Word-Formation In Assamese: A Priliminary Investigation

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आभ्यंतर (Aabhyantar)      SCONLI-12  विशेषांक         ISSN : 2348-7771

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9. Word-Formation In Assamese: A Priliminary Investigation

Bediskiva Nath: Tejpur University

ABSTRACT:  The  basic  purpose  of  this  paper  is  to  present  the  word  formation  in  Assamese,  which  I have  found  out  through  my  research.  Assamese  is  an  Eastern  Indo-Aryan  language  spoken  mainly  in Assam which is an Indian state, where it is an official language. It is spoken by over 15 million native speakers  and  serves  as  a  lingua  franca  in  the  region.  It  has  many dialects  but  my main  concern  is  to present  the  word  formation  aspects  of  standard  Assamese  variety.  Here  I  will  discuss  inflection  and derivation   in   Assamese   language.   According   to   Richard   Nordquist   “In   linguistics   (particularly Morphology  and  lexicology)  word-formation  refers  to  the  ways  in  which  new  words  are  made  on  the basis of other words or morphemes. It is also called derivational morphology.”   In this current paper I will discuss inflection and derivation in Assamese. There are two types of classification under derivation which  is  affixation  and  compounding  will  also  be  discussed.  Affixation  and  compounding  are  two important ways of word formation.

1.    Compounding: koste-moste “with great pains or trouble”

Kani-muni “dusky”

Gono-poti “a name of ganesh”

Usol-pasol “excited with delight”

2.     Affixation: randh-oni “cookF” Isswar-I   “goddess” Lora-bur  “boys”

1.    INTRODUCTION:

The  main  purpose  of  this  research  is  to  find  out  how  words  are  formed  in  Assamese  and  to  find  out inflectional and derivational process of word formation. Words are basically created by derivation with lexical or free morpheme and affixes or bound morphemes, eg; read+er= reader.  Word formation process is a means by which new words are produced either by modification of existing words or by complete

innovation  of  the  existing  word.1   Word  formation  is  bring  either  by  inflectional  or  by  derivational

changes. Hence, inflectional and derivational are the two main process of word formation.

2.   DISCUSSION OF WORD FORMATION IN ASSAMESE:

The  main  sources  of  Assamese  vocabulary  are  Tatsama,  Tatbhaba,  Desi  and  Videsi.  Through  the influence of neighborhood it has adopted many words from its neighboring languages. Sometimes words are formed by two different free morphemes and they are more complex formation of words. There are d different processes of word-formation which are discussed below:

1. Shameem, Tanvir. August 2016. Word Formation Process.

2. Deka. Dharma Singha. Rachana Bichitra. Assam Book Depot Panbazar, Guwahati.

2.1  AFFIXATION OF ASSAMESE:

In this process affixes are attached to the root or stem and base to form a new word. Affixes itself do not carry any meaning; when it attached to a root it influenced the semantic meaning of that root. According to the survey Assamese has two types of affixes: Prefix and Suffix.

A.     PREFIX: There are some prefixes which are originated from Sanskrit, they are:

a.     /ɔpɔ/= It denotes the meaning of neglect, sacrifice, insult, insane, ugly, contrast, oppositeness etc. eg;

i.                     ɔpɔ           man                                                      ii.         ɔpɔ           bjɔbɔhar Opposite      dignity, respect.                                               Opposite   behave/treatment Disrespect or insult                                                               misbehave or ill-treatment

b.    /ɔ/= It specifies the meaning of ‘opposite’ ‘dissimilar’ etc.

iii.        ɔ        rini                                    iv.        ɔ         gʱori                      v.         ɔ          kopot

Opposite    a person who has debt            Opposite    home                             Opposite dishonest’

free from debt                                    a nomad/ homeless                              frank’, honest

c.   /onu/= A prefix which denotes after, behind, spreading, closeness, resemblance etc. vi.        onu             krom                                                  vii.       onu              gɔmɔn

resembles    an order’, serial.                                    Resembles      act of going

orderly’ ‘sequence’                                                          ‘act of following’

d.   /dur/= A prefix signify vile, bad, negation.

