II. STRUCTURE OF LANGUAGE

B. Phonology (Ogranization of speech):

Phonological Variation:

Lexical Variation:

11. Tones:

The Boro language has a two way tonal system- a high falling marked as / ́/ and a low level unmarked tone. The following examples show the tonemic contrasts in the vowels of Boro.

As shown above, all the vowels show tonemic contrasts except the vowel /e/.

Phonemic Inventory of the Boro Language:

There are sixteen consonant phonemes including two semi-vowels and six vowel phonemes in Boro language.

Vowels:

The vowel phonemes in Boro language occur in all the three positions, namely initially, medially and word finally. Examples are shown below:

Consonants:

/b/: occurs in all the three positions namely initially, medially and finally.

/d/: occurs in all the three positions namely initially, medially and finally.

/g/: occurs in all the three positions namely initially, medially and finally.

/ph/: occurs in all the three positions, namely initially, medially and finally.

/th/: occurs in the initial and medial positions only.

/kh/: occurs in the initial and medial positions only.

/m/: occurs in the initial, medial and final positions only.

/n/ : occurs in the initial, medial and final positions.

/s/: occurs in the initial, medial and final positions.

/z/: occurs in the initial, medial and final positions.

/h/: occurs in the initial and medial positions.

/m/: occurs in the initial, medial and final positions.

/n/: occurs in the initial, medial and final positions.

/N/: occurs in the medial and final positions.

/r/: occurs in the initial, medial and final positions.

/l/: occurs in the initial, medial and final positions.

Morphological Variation:

The suffix /-lia or -la is used in negative sense in the W.B.D. and it is found /-le/ in S.D.B. and E.D.B.

Classifiers: The extensive use of classifiers in the Boro language is another striking feature. It is attached with all nouns operating in the language. Hence, nouns are realized as phrases consisting of the noun + classifier. A list of classifiers operating in the language is given below:

It may be mentioned here that the combination of classifiers with a noun and a numeral in constructing phrases and sentences are abundantly used. Examples from Boro:

mansi + sa + noi. man classifier two.gan + se + biJab.one classifier book.moi + der + mase.one classifier elephant.

4. Allophones:

A. Vowels:

1. High unrounded front vowel /i/

Allophones:

It has six allophones, which are as follows:

i)	[ i] is short and simple occurs in words initial, medial and final. e.g
 		bisi         		‘wife’
ii)	[ī] is long and occurs in mono-syllabic words
	 	[siù]	   	‘to wet’	
iii)  	[ị]   is voiceless and occurs when followed by voiceless consonants.  e.g.
         		[bikha]  		‘chest’		
          
iv)  	[  ì] is half falling occurs in low tone syllable. e.g.	
	    	ph  ìsa	‘small’	
	
v)	[ í ] is half rising occurs in high tone syllable e.g.
		sí		‘cloth’
 
vi)  	[in]  is partially nasalized and it occurs when preceded by nasals. e.g.
 	     	     m innin	‘to laugh’	

2. Vowel: mid front unrounded vowel /e /
Allophones: It has six allophones.

i)	[ e ] is short
ii)	[eē]  is long
iii)	[ẹ] is voiceless
iv)	[è]  is half falling
v)	[ é] is half rising
vi)	[en] is short and partially nasalized
 

Distribution:

i)	[e] occurs in both polysyllabic words. e.g.
	ese		‘a little’	

ii)	[eù] occurs in monosyllabic words. e.g. 
	seùm	‘diminishing’

iii)	[ẹ ] occurs before voiceless consonants 
	bẹsẹ	‘how much’
		      
iv)	[è]  occurs in mono syllabic words as in
	èm	 ‘bed’
	          
v)	[ é ]  occurs in high tone - syllable
	bé		 ‘He’ (honorific)

vi)  	[e <] occurs when preceded by nasal
	me 

Vowel: the low central unrounded vowel /a /
i)	[ a ] is short and simple
ii)	[ā]  is long
iii)  	[ạ ] is voiceless
iv)  	[à]  is half falling
v)   	[á] is half rising
vi)  	[a n] is partially nasalized and short

