native character, is written rōwukh. Similarly mālis becomes mạ̄lis
(mölis). The diphthong ai is pronounced ö when it commences a
word; thus, aiṭh, eight, is pronounced öṭh. When i and u commence
a word they are pronounced yi and wu respectively. With one
important exception, common to all Piśāca languages, Kashmiri
employs every consonant found in the Sanskrit alphabet. The
exception is the series of aspirated consonants, gh, jh, ḍh, dh and bh,
which are wanting in Ksh., the corresponding unaspirated consonants
being substituted for them. Thus, Skr. ghōṭakas, but Ksh. gurᵘ, a
horse; Skr. bhavati, Ksh. bŏvi, he will be. There is a tendency to
use dental letters where Hindī employs cerebrals, as in Hindi uṭh,
Ksh. wŏth, arise. Cerebral letters are, however, owing to Sanskrit
influence, on the whole better preserved in Ksh. than in the other
Piśāca languages. The cerebral ṣ has almost disappeared, ś being
employed instead. The only common word in which it is found is
the numeral ṣah, six, which is merely a learned spelling for śah, due
to the influence of the Skr. ṣaṭ. From the palatals c, ch, j, a new
series of consonants has been formed, viz. ts, tsh (aspirate of ts—i.e.
ts + h, not t + sh), and z (as in English, not dz). Thus, Skr. cōras,
Ksh. tsūr, a thief; Skr. chalayati, Ksh. tshali, he will deceive; Skr.
jalam, Ksh. zal, water. The sibilant ś, and occasionally s, are
frequently represented by h. Thus, Skr. daśa, Ksh. dah, ten; Skr.
śiras, Ksh. hīr, a head. We may compare with this the Persian
word Hind, India (compare the Greek Ἰνδός, an Indian), derived
from the Skr. Sindhus, the river Indus. When such an h is followed
by a palatal letter the ś returns; thus, from the base hiś–, like this,
we have the nominative masculine hịhᵘ, but the feminine hiśū, and
the abstract noun hiśyar, because ū and y are palatal letters.
The palatal letters i, e, ū–mātrā and y often change a preceding consonant. The modifications will be seen from the following examples: rāt–, night; nom. plur. rạ̄tsū; wŏth, arise; wọ̆tshū, she arose: lad, build; lạzū, she was built: ran, cook; rạñū, she was cooked; pạṭū, a tablet; Ag. sing. paci: kāth-, a stalk; nom. plur. kāchĕ: baḍ–, great; nom. plur. fem. bajĕ: batukᵘ, a duck; fem. batạcū: họ̆khᵘ, dry; fem. họ̆chū; srọ̆gᵘ, cheap; srŏjyar, cheapness: wạ̄lᵘ, a ring; fem. wạ̄jū, a small ring; lōs, be weary; lọ̄sū or lọ̄tsū, she was weary. These changes are each subject to certain rules. Cerebral letters (ṭ, ṭh, ḍ) change only before i, ĕ or y, and not before ū–mātrā. The others, on the contrary, do not change i, but do change before ĕ, y or ū–mātrā.
No word can end in an unaspirated surd consonant. If such a consonant falls at the end of a word it is aspirated. Thus, ak, one, becomes akh (but acc. akis); kaṭ, a ram, becomes kaṭh; and hat, a hundred, hath.
D. Declension. If the above phonetic rules are borne in mind, declension in Kashmiri is a fairly simple process. If attention is not paid to them, the whole system at once becomes a field of inextricable confusion. In the following pages it will be assumed that the reader is familiar with them.
