A grammar marking dispute over locative allomorphs and the label of karak
You are marking the 15-mark grammar section of a half-yearly paper. Item 3(a) asks students to join 'yum' (house) with the locative suffix '-da' and 'lairik' (book) with the same locative idea. The prescribed textbook consistently prints 'yumda' but 'lairikta'. Item 3(b) gives the sentence 'Tomba-na lairik paare' ('Tomba read the book') and asks students to name the karak of 'lairik'. Three scripts are in front of you. Script A writes 'yumda' and 'lairikta' and labels 'lairik' as karma. Script B writes 'yumta' and 'lairikda' and labels 'lairik' as karta because 'it is the thing the sentence is about'. Script C writes 'yumda' and 'lairikda' and labels 'lairik' as karma. The section is scored 1 mark per correct sub-item, with no negative marking. A parent has complained that Script B is 'also logical' and should not be penalized.
1. Mark the two sub-items for Scripts A, B and C. Justify each mark with the evidence available in the question.
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Script A: 2/2. 'yumda' matches the textbook form, 'lairikta' matches the textbook form, and 'lairik' is karma because it is the thing read; 'Tomba-na' carries the agentive -na and is karta.
Script B: 0/2. Both forms are overgeneralized: 'yumta' and 'lairikda' do not match the prescribed forms. The karak label is also wrong: 'lairik' is not karta. The sentence is about Tomba's action, but the grammatical subject is 'Tomba-na', marked by -na. 'Also logical' is not the same as 'correct in this textbook'.
Script C: 1/2. 'yumda' is correct, 'lairikda' is not; 'lairik' as karma is correct. Award 1 for the correct form and the correct karak, 0 for the incorrect form.
2. How would you use the textbook data to teach the locative pattern rather than asking students to memorize two isolated forms?
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Treat the two forms as a pattern-sorting task. Put 'yumda' and 'lairikta' on the board and ask students to compare the final sound of the base word with the suffix. They should notice that the locative has more than one shape and that the shape depends on the preceding sound environment. Add four known words from the lessons, two that take -da and two that take -ta, and have students sort them. Then give a new word and ask them to predict, and check the prediction against the prescribed lesson. This teaches allomorphy - one grammatical meaning, different forms - instead of rewarding guesswork.
3. The parent says Script B is 'also logical'. Explain why 'topic of the sentence' is not the same as karta, and give a quick classroom test for karak.
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Karta is a grammatical relation, not the topic. In 'Tomba-na lairik paare', the topic of conversation may be the book, but the doer marked by -na is Tomba; 'lairik' is the object read, so it is karma. A quick test is question formation: 'Tomba-na kari paare?' ('What did Tomba read?') - the answer 'lairik' is karma. Another test is substitution: replace 'lairik' with another object and the -na on Tomba stays; the doer does not change. The parent's 'logic' confuses what the sentence is about with who performs the action.