|
The adjetive eŋga
is used for feminine gender both in animals and in birds; the
adjective a  ia
is used for masculine in animal and the adjective sai
in birds as shown below :
|
aia |
sad m |
‘male
horse’ |
| eŋga |
sadm |
‘female
horse’ |
| aia |
merom |
‘male goat’ |
| eŋga |
merom |
‘female goat’ |
| aia |
seta |
‘male dog’ |
| eŋga |
seta |
‘bitch’ |
| sai |
sim |
‘cock’ |
| eŋga |
sim |
‘hen’ |
| sai |
putam |
‘male dove’ |
| eŋga |
putam |
‘female dove’ |
| sai |
hai |
‘male fish’ |
| eŋga |
hai |
‘female
fish’ |
|
However,
for bull and cow, these adjectives are not used for gender
distinction. There are separate words for these terms. gai ‘cow’,
seo
‘bull’.
|
4.1.5.
|
Number
|
|
There are three numbers in Bhumij : viz.,
singular, dual and plural. Singular marker is optional; dual
and plural markers are kin and ko respectively. Generally, the
singular noun is followed by the suffix - a.
This suffix is added optionally with the noun as in jo-a
‘fruit’, kaji-a
‘a word’.
|
|
1.
|
Dual number -kin
|
|
|
2.
|
Plural - ko
|
h
-ko |
‘men, people’ |
| kui
- ko |
‘ladies’ |
| jo - ko |
‘fruits’ |
| bi
- ko |
‘books’ |
| baba - ko |
‘paddy crops’ |
|
4.1.6.
|
Numerals
|
The words for numerals in Bhumij include native
words as well as borrowed words from Oriya. The numerals upto 6 are native
words and beyond 6 are from Oriya. The higher numerals like one hundred, two
hundred etc., are formed by the combination of both Bhumij and Oriya words
as mon so ‘one hundred’, bar so ‘two hundred’ etc. Fractions have no
separate words but expressed as one part of the four parts for quarter and
as such. On the whole numerals of Bhumij show the free mixing of Oriya
words.
|
1.
|
Cardinals
|
moyon |
1 |
| baria |
2 |
| apia |
3 |
| upuia
|
4 |
| moea
|
5 |
| turia
|
6 |
|
