NAKU.VTIYlv N 



ded l>y inflections for lime ami person, for number and quality, 



and sometime to indicate other circumstance-, as if it wi n 

 the chief Bcope of the ipeaker to concentrate all the office* oi 

 speech in a tingle word, or a single expression, lint in tins 

 process of n< , as might l>< I, clearneaa and sim- 



plicity arc often mcrific 'and, and the distinctions of 



person, and number, mid tense, arc not. perhaps, always accu- 

 rately preserved. 80 many letters, and even whole syllables, 

 are also dropped, to effect the purposes of ;i harmonious con- 

 ies *nce, agreeably to the Indian ear, that it be 

 difficult to trace analogies, and one of the usual helps to compar- 

 ison, is thus withdrawn. Number is entirely wanting in the third 

 person of the declension of their pronouns and nouns, and in 

 the conjugation of their verbs. Nor is there any distinction to 

 mark the sex of the third person, although the first and second 

 ions, arc uniformly and scrupulously thus marked. He and 

 she, him and her, are expressed by the same word, or the same 

 pronominal sign. Although there is a positive and a conditional 

 future, in the conjugation of their v< rbs, the compound tenses, 

 are generally thought to be defective. 



Notwithstanding these deficicnccs, the language admits of 

 many fine turns of ex] t, and pointed terms of irony, and 



in its general simplicity, and nervous brevity, will admit of a 

 comparison with some terms of scripture phraseology. Among 

 in grammatical forms, there are several, which exhibit beauti- 

 ful and succinct modes of convevinij thought. All its active 

 verbs can be multiplied as often as there are distinct objects of 

 their action, and they are conjugated both negatively, as well 



.. Substantives admit of adjective terminate 

 andadjed F substantive terminations. Both can be turned 



into verbs, and both are endowed with number. Pronouns are 

 inflected for time, ami in this shape, supply the want of our 



auxiliary verbs. The verb, lobe, may be • ;::d (<> chai 



this language, as differing some of the Indian languaj 



although its use i< r | there 1- no declarative 1 ris- 



