Ian & Daniel 9/17/15

Ian Holloway and Daniel Plesniak

Field Methods­ Bengali

9/17/15­Meeting with Paroma Notes


We elicited the following past tense verb paradigms with Paroma:

to work­kaj kora lit. “work do”

the following past tense forms were elicited for the verb “do”. To form the past tense of ‘to

work’, you would produce kaj+a form of “do”. Thus, ‘I worked’ would be: ‘ami kaj korlam’ for

example.

Pronoun Simple Past ‘worked’ Perfect ‘had worked’ ‘had finished

working’

ami korlam korechillam korepellechillam

tumi korle korechille korepellechille

tui korli korechillei korepellechilli

apni korlen korechillen korepellechillen

ʃe korlo korlechillo korepellechillo

to plant­gac lagano

As with ‘to work’, plant is composed of two words, the second of which is conjugated for tense.

Thus, ‘I planted’ is ‘ami gac lagalam’.

Pronoun Simple Past ‘planted’ Pefect ‘had planted’

ami lagalam lagiye chilam

tumi lagale

tui lagali

apni lagalen apni gac lagiye chillen

ʃe lagalo ʃe gac lagiyepello

to grow

boro hoa

Pronoun Simple Past Pefect

ami boro hoai galam chillam

tumi gale

tui gali

apni galen

ʃe galo

As far as we know, the past tense for plural forms are the identical to these.

noŋra col­ dirty water

lal ghor­ red house

dami gaɽi­ nice car

ʃundor jama kapor ­pretty clothes

bhiʃon­severely

khub­very

briʃti khub lomba­ brishti is tall

briʃti raja teke beʃi lomba ­ brishti is taller than Raja

briʃti ʃɔpce smart­ Brishti is the smartest

bhakhi­ bird

cilam­ to want

bagan kora­ to garden

meta cheletake deko

girl­ to the boy saw

‘the girl saw the boy’

indor bhuta kete bhalobaʃe

mice corn eat love

‘Mice love to eat corn’