viii.      dur            akaŋkʰja                                              ix.         dur   atma

Bad             desire                                                           Bad       soul

‘Evil desire’                                                             ‘Wicked’ Malevolnt’

e.   /ni/= A prefix denotes absence, prohibition etc.

x.                    ni           kʰut                               xi.        ni         ʤɔgɔr absence      mistake   Absence  gulity

‘perfect’                                                                           ‘guiltless’

f.    /pɔra/= A prefix which carries negative meaning, it signifies opposite, superior etc. xii.       pɔra    zɔi

Opposite   win

‘defeat’

g.   /prɔ/= A prefix implying excellence, excess etc.

xiii.      prɔ        kompon                                                          xiv.      prɔ      kʰjatɔ

Excess       vibration                                                               Excess   famous/popular

‘great agitation or vibration’                                                 ‘well-known’/ ‘very famous’

B.    SUFFIX:

Assamese has a very huge stock of suffixes. They play a very vital role in terms of meaning of a word. In

Assamese suffixes can be attached after noun, pronoun, adjective, adverb and verb as well3. For instance;

a.    NOUN+SUFFIX

NOUN	SUFFIX	WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
lora	bur	lorabur	lora ‘boy’+ bur ‘PL,CL’	Boys
goru	zak	goruzak	goru ‘cow’+ zak ‘PL CL’	A herd of cows
kʰeti	ɔk	kʰetiɔk	khet   ‘crop   field+   i   ‘INF’+   ɔk ‘agentiv marker’	Farmer

TABLE NO: 1

b.    PRONOUN+SUFFIX:

PRONOUN	SUFFIX	WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
zi	zɔn	zizɔn	zi ‘that DEF’+ zɔn ‘CL’	That one
teu	luk	teuluk	teu ‘3rd.SG.HON’+ luk ‘CL.PL’	They HON
i	hot	ihot	i ‘3rd.SG’+hot ‘CL.PL’	They
xi	hot	xihot	xi ‘that DEF’ + hot ‘CL.PL’	They
tuma	luk	tumaluk	tuma ‘2nd.SG’ + luk “CL.PL’	You pl

TABLE NO: 2

2.Roy,  Bipul.  Purkayastha,  B.S.  A Suffix-Based  Morphological  Analysis  of  Assamese  Word  Formation.  International  Journal on

Recent and Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication. Volume: 5 Issue: 3

a.     ADJECTIVE+SUFFIX:

ADJECTIVE	SUFFIX	WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
dʱunija	zoni	dʱunijazɔni	dʱunija    ‘beautiful’+    zɔn ‘CL.SG.DEF’ + i ‘FM’	The       beautiful one’
daŋɔr	zoni	daŋɔrzɔni	daŋɔr ‘elder’+ zɔn+ i
bʱal	tu	bʱaltu	bʱal ‘good’+ tu ‘CL.SG’	The good one
budʱi	ɔk	budʱiɔk	budʱi    ‘intelligence’+    ɔk ‘agentive’	Intelligent

TABLE NO: 3

b.    VERB+SUFFIX:

VERB	SUFFIX	WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
randʱ	oni	randʱoni	randʱ ‘to cook’+ oni ‘agentive’	The cook
likʰ	ɔk	likʰɔk	likʰ ‘to write’+ ɔk ‘agentive’	Writer
ga	ɔk	gaiɔk	ga ‘to sing’+ i ‘INF’ ɔk ‘agentive’	Singer
ʤuʤ	aru	ʤuʤaru	ʤuʤ ‘fight’ + aru ‘agentive’	Fighter

TABLE NO: 4

c.     ADVERB+SUFFIX:

ADVERB	SUFFIX	WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
kali	loi	kaliloi	kali ‘tomorrow’+ loi ‘post position’	Tomorrow
rati	loi	ratike	rati ‘night’+ loi ‘post position’	At night

TABLE NO: 5

2.2  COMPOUNDING:

In  Assamese  compounding  are  formed  by  adding  two  different  roots.  Both  the  two  roots  carry  some meaning.  Sometimes  the  meaning  is  inherited  by  one  of  the  two  roots  and  sometimes  they  denote  a different  meaning.  In  Assamese when  two  roots  are  combined  together  to  form  a  compound  word  the final  sound  of  the  first  morpheme  and  the  initial  sound  of  the  second  morpheme  got  changed.  This happens in case of both vowel and consonant.

