The
purpose of this paper is to examine and illustrate some aspects of lexical and
grammatical convergence in Gondi.
Gondi is an important
member of the Central sub-group of the Dravidian language family.
It is spoken by the Gond tribe, the largest tribal group of Madhya
Pradesh. They mainly stay in Vidhya
and Satpura mountains on either side of the river
Narmada
. Gondi
is spoken primarily in Bastar, Betul, Balaghat, Chindwara, Seoni and Mandla
Districts of Madhya Pradesh. Gonds
are also found in the neighbouring states of
Maharashtra
and Andhra Pradesh.
According to the 1991 census the population of Gonds in Madhya Pradesh ws
1,954,693.
Gond a Dravidian tribe
speaking a Dravidian language, Gondi, have been living for generations in the
midst of the Aryan people speaking Aryan languages like Hindi, Halbi and
Marathi. Gonds being a tribe
socially and economically backward have been leading a suppressed life, their
daily contacts are with the Hindi speakers.
This is mainly because the local officials, money lenders businessmen and
the like are Hindi speakers. Because
of the social and economic exploitation of the tribals by the officials and
money lenders, tribals have almost become dependants of these persons.
These tribal people have accepted the dominant language of the region
i.e. Hindi or a variety of Hindi as the language of their masters and try to
learn them. Tribal children are
taught through Hindi medium right from the primary level.
In this way, tribal children have become bilinguals.
Hence, the minority language speakers came into contact with the majority
language of the region. This type of
bilingualism has created a sort of linguistic convergence in Gondi.
Guperz and Wilson (1971)
while giving reasons for convergence state "Historical linguists frequently
point to bilingualism as a major determinent of language convergence.
It is assumed that the greater the number of individuals who control two
or more of the varieties spoken in a linguistically heterogeneous region and who
use them alternatively in the course of their daily routine, the greater the
likelihood that features from one system will diffuse into another.
Studies of such diffusion processes during the last few decades have
revealed some striking cases of grammatical borrowing among otherwise unrelated
languages, both in India and otherwise around the world.
Although lexical items are by far the most frequently borrowed, it seems
clear that borrowing extends to all aspects of the grammatical systems".
Weinreich (1953) states that "language contact can result in such
far reaching changes that the affected language assumes a different structural
type".
The present paper discusses
about the changes taking place when a minority language like Gondi, a Dravidian
language comes into contact with Hindi an Indo-Aryan language.
Because of the language
contact, convergence has taken place at different linguistic levels in Gondi
which could be broadly classified into lexical and grammatical convergence.
I.
Convergence at lexical level
If we glace through the
Gondi vocabulary, we come across good number of words which are borrowed from
Hindi. The influence of Hindi on
Gondi is such that the younger generation of the gonds have lost their mother
tongue Gondi and adopted Hindi instead. It
is observed that at present the younger generation of Gonds of
North Bastar
and Chhindwara districts given up speaking Gondi and adopted Hindi in all their
daily activities. Many others have
accepted a great number of Hindi vocabulary as core of the Gondi vocabulary.
This type of convergence in vocabulary is of two types: 1) adoption of
the borrowed words into native system in full; 2) the core of the lexical item
is of Hindi origin and the endings are of Gondi origin.
The later type of convergence is more common, hence it is discussed
first.
a)
Hindi words ending in –a: are borrowed into Gondi by changing the final
vowel into –o:
Examples
:
Hindi
Gondi
Gloss
u:nca:
u:nco:
tall
a:dha:
a:dho:
half
pu:ra:
pu:ro:
complete
pahala:
pahalo:
first
b)
Hindi words adopted in Gondi by internal change with the additional of
final –o:
Examples:
adharak
a:do:
ginger
u:par
paro:
up, above
pu:nam
pu:no:
full-moon-day
duguna:
du:no:
double
maya:
navo:
new
c) Hindi words
adopted into Gondi by changing the internal structure of the words without any
addition of markers.
Examples
:
tyo:ha:r
tiva:r
festival
u:t
u:tum
camel
andhe:ra:
andha:r
darkness
prahara:
pahar
fortnight
bara:
phara/para:
big
bi:j
vi:ja:/
seed
bhindi
bhendi
ladies finger
ta:la:b
tala:v
lake
dopahar
dopa:ri:
afternoon
d)
Hindi words, adopted in Gondi by the addition of Gondi suffixes –l/ -a:
l/ -o:l which denote masculine gender.
