§ 57.] 



A BRIEF SKETCH OF ORMURI GRAMMAR. 



§ 54. This sketch does not pretend to be more than an outline of the main facts 

 of Ormuri accidence. A complete grammar will be given in the ninth volume of the 

 Linguistic Survey of India. 



Ormuri does not possess a written character of Its own. It has all the sounds 

 used by P^sto, and the P'sto alphabet is sometimes used for writing it. The P^sto 

 letters ^ and s are pronounced as in the South-Western dialect of that language ; 

 that is to say ^ is soimded something like xl and is transliterated s, and > is sounded 

 like a Persian J and is transliterated |. The x" and g-sounds used respectively for 

 these letters in North-Eastern P-^sto are not found in Ormuri in connexion with them. 



Ormuri has one peculiar consonant of its own, the sound of which is said to 

 approach that of a compound of x, I, and r, or of the P'sto ^ and j . It is tran- 

 scribed in these pages by the special sign s'. Ghulam Muhammad Khan represents 

 it by the sign ^4 i^ ^^^ Persian writing of his Grammar. This sound represents an 

 original compound letter of which the second member was r, whether kr, x^y S'^,^'^,^^, 

 pr, mr, or sr. The only compound of this nature that it does not seem to represent 

 is by (§ 29). 



As regards vowels, attention may be drawn to the Faiha-e-Afyunl, so common in 

 P'sto, and occurring in that word itself. It appears very frequently in Ormuri, and 

 is transliterated by ". 



The system of transliteration adopted in these pages for other letters will be 

 found on pp. xiii ff. 



Nouns Substantive — 



§ 55. The Article. — 'There is a definite article, a-, which may be prefixed to any 

 common noun. Thus, a-sarai, the man. It is not prefixed to any noun of which 

 the meaning is already definite, such as a proper name or a personal pronoun. It is 

 probably a by-form of the demonstrative pronoun hd or a, this. 



There is no real indefinite article. The numeral so, one, and the indefinite pro- 

 nouns kuk, anyone, and b" , anything, are often used to supply its place. 



56. Gender. — There are two genders, masculine and feminine. Most nouns indi- 

 cating inanimate objects are masculine but there are many exceptions. Nouns 

 ending in ai are, as in P., masculine (see GIP. I, ii, 210), and those in " (derived 

 from original a, and equivalent to P. a) and a are feminine. Most nouns ending in a 

 consonant are masculine, and most of those ending inioru are feminine. 



§ 57. Number. — There are two numbers, singular and plural. The sign of the 

 plural is i. Thus, gap, a stone, pi. gapi ; w"n'\ a tree, pi. w"n"i. The masculine ter- 

 mination ai becomes al, as in sarai a man, pi. saral. 



