At first sight the structures in (1)
and (2) look identical. Each has an imperative form of the verb
kr immediately preceded by a feminine
noun:
1. b:cc:ð kað hv:a
krað ! 'Fan the child!'
(from Chapter Eleven of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
4. m:al:t:i n:ð
m:ðht:a kað D:ny:v:ad dðkr s:B:a B:øg: kr di.
(from Chapter Fifteen of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Six of g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Thirteen of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
7. m:òø Ok
p:òs:a B:i fal:t:Ü n:hiø Q:c:ü krt:a.
(from Chapter Thirty-three of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Four of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
(from Chapter Eighteen of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
10. B:a\:N: s:m:apt: krt:ð
hi em:z:aüj:i n:ð hr Ok ki j:ðb: ki t:l:aS:i S:Ø- kr
di.
(from Chapter Six of g:aðdan:. See context.)
11. s:b: l:_eky:aðø
n:ð t:ael:y:aú Aaòr s:ieXy:aú b:j:an:i S:Ø-
kiø.
(from Chapter Fifteen of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
12. g:aúv:aðø
m:ðø b:aðAaI S:Ø- hað g:y:i.
(from Chapter Seventeen of
g:aðdan:. See context.)
13. hm: p:aY AarmB:
krðøg:ð.
Other noun-incorporating
expressions include:
14. B:ðøX kr
'present X' : ekt:n:aðø hi n:ð
Ap:n:a s:v:üsv: Es:i em:l: kað B:ðøX kr edy:a
hò ( from g:aðdan: )
Where do noun incorporating
expressions come from?
With a few exceptions ( S:Ø- kr, n:z:r
Aa, p:ar kr ) the
noun-incorporating expressions of Hindi-Urdu appear to be recent
innovations belonging to a more formal register. One might think
that they were introduced to make up for a shortage of D:at:Ø 's or verb roots in Hindi-Urdu. But
in fact older or more rural varieties of the language have numerous verbs
which lack simple counterparts in the modern standard urban language.
Verbs like up:j: 'arise; be created'
and n:ip:n: 'create', no longer in common
use, have been replaced by t:ts:m:
incorporating formations like utp:À
hað and en:\p:À kr.
Perhaps these replacements reflect the influence on Hindi-Urdu of
Farsi in which noun and adjective incorporating expressions abound.
To exercise on noun-incorporation.
To index of grammatical notes.
To index of m:lhar.
2. b:cc:ð kað x:m:a
krað !
'Forgive the child!'
When put in the simple past tense, however, a striking divergence emerges
between them: In (1') the simple past form ki of the verb shows agreement in gender and number
with the feminine singular noun hv:a.
In (2'), the form eky:a shows no
agreement with the noun x:m:a.
1'. hm:n:ð b:cc:ð
kað hv:a ki.
'We fanned the child.'
2'. hm:n:ð b:cc:ð
kað x:m:a eky:a. 'We
forgave the child.'
In (1') the noun hv:a 'air' behaves as any
normal direct object in Hindi-Urdu does in its control of agreement in the
simple past. In (2') the noun x:m:a
'forgiveness' has been stripped of its identity as a direct object noun
and "incorporated" into the verb as an integral part of it. As part
of the verb it cannot be a direct object and cannot affect the verb's
form. The form eky:a in (2') is the
masculine singular default that occurs when there is no eligible noun for
the verb to agree with. In (3) the verb has the masculine singular
form kr edy:a in agreement with the noun
Ap:raD: 'crime':
3. eb:radri n:ð Ap:raD:
x:m:a kr edy:a.
'The caste brotherhood forgave the
offence.'
The incorporated noun is as if transparent. Agreement, if it occurs
at all, is determined by some other noun. For instance, the noun
B:øg: 'break', when not incorporated,
is masculine singular as can be seen in phrases like v:c:n: ka B:øg: 'breaking of a promise'. In
(4), however, the verb form kr di shows
agreement not with B:øg: but
with the feminine singular noun s:B:a
'meeting; assembly':
'Thanking Mehtâ,
Mâlatî adjourned the meeting.'
This transparency or invisibility of the incorporated noun to normal rules
of grammar is not limited to agreement. In (5) the masculine
singular noun sv:ikar, incorporated into
the verbal expression sv:ikar kr 'accept',
is passed over in the passive. Instead the feminine singular noun
s:hay:t:a surfaces as the clause's
subject:
5. y:a kÙC v:ae\:ük
s:hay:t:a sv:ikar ki j:ay:.
'... or let some annual assistance
be accepted.'
Similarly in (6) the feminine singular noun ev:da, incorporated into the verbal expression X
kað ev:da kr 'see X off, take leave
of X', is passed over in the passive. Instead the dative plural
pronoun unhðø surfaces as the
subject and the verb assumes the masculine singular default form
eky:a g:y:a :
6. unhðø
Ok-Ok n:arøg:i dðkr ev:da eky:a
g:y:a.
'They were seen off with the gift
of one tangerine each.'
