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376
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[DECEMBER, 1898.
The following points may be noted in regard to the grammar of the specimens :
1. - NOUNS. The Agent case is generally the same as the Nominative. Indeed the use of the Agent with the Past tense of a Transitive verb appears to have almost disappeared.
In the case of nouns in 8, the oblique form singular usually ends in a, but sometimes, probably owing to careless speaking, the direct form is used ; thus, ghorô kó, of a horse, instead of the more correct ghorá kó; mandó (for manda) kam md ; mairô báp kú, for mairá báp ká. Sometimes, under the influence of Panjabi, the oblique form ends in é. Thus, when the younger son speaks to liis father, the narrative says, correctly, aynd báp tah kahið; but when the elder son answers his father, the Panjabi idiom, apné bdp tah, is incorrectly used..
On the other hand, the influence of Panjabi sometimes makes these nouns have the direct form in d instead of in 8. Thus u ka (for us kb) barô put pati md tho.
Amongst the postpositions may be mentioned md, in ; kanal, with. The postpositions tah and nah are borrowed from Pught. They are used indiscriminately to mean both to and from.' Thus, ithar tah d-ja, come to this place, and ithdr tah ja, go from this place.
The following are examples of the correct use of the direct and of the oblique forms: mairo pût mbyô tho (Hindi, merd pút mvá (hd), my son was dead; apnå må tah (Hindi, apné mál sé), from his own property ; changá admi (Hindi, change admi), good mien ; is ka paird md (Hindi, is ké pair; mi), on his feet ; apnd dôstd kanah (Hindi, apné dóato sáth), with (my) own friends ; chungi trima (Hindi, changi stri), a good woman ; is ki angri md (Hindi, ia ki anguli md), on his finger. The use of the word yako, one, a, appears to be irregular. I have noted, -
Yaks bap, a father ; yuko bap ko, of a father ; bat yaké thôr, in a certain place. Yaká dhi, a danghter ; yakd changi trimat, a good woman ; yake dhi kô, of a daughter.
II. - PRONOUNS. The proper form of the Agent of his mai. Thus : mai tairo khaxmat kið hai (Hindi, mai ne éri khidmat kl), by me thy service has been done. But hd is sometimes substituted for it. Thus : thi mdrio, I killed, instead of mai mário, by me killed.
An example of the Agent of the second person is tai ni ditó hai (Hindi, tú né nahi diya hai), by thee has not been given,
So for the third person wedbandið (Hindi, us né bata), by him was divided ;us kahið (Hindi, us ne kahd), by him it was said ; but oh (not us or usd) uthið (Hindi, wal utha), he rose.
III. – VERBS. In the conjugation of verbs, note the peculiar way in which the Present Definite and Imperfect Are formed. Here the verb exactly follows the Mêwâri custom. To form these tenses, the auxiliary verb is added, not to the Present Participle, but to the various persons of the simple Present Tense. Thus : mara, I beat ; márd hai (not mártó hdi), I am beating ; márd thô (not mártó th), I was beating. Other examples are karů hai, I am making, used as a present subjunctive, (that) I may make (merriment with my friends); kard tho, I was making. Irregularly influenced by Panjabi are diyá ná thd, (anyone) was not giving ; chalâ nd tho, he was not going ; chard tho, he was grazing.
The Present Participle is used to form a Habitual Past. Thus : khaitó, he used to eat; Plural Masculine, khaitá, they (the swine) used to eat.
In the Simple Present, which is also used as a present subjunctive, there are some irregularities observable in the specimens. In ham khushali kard, khushdi ki, the first person plural is used for the first person singular. Panjabi is responsible for kha-lal, and h8 jáyai, and also for khái (they eat), in which last the singular is used for the plural.