IN CASE OF VOWEL:

/ɔ/ before /u/ got deleted

WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
xurʤudoi	xurʤɔ ‘sun’+ udoi ‘rise’	Sunrise
nɔndutxɔb	nɔndɔ ‘Lord Krishna’+ utxɔb ‘festival’	A festival for Lord Krishna
prɔsnuttɔr	prɔsnɔ ‘question’+ uttɔr ‘answer’	Question answer
mohudoi	moha ‘great’+ udoi ‘incarnation, rise’	A great man
goŋudok	Goŋga ‘the gangas’+ udok ‘water’	Holy water of Gagnga’
kotʰupɔkɔtʰɔn	kotʰa ‘speech’+ upɔkɔtʰɔn ‘a story’	A conversation’

TABLE NO: 6

/ɔ/ and /a/ changed to /ə/ and /ɔ/ or sometimes got deleted

WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
debərxi	bebɔ ‘God’+ rixi ‘saint’	A God who is also a saint.
xɔptərxi	xoptɔ ‘seven’+ rixi ‘saint’	The seven ancient great sages of india.
uttomrin	uttomɔ ‘the best’+ rin ‘debt’<i=ɪ>	One who lends.
razɔrxi	raza ‘king’+ rixi ‘saint’	A king who leads an ascetical life’
mɔhɔrxi	mɔha ‘great’+ rixi ‘saint’	A superior sage.

/ɔ/ or /a/ before /e/ changed to /oi/

/ɔ/ or /a/ before /oi/ changed to /oi/

TABLE NO: 7

WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
zɔnoik	zɔnɔ ‘man’+ ek ‘one, lonely’	Someone indefinite
hitoixi	hitɔ ‘good, beneficial, walefare’+ exi ‘desire’	Benevolent
ekoikɔ	ekɔ ‘one/first’+ ek ‘one/first’	Similar
mɔtoikɔ	mɔt ‘opinion,view’+ oiko ‘unity’	Similar opinion/ view

IN CASE OF CONSONANT:

/k/ changed to /g/

TABLE NO: 8

WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
digɔntɔ	dik ‘a direction, horizon’+ɔntɔ ‘end, closure’	The horizon
diggoz	dik ‘a direction’ + goz ‘an elephant’	One    of    the    eight    elephants supposed   to   support   the   eight quarters of the globe.
bagix	bak ‘side, edge’+ ix ‘god, lord’	An eloquent person

TABLE NO: 9

/ṭ/ changed to /d/

WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
xodupodex	xot ‘honest’+ upodex ‘advice’	Honest advice
todupori	tot ‘that’+ upori ‘besides, over’	Besides that, more over
zɔgɔdix	zɔgɔt ‘universe’+ ix ‘God, Lord’	God

TABLE NO: 10

/t/ changed to /s/, /ʤ/, /n/ or sometimes may got deleted

WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
xɔssoritrɔ	xɔt ‘honest’+ soritrɔ ‘character’	Having a good character
xɔʤɔn	xɔt ‘honest’+ zɔn ‘CL.SG.M’	Honest person
mrinmɔi	mrit ‘earth, clay’+ mɔi ‘full of’	Made of clay
zɔgɔnnath	zɔgɔt ‘universe’+ nath ‘’Lord, protector’	God

TABLE NO: 11

/m/ changed to and /ŋ/:

WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
xɔŋgoti	xɔm ‘equivalent, similar’+ goti ‘act of going, motion’	Consistency
xɔŋgit	xɔm ‘equal, similar’+ git ‘song’	Song
xɔŋkɔr	xɔm mental calm, sensual restraint + kɔr ‘an inventor’	Lord Shiv

