Revision as of 22:21, 9 March 2021

Nouns

Plural Forms

• Plurality is expressed via the suffix "-अन", and if the final vowel is long, shorten it:
  • घोरा<n><pl> ↔ गोरन​​
  • बैल​<n><pl> ↔ बैलन
  • चोर​<n><pl> ↔ चोरन

• It can also be expressed by adding the word "सब" or "लोग" for human noun after the singular form:
  • फल<n><pl> ↔ फल सब
  • राजा<n><pl> ↔ राजा लोग
  • माली<n><pl> ↔ माली लोग

Case

None of these cases can be applied to the plural form of a noun.

• You can form the locative case by adding the suffix "-ē". If the noun ended in "ā", it gets removed and if it ended in "ī" or "ū", the vowel gets shortened.
  • घोरा<n><loc> ↔ घोरे
  • बैल​<n><loc> ↔ बैले
  • चोर<n><loc> ↔ चोरे

• You can form the instrumental case by adding the suffix "-ē̃." The same process of removing or shortening vowels as in the locative applies.
  • फल​<n><ins> ↔ फलेँ
  • राजा<n><ins> ↔ राजेँ
  • माली<n><ins> ↔ मालिएँँ

• Other cases may be indicated using postpositions. When doing so, the noun must be in the oblique form. If it ends in a vowel, the oblique is the same as the nominative. If the noun ends in a consonant, then you can optionally add the "-e" suffix.
  • घोरा​<n><obl> ↔ घोरा
  • बैल<n><obl> ↔ बैले
  • चोर<n><obl> ↔ चोर

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

• हम<prn><p1><sg> ↔ हम​​
• हम<prn><p1><pl> ↔ हमानी​​
• हम<prn><p1><sg><obl> ↔ हमारा
• तु<prn><p2><sg> ↔ तु​​
• तु<prn><p2><pl> ↔ तोहनि
• तु<prn><p2><sg><gen> ↔ तोर​​
• तु<prn><p2><sg><obl><hi> ↔ इनकारा​​
• तु<prn><p2><sg><gen><hi> ↔ तोहारा​​
• तु<prn><p3><sg><obl><hi><prx> ↔ इनकर​​
• तु<prn><p3><sg><gen><hi><prx> ↔ इनकारा​​

Demonstratives

• इ<dem><nom> ↔ इ​​
• इ<itg><nom> ↔ का

Verbs

Magahi verbs are very complex.

Nominal Non-finite Forms

Magahi has several nominal non-finite forms that each have an oblique form like nouns. There are three kinds. Each of them usually are used along with the copula "हा", which carries the tense and modal information, whereas the non-finite form carries the aspect.

Neutral

The neutral form conveys a habitual aspect. To form neutral forms, simply add the suffix "-आ" or no suffix. To form the oblique form of the participle, simply treat the neutral form like a noun and put it in oblique form.

• देख​<v><hab> ↔ देखा
• देख​<v><hab><obl> ↔ देखे
• सुत​<v><hab> ↔ सुता
• सुत<v><hab><obl> ↔ सुते

Imperfective

The imperfective form conveys a progressive aspect. It is formed with the suffix "-ऐत".

• देख​<v><impf> ↔ देखैत
• देख​<v><impf><obl> ↔ देखैते
• सुत​<v><impf> ↔ सुतैत
• सुत<v><impf><obl> ↔ सुतैते

Perfective

The perfective form conveys a stative aspect. It is formed with the suffix "-अल" for intransitive verbs and "ले" with intransitive verbs. Note, however, that the oblique form is not "-अले" like one would expect, but rather "-ला", though it is usually written "अला".

• देख​<v><perf> ↔ देखले
• देख​<v><perf><obl> ↔ देखला
• सुत​<v><perf> ↔ सुतल
• सुत<v><perf><obl> ↔ सुतला

Finite Verbs

The finite verbs are constructed out of a stem followed by tense/modal suffix followed by a personal ending.

Tense/Mood

The tense/mode endings are nothing for the injunctive mood (subjunctive/imperative), "-ल" for the simple past ("-लक" for 3rd person transitive verbs), "-त" for the past subjunctive, "-ब" for the future, and "-इह" for the future imperative.

• सुन<v><prs> ↔ सुन्-
• सुन<v><past> ↔ सुनल्-
• सुन<v><pis> ↔ सुनत्-
• सुन<v><fut> ↔ सुनब्-
• सुन<v><fut><imp> ↔ सुनीह्-

Aspect markers on participles combined with the various tense/mood suffixes on the auxiliary verbs make for a massive amount of possible combinations, such as habitual past subjunctive, or stative future imperative, etc.

Auxiliary

The auxiliary "ह" is a bit irregular, changing stem to "हो" for the modal suffixes, but uses the same personal endings. On its own, it can function as a copula.

• ह<v><pres> ↔ ह्-
• ह<v><past> ↔ हाल्-
• ह<v><pis> ↔ होत्-
• ह<v><prs> ↔ हो-
• ह<v><fts> ↔ होब्- (Actually presumptive mood, but Apertium doesn't have a tag for that)

It is also possible to use the present and past forms of the auxiliary with the past simple form of the main verb. Both verbs here are finite, so the auxiliary ends up without personal endings, but can still be either present or past. This is different from using the auxiliary with the participle, which has a stative meaning. So "तू सुतल हे" (you have slept) is different from "तू सुतल" (you slept) and "तू सुतल् ह" (you are asleep).

Personal Endings

Here our two main sources differ significantly on even the basic structure of the agreement. They both say that personal endings agree with the subject and object, but differ greatly on the details. Since it's a century old, we won't be following The Linguistic Survey of India, but rather The Indo-Aryan Languages.

Magahi verbs agree with the subject in person, not number. They also agree with the object in person as well as honorific status, having +honor and -honor endings for each of the persons. For whatever reason, The Indo-Aryan Languages is missing the first person object endings, so we can't give those.

It appears that the first person personal ending is "-इ", the second person "-अ", and the third person "-ओ". To indicate a neutral object, simply don't add an object ending. For a non-honorific third person ending, add "-ऐ", for honorific third person, add "-ऐन", for non-honorific second person, add "-औ", and for honorific second person, add "ओ". Apertium lacks tags for non-numbered subject/object persons, so we will use the tags "<s_p1>", "<s_p2>", "<s_p3>", "<o_p1>", "<o_p2>", and "<o_p3>" for the subject and object persons.

• देख<v><past><s_p1><o_p3> ↔ देखाली
• देख<v><past><s_p1><o_p3><low> ↔ देखालीऐ
• देख<v><past><s_p1><o_p3><hi> ↔ देखालीऐन
• देख<v><past><s_p3><o_p2><low> ↔ देखालोऔ
• देख<v><past><s_p2><o_p2><hi> ↔ देखालओ