THE SINHALESE LANGUAGE. 



55 



with two nouns, one which it qualifies, and another (either expressed 

 or understood) which indicates its agent. The proper designation 

 of it would then seem to be a relative participial adjective. Having 

 ascertained the real force of karana, let us inquire in which of the 

 two agent-cases we should place the noun-agent. We cannot put 

 it in the nominative, because our Grammar teaches us that the 

 nominative should be followed by a complete verb 4 expressive of 

 an attribute, of time, and of an assertion.'* We are therefore 

 constrained to use in the sentence before us the instrumental ma, 

 and not the nominative mama. 



The sense of the instrumental is also preserved in a similarly 

 constructed English sentence; e. g., karana de is 4 being-done thing f 

 or 4 the thing that is being done.' Now, if we add an agent to the 

 act, we have mama karana de 4 I being-done thing ' or 4 the thing 

 that is being done [by] I.' This sign 'by ' or visin is understood 

 in the Sinhalese, in which case the noun takes the sign of the case, 

 and it is necessary that the nominative mama should be changed 

 into the instrumental ma 4 by me.' The sentence itself would then 

 run grammatically both in Sinhalese and English, thus; ma karana 

 de 4 the thing that is done by me.' On comparing the Murathi, 

 the Sinhalese, and the Sanskrit, I find that the prevalence of an 

 instrumental case in connection with the passive verb, and the 

 relative participial adjective, is one of the most remarkable features 

 in the Syntax of all these languages. 'This instrumental con- 

 struction after passive verbs' says Professor Mon. Williams.f 4 is 

 a favorite idiom in Sanskrit prose composition;' and our best prose 

 writers abound with instances of the instrumental case in the 

 connection above stated. 



It is unnecessary to say more on the subject; nor to inquire 

 into the usage in the Tamil. All my observations here as elsewhere 



* See my Sinhalese Grammar, Section viii. § 92; also Harrison's Structure of 

 the English language, p. 315. 

 f See his Grammar, p. 366. 