TABLE NO: 12

ENDOCENTRIC COMPOUNDS:

In Endocentric compounds the meaning are inherited by one of the two word which are combined together to create a new lexeme. It can be divided into two different categories. They are Right-handed Compounding and Left-handed Compounding.

a.    Right-handed Compounding:

WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
pitɔlsoku	pitɔl ‘brass’+ soku ‘eye’	One who’s eyes are brass colored
gozmukʰ	Goz ‘elephant’+ mukʰ ‘face’	One who’s face is alike elephant
xadʱupurux	xadʱu ‘honest, saint’+ purux ‘person’	An honest person
razxɔbʱa	Raz ‘kingly/king’+ xɔbʱa ‘meeting’	A royal court

TABLE NO: 13

These are right- handed  endocentric  words.  Because as in the example /raz/ means king or kingly and

/xɔʱa/ means meeting. But the word does not specify anything about king or kingly it indicates a special king of meeting. And the internal meaning carried by the word which lies in the right side of the word.

b.    Left-handed Compounding:

WORD	FORMATION	GLOSS
mukhɔsɔndrɔ	mukhɔ ‘face’+ sɔndrɔ ‘moon’	Moonfaced
nɔrɔxiŋhɔ	nɔrɔ ‘human’+ xiŋhɔ ‘lion’	The lion headed incarnation of Vishnu.
sɔrɔnkɔmɔl	sɔrɔn ‘lag’+ kɔmɔl ‘lotus’	A lag which is alike lotus.
xukɔnɔl	xukɔ ‘sorrow/grief’+ ɔnɔl ‘fier’	The burning fire of grief.
bidjaxagor	bidja ‘knowledge’+ xagor ‘ocean’	Knowledge like an ocean

TABLE NO: 14

These  are  left-handed  because  as  the  above  example  signifies  /mukʰɔ/  means  face  and  /sɔndrɔ/  means moon and the compound word /mukʰɔsɔndrɔ/ does not say about moon but it indicates a special kind of face. And the internal meaning carried by the word which lies in the left side of the word.

EXOCENTRIC COMPOUNDING:

WORD	FORMATION	INTERNAL MEANING	GLOSS
binapani	bina ‘a sort of Indian lute’+ pani ‘hand’	One  who  has  the  lute in her/his hand	The      Goddess      of learning and music,
nilambɔr	nila ‘blue’+ ɔmbɔr ‘cloth’	One   who   wear   blue cloths.	the  elder  brother  of Lord Krishna.
pɔdmɔnabʱ	pɔdmɔ ‘lotus’+ nabʱ ‘navel’	Lotus in the navel.	Lord Vishnu.

TABLE NO: 15

These are exocentric words because the internal meaning does not carried by any one of the both lexemes. They create a different meaning. As for instance, in the above examples /bina/ means lute and /pan/ means hand but the composed word neither species a lute nor a hand, the meaning of the word /bina-pani/ means the Goddess Saraswati.

4.RESULT OF THE STUDY:

4.1 AFFIXATION: Through the above discussion this has found that in Assamese affixes can be divided into  two  types  on  the  basis  of  their  form  and  function.  They  are  Inflectional  and  Derivational  affixes. Assamese language has only two kinds of affixes they are prefix and suffix. In Sanskrit which is believed as the ancestor language of India has twenty prefixes such as /prɔ/, /pora/, /ɔpɔ/, /sɔŋ/ etc are directly adopted by Assamese  language.  There  are  some  other  prefixes  which  are  Assamese  origin.  Such  as;  /ɔ/,  /au/,  /u/ which  are  discussed  above.  Assamese  suffixes  are  both  inflectional  and  derivational  in  nature.  Suffixes denotes functional information and changed semantic meanings as well.

