1024 Comparison of Bengali and Asamese Languages. [Dec. 



T. — Bangdli and A'sdmese. These languages being derived from the San* 

 skrit, possess a close affinity to each other. It appears from the table that 

 above six-tenths of the most common words are identical, except with 

 slight variations of pronunciation. The most important of these are the 

 substitution of s, in A'samese, for the Sanskrit ch, and a guttural h for the 

 Sanskrit s and sh. The vowels have also undergone considerable varia- 

 tions. The grammatical peculiarities of the two languages are considera- 

 bly unlike. In the inflection of nouns and verbs, they both bear a strong 

 resemblance to the Latin and Greek languages, with which they have a 

 large number of words in common. The numerals are evidently derived 

 from the same source with the Greek. 



The A'sdmese possesses six cases of nouns corresponding to those of the 

 Latin, to which may be added a seventh, or Locative cas*e, expressed in 

 English by the prepositions at or in. The terminations of the cases are 

 as follows : 



Singular. Plural. 



Nom. Nom. hont, — bilak, or bur. 



Gen. r. Gen. hontor, — bilakor, &c. 



Dat. lui. Dat. hontolui. 



Ace. k. Ace. hontok. 



Foe. as the Nom. Foe. as the Nom. 

 Abl. re. Abl. hontore. 



Loc. t. Loc, hoiitot. 



A peculiar feature of the Asamese is the use of two pronouns for tha 

 second person, according as the person addressed is superior or inferior to 

 the speaker. This distinction is also marked by a different termination of 

 *he verb, thus : 



Singular. 

 First person, Moi maruij, I strike. 



Sec. person, Toi maro, Thou strikest, 



Do. (honorific,) Tumi mara, You strike. 

 Third person, Hi mare, He strikes. 



Plural. 

 First person, A 'mi marun, We strike. 



Sec. person, Tohont maro, You strike. 



Do. (honorific,) Tumulak mara, Ye strike. 



Third person, Hihonte, or hibilake, mare, They strike. 



From this specimen, it may be seen that the verb undergoes no alteration 

 on account of number. 



Adjectives, in Asamese, have no declension, nor are they varied to de- 

 note the degrees of comparison. These are expressed by means of the 

 suffix kui, than, added to the locative case of nouns ; as, iatkui dangor, 

 great [er] than this ; ataitkui dangor, great [er] than all, i. e. the greatest. 

 The same particle is also used in changing adjectives to adverbs, like the 

 syllable ly, in English ; thus, khor, swift ; khorkui, swiftly. 



Nouns, in whatever case, almost invariably precede the verbs with which 



