Indian Antiquary Vol 48

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 325

INTRODUCTION
6
occasions unintelligibility or surprise or raises a laugh, just as when we use false concords in European languages. These prefixes are added to what in our translations become substantives, adjectives, and verbs, and which for purposes of general intelligibiity to an Aryan audience had better be so designated. But we require new terms and an entirely new set of grammatical conceptions which shall not bend an agglutinative language to our inflexional translation. With this warning, that they are radically incorrect, I shall freely use inflexional terms, meaning merejy that the language uses such and such forms to express what in other languages are distinguished by the corresponding inflexional terms, which really do not apply to this.
Substantives, adjectives, and adverbs, generally end in-da, which is usually dropped before postpositions and in construction; hence when I write a hyphen at the end of a word, I shall mean that in its full form it has -da. Subs, and adj. also occasionally end in -re for human objects, and this -re is not dropped before postpositions. This same suffix -re is also extensively used in verbs, for our past tense active, or past participle passive. A common termination is also-la, which as well as -re implies human, and -ola, which is also honorific. What answers to our verbal substantives denoting either actor or action, is expressed by the suffix - nga added to verbal bases, both active and passive. What corresponds to the Aryan declension is carried out entirely by postpositions, as in fact it might be in English by prepositions, if we had a preposition to point out the accusative as in Spanjsh. In Anda nanese these postpositions are generally ia of, or more usually lia of (where the l, as very frequently, is merely & euphonic prefix to vowels); len, to, in (but len also frequently marks out the object); lat to, towards ; tek from and by; la by means of (instrument).
The plural is expressed by the addition of lô ng-kâ lak 13 to the singular, when the distinction is considered necessary, which is cot often, as the plural is left to be implied by the context, or is indicated by a prefix. Abstract subst. are formed from adj. by adding yo'ma-quality, or property, as la pangada long, la panga-yo mada length. Negative subst. are formed by adding ba, an abbreviation for ya-ba, as abligada child, abli gaba not a child, but a boy or girl.
Active verbs use the suffixes -ke for our gerundial form of infinitive," for our pres. part., pres. ind., and occasionally future ;-re for past time,-ka imperfect, -ngabo for future, -nga for Verbal subst., actor and action; with numerous auxiliaries answering to our' may, might, shall, should, will, would.' Passive Verbs use - nga for the gerundial
13 Here lo ng is probably their', 4th person, ka-lak is apparently no longer found separately.
1 In his glossary Mr. Man uses the form in-ke (just as we say gerundially to exist') to shew that he means & verbal form. He says that if you ask an Andamanese the name of any action which you shew him, he will give you the form in -ke. But it remains to be established that this corresponds to our gerundial infinitive, at least I have not detected it in any example which Mr. Man has furnished, nor could he recall one. In Latin diotionaries audio, amo, are Englished to hear, to love', whioh they certainly do not mean. But as it is usual to give Latin verbe in this form, so it may be usual to give Andamanese verbs in the form in -ke, which would be like using audit, amat in Latin. Our gerundial or supino infinitive answers to the Latin ad audiendum, auditum. Dr. Morris prefers calling it the "dative infinitive" (Hin. Outlines of Engl. Accidence, 1872, p. 177). It is frequently used for the pure infinitive in English. The pure infinitive is properly only a verbal subst., and most nearly corresponde to one of the senses of the Andamaneee form with the suffix -nya, but in point of fact there is nothing in Andamanose identical with the Aryan infinitive.