User:ImperiumCaelestis/Konkani grammar

Konkani is one of the scheduled languages of India and the sole official language of the Indian state of Goa. The first book on Konkani Grammar was the Arte da Lingoa Canarim (A Grammer of Konkani) published in 1640, with its second edition the Gramatica da Lingua Concani Composta Pelo Padre Thomas Estevão (A Grammer of Konkani language composed by Fr. Thomas Stephans) published in 1856.

The principal word order in Konkani is SOV (Subject-Object-Verb). Nouns inflect for gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), number (singular, plural), and case (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, locative, instrumental, oblique). Konkani is one of the two Indo-Aryan languages of Sanskrit origin to preserve the Sanskrit locative case. Additionally, Konkani preserves the neuter gender found in Sanskrit, a feature further distinguishing it from many Indo-Aryan languages. Typically, Konkani adjectives do not inflect unless they end in ऎं (ẽ), in which case they inflect for gender and number. Konkani verbs inflect for tense (past, present, future). Verbs can agree with their subjects, yielding an active voice construction. Seldom do they agree with their objects to yield a passive voice construction. A third type of voice, not found in English for example, is produced when the verb agrees with neither subject nor object e.g. म्हजॆनिमित्ति ज़ाय ना- I can not do it. Affixation is largely suffixal in the language and postpositions are attested.

Vocabulary

Although a Sanskrit based language, Konkani has been influenced by Arabic, English, Kannada, Mandarin, Persian, Portuguese, Tamil, Tulu and Turkish. Hence, the vocabulary is divided into:

1. Tatsama: These are words from Sanskrit incorporated into Konkani "as is". e.g. चंद्र (skt.- moon), देव (skt.- God)
2. Tadbhava: These are words from Sanskrit which underwent change through the Prakrit languages and evolved into Konkani. e.g. रूक -tree (skt. वृक्ष-tree), वक्कद -medicine (skt. औषध-medicine), दॆवळ -temple (skt. देवालय -temple), व्हॊण- footwear (skt. वहाण- footwear)
3. Deshaja: These are words that have their origin in the Konkani language. e.g. मॊग - love, गॊमटॆं - pretty, कीऱ्ल- Bamboo shoot
4. Videshaja:

• Arabic: कैदि – prisoner, गरीब – poor
• English: पान्नॊ – spanner, टांकि – Tank.
• Japanese: रिक्षा – autorickshaw (riksha)
• Kannada: ऎदुरु – ahead, बागिल – Door, मॊड – cloud.
• Mandarin: तुफान – storm (ty-phu), चा – tea (cha), लीचि-lychee (li-chi)
• Persian: ज़मीनदार – landlord, दुकान – shop
• Portuguese : काज़ार – Wedding (casar), इगर्जॆ – Church (Igreja), नाताळां – Christmas (Natal), ज़नॆल – window (zanela).
• Tamil: बड्ग – North (vaḍa), टॆंक – South (teṛṛa), संबळ – Salary (sambaḷam)
• Tulu: नॆल – floor (nela)
• Turkish: च़ाकु – knife, तोप – cannon, बहादुर – brave

Noun (नाम)

There are five types of nouns:

1. Proper Noun (व्यक्तिवाचक नाम): बाबुश, रमेश, रहीम, रॆमीगियस, मुंबयि, कॊडियाल.
2. Common Noun (ज़ातिवाचक नाम): मोर (peacock), सूणॆं (dog), मूस (housefly), मूंय (ant).
3. Abstract Noun (भाववाचक नाम): सानपण (childhood), गॊमटाय (beauty), तरणाय (youth).
4. Collective Noun (समुदायवाचक नाम): मंडळि (group), सेनॆ (army), सभॆ (assembly).
5. Material Noun (द्रव्यवाचक नाम): भांगार (gold), रुप्पॆं (silver), उदक (water).

Nouns undergo declension (प्रत्यय) depending on the Gender (लिंग) Number (वचन) or Case (विभक्ति).

Gender (लिंग)

There are three genders in Konkani :

• masculine (पुल्लिंग): Most nouns that refer to males or masculine traits are masculine e.g. च़ल्लॊ (boy), देवु (God).
• feminine (स्त्रीलिंग): Most nouns that refer to females or feminine traits are feminine. e.g. बायिल (wife), न्हंयि (river).
• neuter (नपुंसकलिंग): The neuter gender does not specifically ascribe to non living things. It may also include living things. e.g. चॆरुडुं (child), सूणॆं (dog).

