Passivization in English and Tharu : A Comparative Study

Abstract

The thesis entitled “Passivization in English and Tharu: A Comparative Study” is an attempt to identify the process of passivization in Tharu language and to compare and contrast that with English. The researcher used both primary and secondary sources of data. The sample population of the study consists of 60 Tharu native speakers who were selected using stratified random sampling procedure to elicit the required data of passivization in Tharu, but for English it was taken from secondary sources. A set of interview schedule was prepared for illiterate and literate in formats but a set of questions (questionnaires) were for the educated ones. Those who were unable to read and write were considered as Illiterate. Similarly, the people having academic qualification below SLC were taken as literate and the population with academic qualification above S.L.C was assumed as educated ones. After collecting the data, it was analyzed, interpreted and then presented descriptively and comparatively with the help of tables, diagrams and illustrations. The major findings of the study are: 1. The passivization system between Tharu and English are different in almost all grammatical aspects. However, there are: – changing the form of pronouns – inserting the preposition ‘by’ in English and post-position se in Tharu. – omitting subjects if they are irrelevant, unknown or obvious. 2. The construction of the VP of the active sentence is changed into the passive construction in accordance with the following rules. VP (Act)→ stem (aspect)- Tense-Agr. VP (Pass) → stem +PM (-l) aspect – Tense (Agr.) 3. Only the constructions with imperfective (simple/progressive) aspect are passivized in Tharu. All aspects except imperfective progressive are passivized in English. The thesis consists of four chapters. Chapter One deals with introduction. It consists of general background, review of the related literature, objectives of the study, significance of the study and definition of the specific terms. Chapter Two deals with methodology. It encompasses sources of data, sample population and sampling procedure, research tools, processes of data collection and limitation of study. Chapter Three deals with analysis and interpretation of the data. It comprises rules of passivization in English and Tharu, and the processes of passivization between Tharu and English. Chapter Four encompasses findings, recommendations and pedagogical implications.