Bhojpuri to Nyanja: counting words and possessives follow the target noun
A Bhojpuri classifier is not a Nyanja agreement prefix
Thakur records Bhojpuri counting constructions with general -गो and human-honorific जने. Nyanja organizes counting differently. The Chinyanja Basic Course explains that numeral forms receive agreement prefixes associated with noun classes. The target shape therefore depends on which Nyanja noun is counted, rather than on copying a source classifier.
The course contrasts milungu itatu, three weeks, with masiku atatu, three days. Both use the numeral stem for three, but the agreement differs. A Bhojpuri quantity expression mentioning days or weeks should keep its amount while taking the appropriate target construction. A single invariant translation of “three” would conceal this contrast.
A plural can change the noun’s beginning
Mwanza and Mkandawire’s Nyanja phrase book lists buku and mabuku for book and books, and mtengo and mitengo for tree and trees. The visible plural change is not identical across those nouns. The prefix belongs to the target noun’s pattern, rather than an instruction to add one general plural word after every translated noun.
Thakur describes Bhojpuri plural expressions including सब and लोग, with distribution affected by humanness and honorific usage. Those source distinctions help interpret the reference, but they do not identify the Nyanja prefix required by a target book or tree. The choice of target noun must precede the choice of its plural form.
The owner and the owned noun contribute different information
Thakur’s हमार can refer to one first-person owner. In the Chinyanja course, the first-person singular possessive stem is -anga, while -athu refers to a first-person plural owner. These stems combine with class-related possessive prefixes. A Bhojpuri singular possessor should not become a group simply because the source first-person pronoun resembles standard Hindi plural हम.
The course’s buku langa, my book, illustrates the resulting possessive construction. The beginning of langa agrees with the possessed noun; its first-person ownership does not make every noun use that same complete form. Translating हमार requires preserving the owner’s number and then building possession for the particular Nyanja noun.
Respectful address does not multiply the person addressed
The phrase book distinguishes Uli bwanji? for a peer or singular addressee from Muli bwanji? for respectful or plural address. A Bhojpuri greeting with honorific रउआ may thus involve one actual listener while receiving a respectful target form. The greeting’s morphology cannot be used by itself to infer that several people are present.
The same book distinguishes a singular speaker’s reply from a group reply. This is a useful second check when a Bhojpuri exchange begins with हम: in Thakur’s paradigm that form can be singular, whereas हमनी explicitly supplies a plural alternative. Preserve the real speaker count while allowing Nyanja’s own respectful choices for the listener. Subject number and courtesy do not always correspond word for word.
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