Ho grammar (with vocabulary)

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HO GRAMMAR (WITH VOCABULARY)

BY

LIONEL

BURROWS,

Bengal Provincial

B. A.

Civil Service.

Calcutta: PRINTED AT

CATHOLIC ORPHAN PRESS, 3

&

4,

Portuguese Church Street.

1915.

t

Y/

printed by M. Apel for

tlie

Author,

At the Catholic Orphan Press, 3 Portuguese Church Street, Calcutta.

1915.

PREFACE.

Sine--

lirnan

I

mistaken

the

that

impression

Mundari and with the

writing this

and

IIo

former,

I

no

is

have constantly encotnu material

difference

he;

.

inasmuch, as there are several grammars dealing

that,

would he

it

(Jrammar, tlrSre

almosUi work of supererogation

separate grammar on the

latter

ethnic type with a strong

linguistic

to

compiles

an accepted historical fact that the Santals, Hos and Mmvlas originally belonged to the same ahoriginal and been it has race, amply demonstrated that they still represent the same It is certainly

between the dialects they use.

affinity

The language of the original ancient race was not, however, written so far as is known, and there is therefore no classical standard by which its variou s

Max Miiller has pointed surviving forms can be measured and compared. out that "all savage tribes, with no letters to fix their tongues, alter their speech much more rapidly than civilized nations" and, in another place, " in a state of continual comlanguages are The causes of this constant state of change are numerous, and

he remarks that bustion."

unwritten

all

For instance, a missionary observer " when a chief or priest utters a quoted by Max Miiller has reported that witticism or invents a new phrase, it is at once caught up and passed some

them are curiously

of

current

;

mispronunciations,

loss of teeth in old

to respect,

may

may

differently

new

words arising from

their former

process

by tribes

or implement,

speaking cognate

be borrowed by each from

Though, therefore, the three

words."

articulations of

rank or prowess, are entitled similar changes." Again, economic progress

rise to

adoption of a

be coined

imperfect

men who, from

sometimes give

leads to the

apart, or

interesting.

the

word

dialects,

for

which

but living

different adjoining races as " loan-

dialects

Santali,

Mnndari and Ho

of the so-called Munda family of languages do contain marked features of comrnon descent, they have, by the action of time and separate environment, drifted apart on many points of usage, vocabulary and pronunciation. No

one has ever questioned the necessity For separate grammars on*the Santali and Mundari dialects, and, as between Mundari and Ho, there are many differences, as

in

the

distinct

The

particularly in vocabulary, which though not perhaps sufficient,

case

language,

alterations

which

of

French and Spanish, are certainly

originally set up by a

published volume.

Ho, made

mad

exalt

Ho

to the dignity of a

sufficient to justify its separate treatment.

and marginal notes

I used in learning

to

I it

had look

to

make more

in the

Mundari Grammar

like corrected proof-sheets

compositor than the finally approved pages of a

It

2.

of

Ho from

Since

then,

sioner's

was

in

order

to

remove the heavy handicap on the acquisition that the present work was undertaken.

Mundari text-books

the

Babu Bhim Ram Salanki

office

has, I understand,

of the

a

published

Singhbhum Deputy Commis-

Ho Grammar

in English.

T

have not yet seen a copy of his book, but, as I had practically finished mine before I heard of his, I can only hope that there is room for another work on ( tho same subject. My grammar doefe not pretend to be as scientific an exposition of the It is

Ho

dialect as the

merely a comparatively

hand acquaintance with

its

Rovd.

subject

of practical use to fellow

to study

Hoffman's book

simple and popular manual

acquired

as the officer in charge of the Kolhan, if it is

J.

and

it

Government

is

of

Mundari.

based on a

first-

during three years of service will

have served

officials

its

purpose

and other* who wish

Ho.

L. B. B.

VlSHNUPOR, 1st September,

1914.

"

\

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

1.

Liy any of tlie six simple equivalent! nor by any two of them pronounced separately. ,!/ eijtials

to

An

" the " ai in "aisle", and occurs in

evening,

ID

vowel

/

lift

*

" ou " in " out ", and occurs in equals the

and bauu

ami

not yet, Liulnin

elder brother.

" Oi equals the " oy in " oyster", and occurs in oidr the wind, and moi to bud.

7.