Distribution:

iii)	[a]  occurs in any position of a word. e.g.
       	apha 		 ‘father’      

iv)	[ā]  occurs in mono syllabic words. e.g. 
	sā		‘pain’

v)	[ạ] occurs before voiceless consonants.
	hạphạ
	      
vi)	[à]  occurs in low tone syllable as in
	àŋ		‘I’( first person singular)
	         
vii)	[ á]  occurs in high tone – syllable
	ná 		‘fish’ 

viii)   	[an]  occurs when preceded by nasal
	man	.	‘pig/ hog’	

Vowel: Mid back rounded vowel.
Allophones:

i)	[o] is short and simple
ii)	[ō]  is long
iii)  	[ọ] is voiceless
iv)   	[ò]  is half falling
v)   	[ó] is half rising
vi)  	[o n] is partially nasalized and short

Distribution:
i)	[o]  occurs in polysyllabic words. e.g.
	kha  		rain
		
ii)	[ō]  occurs in mono syllabic words. e.g 
	ō		‘to torn out’

iii)	[ọ ] occurs when followed by voiceless consonant words e.g
	sọkha         	‘sparrow’
	      
iv)	[ò]  occurs in low tone syllable as in
	  ̀ŋ		‘sitting on egg’
	           
v)	[ó]  occurs in high tone – syllable
	 gó 		  ‘to release’ 

vi)  	[o <]  occurs in nasalized consonant . e.g.
	monno n		 ‘to swallow’

Vowel: High back rounded vowel /
Allophones:
i)	s[ u ] is short and simple
ii)	[ū] is long
iii)	[ụ] is voiceless
iv)	[ù] is half falling
v)	[ú] is half rising
vi)	[un] is partially nasalized and short

Distribution:
i)	[u]  occurs in polysyllabic words. e.g.
	kHulum		‘to salute’

ii)	[ū]  occurs in mono syllabic words. e.g. 
	bū		‘to sweat’

iii)	[ụ ] occurs when followed by voiceless consonant words e.g.
	ụ		khum ‘roof’
		      
iv)	[ŝ]  occurs in low tone words as in
	swr		‘iron’	
	           
v)	[  Ş ]  occurs in high tone words
	lŞ		 ‘to build’ 

vi)  	[un] occurs after nasalized consonants . e.g. 
	bimu nŋ		 ‘name’	

Vowels: half close unrounded  back vowel / µ /

Allophones:

i)	[ɯ] is short and simple
iii)	[ɯ̄]  is long
iii)	[ɯ̣ ] is voiceless
iv)	[ɯ̀]  is half falling
v)	[ɯ́ ] i half rising
vi)	[ɯ n] is partially nasalized and short

Distribution:

ii)	[ɯ] occurs in polysyllabic words. e.g
	bɯlɯ     		‘force’
            
vi)	[ɯ̄] occurs in mono syllabic words. e.g 
	hɯ̄		‘to give’

vii)	[ɯ̣ ] occurs when followed by voiceless consonant words e.g
	kh ɯ̣tha 		‘speak’
	      
viii)	 [ɯ̀]  occurs in low tone syllable
	bɯ̀		‘pool-out’
	           
ix)	[ ɯ́]  occurs in high tone words
	khɯ́ 		‘to heap ’ 
	         	
vi)	[ɯn] occurs in nasalized consonant . e.g. 
      	mɯnŋ    		‘you’	

C. MORPHOLOGY (Word structure)

1. Some morphological features of the Boro language:

The morphological features of the Boro language corresponds to the ‘Boro-Garo’ group of languages that lie within the Tibeto-Burman sub-family of the Sino-Tibetan language family. Some morphological features of the Boro language are as follows:

iii) a) Number: Number in Boro is a grammatical category and it has two sets, Singular and Plural.

The plural of nouns and in some cases pronouns are formed by adding certain morphemes like: phwr, mwn, swr and others to the singular one. For example:

It may be mentioned here that the plural morpheme -swr can also be added to the personal pronouns. For example:

bi-swr>biswr	(They)
nwng-swr>nwngswr	(Us)

Where bi and nwng are third person singular pronouns. In certain cases, words like hanza and phalw when added to nouns give plural meanings. For example:

It may be mentioned here that the term hanza (group) is related to human beings and phalw (flock, herd, and others) is related to birds and animals.

b) Gender: Gender is also a grammatical category in Boro. There are two types of genders: Masculine and Feminine. There is no gender division of inanimate objects as found in Hindi. Gender is present only in the noun class of animate beings in Boro. The following are the ways of distinguishing gender.

