Gender Statement in Bhojpuri

It describes terms of address and gender in Bhojpuri. The address system of language is correlated with the social structure of the speech community. The modes of address indicate a person’s socil status in terms of caste, clss, age, sex, education and religion. It involves sociolinguistic rules which signify social appropriateness of usage. In Bhojpuri, the address terms are embedded in different nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs interjections, personal nouns, professional titles, and caste titles It also analyses Greeting and Blessing in Bhojpuri. The greeting and blessing is used according to the appropriateness of time, place, person and purpose. There are some sociolinguistic variables of greeting and blessing used by men only while some are common for both. It deals with gender in folk literature. Along with the importance and expanse of Bhojpuri folk literature, the chapter focuses on folk songs in gender perspective. Gender distinctions can be clearly marked in the songs.