Examples
:
hindi
Gondi
Gloss
ke:kra:
ke:kr –a: l
crab
mrig
mirg-a: l
antelope
ra:nd
rand –a: l
widower
billi:
bi: l –a: l
cat
pa: gal
pagla: - l
mad man
Sangi:
sangn – o:l
friend
In
the following examples the suffix – i: denotes feminine gender.
ba:nj
banja: l –i:
issueless woman
ka:na:
ka:n –i:
one eyed woman
tu:ra
tu:r –i:
girl
dulhan
dul –i:
bride
e)
Hindi words adopted in Gondi by way of loan translation.
a:tava:la
a:teva:de:
cook
a:ta:n va:le:
a:dhira:t
a:dho narka:
midnight
phalli te:l
phalli ni:
groundnut oil
f)
Large scale lexical borrowings have also taken place, e.g. Hindi words
adopted into Gondi into:
i:ta:
i:ta:
brick
puliya
puliya
small bridge
ka:mi:
ka:mi:
useful
II.
Convergence at the grammatical level :
Hindi words which have been
adopted in Gondi either in full or through the addition of Gondi markers behave
grammatically according to the structure of Gondi.
i)
Use of Gondi plural markers:
In Gondi, non-masculine
stems take the plural marker –k or ng and masculine stems –o:r or –lo:r.
Borrowed words from Hindi also take these markers.
Examples
: for non-masculine :
puliya:
puliya: -ng
`bridges'
nasa:
naSa: -ng
`veins'
tu:ri:
tu:ri: h-k
`girls'
ka:va:l
ka:va:l –k
`crows'
Examples
for masculine:
tu:ra:l
tu:ra:l –o:r
`boys'
kuma:l
kuma: l –o:r
`potters'
bahara:
bahara: -lo:r
`deaf men'
2.
Adjective concord :
In Hindi, for instance,
when an adjective with a final –a: qualifies a noun a) –a: is replaced by
–e: if the noun qualified is masculine singular and takes a case marker.
E.g.
bara:
larka:
(singular without case marker)
bare:
larke: ko:
(singular with case marker)
or
if, the qualified noun is masculine plural with or without case marker.
bare :
larke:
(plural without case marker)
bare:
larko : ko
(plural with case marker)
b)
-a: is replaced by –I:, if the noun qualified is feminine (singular or
plural with or without case marker).
bari
: larki:
(singular without case marker)
bari
: larki ko
(singular with case marker)
bari
: larkiyã:
(plural without case marker)
bari
: larkiyo:
ko
(plural with case marker)
Similarly,
adjectives in Gondi are inflected according to gender and number of the nouns
qualified. If an adjective is
followed by a masculine noun, then the adjective takes the masculine suffix and
if followed by a non-masculine noun then the adjective takes the non-masculine
gender suffix. Adjectives also agree
with the number of the following noun.
Gender concord
ka:riya:l
pe: ka:l
`black boy'
ka:riya
a:nca:r
`black woman'
pandra:l
ma:nka:l
`white man'
pandri:
a:nca:r
`white woman'
In
the above examples, the adjectives take the masculine and feminine suffixes –a:l
and a: or I: respectively to show gender concord with the following nouns:
Number
concord :
puna:
lo: n
`new house'
puna:ng
lo:hk
`new houses'
bariya: a:ki
`big leaf'
bariya:ng a:king
`big leaves'
Here,
the adjectives take the plural suffix –ng to show number concord with the
following plural nouns. See also the
following examples.
pandri:hk
punga:hk
`white flowers'
ka:riya: sk
moyo:sk
`black clouds'
Gender-number concord
Pandra:l
ma:nka:l
`white man'
Pandra:lo:r
ma:nka: lo:r
`white men'
Pandri:a:r
`white woman'
Pandri:sk a:sk
`white women'
In
the above examples, the adjectives occur with gender –number suffixes –a:l
and o:r for masculine; -I: and –sk for non-masculine to show gender-number
concord with the qualifying nouns. Some
more examples are given below:
denga:l
pe:ka:l
`tall boy'
denga:lo:r
pe:ko:r
`tall boys'
denga: pe:ki
`tall girl'
denga:sk pe:ki:ng
`tall girls'
3.Like the above
mentioned adjective concord, the genitive base of the third personal pronouns
also shows a concord in number with the following plural nouns.
Compare the following examples with the examples in Hindi like me:ra:
larka: `my boy' and
me:re:
larke:
`my boys'
vo:na:
Ro:n
`his house'
vo:na: ng
Ro:hk
`his houses'
vo:ra:
Ro:n
`their house'
vo:ra:ng
Ro:hk
`their houses'
ta:na:
ka:l
`her leg'
ta:na: ng
ka:lk
`her legs' etc.
- Numerals
in Gondi are formed by the addition of –tho: a non-Gondi
suffix. (This is noted in Mandla
dialect of Gondi)
Examples
:
utho
`one'
rantho:
`two'
mu:ntho:
`three'
na:lungtho:
`four etc.'
5.
Formation of compound verbs:
Among the compound verbs in
Gondi, one of the component roots is of borrowed one from Hindi.
These could be called borrowed verbs.
These are formed by the addition of past participal forms of the verb to
the following simple verb.