(a) In certain cases, gender formation is realized by using different sets of words. For example:

(b) Sometimes feminine genders are distinguished by adding morphemes to the masculine noun words. For example:

(c) It may be mentioned here that by affixing certain words indicating the sex to noun words, masculine and feminine genders are distinguished. In case of pigs and cats, ‘bunda’ is used for the masculine and ‘bundi’ is used for the feminine gender. For example:

Likewise in the case of ‘he goat’ phanta is used for masculine and in the case of ‘she goat’ phanthi is used to determine the feminine gender. For example:

Similarly, in the case of birds, zwla and zw both are used for the masculine and feminine genders respectively. For example:

In the case of dog, both dongla and dongli are used for masculine and feminine genders respectively. Examples are as follows:

(d)There are certain words that denote the meaning of masculine and feminine gender. For example:
Unique Masculine:

Unique Feminine:

(e) Besides, there are some other specimens of common gender in Boro. They are as follows:

It may be mentioned here that the above stated specimens do not uniquely represent masculine or feminine. There is an intermixture form of gender to some extent.

a) iv) Cases and Case Inflections:

Case is a grammatical category and it is a form of noun and pronoun in Boro. Boro has seven cases and all these cases are realized by adding case-inflections to the noun and pronoun. Case inflections are combined as bound morphemes to the noun and pronoun class of words. It changes the form of words but not the meanings. Boro expresses seven such relations, namely:

(a) Nominative Case
(b) Accusative Case
(c) Instrumental Case
(d) Dative Case
(e) Genitive Case
(f) Ablative Case and
(g) Locative Case

The nominative case expresses as the doer, performer or initiator of the action of the verb. It has {-a} inflection; For example:

The accusative case is the case of direct subject of the verb. It is marked by the case-inflection {-khwu} and is added to the noun: For example:

In these structures, the case-inflection {-khwu} determines the particular animate and inanimate objects. It corresponds to denominatives of grammatical category to some extent. But while the direct subject of the verb denotes a multitude; sometimes this inflection remains unknown in the syntactic structure. For example:

The instrumental case expresses the means (inanimate force or object) by which the action identified by the verb is done. It is realized by adding {-zwng} inflection to the noun. For example:

The dative case is the case of indirect object of the verb. It is marked by {-nw}, suffixed to the noun. For example:

The accusative case which expresses the passive relation with some other animate and inanimate objects in the sentence is called associative or genitive case. It is marked by {-ni}, suffixed to the noun and pronoun. For example:

The ablative case is the case of separation from the source. It is marked by {-phrai} and occurrs after the genitive form of the noun. For example:

The locative case expresses the location of the action or state identified by the verb. For example:

c) Tense and Aspect: Boro verbs comprises of three tenses and some aspects:

1) Present tense The present tense has three aspects: 1) indefinite, 2) progressive and 3) perfective.

2) Past tense The past tense has two aspects: 1) simple past and 2) past progressive.

3) Future tense The future tense has no aspects and it may be mentioned here that the realization of future tense is very simple in Boro.

(i) The Present Tense:
The present tense is realized in three aspects: simple present, present perfect and present progressive. The three aspects are marked by adding different morphemes.
The present indefinite is marked by –w morpheme.
For example:

In the case of present progressive, dwng is used to the verb stem. For example:

Sometimes bay is added after the verb stem and then dwng morpheme is added to the stem.

The present perfective is marked by-bay morpheme and as a result it shows that the action is just completed. For example:

(ii) Past tense:

In Boro, the past tense is realized in two aspects: simple past and past progressive. The simple past is realized by adding a set of morphemes to the verb root. For example:

It may be considered as immediate past in Boro; but in some cases such as:

This is an example of distant past in Boro. In ancient times, Iraagdoo was a King in Dimapur dynasty.

