Appendix E. 251 



APPENDIX E. 



Language of Dravidian Aborigines. Notes on the Oraon Language. — 

 By the Rev. F. Batsch. 



Nouns. 



The Language is very defective in nouns. It is evident that the 

 Oraons have lost much of their own language, and that they have 

 made up their losses from the languages of the people amongst 

 whom they have dwelt, chiefly Sanskrit and Hindustani. They have 

 no original religious terms, no abstract ideas, no words for actions of 

 the mind or thoughts. 



Gender. 



In Oraon there are two genders, the masculine and the feminine, but 

 there are very few nouns of the latter. 



Whether the noun is a masculine or feminine is only to be found 

 in the termination of the verb. In the declension, the gender is not 

 or only very seldom expressed. 



Declension. 



There are all the usages of the Hindi language to be found in the 

 Oraon. The oblique cases are also formed by postpositions. 



Note. Pronunciation of the Roman characters as used in writing the Oraon 

 words. 



a, 



like 



a 



in 



father 



u 



» 



u 



„ 



rule 



\ 



jj 



i 



55 



police 



a 



„ 



a 



55 



roman 



u 



» 



u 



55 



full 



i 





i 



55 



still 



e 



like 



s e 



m 



peg 



o 



)> 



o 



„ 



so 



ai 



>> 



ai 



55 



aisle 



au 



» 



ow 



„ 



owl 



ch 



55 



ch 



55 



church 



ch as in German doch, loch 



