THE SINHALESE LANGUAGE. 



71 



sive termination.' This is of frequent use in the Sinhalese, as g aha 

 vcetuni 6 the tree fell,' 



The formation of the causal verb both in the North and South- 

 Indian classes, is according to the Sanskrit. The ay a in the latter 

 is changed into ay or ave in the Prakrit, into va in the Sinhalese 

 and Murathi,* and vi in some of the Dra vidian dialects. 



CoNJUGAtlONAL SYSTEM. 



The present tense. — The Sinhalese verb, like the Prakrit, is 

 formed by suffixing pronominal fragments to the root, as kara root 

 * do 5 ; kara-mi 'I do.' As in the Dravidian, there is no sign what- 

 ever in the Sinhalese verb to indicate the gender of the third person. 

 The pronominal signs are however in both suffixed, not prefixed. 

 'The Sinhalese has also of late years shewn a tendency, especially 

 amongst the lower orders of the people, to divest the verb of all 

 signs of personality, and to use it with a pronoun or a nominative. 

 This is certainly not, after the fashion of the Dravidian, nor from 

 Dravidian influences; for the most ignorant Tamulian uses the verb 

 with its proper personal inflexion. The use of the substantive 

 Verb, as an auxiliary in the formation of some of the tenses, is not 

 known to the Sinhalese as it is to the Dravidian, and some of the 

 North-Indian vernaculars. But these resemblances, and differences 

 lead to no important results in the particular investigation before 

 us. I shall therefore proceed to 



The Pant Tense — Here againl may allude to wdiat Dr. Steven- 

 son has pointed out, under this head, as an analogy which pervades 

 all the Dravidian, and the North-Indian dialects, viz: that the past 

 tense of the verb is marked by affixes and not prefixes as in the 

 Sanskrit. The Sinhalese is not without a prefix to form the past 

 tense as yami ' I go ' and gi-ye-mi 'I went'; bat, I admit that 

 the Sinhalese verb generally accords with the Dravidian in the 



* Dr, Stevenson's Murathi Gr, p. 87. 