The past progressive is realized by suffixing a set of morphemes: For example:

Here, za, lir, and undu are all verb roots and bay- is an intermediate morpheme used for denoting perfective tense. -dwng mwm is suffixed after that intermediate morpheme.

B. Consonant phonemes:

Consonant /b/


Allophones:

i)	[ b̚] is unreleased
ii)	[b̚] is released

Distribution:

[b̚] occurs word finally.
	gµbab|  		‘salted’ 	
                         
[b] occurs else where in word initial and medial position, as in –
     	bantha  		‘prize’			
      	gµbaŋ		‘many/more’
Consonant /d/	

Allophones: It has four allophones
i)	[ḍ] is pre-alveolar and fully released
ii)	[d̚] is alveolar and unreleased
iii)	 [d] is alveolar and fully released

Distribution:
[ḍ] occurs before high vowels 
	biḍintha  		‘age or era’
	guḍuŋ         	‘hot’
	ḍiŋkhij        	‘fern’
	gɯḍi		‘precipated’
	ḍuŋhao		‘heated/warm’

[d̚] occurs in cluster with / n, l, r , d / and finally
     	gɯd̚na   		‘neck’	
     	bad̚lo  		‘to jump’
      	bεd̚raj	 	‘to be dissharpent’
      	bεd̚raŋ	 	‘to sweal’
       	bɯd̚		‘sense’

[d] occurs before the low-vowel as in 
      	boda   		 ‘fool’	
      	dari		 ‘bread’           
      	bεda	     	 ‘instrument for cultivation’
Consonant /g / voiced velar unaspirated stop	
Allophones: It has four allophones.

i)	[g̣] is pre-velar fully released
ii)	[g̚] is velar unreleased
iii)	[g̚] is velar slightly released
iv)	[g] is mid velar fully released

Distribution:
[g̣] occurs before high- vowels, as in 
  	g̣uduŋ  		‘hole’
	dag̣i  	 	‘don’t fear’
                          

[g|]  occurs in cluster as first member in gemination and word finally
	ag̚roŋ 		‘naughty’               
     	zug̚	 	‘era’
    
[g]  occurs before low- vowels as in 
      	gaŋ       		‘fin’
Consonant /ph/	

Allophones: It has two allophones which are voiceless and bilabial
i)	[ ph ]  is a  released aspirated stop
ii)	[ p]     is a un released unaspirated stop

Distribution:
[ph] occurs word initially and medially 
  	ph̚ami	  	‘lotus’
 	ph̚esla        	‘joke’
	haphaŋ  		 ‘girl of foolish nature’	
	sumphram   	 ‘guava’
        	apha     		 ‘father’

iii)	[p] occurs word finally (limited to loan words)
	   phap  		  ‘sin’    
	    khap     	  ‘cup’
Consonant /th/: voiceless aspirated alveolar stop	
Allophones: It has two allophones 

[th] voiceless alveolar aspirated stop occurs word initially and finally

	khortheŋ	 ‘lean and thin’
          	thalir   		‘banana’	
         	khanthal 	    	‘jack fruit’
         	thulunga	    	‘encourage’  
           	gotho 	 	‘child’

[t] voiceless, Unaspirated and unreleased stop occurs occasionally word finally in loan words
           	hat            	 weekly market

Consonant /kh/:	
Allophones: It has three allophones which are voiceless and aspirated stops
i)	[ k̚h] is pre – velar and slightly released
ii)	[kh] is mid velar and fully released
iii)	 [k̚h ] is pre-velar and fully released 

Distribution:

i)	[ k̚h] occurs word medially and as a first member in cluster with / n,r, l,kh /, as in – 
	bakhna	 	‘to praise’
	bakhri		‘granary’
	sikhla		‘maid’
	zaŋkhla	  	‘ladder’
	dokhna		‘typical Boro women’s dress’
ii)	 [kh] occurs before low vowels, as in
	khardɯi   		‘alkali’     
      	hakha       		‘hat made of bamboo’     

ii)	[k̚h] occurs before the non-low vowel, as in 
	k̚hɯma       	‘ear’		
	k̚hi		‘stool’ 
	k̚hunthila		‘post’

Consonant /s /	
Allophones: It has two allophones which are voiceless.
i)	[ s ] is a short alveolar fricative 
ii)	[s̄] is a long alveolar fricative

