Syntax of Sindhi Language

Flat Structure of Noun Phrase NP, Verb Phrase VP, Adjective Phrase AdjP, Adverb Phrase AdvP, and Prepositional Phrase PP of Sindhi Language.

1. SINDHI LANGUAGE

Phrase Structure Rules & Tree Diagram

Course Title: Issues in Syntax






Presented To: Ms. Sabiha Zun Norain
Presented By: Abbas Ali Haider
Registration Number: F16 1 MS AL002

2. Brief History of Sindhi Language
Sindhi language evolved over a period of 2400 years. Sindhi is an Indo-Aryan language of the
historical Sindh region, spoken by the Sindhi people. It is spoken by 41 million people in Pakistan.
It is the official language of Pakistan province of Sindh. Currently, Sindhi vocabulary contains
approximately 31% of Sanskrit words and 69% are a mixture of Arabic and Persian words.
However, there are also traces of the English words in Sindhi language.

Dialects of Sindhi Language
There are six dialects of Sindhi language
1. Vicholi
2. Sireli (Sindhi Saraiki)
3. Thari
4. Lasi
5. Lari
6. Kachi

Features of Sindhi Language
Sindhi is an OV language, in which the Object comes before the Verb. Sindhi is Head-Last
language, i.e. heads are often found at the end of the phrases and it is non-null subject language.
Sindhi language has 62 sounds; 46 consonants and 16 vowels and there are 52 alphabets. Sindhi
script follows an Arabic script.

Sentence Structure
The basic sentence structure of Sindhi language is SOV. Whereas, the sentence structure of
English language is SVO.
English Sentence Structure Sindhi Sentence Structure
I ate banana maan kelo khado
Subject Verb Object Subject Object Verb

3. Phrase Structure Rules & Tree Diagram
Phrase: A phrase is a sequence of words or group of words arranged in a grammatical
construction, and functions as a unit in a sentence.
Phrase Structure Tree or Tree Diagram: Phrase structure tree (also called
Constituent structure tree), is a tree diagram with syntactic category information provided. A
phrase structure tree shows that a sentence is both linear string of words and hierarchical structure
with phrase in combination.

Tree Diagrams:
1. Noun Phrase
2. Verb Phrase
3. Adjective Phrase
4. Adverb Phrase
5. Prepositional Phrase

Noun Phrase (NP)
A noun phrase (NP) refers to a phrase that built upon a noun which functions as the Headword of
the phrase. For example;
Sindhi Noun Phrases English Noun Phrases
jeep jeep
hu jeep that jeep
hu kari jeep that black jeep
hu sohrin kari jeep that beautiful black jeep
hu sohrin kari jeep rastay te that beautiful black jeep on the road

NP (Det) (AdjP+) N (PP+) : Maximum Projection

4. Noun Phrases & Tree Diagrams
1. jeep
NP

N

jeep

2. hu jeep that jeep
NP NP

Det N Det N

hu jeep that jeep


3. hu kari jeep that black jeep
NP NP

Det Adjp N Det Adjp N

A A

hu kari jeep that black jeep

5. 4. hu sohrin kari jeep that beautiful black jeep
NP NP

Det Adjp Adjp N Det Adjp Adjp N

A A A A

hu sohrin kari jeep that beautiful black jeep


5. hu sohrin kari jeep rastay te that beautiful black jeep on the road
NP NP

Det Adjp AdjP N PP Det Adjp AdjP N PP

A A NP P A A P NP

N Det N

Hu sohrin kari jeep rastay te that beautiful black jeep on the road

Note: In Sindhi noun phrase, the Prepositional phrase (PP) dominates NP and P. In Sindhi
prepositional phrase (PP), NP always follows P, but in English prepositional phrase P
always follows NP. In English prepositional phrase, first P comes than NP like “on the
road” but in Sindhi prepositional first NP comes first than P like “rastay te”.

