188 Languages of the various tribes inhabiting the [March, 



English. Bengali. Asamese. 



River. Nadi, Nai. N6i. 



Road. Pat, Bat. Bat. 



Salt. Laban, L6n. Lon. 



Skin. Charmma, Chhal. Sal. 



Sky. A'kash. A'kah. 



Snake. Sarpa, Sap. Hap. 



Star. Tara. Tara. 



Stone. Prastar, Shila, Sil. Hil. 



Sun. Surjya, (Bela, time.) Beli. 



Tiger. Bagh. Bagh 



Tooth. Danta Dant Dant. 



Tree. Brikhya, Gach. Gach. 



Village. Gram, Gan. Gan. 



Water. Jal, Pani. Pani. 



Yam. A'lu. A'lu. 



The written characters , in use among the Asamese, are the same as 

 those that obtain in Bengal, with one or two slight variation. The 

 powers of the letters are also the same, except the substitution of S in 

 Asamese for the Bengali Ch, and a guttural H for the Bengali S and Sh. 



The principles of Grammar, are alike in both the languages. Both 

 have the same rules for the inflections which words generally undergo in 

 order to describe various actions and circumstances, though there exists 

 some diversity in the inflections themselves. 



The analogy by which nouns feminine are regularly formed from 

 nouns masculine, is the same in both languages. Thus both have, 

 Masc. Harin, a deer. Fern. Harini. 



Masc. Kukur, a dog. Fern. Kukuri. 



As in Bengali, so also in Asamese, the names of some of the most 

 common male and female objects in nature, are applied quite absolutely, 

 and without any relation to one another. It must however be observed 

 that the Asamese, far more often than the Bengalis, distinguish the sex 

 of animals by prefixing the terms Mata and Maiki, male and female. 



The seven Cases stated to belong to Bengali nouns, are the same in 

 number and order with those of Asamese nouns, but the terminations 

 by which they are discriminated are somewhat different, as shown in the 

 following paradigms. 



