Bhojpuri to Kannada: keeping proximity, respect and number separate
A reference to this person has several dimensions
Bhojpuri third-person reference can distinguish proximity and respect. Gopal Thakur Lohar’s Bara-Parsa grammar presents proximal and distant pronouns alongside honorific distinctions. When translating a message introducing somebody, preserve those separate relationships rather than reducing every source expression to an undifferentiated “he” or “she.”
The JNU Kannada Kalike pronoun lesson similarly distinguishes proximate and remote demonstratives. Its tables give ಇವರು, ivaru, for a proximate respectful person and ಅವರು, avaru, for a remote respectful person. Both can also have plural reference. The choice therefore involves more than identifying a person’s gender.
For a Bhojpuri introduction, distinguish the colleague standing with the writer from a colleague being discussed elsewhere. If the message is forwarded, the original “this person” may no longer have an obvious referent. Include the colleague’s name where needed so the Kannada reference remains identifiable without the original physical setting.
A respectful form need not announce several visitors
Kannada Kalike explicitly lists respectful singular uses alongside plural uses of these forms. A message referring respectfully to one teacher need not be reporting several teachers. Number must be established from the actual people discussed, not inferred solely from a form that also appears in a plural table.
The Bhojpuri grammar likewise treats honorificity and number as distinct parts of its description. That does not make the two languages’ systems identical. A source honorific reference supplies a social relationship to preserve; the target must express it through an appropriate Kannada construction rather than a mechanical replacement of one ending with another.
Imagine confirming that one invited speaker has arrived while several organisers are still travelling. A shortened reference should not collapse the speaker into the organisers’ group. Repeat a name or identify the group in the Bhojpuri source if both are active in the conversation. Respectful wording should preserve the intended headcount rather than obscure it.
Do not choose a human reference from an object’s label
The Kannada lesson separates human demonstratives from forms for things, including ಇದು, idu, for a proximate thing. Its account also distinguishes ordinary gendered human forms from respectful human reference. A noun’s position in the sentence is not enough to decide which series is appropriate; establish what the expression actually refers to.
For an event message, the invitation, the invited person, and the person’s photograph are different referents. A phrase pointing to the photograph should not accidentally replace a respectful reference to the person, while a reference to the invitation should remain about the document. This becomes especially important when the source uses several short demonstratives in succession.
Before translating a forwarded introduction, identify each referent once: the guest, the organisers, and any attached material. Then preserve which subsequent expressions point back to which entity. Kannada can express proximity, human reference, and respect through its own forms. The message will remain clearer if these choices follow the actual participants instead of a guess based on the nearest Bhojpuri noun or an assumed singular–plural equivalence.
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