Bodo Vocabulary and Word Formation
What this domain tests
This domain checks how Bodo builds and adapts words: native roots, borrowing, compounding, derivation, reduplication, classifiers and semantic change. Questions often ask you to identify the process behind a word or to choose the natural Bodo equivalent rather than a literal translation.
Core processes
- Native roots: much of the basic vocabulary is Tibeto-Burman, especially kinship terms, body parts, natural features and everyday verbs.
- Borrowing: Assamese, Bengali, Hindi and English have supplied many cultural, educational and administrative words. Loans are usually adapted to Bodo phonology, so the spelling may differ from the source language.
- Compounding: two or more roots combine to make a new lexical item; the meaning is often more specific than the sum of the parts.
- Derivation: suffixes can form nouns, adjectives or verbs from other stems, and can mark person, number, tense or aspect in the verb complex.
- Reduplication: repetition of a root or syllable can express plurality, intensity, repetition or distribution.
- Classifiers: numerals often require a classifier that reflects the shape, size or human status of what is counted. This is a common Tibeto-Burman feature and a frequent exam point.
Worked example
If a Bodo text uses iskul for ‘school’, the process is borrowing from English with phonological adaptation, not native derivation. Reasoning: the word has no productive Bodo root, it keeps the general meaning of the source word, and its sound pattern is fitted to Bodo syllables. By contrast, a compound made of two native roots should be analysed as compounding, not borrowing.
Traps that cost marks
- Assuming every Bodo word has a native root.
- Using an Assamese or Hindi suffix productively in Bodo.
- Ignoring classifiers when a numeral is used.
- Confusing reduplication with simple repetition for emphasis in a sentence.