Seven Grammars of the Dialects and Subdialects of Bihari Lan

by George Abraham Grierson

Bihari Grammar is a very valueable and rare grammar which was compiled by a great eminent linguist and philologist under the orders of the Government of Bengal. The grammar is in constant and urgent demand. No such document is available presently on the subject. Bihari Language is being spoken in the province of Bihar, in the eastern portion of the North western provinces and the northern portion of the central provinces. It is a compendium grammar of the dialect of each district compiled by the author for official use in the state for government officers. No grammar of any of the dialect of Bihar has even been published except the Bhojpuri grammar of Mr. Beames. No other grammar meets the demand of Magadhi and Bhojpuri speaking parts of Bihar. This Grammar will no doubt meet demand of all. The grammar is a rare compilation and will be of greau set for all including students and teachers of Bihari language. About The Sir George Abraham Grierson, (Jan. 7, 1851March 9, 1941) Irish linguist, language scholar and civil servant who conducted the Linguistic survey of India (18981928), obtaining information on 364 languages and dialects. While a student of mathematics at Trinity College, Dublin, Grierson took prizes in Sanskrit and Hindi. Grierson went to Bengal in October 1873, wherein addition to carrying out his duties in a succession of government posts until 1898he devoted much time to language research. The first of his enormous output of papers, reviews, and books appeared in 1877. Volume 1: DIVISION I Historical Introductory Meaning of the word dialect Nomenclature The Eastern Neo IndoAryan or Gaudian languages Western, Northern, and Southern NeoIndoAryan or Gaudian languages Their origin The two great Prakrit languages Their History Their final location Their modern representatives Comparison of Bihari and Hindi languages Preliminary definitions Pronunciation Derivation Inflection Construction Vocabulary Final

444 pages, Hardcover

Published June 8, 2005

About the author

Sir George Abraham Grierson (G.A. Grierson) OM KCIE (7 January 1851 – 9 March 1941) was an Irish linguistic scholar and civil servant who conducted the Linguistic Survey of India (1898–1928), obtaining information on 364 languages and dialects.

He was born in Glenageary, County Dublin. His father and grandfather (George Grierson) were well-known Dublin printers and publishers.

He was educated at St. Bees School, Cumberland and Trinity College, Dublin, where he was a student of mathematics. Grierson qualified for the Indian Civil Service in 1871 with very good results. He also won prizes for Sanskrit and Hindustani in Trinity during his two probationary years spent in Dublin. In India, he reached the Bengal Presidency in 1873. He was posted to Bankipore in Bihar. He would eventually become Magistrate and Collector at Patna and later, Opium Agent for Bihar. In 1898 he was appointed Superintendent of the newly formed Linguistic Survey of India and moved to England "for convenience of consulting European libraries and scholars". By the time Grierson retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1903, most of the data had come in. He spent the following thirty years editing the enormous amount of material gathered.

Grierson published scholarly works throughout his career: on the dialects and peasant life of Bihar, on Hindi literature, on bhakti, and on linguistics.

He died in Camberley, Surrey, England.