Distribution:
i)	[ s] occurs before non- front vowels, as in 
	mɯsa		‘tiger’
	/besor/                      ‘mustard seed’
	nersɯn		‘example or instance’
ii)         	[s̄] occurs else where and in cluster with 
	as̄tham          	‘ring’
	nis̄thar		‘pure’
	hes̄ib		‘broom’
	daos̄ri 		‘martin’

Consonant /z /	
Allophones: It has two allophones which are voiced.
[z] is short alveolar fricative
[dz] is an alveolar affricate

Distribution:

i)	[ z ] occurs in  intervocalic position and before a non front vowel word medially , as in-
	gɯza		‘red’
	khaza		‘food stuff’
        	gezer		‘middle’
         	inzur		‘wall’

ii)	[dz] occurs word initially 
	dzɯsa		‘a variety of rice’
	Consonant /h /	
Allophones: It has  two allophones which are glottal
        	 [н] is a weakly voiced fricative
	[h] is a voiceless fricative

Distribution: 
i)	[н] occurs in intervocalic position e.g.
	gaнam		‘good’
            	daнor	 	‘rope’

ii)	[h] occurs elsewhere as in
	hasar		‘fertilizer’
         	haŋger		‘circle’

Consonant /m/	
Allophones: It has two allophones which are voiced bilabial nasal
[m |] is unreleased 
[m] is released
Distribution
i)	[m̄̚]  occurs word finally and first member in clster with 
/ s,  th, l /

	mezem|		‘fat’
	thazim|		‘fresh’

	gom|tha		‘grave or serious’
            	gam̄̚la       		‘utensil’
	gam̄̚sa   		‘towel’

Consonant /n/	
Allophones: It has three allophones which are voiced 
[n̟] pre-alveolar orally released nasal
[n̚] is an alveolar orally unreleased nasal
[n]  is an alveolar orally released nasal

Distribution
ii)	[n̟]  occurs before the non-low vowel, 
	n̟ersɯn		‘example’
	mān̟ɯ	         	‘ why’
	n̟ihir		‘dew’
            	n̟o 		‘house’
	
iii)	[n̚] occurs finally and as a first member in gemination in cluster with / l , d , th, z /.
	zan̚zi		‘waist’
	zan̚zthi		‘an iron tripod’
	megon̚		‘eye’
	ban̚la		 ‘unmarried man’
	man̚dab		‘squirrel’
	san̚thro		‘countless’

iii)       	[n] occurs elsewhere
	nathur	     	‘prawn’
	bana		‘flood’
	khona		‘corner’
	dona		‘plate, made of banana plant’

Consonant /ŋ/	
Allophones: It has two allophones which are voiced 
[ŋ̚] is a pre-velar orally released nasal which is rarely used.
[ŋ̚| ] is pre-velar orally unreleased nasal

Distribution:
[ŋ] occurs finally and as a first member in cluster with /g ,s , m, n , d / 
	seŋ̚ra       		‘youth’
	bεŋ̚si		‘a variety of fish’	
         	zeŋ̚na		‘problem’		
           	zaŋ̚khla	 	‘ladder’
          	
	zɯŋ̚ma	 	‘light’			
	laŋ̚daŋ 		‘open’	
	athiŋ          	‘leg'
       	[ŋ̚]  ba ŋai     	‘a little’	

Consonant /l/	
Allophones: It has two allophones which are voiced 
[l̚ ] is an alveolar unreleased lateral
[l] is an alveolar released lateral
[l̚ ]  occurs word finally and as a first member in cluster with     
          / m , th ,z,s /

	athal̚		‘ceiling’
            	khanthal̚ 	 	‘jack-fruit’
 	hal̚ 		‘plough’
          	hal̚mazi 	 	‘a village messenger’
 	hal̚thiŋga 	 	‘a string used to contain fishes’
         	hal̚zaŋkhra 	‘the last day of ploughing’
            	ol̚sia		‘idle’  
            	ul̚tha		‘opposite’

[l] occurs else where in initial and medial position e.g

   	halali 	 	‘land of light’
               	laŋ          	 	‘let it bring’