Further evidence of the "invisibility" of the incorporated nouns
Q:c:ü of Q:c:ü kr 'spend' in (7) and b:rdaSt: of b:rdaSt:
kr 'stand, tolerate' in (8) can be seen in the admissibility of the
negative particle n:hiø on their
left. (Normally, the negative particle comes just before the verb.)
'I do not waste a single penny.'
8. -p:a y:h n:hiø b:rdaSt: kr
s:kt:i.
'Rûpâ could
not tolerate this...'
The number of Hindi-Urdu verbs with
nouns incorporated into them is not very large but includes some very
frequent expressions, such as Y kað
X n:z:r Aa 'X be visible to Y' (9)
and S:Ø- kr / hað 'begin' (10), (11) and (12), and its
S:Ù¹ ehndi equivalent
AarmB: kr / hað (13):
9. s:hs:a us:ð Ok
l:øb:a p:aIp: G:as: m:ðø eCp:a n:z:r Aay:a,
ej:s:m:ðø s:ð p:an:i b:h rha
T:a.
'Suddenly he spied a long pipe
hidden in the grass out of which water was flowing.'
'As soon as he finished the speech
Mirzâjî began searching everybody's pockets.'
'All the girls began to whistle and
clap.'
'In the villages, sowing began.'
'We will begin the lesson.'
( from b:ahri )
15. D:arN: kr
'assume; take on' : p:an:i ki
B:aúet: hrðk p:a*: ka -p: D:arN: kr l:ðt:i T:i
( g:aðdan: )
16. s:hn: kr 'tolerate' :
m:al:t:i n:ð kós:ð us:ð s:hn:
kr el:y:a, y:h s:m:J:n:a Aaòr B:i
keYn: hò. ( g:aðdan:
)
17. b:rdaSt: hað
'be controlled' : j:y:es:øh
s:ð ^:Øss:a b:rdaSt: n: hað s:ka ( c:ndÓkant:a 1.08.051)
18. t:bdil: kr
'change' : Vy:a Aap: Ap:n:a fós:l:a t:bdil:
n:hiø kr s:kt:ð ? ( g:aðdan: )
19. ev:da hað 'leave,
depart' : m:ðht:a n:ð kp:_ð
p:hn:ð Aaòr ev:da hað g:y:ð ( g:aðdan: )
20. ev:da kr 'send away' :
t:aúg:ð kað y:hiø s:ð
ev:da kr dðt:a hÝû ( g:aðdan: )
21. Az:ü kr
'(respectfully) say, submit' : m:òø
Enkaôp:aðürðS:n: ki Aaòr Ok-dað em:s:al:ðø Az:ü krt:a
hÝû.
22. Q:c:ü hað 'be
spent' : ,p:O Q:c:ü hað
j:aOúg:ð, n:am: hm:ðS:a
kñ el:O rh j:ay:g:a. ( g:aðdan: )
23. ^:aòr kr 'notice' :
m:aú S:ay:d us:ki y:h hrkt: ^:aòr kr rhi
T:iø ( rb:rb:òNR , Ag:Òv:al: 1969. )
24. v:s:Ül: kr
'collect; exact' : m:ØJ:s:ð us: dav:t:
kñ s:arð ,p:O v:s:Ül: kr el:y:ð . . .
( g:aðdan: )
25. p:ar kr
'cross' : us:n:ð j:ldi-j:ldi n:di p:ar ki . . .
( g:aðdan: )
26. )dan: kr 'bestow' :
us: p:r Cp:i hØI g:Øl:ab:i s:a_i
us:ð Aaòr B:i S:aðB:a )dan: kr rhi T:i.
( g:aðdan: )
27. X kað Dy:an: Aa
'occur to X' : m:m:i kað kÙC Dy:an:
hað Aay:a. ( ec:e_y:a Aaòr c:il: by
s:Ø\:m: b:ðdi )
28. X kað n:s:ib: hað
'for X to get Y' : y:h s:ØK:
unhðø n:s:ib: n:hiø hØAa. ( S:an:að by N.
K. Sinha)
The nouns in some of these expressions are
so well incorporated that there is no direct evidence left that they are
nouns! The D:arN: of D:arN: kr 'assume; take up' (15), for instance, does not
exist in the modern language except as part of D:arN:
kr. Its identity as a noun can only be established
indirectly. It is not an adjective, verb, adverb, or postposition and it
is parallel in formation to other t:ts:m:
nouns such as karN: 'reason', or en:v:arN: 'prevention', or t:arN: 'salvation', etc. There are other kinds of
incorporation, of adjectives ( m:al:Üm:
kr, m:j:b:Ür hað, etc.) and
of verbs ( fil: kr, ev:S: kr 'greet', etc.), which suggest that incorporation
occurs mostly as a way of borrowing words from other languages (including
from Sanskrit).
Drafted with input from kÙs:Øm:
j:òn: 26-28 May 2001. Posted 27-28 May 2001. Augmented 31
May - 2 June 2001. Again on 11 June 2001, 17-18 Mar 2003, and 1 July 2004.