Structure of Verbs in Brahui

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Structure of verbs in Brahui Two kinds of verb formation are found in Brahui: simple verbs and complex verbs. Examples of the former are γaburring ‘to grawl’, čirrēnging ‘to ramble’, rēsing ‘to spin’, and the examples of the latter are rāda kanning ‘to set someone on his way’, bē-šōling ‘to bathe oneself’, and hining kanning ‘to be able to go’. First the types of Brahui verbs are shown in the following tree diagram, and then each one will be explained in more details providing several examples. Simple γaburring (to grawl) xaf tōning (ear-hold.INF ‘to listen’) Brahui Verbs Conjunct Complex muč kanning (collected-do.INF ‘to collect’) pad xalling (back-strike.INF ‘to search’) • bē-: ‘on, over’ + xalling ‘to strike’; bēxalling ‘to strike across, to cross over’. Prefixal verbs • ī-: ‘in’ + kaššing ‘to draw out, to pull out’; ī-kaššing ‘to thread, to thrust, to insert’. • kē-/ki-/kī-: ‘below, down’ + banning ‘to come’/halling ‘to seize’; ī-banning/ī halling ‘to stumble’. V1 INF + V2 (Potential) … nī wāz kannig ka-ppēsa? (… aren’t you able to preach?) V1 INF-LOC.SG + V2 (Inceptive) …, tammā xaf tōningaṭī. (…, and he began to lend an ear.) Compound V1 PRSADVPTC + V2 (Frequentative and Continuative) …, tahō ziāt marisa hinā. (the wind continued to increase.) ī nē pārisa bassunuṭ … (I’ve told you time after time …) V1 + V2 (Intensive or Completive) ō kunēk kāik. (He will devour.) …, huččāk nā kulle kadīmāte kungura hināra. (…, the camels would have finished off all your grain.) 1 1. Simple verbs Number of simple verbs in Brahui, in the texts studied, is restricted to a total of about three hundred. All transitive, intransitive, causative and passive verbs fall under this group. These Brahui simple verbs are of mixed origin and contain approximately 29% of Dravidian ethymologies. Dravidian origin 29% Indo-Aryan origin 35% Iranian origin (Persian,
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