Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/230

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218 INDIA (RACES AND LANGUAGES) has special forms for the comparative and su- perlative, and they have been borrowed from Sanskrit. The pronoun of the first person singular is ami, plural dmrd; second person singular, tumi, plural tomrd ; third person singular, set, plural tdhdrd. The relative pro- noun is yini in the singular and yendrd in the plural. The first ten cardinal numbers are ek, dui, tin, ddri, pac, (hay, sat, at, nay, and daf. No distinction is made between transitive and intransitive verbs. The present participle ends in -it, which receives in the present tense an , making it -ite, for euphony. The participle of the aorist ends in -la, that of the past in -ya. The termination for the future is -iba. The different persons are indicated by suffixes. The languages of Assam and Orissa, Assami and Oriya, are closely related to Bangali. The former, however, has incorporated many ele- ments pertaining to the speech of the neigh- boring population of Burmah and Thibet, while the latter has a strong admixture of Arabic. Nipali or Nepaulese, the language of Nepaul, also possesses many Thibetan ele- ments. The neuter gender has disappeared; the plural is formed by adding hem, col- lection, assembly, and the genitive of nouns is considered an adjective, and has an inflec- tion of its own. The general character of the declension may be seen from the follow- ing example : singular, nom. mdnis ( *-| | j * ti ),

  • -* *-N

a man, gen. mdnisko ( HIM*1IU )> dat. md- nisldi, ace. mdniskan, voc. he mdnis, abl. md- nisdesindto, instr. mdnisle, loc. mdnisvisemd, ; plural nom. mdnisheru ( manuheruko ( gen. t. mdni- sheruldi, ace. mdnisherukan, voc. he mdnisheru, abl. mdnisherudesivdto, instr. mdnuherule, loc. man isheruvuema. The pronoun of the first per- son singular is ma, plural hdmiheru; second per- son singular, ta, plural timiheru ; third person singular, tun, plural tiniheru. The relative pro- noun is <jun in the singular and fjunheru in the plural. Kacmiri and Panj&bi (Oashmerian and Punjaubee) has embodied many Arabic and Persian elements. Only the masculine and feminine genders are distinguished. Feminines generally end in ni or dni. Nouns are de- clined like the following example : singular nom. ghord ( fe||'^f ), a horse, gen. ghorSdd , ghdrede, dat. ghMtdi, ace. ylwreim, abl. ghorete, instr. ghorenS, loc. gho- remd; plural nom. ghore ( 'y | l 1 ), gen. gho-

riSdd ( y"j|^!Jl(^l ), ghoriadi, ghiirid.de, dat. ghAriatM, ace. ghorianw, abl. ghoriate, instr. ghoriane, loc. ghfiriavid. The pronoun of the first person singular is mat, plural ati; second person singular, t&, plural tmi ; third person singular and plural, so. The relative pronoun is gu both in the singular and plural. Verbs form the present participle by adding -ant, and the past participle by -ta. Sindhi has been maintained in a comparatively close relation to ancient Sanskrit, and is of great importance for the investigation of modern Indian forms of speech. This language also has lost the neuter gender. The plural case is not formed in it as in the other languages by adding some word signifying collection or assembly, but by a gen- uine case ending &, or sometimes 9,. The gen- itive case of nouns is also used here as a sort of adjective admitting of special inflection. Declension is generally according to the fol- lowing example : singular nom. mndharu ), a gnat, gen. madharatjC, ( " ), madharag'i, madharag'd, madharagH, dat. and ace. math&rakhe, voc. e madhara, abl. ma- dharakM, instr. madhara, loc. maiharaml ; plural nom. mathara ( *i^^ ), gen. maifha- ranitjo (i^^ jfj"), ma^haranifji, ma/fha- raniffd, madharanig'u, dat. and ace. matha- ranikhe, voc. e madharo, abl. mac'haranikhS, instr. matharani, loc. maftharanimS. Adjec- tives are put in perfect agreement with their nouns in number, gender, and case. The pronoun of the first person singular is &-S,, d, or TO)?, plural asl ; second person singular, tfi, plural taM or tahl ; third person singular, so, feminine sd, plural se. The relative pronoun is <jo in the singular masculine, $& feminine, and (je in the plural. There are pronominal suffixes which are probably due to the influence of the Persian. When added to a noun they have the force of a genitive. They are : mi, first person singular ; i, second ; si or al, third ; sQ,, si, or n, first person plural ; va, second ; ni or &&, third. The first ten cardinal numbers are hiku, 6a, te, ddri, pHtfa,, ha or dhaha, sata, atha, nava, and raha. The corresponding ordi- nals are perhyd, bid, tio, 6>th3, pd(jd, dhahS, satS, athd, navd, and rahS. The present parti- ciple of intransitive verbs ends in add, of tran- sitive verbs in Ida. The past participle is formed by adding -yd. Urdu or Hindustani is a dialect of Hindi, whose origin dates back to the llth century A. D. It is strongly mixed with Persian and Arabic, and also to some degree with Tartaric Mongolian elements. It is the current administrative language of In- dia, and spoken by all connected with official circles. It was called Urdu from its having been developed in the camps (urdu) of the Moslem conquerors of the country. The best authori- ties believe that it did not take form as a speci- fic variety of Indian speech before the 16th cen- tury. It distinguishes a masculine and femin- ine gender, and the latter is generally indica- ted by i, as betd, son, beti, daughter; larkd, boy, larki, girl ; or by dni, ni, and ni, as Mgh,