are more general.

Prepositions

  • jong<pr> ↔ 'of'
  • ha<pr> ↔ 'in, to, at, on'

Pronouns

  • nga<prn> ↔ 'I'
  • ngi<prn> ↔ 'we'

Spellrelax

  • With the 'jing' prefix, sometimes g is dropped. Furthermore, sometimes 'jing' is written as a separate word.