4.1.1 DERIVATIONAL AFFIXES:  Affixes which create new lexemes which carry different meaning are called  derivational  affixes.  For  example  in  case  of  prefix,  /ɔpɔ/  creates  new  lexemes  as  it  denotes  the meaning of oppositeness. It is a kind of class maintaining derivational prefix. Alike /ɔpɔ/, /ɔ/ /onu/ are also class maintain derivational prefix because they also signify opposite meaning but do not change the word class. On the other hand /dur/ which is both class maintain and class changing, signifies the meaning of bad and negation. When /dur/ is attached to a noun it never change the class of the word but if it attached to a verb it changes it meaning as in /durarugjɔ/ ‘incurable’ where /arujɔ/ means cure.

In  case  of  suffixation,  for instance  /kʰet/  is  a  root  which  carries  the  meaning of  crop  field  if  /i/  suffix  is added to the root it becomes /kʰeti/ which means products produced in the crop field. If /ɔk/ is added to the word /kʰeti/ it becomes /kʰetiɔk/ which means farmer. /dʱon/ means property, money and if /i/ is added to it it becomes /dʱoni/ which means rich people.

4.1.2 INFLECTIONAL AFFIXES: In Assamese inflectional affixes are mostly suffix. Those affix which changes the  form and shape of  a root is called inflectional affix. There are few inflectional prefixes. For instance /prɔ/ does not change the meaning and the class of a root.  As in /prɔkɔmpɔn/, /kompon/ is the root which means vibration and if the prefix /prɔ/ attached to the root it means ‘great vibration’.

In case of suffixes, /e/, /ɔk/, /ɔr/ /ot/ /ni/ etc are inflectional suffix because if these suffixes are added to a noun  they  do  not  change  the  meaning.  It  only  gives  the  extra  grammatical  information.  In  Assamese

inflectional suffix gives information about case. For instance;

NOUN	SUFFIX	CASE	WORD	GLOSS
manuh	-e	Nominative	manuhe	The man (NOM)
hat	-ere	Dative	hatere	By hand
manuh	-ɔk	Accusative	manuhɔk	the man
gʱɔr	-ɔt	Locative	gʱɔrɔt	At home

TABLE NO: 16

In Assamese Inflectional suffix also gives information about Number and definiteness. As follows:

NOUN	SUFFIX	NUMBER	WORD	GLOSS	FEATURE
lora goru manuh gilas	-tu	Singular (DEF)	loratu gorutu manuhtu gilastu	The boy The cow The man The glass	[+/-human] [+/-animate]
lɔra suali sagoli kɔlɔm	-bur	Plural (IND)	lɔrabur sualibur sagolibur kɔlɔmbur	Boys Girls Boats pens	[+/-human] [+/-animate
kitap kahi	-kʰɔn	Singular.DEF	kitapkʰɔn kahikʰɔn	The book The plate	[-animate]
mastɔr lɔra ofisar	-zɔn	Singular.DEF.HON.M	mastɔrzɔn lɔrazɔn ofisarzɔn	The teacher The boy The officer	[+human]
tiruta burhi	zɔni	Singular.DEF.FM	tirutazɔni burhizɔni	The lady The old lady	[+human]

TABLE NO: 17

In  Assamese  /tu/  is  a  inflectional  suffix  which  signifies  Singular,  definiteness,  and  attached  to  the  noun which  has  the  features  of  [+/-  human],  [+/-animate];  /-bur/  denotes  plurality  but  does  not  indicate definiteness and it attached to [+/- human] [+/-animate]; /-kʰɔn/ indicates singular, definiteness and attached to  [-animate];  /-zɔn/  indicates  singular,  definiteness,  male,  honorific  and  attached  to  [+human];  /-zɔni/

denotes singular, definiteness, female and attached to[+human].