I

common.

work, and sadai

to be in a hurry,

ainl

jmt

to

swim, hoio

All other complex vowel sounds can be split up into single vowels

and represented by the appropriate Roman equivalents. necessity to

employ

There

is

no

a diaeresis to indicate that such equivalents are to be

pronounced with separate efforts of the voice because all combinations other than ou, an, and oi must be so pronounced. Examples are der to precede, aed

kuam

lamp,

seven,

a bird, od

yes, oe

2(i

the chest, ked

to call,

a house,

and meang

tumid

six, did

a

the day after tomorrow.

which operates so Euphonic strongly in English, is not of any great importance in Ho. elisions do occur occasionally, but, as already explained, the idiom of an It will thus be seen that the law of

harmony

of vowels,

agglutinative language requires that secondary roots acting, for example, the part of case and tense-suffixes shall not in any way affect the primary root; and when an agglutinative language is but little removed, as Ho is, from the isolating stage, the primary roots do not act phonetically on the

secondary roots either to any extent. 8.

the

Turning

Roman

sounds ordinarily represented by and z, either do not exist or are

to the Consonants, the

letters c,

f, q,

w,

v,

x,

y

Thus, s represents the sound adequately represented by other consonants. " " " " " c" in cistern," and k that of of c in cold ". Ch pronounced as " " ch " in " chord "'must be in " chimney but the is, however, common, rendered by k. According to the ordinarily accepted system of translit" f " must eration, always be rendered by ph. The sound does not,

however, exist in proper Ho words, and, in such Hindi words as have been adopted into the language, the aspirate has been dropped, e.

Okonpdtee senoeand Birpdtee nireand (i.)

Pdete

In what direction did he go P

He

ran towards the forest.

similarly indicates indefinitely motion

From whereabouts

Okonpdeteko hujulend -Kavchipdete

Note

did they

come

?

From somewhere near Ranchi.

^s mentioned form

away from.

in

sub-head (m) above,

of pd. Tdre, tdte

and

td is the definite

tdete are therefore equivalent

16

V

the

to

respectively

)

simple forms

re,

te

and

as

ete

motion towards or motion away expressing a definite and they are in fact so used from, place rest in,

;

occasionally, especially with participial clauses,

Bdbdko

iretantdte ainglo

Come

hujume

the place where they are cutting paddy.

in

sub-head

below, tare, tdte and

(.?)

e.g.

me

Owing

to

pro-

forms mentioned

bably to possible confusion with the

(

with

tdete are not,

however, used in this sense with single nouns

denot-

ing space or place. (#)

Tare

tdte

and

are ordinarily used with precisely Che same

tdete

connotation as

re,

te

and

in connection only

ete

The

td

Aletdre isu purd bdbd mend With us there have a i.e. paddy, great deal of paddy.

is

and pronouns denoting animate equivalent to the Hindi pas.

objects.

with nouns

seems to be

very

much

We

Take

Gomketdte ned entorsd idieme

this

to

the master at

once.

Gurucharan Penaintdete mindiking kumbukid. stole a sheep from Gurucharan Tanti.

i

*

(6)

Tare and

are

tdte

also

when

indirect object

verb, tare being used rule

in

used

the latter

me medicine

"

may

indicate

to

an animate

not expressed in the

is

when motion

Note 4 to para. 47).

The two men

not implied.

is

For example, "

He

(Vide

gave

be translated Aingtdre rede emkedd

or aing rede emadingd.

This point will be better under-

stood after the verb has been studied. (xi)

lien

t .

'

. *

Locative Genitive Case sign used only with nouns denoting animate objects. The relation is one of place so to is

the

speak, and the postposition " to ".

is

" equivalent to dwelling in

",

belonging

A man

Hdturen ho or hdtureni

belonging

to the village.

Gardren hdkuko

Fishes dwelling in the river, i. e. river fish. " worth " ", (6) Ren may also be rendered by aged ", " in with connection animate nouns. measuring ", Hisi tdkdren gundi

Turui sirmdren

Upun mukdren

sitid

kuld

A cow worth 20

A

child six years old.

A tiger

half a yard roughly).

Rs.

measuring

six feet

(mukd equals

I'm

(i-i the manner familiar

to

those

whose knowledge of grammar is based on the forms of organic languages. The number of cases is large, but against this may be set the fact that there

is,

so to speak, only one declension.

CASE-SUFFIXES.

CASES.

Nominative

root

...

ANIMATE NOUNS. gomke, a (or the) master

Accusative

root

...

t root

...

Dative

\

fdre,

tdte

nouns

where

indirect

object

is

included in verb.)

gomke, a master

not the

...

gomke

(with gomketdre

animate

...

gomketdte

to a

master

INANIMATE NOUNS. gard,

a

river.

(or '

gard, a river.

the)

ANIMATE NOUNS.

CASE-SUFFIXES.

GASES.