6. Verb Phrase (VP)
A verb phrase (VP) refers to a phrase that composed of at least one verb and the dependents of
the verb, in which the verb functions as the Headword of the phrase. For examples;
Sindhi Verb Phrases English Verb Phrases
ghaio sing
hik gano ghaio sing a song
hik gano ghaio takray sing a song quickly
hik gano ghaio takray ghar main sing a song quickly at home

VP V (NP) (AdvP+) (PP) : Maximum Projection

Verb Phrases & Tree Diagrams
1. ghaio sing
VP VP

V V

ghaio sing

2. hik gano ghaio sing a song
VP VP

NP V V NP

Det N Det N

hik gano ghaio sing a song

Note: Sindhi is an OV language, through the example in 2. It explains that the object “hik
gano” comes before the verb “ghaio” but in English the verb “sing” comes before the object

7. “a song”. It is clear that in Sindhi language NP will come first than main verb, whereas in
English language main verb comes first than NP.

3. hik gano ghaio takray sing a song quickly
VP VP

NP V AdvP V NP AdvP

Det N Adv Det N Adv

hik gano ghaio takray sing a song quickly

4. hik gano ghaio takray ghar main sing a song quickly at home
VP VP

NP V AdvP PP V NP AdvP PP

Det N Adv NP P Det N Adv P NP

N N

hik gano ghaio takray ghar main sing a song quickly at home

8. Adjective Phrase (AP)
An adjective phrase (AP) refers to a phrase that modifies a noun. In an adjective phrase
there can be multiple adjectives. It build upon an adjective which functions as the
Headword of the phrase. For example;
Sindhi Adjective Phrases English Adjective Phrases
khush happy
ghron khush very happy
ghron khush hunji kamyabi te very happy on his success

AP (AdvP) Adj (PP) : Maximum Projection

Adjective Phrases & Tree Diagrams
1. khush happy
AdjP AdjP

Adj Adj

khush happy


2. ghron khush very happy
AdjP AdjP

AdvP Adj AdvP Adj

Adv Adv

ghron khush very happy

9. 3. ghron khush hunji kamyabi te very happy on his success
AdjP AdjP

AdvP Adj PP AdvP Adj PP

Adv NP P Adv P NP

Det N Det N

ghron khush hunji kamyabi te very happy on his success


Adverb Phrase (AdvP)
An adverb phrase (AdvP) refers to a phrase that often plays the role of telling us WHEN, WHERE,
WHY or HOW an event occurred, in which the adverb functions as the Headword of the phrase.
For example;
Time goes very quickly
Waqt wadikh takr main haldo ahay
Sindhi Adverb Phrase English Adverb Phrase
wadikh takr very quickly

AdvP (deg) + Adv : Maximum Projection

Adverb Phrases & Tree Diagrams
1. takr quickly
AdvP AdvP
Adv Adv

takr quickly

10. 2. wadikh takr very quickly
AdvP AdvP

deg Adv deg Adv

wadikh takr very quickly


Prepositional Phrase (PP)
A prepositional phrase refers to a phrase that beings with a preposition, in which the preposition
functions as the Headword of the phrase. For example;
Sindhi Prepositional Phrases English Prepositional Phrases
poyo’n behind
darwazay de poyo’n behind the door
darwazay de poyo’n table de matho’n behind the door on the table
theek darwazay de poyo’n table de matho’n right behind the door on the table

PP (AdvP) P (NP) (PP) : Maximum Projection

Prepositional Phrases & Tree Diagrams
1. poyo’n behind
PP PP

P P

poyo’n behind

11. 2. darwazay poyo’n behind the door
PP PP

NP P P NP

N Det Det N

darwazay de poyo’n behind the door

3. darwazay de poyo’n table de matho’n behind the door on the table
PP PP

NP P PP P NP PP

N Det NP P Det N P NP

N Det Det N

darwazay de poyo’n table de matho’n behind the door on the table

12. 4. theek darwazay de poyo’n table de matho’n right behind the door on the table
PP PP

AdvP NP P PP AdvP P NP PP

Adv N Det NP P Adv Det N P NP

N Det Det N

theek darwazay de poyo’n table de matho’n right behind the door on the table

Note: In the Sindhi language NP, the main noun N follows Det, but in English NP the Det follows
main noun N.

Conclusion
Through the above mentioned syntactic analysis, it can be concluded that both Sindhi language
and English language are different from each other in some respect. The word order of both
languages varies, depending upon the environment which includes (structure, form and length of
phrases).