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244
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[SEPTEMBER, 1911.
. All the other nouns have adopted the irrational plural suffix lu, a shortening and softening of the Tamil, Malayalam, Canarese, kal. Thus in Telugu, the ruling plural suffix, rational and irrational, islu.
The Telugu second and third personal pronouns take r in the plural: miru, you'; cf. Tamil nir-vdru, evaru, and also tamaru, meaning respectively they, wbo, and themselves.
Other North Dravidian languages. Kurukh forms the plural of rational nouns by adding ar. (Vide L. S., p. 412.) Thos ál-ar, men ; mukkar, women.
In Malto the rational plaral suffix is r (L. S., p. 448). Thus maler, men ; peler, women.
In Kui, the rational suffix is ru, i.e., masculine plural suffix; for feminine and neuter bare another suffix, Thus dåda, elder brother, daddru, elder brother (L. S., p. 462).
Gandi. Dr. Grierson has the following interesting note on ôr, he, the demonstrative singular of Gôndi :-Or is, however, by origin a plural form, which has become used in the singular, just as the corresponding plural pronoun in connected languages is very commonly used as an honorific singular. The old singular form must have been on. It is still preserved in the form ondu in the 80-called koi of Bastar and Madras Presidency. (L. S., p. 479.) Thus we see that in old Gôndi we had r as the rational suffix.
In Kölâmt the usual suffix is l. Still in masur-ung, 'to the men,' we haie, says Dr. Grierson, apparently a plural suffix up, r, for the singular is mas, 'man.”(L. S., pp. 562, 564.)
In Naiki we have a rational plural suffix kör. Perbaps this corresponds to mdr of Tamil and Malayalam, or more correctly to år. Thus pôra, son; pôrakôr, sons (L. S., p. 572.)
The Neuter Plural Suffis gal. In Primitive Dravidian, the plural suffix of neuter primitive or uncompounded nouns was gal. This is found in its original form in the central and the south Dravidian languages ; bat in the Northern dialect the gutteral g bas disappeared, and the saffix is reduced to lu.
We shall now give the various forms that this suffix has assumed in the different Dravidian dialects :
Tamil and Malayalam. In these two languages the suffix is gal or kkal. Gal is used in the case of neuter nouns of more than two syllables, and nouns of two syllables that have a long vowel in the first syllable. In all the other cases kkal is used :--.g., Tamil and Malayalam : padagu, boat; padagugal, boats ; Tamil and Malayalam : ddu, sheep; ddugal, sheep (pl.); kadu, jangle; káduga!, jungles';' pl, flower ; pakkal, flowers; pašu, cow; pasuklal, cows, eto.
In Malayalam gal becomes nal if the noun should end in s nasal : 6.9. maram, tree; maranyal, trees; pen, girl ; pezzal, girls, etc. (Vide Art. 87, Shashageriprabhu's Vyakarna Mitran.)
Сарагове. Sutram 95 of Sabdamasidarpaņa gives ga! as the plural suffix of neuter nouns, e. g., kan, ege; kangal, eyes; tode, thigh; todegal, thighs; kojam, tank; kolamgal, tanks. Dr. Kittel's grammar, too, gives the same : gal in ancient dialect, gal, galu in mediæval dialect, and gaļu in the modern dialect. But under the ancient dialect he gives also kal. The examples are only two :-kôlkal, nāļkal. Evidently the kal form must have been very rare.
Tulu, In Tolu we have ag neuter plural suffixes kulu and ļu (Vide Brigel's Tulu Grammar, Article 32), e. 9., mara, a tree; marokulu, trees ; leuri, a sheep; leurikulu, sheep; guru, a priest ; gwuluļu, priests; pa, flower ; pikulu, flowers; but jiva, life; jiroļu, lives; paravddi, & prophet; paravádisu, prophets; méji, a table; mêjilu, tables; bile, work; bélèļu, works, etc. It seems possible even in Tulu to apply the rules for the use of likal and gal in Tamil and Malayalam. Polysyllabic words of more than two syllables and dissyllabic words which have a long vowel in the first or the second syllable take lu and all other words take kalu. Here in this respect Tulu seems nearer Tamil and Malayalam than Canarese, though Tula and Canarese both belong to the central Dravidian group. In its use of ! it is like Teluga which uses lu, the softened form of su.