Instrumen-

te

tal

INANIMATE NOUNS.

animate gomke hordte, by or

(with

or

by

gardte,

nouns other than

through the agency

through means

persons and with

of a master.

of a river.

a

inanimate

1 1

nouns) f Definite

ete, tdete

gomketdete,

f r

o

m

a

gardete,

master.

Ablative.,

f r

o

m

a

river.

*

Indefinite pdete

gontkepdete,

from the

gardpdete, from the

vicinity of a master.

vicinity

of

a

river.

Possessive a

.

gomked, of or belong.

ing to a master. Partitive

o

.

Genitive.

gomked, of or

gardd, of or form-

forming


gender or

Ho

/>//

)

agglutinative languages and that action imi.-t be regarded as exceptional. in

generally inoperative

any

I'vitli-no' of its

The singular

)

of the second personal

the following considerations

(1)

The shortened form

regulated by

:

7/1

is

used

when

word preceding it, ends in a vowel, alter a long vowel into a short one. you are whistling

is

pronoun

choiiuin

;

the verb, or the effect

its

E.

Goletanam

y.

when

hujnd

being to %

will

*

you word

? The vowel does not shorten when the preceding the verb is the negative kd, nor is the shortened form of the pronoun used. The compound is

come

always rendered kdant, the second a being pronounced very lightly. (2)

The form em preceding

when

used

is

it,

verb, or the word

the

E.

ends in a consonant.

g.

Ne sunvmem

did you press this oil ? As a matter of no of the verb fact, part (except the imperative, regarding which see the next rule) ends in a consonant, lenledd chi

that this rule only

so

word (3)

as in the

the preceding

mood and

used with the imperative

is

conjugation of the verb mend (to be,

in the

its

absent.

are

you

E.

bano.

antonym

mendmed

(c)

to

example given.

The form me and

refers really

present

Dubnte

g.

and bangmed

;

to

sit

exist)

down you

;

are

(C.f. Chap. XVI.)

The third person singular becomes e when suffixed as a E. g. Hujulende he came sddome kiringkid subject. ;

he bought a horse. (a)

The second use

stands as the direct object

of the shortened of

a

transitive

form occurs when a pronoun Such objects "are in-

verb.

variably inserted in the verb in accordance with rules which the tenses

and IX).

and

will

be

fully

treated later.

For present purposes,

it

vafy

will be sufficient

to

say that the

shortened forms, as given in para. 28, must be used for such the form for the second person singular being invariably me.

Somd danddtee tdmkedinyd Gapding nelmed

I will see

Aivd sddom sdlime

Hold

Soma

beat

me

you tomorrow.

my

horse.

with

(Vide Chaps. VII, VIII

with a

lathi.

insertions,

(

24=

;

from the note under the rule above dealing with the use of the full form for the inserted indirect object, that the shortened form must be used when an indirect pronominal

It follows,

(m)

has to be inserted in the perfect, past and pluperfect tenses of the indicative mood. This also will be better object

understood at a later stage (see Chap. IX) and I will merely

add the following examples here.

Sddome emakadingd

He

&ddoming emadmed

I

The

30.

same way

has given

me

a horse.

gave you a horse.

forms of the personal pronouns

full

One example

as nouns.

Nominative

...

...

aing, I.

Accusative

...

...

a ing, me.

Dative

..

( ainqtdre.

)

Instrumental

...

Ablative

...

...

aingtdte. aingte,

i

..
nkint/t>

A

snake has bitten both

poisonous those men.

kingd.

Toraiteko yuuakadingd

2.

:

me

wounded

have

They

with

swords. 3.

Jdimi kudlaming emakaid

4.

Nidirko

aind

odred

saiuko

The white

5.

6.

,

He

Kajiakadkode

Johan

unditeko

isu

purde

Knmbulf

9.

ondo

sdbakaid

am

We

Jidtalang bar tdkd bar sikired

his

helped

(

&

they

have

I )

and brought him before you.

Our (your and my) grandmother bought a kusum tree worth

has

akadd

Rs. 2/8/- for Rs. 10/-

abungakaid

Have you washed yesterday

Chikanred hdturen dindd kuiko

akod

ubre

The

transitive

the village put

flowers

in

'-

1st

Person

2nd

Dual

-

1st

-

TENSE.

tense-suffix

dgukedding

-

Person

dgukedam (

dgukedde

I

dgukedd

(

dqnkeddlana

-

brought

T 1

as

(

Plural

-

1st

Person

-

dqukeddbu *

\

I

agukedale

(

Examples on the

63.

47

)

past tense are

;

1.

Itdmlii kdjl kdjiadingd.

He

'2.

Durk'in

Darkan Munda and

Minit/d

naffo