As opposed to this type of
informative response, the other type elicits only a yes/no response,
though one may while responding repeat the entire question minus the
interrogative particle immediately after the yes/no response, as in :
|
syama mo so
khabo n ki? |
‘Will Shyama eat meat?’ |
|
1 2
3 4 5 6
(lit. Shyama meat eat will no what) |
| |
1 2 3
4 5 6 |
|
Usually the response to such
a question would be: |
hoy/n
‘yes/no’
|
| But if one so wishes, one
could also respond as : |
hoy, syama moso
khabo ‘yes, Shyama will eat meat’
|
or
|
ny,
syama moso nkhabo
‘no, Shyama will not eat meat’
|
These types of questions are
known as tagged questions. It might also be noted that as far as this
language is concerned there is verb little difference between the two
types of questions, as a tagged question could be used for the other
one also, for instance:
|
tay moso
khayse nki?
could mean both;
he age meat, did’nt he? and
did he eat meat?
|
Unlike the pattern of
negation, the same pattern is followed for interrogating verbs in
different tenses, aspects and moods. A few examples would illustrative
this statement.
|
| (a) kob jabo |
‘where will you be going’ |
| 1
2 3 |
(lit. where go will) |
| |
1 2 3 |
| kod jayse |
‘where are you going?’ |
| kod jayse |
‘where did (you) go?’ |
| kod jabole |
‘where is to go?’ |
| (b) tay jabole |
‘will he go?’ |
| tay jayse nki |
‘did he go?’ |
| tay jayse
nki |
‘is he going?’ |
| tay jaysile nki |
‘was he going?’ |
| tay jaythkibo
nki |
‘will he be going?’ etc. |
| |
|
|
In closing, it may be stated
that there are two means of transforming a statement into an
interrogative in this language. These are : (i) by postposing to the
statement concerned, the particles n+ki standing respectively for
negative and interrogative particles for tagged type of questions
anticipating a yes/no answer and (ii) by placing the interrogative
pronoun in the appropriate slot of the statement concerned for
obtaining information on any specific issue/point. In either case, the
pattern of interrogation is indifferent to the tense, aspect and the
modality of the verb concerned.
|
|
APPENDIX 1
|
| STNDARDIZATION OF NAGA PIDGIN* |
M.V.Sreedhar
|
The contact between the Nagas1
(speakers of Tibeto-Burman language) and Assames (speakers and
Indo-Aryan language) at the barter trade centers in the plains of
Assam may have resulted in the birth of the pidgin formerly known as
Naga-Assamese and now popularly known as Nagamese, but designated here
as Naga Pidgin. Though the earliest recorded reference to this Pidgin
is in Hutton (1921), the Nagas have been in contact with non-Nagas for
well over a century2. Whatever may have been the
circumstances of the origin of this pidgin, it is the only language
that is current in the entire breadth and length of Nagaland, India.
It is also spoken across the State boundary in Arunachal Pradesh,
formerly known as North East Frontier Agency. Within the state of
Nagaland, the Naga Pidgin is used in all interlingua contact
situations amongst the Nagas and also between the Nagas and non-Nagas,
though the educated elite use English on formal occasions. It is also
used by uneducated non-Nagas during interlingual contact situations
amongst the non-Nagas. In a number of instances, the Naga Pidgin
carries a higher functional load than the mother tongue of its users (Sreedhar
1973).
|
The Naga communities that
live within the state are : Konyak (72,338)3,
(65,275), Sema (65,227), Angami (43,569), Lotha (36,949), Sangtam
(19,998), Phom (18,017), Chang (15,816), Khiamngan (14,414),
Yimchunger (13,564), Rengma (8,578), Chokri (8,339)4,
Khezha (7,295)4, Zemi (6,473)4,
Liangmei (2,988)4, Pochuri (2,938), Tirkhir
(2,486), Kuki-chiru (1,175), Makware (769), Kachari5,
Rongmei, Chin and Mao. In addition, there are at least six other
immigrant groups in this state. These are : Garo, Mikir, Nepali,
Bihari, Malayali and Assamese. In other words, a small hill state
having a total area of 4,366 square miles with a population of 516,4496
has 29 linguistic groups including the six immingrant groups.
|
The Naga Pidgin spoken in
different parts of Nagaland is not identical. The differences are
found both at the phonological and grammatical level. A study
conducted in this area (Sreedhar 1974) shows that though each Naga
community has a variety specific to
|
*Jounal of creote studies
1977, 157-170.
|
|
|
