Edited by Gautam Sengupta and Lars Hellan
Presented here is a small number of Bangla sentences with morphological and construction level annotation. The annotated corpus is found in theTypeCraft database. Below we briefly discuss each of the constructions.
An overview over the word level annotation sets is found on the navigation bar to your left under TypeCraft Tools >> TypeCraft Help >> Gloss tag list and POS tag list. The construction level annotation uses the system Construction Labeling. You find an introduction to this system at Verbconstructions cross-linguistically - Introduction. The aim of the collection is to serve as a preliminary for a full construction profile (cf. Multilingual Verb Valence Lexicon) for Bangla.
For general discussion of some issues addressed, see Bengali Constructions. A discussion page related to the present page is found at Talk:Bangla constructions log page.
A related page is Vector Verbs of Bengali, by Soma Paul.
A partial presentation is seen at Bangla constructions.pdf
1. v-intr-suNom
An intransitive verb with a subject in the nominative case:
তুমি হাঁচলে
“You sneezed”
| hā̃cle |
| hā̃c | l | e |
| sneeze | PAST | 2p |
| V |
2. v-copA-suNom
A copula construction: the subject is marked for the nominative case and the adjective is predicative.
তুমি বোকা
“You are stupid”
3. v-copA-STATE
A copula construction expressing a state.
জানলাটা খোলা
“the window is open”
| jānlāṭa |
| janlā | ṭā |
| window | CL |
| N |
4. v-intr-suNom-CHANGEofSTATE
An intransitive verb expressing a change of state.
আম পেকেছে
“The mango has ripened”
| pekeche |
| pek | e | ch | e |
| ripen | CMPL | PRES | 3P |
| V |
5. vvSuMover-v1intr-v2intr-MOTIONDOWN
A VV-sequence whose shared subject is Mover, and where both verbal parts are intransitive.
আমি পড়ে গেলাম
“I fell down”
6. v-trNV-suGen_obBaresg-suExp-STATE
আমার মাথা ধরেছে
“I have a headache”
| ghoreche |
| dhor | e | ch | e |
| catch | CMPL | PRES | 3P |
| V |
trNV signifies a construction where the apparent object is idiomatically fused with the verb, so that in a semantic representation there would be only one argument, and the predicate would be a fusion of the verb and the noun predicate. The object is always a bare singular.
7. v-intr-suInf
আমাকে যেতে হবে
“I will have to go/leave”
8. cvSuIDALLsuAg-v1tr-v1obAff-v2trNV-EVENTSEQ
('conjoined participle verb series' with shared subject having Agent role throughout, where V1 is transitive with an affected object, and V2 is an 'NV'-transitive xtructure, and where the whole sequence expresses a series of events)
আমি ভাত খেয়ে বাড়ি যাবো
“I will eat rice and go home”
9. cv-v1intr-v1suTh-v2vvSuMover-v2v1intr-v2v2intr-EVENTSEQ
(cv-series whose first part is intransitive, and whose second part is a vv-sequence each part of which is intransitive, and with an agentive subject)
আমি চেয়ার ভেঙে পড়ে গেলাম
“The chair having broken I fell down”
Notice that unlike the previous case, the subject of V1 and V2 of this cv are not identical.
10. cvSuIDALLsuAg-v1tr_v1obTh-v2tr_v2obAff-EVENT_INSTR
(cv series with identical, agentive subjects, whose over-all meaning is an event in which the first V expresses an instrument)
আমি ছুরি দিয়ে আপেল কাটবো
“I will cut the apple with a knife”
11. v-trScpr-suGen_scObNrg-suExp_obTh-PSYCHSTATE
(transitive with a secondary predicate, which is predicated of the object, which in turn is a non-argument, i.e., not a semantic argument relative to the verb (but relative to the secondary predicate))
আমার ওকে ভালো লাগে
“I like him”
12. v-tr-obEqInf
(transitive whose object is an infinitive with 'equi'-reading, i.e., an understood subject identical to the matrix subject)
আমি বাড়ি যেতে চাই
“I want to go home”
13. v-trScpr-scObNrg_scBareinf
আমি ওকে যেতে দেখলাম
“I saw him go/leave”
| dekhlam |
| dekh | lam |
| see | 1PPAST |
| V |
14. vCaus-trLghtOblCs-suCsr_oblCsee_oblV
(the head is a verb whose form includes a causative formative; the construction is of type 'transitive light' plus an oblique constituent, where the subject is the Causer and the oblique expresses the Causee, and where the head of the oblique is a verb)
আমি ওকে দিয়ে কাজ করাচ্ছি
“I am making him work (for me)”
| kOracchi |
| kOr | a | cch | i |
| do | CAUS | CONT | 1PPRES |
| V |
trLght has the definition 'transitive light verb whose complement is an NP expressing an event-type performed (or in other ways operated on) by the subject.' (Ex. Eng.: he makes progress.) The combination N - V is here not idiomatic, hence not an instance of trNV.
15. v-tr-obDECL
আমি দেখলাম যে ও কাজ করছে
“I saw that he was working”
| dekhlam |
| dekh | lam |
| see | 1PPAST |
| V |
| korche |
| kor | ch | e |
| do | CONT | 3PPRES |
| V |
16. v-trCrc
যে যা চায় সে তা পায় না
“Nobody gets what he wants”
trCrc stands for transitive with a correlative, that is, a plain transitive construction, preceded by a correlative clause with pronouns matching pronouns in the main clause.
17. v-intr-suNomVtrCrc
যে যখন যা চাইবে তাকে তখন তা দেওয়া হবে
| jOkhon |
| jOkhon |
| whenATV |
| PNrel |
suNomVtrCrc = subject is a nominalization of a transitive clause with a correlative construction
18. v-intr-suInf
তোমার যাওয়া হবে না
“Your will not be able to go/leave”
19. v-intr-suInf
তোমাকে যেতে হবে
“You will have to go”
20. v-tr-obEqBareinf
তুমি যেতে পারবে
“You will be able to go/leave”
21. v-trLghtObl-oblPostp
আমি তোমার জন্য অপেক্ষা করব
“I will wait for you”
22. v-tr-obPostp_obLoc
নয়ন আমার পাশে বসবে
“Nayan will sit beside me”
23. v-tr-obPostp_obLoc_obSpecPostp
নয়ন আমার পাশের ঘরে বসবে
“Nayan will sit in the room next to mine”
24. a-intrObl-oblPostp-COMPARISON
রুমি আমার চেয়ে লম্বা
“Rumi is taller than me”
25. v-trLght-obNomVtrObl
রুমি আমার থেকে অনেক টাকা ধার করেছে
“Rumi has borrowed a lot of money from me”
| koreche |
| kor | e | che |
| do | CMPL | 3PPRES |
| V |
26. cv3suIDALLsuAg-v1tr-v2tr-v3intr
আমি বাড়ি গিয়ে ভাত খেয়ে ঘুমাবো
“I will go home, eat rice and sleep”