Examples:
padhe:
ma:ya:na:
`to read'
cho:de:
kiya:na:
`to leave'
badhe:
ma:ya:na:
`to grow'
`to move forward'
ha:re:
ma:ya:na:
`to be defeated'
likhe:
kiya:na:
`to write'
kho:de:
kiya:na:
`to dig'
The
compound verbs like the regular verbs in Gondi take the tense marker and
pronominal endings. Example:
vo:l likhe:
ki: -t -ul
`he wrote'
6.
Derivation of nouns from the verbs by the addition of noun forming
suffix.
Example
:
kiya: `to do'
kiye: va:de:
`doer'
on the anology of Hindi `karne:
va:la'.
7.
Passive Voice
In Betul, Balaghat
varieties of Gondi, the passive voice construction is formed by adding the
instrumental suffix –se: to the subject of the sentence.
See the following examples.
Active .
bhadu:
undi:
cithi:
likhi:tul
`Bhaddu has written a
letter'
Passive.
undi:
cithi:
bhadu: se:
likhe: ma:t
A letter was written by
Bhaddu.
8.
Superlative degree
In the varieties of Gondi
as spoken in Beul, Balaghat and Mandla districts the superlative degree is
expressed by the addition of Sabse: which is borrowed from Hindi.
Example:
id ja:ri: Sabse: coko: a:nd/manda:
`This grass is the best
grass'
9.
Obligatory mood
In the variety of Gondi as
spoken in Seoni and some parts of Betul district of Madhya Pradesh the
obligatory mood is being expressed by the addition of the borrowed word ca:hiye:
or hai to the native infinitive form of the verb.
1.
ma:kun
sunja:na: ca:hiye:
/hai
`we
must sleep'
2.
avkun
ka:mkiya:na: ca: hiye:/hai
`they
have to work'
3.
O:n
handa:na: ca:hiye: / hai
`he
has to go'
This usage is the result of
the convergence of the Gondi language with the major language Hindi. Because the
usage of ca:hiye: obligatory mood is not noticed in Muria and Maria Gondi
wherewe find the native system only. See
the corresponding examples.
1a)
ma:kun hunja:na:
a:nd
2a)
avkun ka:mkiya:na:
a:nd
3a)
on:n handa:na: a:nd
In
Betul, Balaghat and Mandla Gondi, this obligatory mood is formed by the addition
of the form ho:no: which is connected to the form ho:na:
ca:hiye: as found in Hindi:
inga:
ka:mkiya:na: ho:no:
`Now
work should be done'
inga:
na:kun saco:
vanka:na: ho:no:
`Now
I have to tell the truth'
10.
Probability mood
Similarly, the probability
mood is also expressed by the borrowed word ho:ga: of Hindi which is added to
the finite form of the verb. This
usage is noticed in the Betul variety of Gondi.
1.
vo:r
hatur ho:ga:l
`they might have gone'
2.
av
utta:ng ho:ga:1 `they might
have drunk'
In
Mandla Gondi the form ho:hi: is used in the place of ho:ga:l
1a)
vo:r daysi si:tur ho:hi:
2a)
av Sunji: mata:ng ho:hi:
11.
Copula constructions :
The
occurrence of copula in equational sentences is noticed in Gondi which may be
attributed to the influence of Hindi or Gondi.
See the following examples.
1.
id
ka:ge:d
a:nd
`this is a book'
1
2
3
1 2
3
2.
vo:r
tu:ra:lo:r a:dur
`those are boys'
1
2
3
1 3
2
3.
iv na:va:ng
pe:ki:ng a:ndung
`these are my daughters'
1
2
3
4
1
4 2
3
The
above given sentences may be compared with the following corresponding Hindi
sentences.
1a)
yah
kita:b
h
2a)
we:
larke:
h
3a)
ye:
me:ri
beetiya: h
12.
convergence of Gondi-Hindi may be noticed in the following examples where
the finite verb agrees with the adjective plural.
ad
tu:ri cako:
hayund
1
2
3
4
that
girl
is
good
av
tu:ri:hk
cako:ng hayung
`those girls are good'
1
2
3
4
1 2
4 3
ad
bariya:
ro:n
hayund
`those houses are big'
1
2
3
4
1
3 4
2
av
bariya:ng ro:hk
haiung
`those houses are big'
REFERENCES
:
1.
Acharya, K.P. 1971.
Phonology
and Morphology of Gondi, with particular reference to the Parsi Gondi of Mandla
and the Gondi of Balaghat and Betul, Ravishakar Univesity (Raipur) Ph.D. diss.
Unpublished.
2.
Census of
India
1971, Social and Cultural tables
3. Hymes,
Dell (ed) 1971, Pidginization and Creolization of languages
Cambridge
.
4.
Natarajan, G.V. 1977.
Adjectival
Concord
in Gondi, Indian
Linguistics,Vol.38,
No.3, pp. 156-160.
5.
___________ 1985, Abhujh Maria Grammar, C.I.I.L.
6.
Weinreich, Uriel 1964. Languages in
contact: findings and problems. The Hague, Mouton. 1953.