Kokborok grammar

Kokborok, also Tipra, is language of original inhabitants people of Tripura. It is an official language of Tripura, a small state of India.

Syntax

The principal structures of affirmative sentences in Kokborok are the following:

a) SubjectComplement
Naisokchwrai kaham.
(Naisok)(boy good).
Naisok is a good boy.
b) SubjectObjectVerb
Naisokmaichao.
(Naisok)(rice)(eat).
Naisok eats rice.
c) PossessiveSubjectQuestion
Nini(bu)mungtamo?
(Your)(name)(what)
What is your name?
d) SubjectQuestionVerb
Nwngtamoni bagwiphai?
(You)(what for)(come)
Why have you come?
e) SubjectVerb and Question
Nwngthangnaide?
(You)(will go)
Will you go?
f) SubjectVerb and Command
Nwngthangdi.
(You)(go)
You go.

Person

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

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

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 and neuter gender.

Gender examples
borokman - masculine
bwrwiwoman - feminine
chwraichild - common
buphangtree - neuter

There are various ways to change genders of words:

Using different words
bwsaihusbandbihikwife
phayungbrotherhanoksister
kichingmale friendmarefemale friend
Adding in at the end of the masculine word
siklayoung mansikliyoung woman
achugrandfatherachuigrandmother
When the masculine words ends in a, the a is dropped.
Adding jwk at the end of the masculine word
bwsasonbwsajwkdaughter
kwrafather-in-lawkwrajwkmother-in-law
Words of common gender are made masculine by adding suffixes, like sa, chwla/la, jua and feminine by adding ma, jwk, bwrwi
pungoatpunjuahe goatpunjwkshe goat
tokfowltoklacocktokmahen
takhumswantakhumchwladraketakhumbwrwiduck

Case and case endings

In Kokborok there are the nominative, accusative, instrumental, ablative, locative and possessive cases.

Case suffixes
Nominativeo
Accusativeno
Instrumentalbai
Ablativeni
Locativeo
Possessiveni

These case suffixes are used at the end of the noun/pronoun and there is no change in the form of the noun.

Adjective

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:

  1. pure adjectives
  2. compound adjectives
  3. verbal adjectives
  4. K-adjectives

The first three classes may include both native and loan words. The fourth class is made of purely native words. e.g.:

  1. hilik - heavy, heleng - light
  2. bwkha kotor - (heart big) - brave, bwkha kusu - (heart small) - timid
  3. leng - tire, lengjak - tired, ruk - to boil, rukjak - boiled.
  4. kaham - good, kotor - big, kisi - wet.

Numerals

Kokborok numerals are both decimal and vigesimal. sa, nwi, tham, brwi, ba, dok, sni, char, chuku, chi

rasa - hundred, saisa - thousand, rwjag - a lakh

A numeral is organised as:

chisa = chi + sa = ten + one = 11.

See also

References

  • A simplified Kokborok Grammar, by Prof. Prabhas Chandra Dhar, 1987
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