4.1.4.
|
Gender
|
Gender distinction in Bhumij may be divided
into three: gender in human, gender in animal and gender in
bird. Gender distinction is not marked consistently
morphologically, though it is possible to say roughly -a fo
rmasculine and -i for feminine in human. The following words
have their gender marking at the end systematically.
|
mis - i
|
‘sister’
|
ko
- a |
‘boy’ |
ku
- i |
‘gitl’ |
hag - a |
‘brother’ |
day - i |
‘elder sister’ |
dad - a |
‘elder brother’ |
|
Though it is possible to separate the
gender marker as shown above, they can not be treated as such
since there are no regular phonological correspondences in the
root morphemes like dad, day etc. Further, the words such as
aba ‘father’ ma ‘mother’ Konea, ‘bride’ bor ‘bridegroom’
mamu ‘mother’s brother’, do not carry the gender marker.
|
However, there are adjectives which carry
gender marker regularly as shown below :
|
|
Three adjectival forms are used to
distinguish gender both in animals and in birds. They are aia,
sai
and eŋga.
|