Number (वचन)

There are two numbers in Konkani—Singular and Plural

English singular	Konkani Singular	English Plural	Konkani Plural
dog	सूणॆं	dogs	सूणीं
son	पूतु	sons	पूतां
car	गाडि	cars	गाडियॊ

Case declension (विभक्ति प्रत्यय)

Konkani has nine cases, viz. nominative, original, dative, accusative, vocative, instrumental, 1st. locative, 2nd. locative and oblique. A case unique to Konkani is that the end vowel is mostly and the middle vowel is seldom omitted. This is similar to Greek where vowels undergo contraction. e.g. बागिल (door) -> बागलार (at the door).

Pronoun (सर्वनाम)

These are of five types :

• Personal pronoun (पुरुषवाचक सर्वनाम): These are pronouns used in place of their corresponding noun forms. They are of three types,

Person	singular (m/f/n)	plural (m/f/n)
first person (प्रथम पुरुष)	हांव (I)	आमी** (we)
second person (मध्यम पुरुष)	तुं (thou)	तुमी (you)
third person-near (अन्य पुरुष)	हॊ/ही/हॆं (he/she/it)	हीं/ह्यॊ/हीं (they)
third person-afar (अन्य पुरुष)	तॊ/ ती/ तॆं (he/she/it)	तीं/त्यॊ/तीं (they)

 **आम्मि is used as we both in the inclusive and exclusive sense. The verb conjugation will show whether it is used in an inclusive sense
or otherwise. e.g. आमी वत्तात (We are going), आमी वच्चयां (Let us go)

• Demonstrative pronouns (निश्चयवाचक सर्वनाम ): These pronouns point to a definite person or object. e.g. हॊ, ही, हॆं, तॊ, ती, तॆं.

Married ladies amongst the Goud Saraswat Brahmins of Kanara refer to their husbands respectfully as हांगाथांवुनु (from here).  

• Indefinite pronoun (अनिश्चयवाचक सर्वनाम): These pronouns do not point to a definite person or object. e.g. कॊणकि, कसलकि, कितकि.

• Relative pronoun (संबंधवाचक सर्वनाम): These pronouns relate one word to another. e.g. कॊणॆं, कॊणाक, कशॆं. It must be noted that the word "जो/जे" found in Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati does not exist in Konkani.

e.g. कशॆं आयलॊ तशॆंच़ वच़। (go the way you came)

• Interrogative pronoun (प्रश्नवाचक सर्वनाम): These are pronouns used for interrogation. e.g. कल्लॆं, कितॆं, कसलॆं, इत्याक, कॆदना.

• Reflexive pronoun (आत्मवाचक सर्वनाम): आपण is the only pronoun in this category. e.g. तांनॆं आपणानॆं पूरा रांदप कॆल्लॆं। (She herself did the entire cooking).

Another case where आपण is used is when one is speaking of a third person using direct speech.
e.g. direct speech : तॊ म्हणालॊ आपण यॆत्ता। (He said, "I shall come").
        indirect/reported speech : तॊ म्हणालॊ तॊ यॆत्ता। (He said that he will come.).

Konkani pronouns also undergo declension depending on the Gender (लिंग) Number (वचन) or Case (विभक्ति).

Adjective (विशेषण)

The adjective qualifies a noun. There are four main types of adjectives, viz. quality (गुणवाचक), numeral (संख्यावाचक), quantity (परिमाणवाचक) and demonstrative (संकेतवाचक).

Types of adjectives

Adjectives of quality (गुणवाचक विशेषण)

adjective of quality	examples
good quality (गुण)	च़ांग (good), च़ंद (nice), बद्द (true), पापद (innocent)
bad quality (दोष)	वायिट (bad), अळशिक (disgusting)
colour (बण्ण)	धवॆं (white), पाचुवॆं (green), हळदुवॆं (yellow)
tense (काळ)	नवॆं (new), पॊरनॆं (old), मुखारवॆलॆं (next, front)
direction (दीक)	बड्गि (north), टॆंकि (southern), उदॆयंतिचॆं (eastern), अस्तॆयंतिचॆं (western)
shape (आकार)	गॊमटॊ (beautiful), सोबीत (pretty), गोल (round)
condition (दशा)	वल्लॆं (wet), दाट (thick), थोरु (fat)
place (स्थळ)	मुंबयिकार (Mumbaiite), कॊडियालकार (Mangalorean), गॊंयॆकार (Goan), पणजॆकार (a resident of Panaji)

Numeral (संख्यावाचक विशेषण)

These are further classified as definite (निश्चित) and indefinite (अनिश्चित).