In Assamese Inflectional suffix indicates Tense and Aspect when it is added to a Verb. As for instance:

VERB	SUFFIX	TENSE/ASPECT	WORD	GLOSS
ko	-u -a -i	Simple present/ 1stP 2ndP 3rdP	kou kua koi	I say You he/she say
ko	-as-u -as-a -as-e	Present/progress 1st  P 2ndP 3rdP	koiasu koi asa koi ase	I am saying you are saying He/she is saying
ko	-l-u -l-a -l-e	Perfective 1st  P 2nd P 3rd  P	kolu kola kole	I have said You have said He/she has said
ko	-isilu -isila -isile	Simple past	koisilu koisila koisile	I said You said He/she said
ko	-m -ba -bo	Future indefinite	kom koba kobo	I shal say You will say He/she will say

TABLE NO: 18

The suffix  which  signifies  tense and  aspect  are  also  called  verbal  suffix  because  they are added  only to the verbal category4. /-u/, indicates 1st person, /-a/ indicates 2nd person and /-i/ indicates 3rd person. Simple present does not have any marker. /-as/ is a progressive marker /-l/ is a perfect marker, /-isil/ is a past tense marker  and  /-m/  is  the  morpheme  which  has  an  allomorph  /b/  which  indicates  future  tense.  These  are inflectional morpheme.

4.2  COMPUNDING:  Through  the  above  discussion  it  has  been  found  that  in  compounding  if  the  final sound of the first word is /ɔ/ or /a/ and the initial sound of the second sound is /u/ then after forming the compound word the final sound /ɔ/ or /a/ got deleted as discussed in Table no: 6. In other formation if the final sound is /ɔ/ and the initial sound of the second word is /r/ followed by the front unrounded vowel /i/

4. Roy, Bipul. Purkayastha, B.S. A Suffix-Based Morphological Analysis of Assamese Word Formation. International Journal on Recent and

Innovation Trends in Computing and Communication. Volume: 5 Issue: 3

then after forming the compound word the final sound /ɔ/ of the first word either got changed ton /ə/ or got deleted as in Table No: 7. When the word which final word is /ɔ/ or /a/ and it attached to a different word which starts with the front unrounded vowel /e/ then they changed to /oi/ after formation as already have discussed in Table No: 8.

In case of Consonant, the velar voiceless stop /k/, changes to velar voiced stop /g/ in any environment. If final sound is an alveolar, voiceless stop /t/, it changes to /d/ as discussed in  Table No: 10. On the other hand, if the final sound of the first word is an alveolar, voiceless stop it either changes to voiceless alveolar fricative /s/, alveolar nasal /n/, voiced alveolar approximant /ʤ/ or got deleted as mention above in Table No: 11. The final bilabial nasal /m/ changed to velar nasal if the initial consonant of the second word is a velar voiceless stop or a voiced stop eg; /xɔm/ changed to /xɔŋ/ as discussed in Table No: 12.

ABBREVIATION

WORD                 GLOSS                WORD                 GLOSS                WORD                 GLOSS

1st  P                       First person           DEF                      Definite                 INF                       Infinitival

2nd P                      Second person      FM                        Female                  M                          Male

3rd  P                      Third person         HON                     Honorific              PL                         Plural

CL                         Classifier              IND                       Indefinite

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.   Goswami, Sri Gulok Ch. 1992. Dhwani-Bigyanor Bhumika. Bina Library. Guwahati.

2.   Goswami, Sri Gulok Ch.1990. Axomiya Byakaranar Maulik Bisar. Bina Library. Guwahati.

3.   Halpelmath,  Martin.  2002.  Understanding  Morphology.  Oxford  University  Press  Inc.,  New York.

4.   Plag,  Ingo.  2003.  Word-Formation  in  English.  University  of  Siegen.  Cambridge  University Press.

5.   Roy,  Bipul.  Purkayastha,  B.S.  A  Suffix-Based  Morphological  Analysis  of  Assamese  Word Formation.   International   Journal   on   Recent   and   Innovation   Trends   in   Computing   and Communication. Volume: 5 Issue: 3

6.   Shameem, Tanvir. 2016. August. Word-Formation Process.

7.   Zapata, Prof. Argenis A. (B-2007). Unit 1: Types of Words and Word-Formation Processes in English. Inglés IV. Universidad de Los Andes.

8.   Bhattacharya,  Prafulla  Ch.  1991.  Adhunik  Asamiya  Sabdakosh.  Chandra  Kanta  Press  Private Limited, Guwahati.