58 Remarks on Indo-Chinese Languages. [Jan* 



Salt lun luii 



Sky swarga (heaven) Garo, srigi 



Stone shila hil, Kh. hin, Si. hin 



Sun tapan Si. tawaa 



dahan (burning) Ak. dahani 



Tiger sing, (properly a lion,) Kh. seii, Si. sua, Lu. sangkhti, N. T. 



sakhwii, C. T. sakwi, &c. 

 Village can gaun 



Thewriter will no doubt be glad to obtain the Bengali forms above 

 given. 



2. The seven cases stated to belong to Assamese Nouns, are the same in 

 number and order with those of Bengali nouns : and it is by no means (as 

 asserted in the " Comparison, &c") a peculiarity in Assamese that " two 

 pronouns are used for the 2nd person, according as the person addressed is 

 superior or inferior to the speaker." The same obtains in Bengali also, 

 and is extended to the 3rd person likewise, with a similar terminational 

 change in the verb. Thus — 



Plural 



1st pers : 



ami 



mari 



2nd inferior 



tui 



maris 



2nd superior 



tumi 



mara 



3rd inferior 



se 



mare 



3rd superior 



tini 



maren 



amra 



man 



tora 



maris 



tomra 



mara 



tahara 



mare 



tanhara 



maren, 



3. The comparison of adjectives in Bengali is effected by a similar pro- 

 cess to that erroneously stated to be peculiar to the Assamese. Thus taha 

 haite bara, greater than that ; sakal haite bara, greatest of all. All 

 the other grammatical minutiae particularized; equally apply. Also 

 what are termed in the " Comparison, &c." numeral affixes, are of ordinary 

 use in Bengali ; so that the analogy of the two languages is much closer 

 than supposed in the " Comparison." 



II. The fact stated by Captain Gordon, of the various very minute por- 

 tions of the population employing a variety of dialects often nearly unin- 

 telligible to their next neighbours, is most observable. And, the same 

 multiplied diversity having existed among the numerous aboriginal tribes of 

 South America,the inference is just, that dialects are most numerous in the 

 infancy of nations and tribes : while, in proportion as, with the cessation of 

 hereditary feuds and the extension of national intercourse, they become civi- 

 lized and educated, they approximate also in the use of a common language. 

 Hence it may be confidently expected that, as the blessings of knowledge 

 and refinement, peace, commerce and true religion, are extended among 

 these 27 nations, at present using so many vernacular media, the customs 

 and languages of the smaller tribes will merge into those of the larger, and 

 those of common origin again approach each other and ultimately coalesce. 

 The philanthropist must ardently desire so happy a consummation ; since 

 no one thing, perhaps, so fatally impedes the progress of mankind as those 

 endless subdivisions, of which these multiplied tongues are fust a conse- 

 quence and then a confirmation, ever exciting to jealousies and hostilities 

 of most injurious operation. 