• Definite is further sub-classified according to:

• • Ordinal number (पूर्णांकबोधक): एक (one), धा (ten), इकरा (eleven), पांच़ (five).
  • Fraction (अपूर्णांकबोधक): देड (one and a half), अडेज़ (two and half), सवाय तीन (three and one fourth).
  • Cardinal number (क्रमांकबोधक): पयलॆं (first), पांच़वॆं (fifth), दुसरॆं (second).
  • Recurrent number ( आवृत्तिवाचक): पयलॆपटि (once), पयलॆफंत (once), दुरसॆपटि (twice).
  • Group number (समूहवाचक): दॊग्ग (both), तॆग्ग (three persons), चारंय (four persons), पांच़य (five persons).
  • All inclusive number (प्रत्येकबोधक): प्रतियॆकळॊ (everyone), प्रतिमनुश (every man), हरयॆक (everyone0.

• Indefinite adjectives are those which give a vague definition of the noun. e.g.
  • इगर्जेंत मस्त जन आश्शिलीं। (There were many people in the church).
  • त्सुनामीनिमित्ति असंख्य जन साव गॆल्लीं। (A lot of people died in the tsunami.)

Sometimes, two definite numeral adjectives are used together to make an indefinite numeral adjective.

e.g. माका एक चाळीस पंनास रुपयॊ दित्ता? (Could you give me about  forty to fifty rupees?)

Quantity (परिमाणवाचक विशेषण)

• Definite (निश्चित): दोन किलो वायंगण (two kg eggplant) , एक लीटर दूद (one litre milk).
• Indefinite (अनिश्चित): चिकॆं उदक (little water), आनि ऊणॆं साकर (little less sugar), मस्त काम (lot of work).

Demonstrative (सार्वनामिक विशेषण)

These are pronouns that precede a noun and qualify it. Save personal and reflexive pronouns, all other pronouns in Konkani, if preceding a noun, become demonstrative pronouns. Demonstrative pronouns are classified on two bases:

1. Type:

• • Demonstrative adjective : हॊ मनुश, ती मूर्ति, तॆं चॆरुडुं.
  • Indefinite adjective : कॊणकि मनुश, खंचॆकि चॆरुडुं.
  • Interrogative adjective : खंचीं जन?, कसलॆं काम?.
  • Relative adjective : कॊण भुरगॊ, खंचॆं वस्तु. (Konkani does not have an adjective similar to the Hindi "जो" {जो कोई} or the Marathi "जे" {जे कुणी}. It uses the interrogative pronoun instead. As such, the Interrogative pronoun in Konkani is the same as the relative adjective. e.g. कॊण दुबळॊ बागलार आयलॊ ताका दुड्डु दी। )

1. Declension:

• • Non-declining (मूळ सार्वनामिक):
    • ती भुरगी शालॆक वत्ता।
    • कॊण च़ल्लॊ मगॆलॆं काम करद।
    • कांयि विद्यार्थीं क्लासांत नाती।

• • Declining (ज़ोड सार्वनामिक):
    • असलॊ मनुश खंय मॆळतलॊ?
    • कितल्यॊ रुपयॊ ज़ाय तुका?

Degrees of comparison (तुलनॆ)

Rhetorical use of unbalanced comparatives

In some contexts, such as advertising or political speeches, absolute and relative comparatives are intentionally employed in a way that invites a comparison, and yet the basis of comparison is not established. This is a common rhetorical device used to create an implication of significance where one may not actually be present. Such usage is common in Konkani. e.g.

• कॆदनाय ! (Always!)
• इत्याक च़ड दिंवचॆं? (Why give more?)
• आमी च़ड मॆहनत करतात। (We work harder)

Konkani usage

There are three degrees of comparison:

1. Positive degree (मूलावस्थॆ):

• • रॆबॆका सोबीत भुरगि आसा। (Rebecca is pretty.)
  • मळबार काळॆं मॊड आसा। (there are black clouds in the sky.)

