Negative and Interrogative Transformations in the English and Magar Languages: A Comparative Study

Abstract

The dissertaton entitled ‘NEGATIVE AND INTERROGATIVETRANSFORMATIONS IN THE ENGLISH AND MAGAR LANGUAGES: ACOMPARITIVE STUDY’ is an attempt to identify the processes of negative andinterrogative transformations in the Magar language and to compare and contrastthem with those in English. The researcher collected data from both primary andsecondary sources. The sample population of the study consisted of 60 Magarnative speakers. He took structured interview to collect primary data. The major findings in a nutshell are: The negative marker in Magar is 'mā-'which is placed before the main verb in most of the cases whereas the negativemarker in English is ‘not’ or ‘n’t’ which is placed after an auxiliary verb; Magaryes/no question is formed by using rising intonation whereas English yes/ noquestion is formed by placing the auxiliary verb at the beginning or the sentence;Magar wh-word in most of the cases occur after the subject whereas English wh-world occurs at the beginning of sentence. The dissertation consists of four chapters. Chapter one deals withintroduction. It consists of general background, review of the related literatures,objectives of the study, significance of the study and definitions of the specificterms. Chapter two deals with methodology. It in compasses sources of data,population of the study, sampling procedure, research tools, processes of datacollection and limitations of the study. Chapter three deals with analysis and interpretation of the data. It comprisesrules of negative and interrogative transformation in English and Magar, andcomparison of the processes of negative and interrogative transformation in Magarwith those in English. Chapter four encompasses findings, recommendations and pedagogicalimplications.