Nouns substantive and adjective have two genders, a masculine and a feminine. Words referring to males are masculine, and to females are feminine. Inanimate things are sometimes masculine and sometimes feminine. Pronouns have three genders, arranged on a different principle. One gender refers to male living beings, another to female living beings, and a third (or neuter) to all inanimate things whether they are grammatically masculine or feminine. Nouns ending in ᵘ are masculine, and most, but not all, of those ending in ⁱ, ᵘ, ĕ or ñ are feminine. Of nouns ending in consonants, some are masculine, and some are feminine. No rule can be formulated regarding these, except that all abstract nouns ending in ar (a very numerous class) are masculine. There are four declensions. The first consists of masculine nouns ending in a consonant, in a, ĕ or ū (very few of these last two). The second consists of the important class of masculine nouns in ᵘ; the third of feminine nouns in ⁱ, ū, or ñ (being the feminines corresponding to the masculine nouns of the second declension); and the fourth of feminine nouns ending in ᵃ, ĕ or a consonant.
The noun possesses two numbers, a singular and a plural, and in each number there are, besides the nominative, three organic cases, the accusative, the case of the agent (see below, under “verbs”), and the ablative. The accusative, when not definite, may also be the same in form as the nominative. The following are the forms which a noun takes in each declension, the words chosen as examples being: First declension, tsūr, a thief; second declension, mạ̄lᵘ, a father; third declension, mạj^ū, a mother; fourth declension, (a) māl, a garland, (b) rāt–, night.
| First Declension. | Second Declension. | Third Declension. | Fourth Declension. | ||
| a. | b. | ||||
| Sing.: | |||||
| Nom. | tsūr | mạlᵘ (pr. mål) | mạ̄jū (möj) | māl | rāth |
| Acc. | tsūras | mạ̄lis (mölis) | mājĕ | māli | rạ̄tsū (röts) |
| Ag. | tsūran | mạ̄lⁱ (möⁱlⁱ) | māji | māli | rạ̄tsū (röts) |
| Abl. | tsūra | māli | māji | māli | rạ̄tsū (röts) |
| Plur.: | |||||
| Nom | tsūr | mạlⁱ (möⁱlⁱ) | mājĕ | māla | rạ̄tsū (röts) |
| Acc. | tsūran | mālĕn | mājĕn | mālan | rạ̄tsūn (rötsün) |
| Ag. and Abl. | tsūrau | mālyau | mājyau | mālau | rạ̄tsūv (rötsüv) |
The declension 4b is confined to certain nouns in t, th, d, n, h and l, in which the final consonant is liable to change owing to a following ū–mātrā.
Other cases are formed (as in true Indo-Aryan languages) by the addition of postpositions, some of which are added to the accusative, while others are added to the ablative case. To the former are added manz, in; kịtᵘ, to or for; sụ̄tin, with, and others. To the ablative are added sụ̄tin, when it signifies “by means of”; putshy, for; pĕṭhᵃ, from, and others. For the genitive, masculine nouns in the singular, signifying animate beings, take sạndᵘ, and if they signify things without life, take kᵘ. All masculine plural nouns and all feminine nouns whether singular or plural take hạndᵘ. Sạndᵘ and hạndᵘ are added to the accusative, which drops a final s, while kᵘ is added to the ablative. Thus, tsūra sạndᵘ, of the thief; mạ̄lⁱ sạndᵘ, of the father; sŏnạkᵘ (usually written sŏnukᵘ), of gold (sŏn, abl. sing. sŏna); tsūran nạndᵘ, of thieves; karĕn hạndᵘ, of bracelets (second declension); mājĕ hạndᵘ, of the mother; mājĕn hạndᵘ, of the mothers. Masculine proper names, however, take nᵘ in the singular, as in Rādhākrṣṇạnᵘ of Rādhākrishna. These genitive terminations, and also the dative termination kịtᵘ, are adjectives, and agree with the governing noun in gender, number and case. Thus, tsūra sạndᵘ nĕcịvᵘ, the son of the thief; tsūra sạndⁱ nĕcivⁱ, by the son of the thief; tsūra sạnzū kōrᵘ, the daughter of the thief; kulịkᵘ lang, a bough of the tree; kulicū lạṇdū, a twig of the tree. Sạndᵘ, has fem. sing. sạnzᵘ, masc. plur. sạndⁱ, fem. plur. sanza. Similarly hạndᵘ. Kᵘ has fem. sing. cū, masc. plur. kⁱ, fem. plur. cĕ; nᵘ, fem. sing. ñ, masc. plur. nⁱ, fem. plur. ñĕ. Similarly for the dative we have the following forms: mạ̄lis kịtᵘ pạ̄ñᵘ, water (masc.) for the father; mạ̄lis kitsū gāv, a cow for the father; mạ̄lis kitⁱ rav, blankets (masc. plur.) for the father; mạ̄lis kitsa pōthĕ, books (fem. plur.) for the father. All these postpositions of the genitive and kịtᵘ of the dative are declined regularly as substantives, the masculine ones belonging to the second declension and the feminine ones to the third. Note that the feminine plural of sạndᵘ is sanza, not sanzĕ, as we might expect; so also feminine nouns in tsᵘ, tshᵘ, zū and sū.
