30 THE ORMURI OR BARGISTA LANGUAGE. [§58. 



If a noun ends in a consonant preceded by a, the a is generally shortened and 

 the consonant doubled before the plural termination ^ as in bazar, a market, pi, bdzarrl. 

 Other long vowels are also liable to changes. Thus : — 



iom, an eye, . pi. hami. 



sor, a city, pi. sen. 



injlr, a fig, pi. infn. 



syuy, a grape, pi. sayl. 



syuy, a mother-in-law, pi. sayadi. 



zesr, a thorn, pi. zaarsrl. 



In some of these, e.g. in hami, eyes, it is in the plural that the original vowel is 

 preserved (cf . Av. casman-), and the o of ^om is due to epenthesis caused by some lost 

 singular termination, such as u or o. In sor (Prs. sar), a city, on the other hand, the 

 change of a to o is due to the influence of the neighbouring Waziri P^§to, and the 

 plural is formed from the original scir, the a becoming e under the epenthetic influ- 

 ence of the following i. 



This flnal J has also an epenthetic effect on certain final consonants. Thus a 

 final k is palatalized to c, as in panduk, a pomegranate, pi. pan dud ; duk" , a girl, pi. 

 duel. Similarly ^ becomes c in hah, a partridge, pi. haci (? haccl), while g and y be- 

 come ri!?, as in ping, a cock, pi. pinckl ; kray, a crow, pi. kradzi. 



The origin of the plural termination i is the Phi. iha \ which has also survived 

 in the Prs. and Kurd, ha (GIP. I, ii, io6). The l, however, does not appear in any 

 other Eranian dialect. 



§ 58. Declension. — Ormuri agrees with Persian and with Gabri, and differs 

 from other modern Eranian forms of speech, in having no oblique case for nouns 

 substantive. The noun remains unchanged throughout declension. The only excep- 

 tion is that a or ^7 is added to masculine nouns, and i or e is added to feminine nouns, 

 to form a vocative. Some pronouns, however, have oblique cases, and relics of the 

 oblique case have survived in certain adverbs, in which it ends in ". Thus: — 

 bez, the place above, pa-bez", upwards. 



nlst, the place outside, i-nist'\ outside. 



mux, the front, i-mux , before. 



peb, the rear, i-peh" , behind, 



and others. 



As for the noun substantive, the nearest approach to what we may call cases is 

 formed by prepositions, viz. : — 



pa, by, forms an Instrumental (but not an Agent). 



ta, of, forms a Genitive. 



i or ku, on, forms a I^ocative. 



We thus decline sarai, a man, as follows : — 



Sing. Plur. 



Nom. . . sarai, sarai. 



Instr. . . pa- sarai, pa-sarai. 



Gen. . . ta-sarai, ta-saral. 