1. Comparative degree (उत्तरावस्थॆ):

• • पांडुरंग पशिनॆं गौरंग च़ड बुधवंत आसा। (Gourang is smarter than Pandurang.)
  • मजॊ पूतु म्हज्याकय दीग ज़ाल्लॊ। (My son has become taller than me.)

1. Superlative degree (उत्तमावस्थॆ):

• • जॊयसन समस्तांत बुधवंत आसा। (Joyson is the smartest of all.)
  • सौरमंडलांतुं गुरु सकडांतुं व्होड ग्रह आसा। (Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system.)

Note: Only adjectives of quality (गुणवाचक विशेषण), adjectives of indefinite numbers (अनिश्चित संख्यावाचक विशेषण) and
adjectives of definite quantity (निश्चित परिमाणवाचक विशेषण) can be rendered in the comparative degree.

Verb (क्रियापद)

Konkani follows an SOV word order, inflects verbs for tense/mood/aspect as well as other categories such as negation based on tense/mood/aspect and they agree in person, gender and number. The verb root is called धातु. e.g. खा, राब, यॆ, वच़ and their infinitive forms are खांवचॆं, राबचॆं, यॆंवचॆं, वच़्चॆं respectively.

Types of verbs

Based on object

• Intransitive verb (अकर्मक क्रिया): These cause no effect on another person/object. e.g. गौरंग रडता। (Gaurang cries)

• Transitive verbs (सकर्मक क्रियापद): These cause direct effect on another person/object. e.g. हांव कागद बरयता। (I write a letter.)

• Ditransitive verb (द्विकर्मक क्रियापद): These cause effect on the direct and indirect object. e.g. हांवॆं फ़्रान्सिसाक पुस्तक दिल्लॆं। (I gave the book to Francis.)

Based on use

• Simple verb (सामान्य क्रियापद): Only one verb is used. e.g. तॊ न्हाल्लॊ। (He bathed.)
• Compound verb (संयुक्त क्रियापद): Two verbs are used. सविता होवियॊ म्हणुंक लागली। (Savita started singing the Hovios)
• 'Causative verb (प्रेरणार्थक क्रियापद): ' Konkani uses the infix "अंव" to render verbs causative. e.g.

1. हाडचॆं > to bring, हाडंवचॆं > to cause someone to bring, to order something
2. न्हांवचॆं > to bathe oneself, न्हाणंवचॆं > to bathe someone.
3. खांवचॆं > to eat, खावंवचॆं > to feed someone.

Based on position

• Auxiliary verb: आसचॆं (to be) is the sole auxiliary verb in Konkani. e.g.

1. हांव वत्त आसा। (I am going)
2. तॊ करत आसा। (He is doing)

• Verbs made from nouns, pronouns and adjectives (नामधातु क्रयापद): These are similar to English verbs like anglicise, indianise, etc.

e.g. लाज़ंवचॆं (from लाज़)

• 'Participle clause (पूर्वकालिक क्रियापद): If one verb in the sentence the other verb taking place is called poorvakalik verb. It has two verb in the sentence.The latter is the main verb and the former is the poorvakalik verb. This verb ends in the suffix "ओन", "ऊन" or "ऊनु" depending on the dialect.

1. हांव जॆंवुनु निदली। (Having had dinner, I slept)
2. हांवॆं न्हांवोन आरति कॆल्ली। (Having bathed, I prayed)
3. तुं बॅंकाचॆं काम कऱ्न यॊ। (After having finished the bank work, you come).

Based on Tense-aspect-mood

Past (भूत)

• Past Indefinite (सामान्य भूत):

These describe a past action but do not give an idea of time of action.

• Past imminent (आसन्न भूत):

These describe a past action that occurred in the near past .

• Past continuous (अपूर्ण भूत):

These describe a continuous action in the past.

• Past perfect (पूर्ण भूत):

These describe an action that was long completed in the past.

• Past perfect continuous (पू्र्ण अपू्र्ण भूत):

Describes

Category:Konkani Category:Southern Indo-Aryan languages Category:Indo-Aryan languages Category:Languages of India Category:Subject–object–verb languages Category:Grammars of specific languages