Adjectives ending in ᵘ (second declension) form the feminine in ū, with the usual changes of the preceding consonant. Thus tạtᵘ, hot, fem. tạtsū (pronounced tüts). Other adjectives do not change for gender. All adjectives agree with the qualified noun in gender, number and case, the postposition, if any, being added to the latter word of the two. Take, for example, chạtᵘ, white, and gurᵘ, a horse. From these we have chạtᵘ gurᵘ, a white horse; acc. sing. chatis guris; nom. plur. chạtⁱ gụrⁱ; and chatyau guryau sụ̄tin, by means of white horses.
The first two personal pronouns are bŏh, I; mĕ, me, by me; ạsⁱ, we; asĕ, us, by us; and tsᵃh, thou; tsĕ, thee, by thee; tọ̆hⁱ, ye; tŏhĕ you, by you. Possessive pronouns are employed instead of the genitive. Thus, myạ̄nᵘ, my; sạ̄nᵘ, our; cyạ̄nᵘ, thy; tuhạndᵘ, your. For the third person, we have sing. masc. suh, fem. sŏh, neut. tih; acc. sing. (masc. or fem.) tamis or tas, neut. tath; agent sing. masc. neut. tạmⁱ, fem. tami. The plural is of common gender throughout. Nom. tim; acc. timan; ag. timau. The possessive pronoun is tasạndᵘ, of him, of her; tamyukn, of it; tihạndᵘ, of them. The neuter gender is used for all things without life.
Other pronouns are:—This: yih (com. gen.); acc. masc. fem. yimis, or nŏmis, neut, yith, nŏth; ag. masc. neut., yimⁱ, nọ̆mⁱ, fem. yimi, nŏmi; nom. plur. yim, fem. yima, and so on.
That (within sight): masc. neut. huh, fem. hŏh; acc. masc. fem. humis or amis, neut. huth, and so on; nom. plur. masc hum.
Who, masc. yus, fem. yŏssa, neut. yih; acc. masc. fem. yĕmis, yĕs, neut. yĕth; ag. masc. neut. yĕmⁱ, fem. yĕmi; nom. plur. masc. yim, and so on.
Who? masc. kus, fem. kŏssa, neut. kyāh; acc. masc. fem. kamis, kas, neut. kath; ag. masc. neut. kamⁱ, fem. kami; nom. plur. masc. kam.
Self, pāna. Anyone, someone, kā̃h, kū̃h, or kā̃tshāh, neut. kē̃tshāh.
Kashmiri makes very free use of pronominal suffixes, which are added to verbs to supply the place of personal terminations. These represent almost any case, and are as follows:—
| First Person. | Second Person. | Third Person. | |
| Sing.— | |||
| Nom. | s | kh, h | none |
| Acc. | m | th, y | s |
| Dat. | m | y | s |
| Ag. | m | th, y | n |
| Plur.— | |||
| Nom. | none | wa | none |
| Other cases | none | wa | kh, h |
Before these the verbal terminations are often slightly changed for the sake of euphony, and, when necessary for the pronunciation, the vowel a is inserted as a junction vowel.
In this connexion we may mention another set of suffixes also commonly added to verbs, with an adverbial force. Of these na negatives the verb, as in chuh, he is; chuna, he is not; ā asks a
