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Cl11. Grammar S•riea-18 BHUMIJ GRAMMAR ., N, RAMASWAMI CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF INDIAN LANGUAGES Manasagangotri; Mysore-570 006 . BHUMIJ GRAMMAR CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF INDIAN LANGUAGES GRAMI\1AR SERIES-18 CIIL Grammar Series-18 BHUMIJ GRAMMAR N, RAMASWAMI CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF INDIAN LANGUAGES Manasagangotri; Mysore-570 006 First Published: AuglJSt 1992 Sravana 1914 © Central Institute of Indian Languages, 19J2 Price Rs. 36-00 Published, Dr. E. AnnamaJai, Director Central Institute of Indian Languages, !v1ysore Printed by S. B. Biswas> I\1anager. CIIL Printing Pres_s, l\1ysore FOREWORD The Centra I Instil u te of Indian Languages is concerned with the development of lnd ian nguages. The development l[l of Indian languages can take place by their usc of new domains~ which requires development of materials and methods and manpower for work in the are~s of codification, standarisation and modernisation. The work of the Institute encompasses basic research, material production and in service training. The Institute is also entrusted with the responsibility of assisting and improving the teaching of Indian languages at various levels by developing new methods, models and materials and by making use of modern technology. The six Regional Language Centres are engaged in regular language teaching programmes. The Institute is also a clearing house of infor mation relatmg to Indian languages. A major programme of the Institute is the study of tribal and other minor languages resulring in a grammar and a dictionary. This study helps in codification of these languages and a Is o sta ndarisa tion, which are primary steps for the development of any language. The linguistic description is also a pre-requisite for preparation, of language t~aching materials. It thus forms part of the lnstitutets work to improve trial education. The Institute is also engaged in finding out shared features bet ween triba 1 Ia ngua ges and major Ia nguages ~hich are an important component in the making of India as a linguistic area. The grammatical description of tribal and other minor languages do not raise and discuss theoretical quesdons. These questions are dealt with by the authors in papers. The grammars try to give a basic knowledge of the structure of v . these languages with the hope that . they- will be useful to language teachers and to 1ingu ists interested in macro studies of languages. These grammars also fill in the gaps in the know]edge of the linguistic heritage of the country by describ ing lesser known languages. I hope that this pub!kation will encourage further gramma tical research in the concerned language and reiated languages. E. ANNAMALAI Vl PREFACE The tribal people in India have for long lived in isoia~F·'1 except to be exposed for exploitation. They have not panicip::'ilt;d to their benefit in the socioeconomic development of the couiHry,., To come out of their isolation, it is necessary fo~- them to learn. the language of the majority peopie around them and a number of them have done so. But this bridg(.::\ the comrnunica.tion g:.,_p only in one way and the whole burden of building up this bridge is carried by the minority group. It is necessary, however, for developing mutual undcrst<Jnding and good-will~ to increase bid ircctiona I communication between the tri ba 1 people and the majority Pf~ople of the region. For this purpose, the majority· people, especially those who come into '~ontact with tribal people for various reasons such as civil administration, security, socia I sen: icc, tntdt·. etc., should learn their i<:nguage. The Gran·tnwr, which forms part of the package consisting of phone tic reader, bi~ ortrL. lingual dicuonary and teaching manual is prepared to hdp them in their learning of the tribal. language. The organisation oft be gra.mnuu is based on grammati1.~al functions rather than on grammatical forms. T'his wili.help the new learner to find easily how the different functions, which he already kno\vs and \:vanJs to express, are formalised in his lan guage. Since this Grammar is primarily meant for pedagogic~! 1 purposes, theoretical discussions and justifications for a particu lar analysis are kept to a minimum. The Grain mar is divided· generally into two broad categcries of noun morphology and verb morphology. A description of adjectives follows noun mor phology and a description of adverbs follows verb morphology. The chapter on syntax describes the order of the constituents at the surface level. There is also a chaptc:·r on word formation, which dr:';:5cribcs the ways in which wotds are formed and new . conccot are ex nressed. ' Though the Grammar is primarily aimed at the language learner and the teacher, it is hoped that it will also be useful to Linguists interested typology and universals. Data for the Grammar were collected in the field primarily from one informant by elicitation through word and sentence lists. They were then with some other informants.' cross~checked The description may not be exhaustive and there m.ight be gaps. There might be possibilties for alternative analyses. Comments and suggestions passed on to us will be useful to improve our future publications in thjs series. ~ (E. Aft:i.MALAI) Director Y!ll · ACKNO\VLEDGEi\'lENT The data were collected primarily from !Vfr. Kartik Singh.· Mr. Sa heb R.a m Singh and tv1r. Ha rish Chandra Singh. The data were checked with Mr. Gagan Bihari Singh and other native speakers. All the above mentioned Spt.!akers of Bhumij belong to Mayurbhanj district of ·Orissa. They know Oriya and English apart from their mother tongue Bhumij. I express my sincere thanks to all these language con~tlltants for their help and cooperation. The pres~nt grammar of Bhumij is based on the data collected mainly from Mr. Kartik Singh. He knows Oriya, English and Sanskrit aopart from his mother tongue Bhumij. I am thankful to him for his kind cooperation and help. I am thankful to Dr. E. Annamalai, Director Central Institute of Indian Languages, for his guidance and comments of on the earlier version the manuscript. I am thankful to • D.P. Pattanayak, former Director, Centra I Institute of Jn dia n Languages, for his bel p and encouragement. I am thankful to Dr. D. N. S. Bhat, and Prof. Peter Ladefoged for their SuJgestions and comments on the earlier version of the manuscript. I thank all the stafr of the press of the Central jnstitute of lnd ian Languages, \:V ho saw the grammar through the press. · N. RAl\1ASWAMI