1898.] Annual AddQ-ess. 75 



grammars of tlie Ka9miri latignage and of tlie dialects of Bihar and the 

 Panjab, and are too technical to be of general interest. Those whom it 

 may interest, I must refer to Dr. Grrierson's learned essays published 

 in our Jouinal.*^ 



We may, howev^er, now look forward to a great advance over the 

 whole field of the North -Indian vernaculars, as the result of the Lin- 

 guistic Survey which is at present proceeding under the direction of 

 Dr. G. A. Grvierson. That scholar first mooted the idea of such a survey 

 before the International Congress of Orientalists held in Vienna in 1886. 

 As a result a vote was passed by the Congress urging on the Government 

 of India the importance of preparing a detailed survey of the languages 

 and dialects spoken in this country. The suggestion was favourably enter- 

 tained by the Government of India, but, owing to various causes, it could 

 not be given eifect to for some years, and then only in a modified form. 

 The scheme which was ultimately approved of, and which since 1895 is in 

 operation, comprises the following points. First of all, a rough unscientific 

 catalogue is being made of every known language spoken throughout India, 

 excluding Burmah and the Madras Presidency. The examination of the 

 languages spoken in these two provinces is left to a future opportunity. 

 The area to be investigated, therefore, consists of the Panjab, the North - 

 West Provinces and Oudh, the Lower Provinces of Bengal and Assam, 

 the Presidency of Bombay, the Central Provinces, and Rajputana. 

 Attempts will also be made to investigate, as far as possible, the langu- 

 ages of Kashmir and the Himalayan States along the North of Hindus- 

 tan. This large area includes practically the whole of the Aryan- 

 speaking population of India, besides the languages of hundreds of 

 aboriginal tribes speaking Munda and Tibeto-Barman languages. 

 These rough lists are compiled from returns supplied by local officers. 

 Each District Official and, in the case of Independant States, each 

 Political Officer was given a prmted form which he was requested to 

 fill up, naming every dialect and form of language, under the appel- 

 lation by which it is locally known, spoken in the tract under his 

 charge. All these forms have already been received back from the 

 local officers, and the Rough List is in active course of preparation. 



^O See his Essays On Bihdrl declension, Vol. LTI, 1883 ; Qrammar of Chattis- 

 garht, Vol. LIX, 1890; Specimen and Analysis of Padmdvatt, Vol. LXII, 1893 ; Pro- 

 nominal suffixes in Edgmiri, and Radical and Participial Tenses of the Modern Indo- 

 Aryan Languages, Vol. LXIV, 1895; Irregular Causal Verbs ibidem, Kdgmirt 

 Vowels System, and a List of Kdgmlrl Verbs, Vol. LXV, 1896 ; Kdgmtrl Consonantal 

 Syatem, Vol. LXVI, 1897. See also his Seven Grammars of the Bihdri Language 

 published iu 1883-1887, and the Rev. T. Bomford's essays on Western Panjabiin 

 Vols. LXIV and LXVI of our Journal. 



