46 



Observations on the 



[No. 37, 



much the same as very low people give for the 3rd person plural of 

 all Tamil active verbs, e. g. chonanga, cheyanga, they said, they do. 

 The tenses are more complicate than in Tamil. The formation of 

 the Negative, and of the Imperative moods, by prefixing a word (as 

 in Hindostani) is a clear distinction from both Tamil and Telugu, 

 which employ inflexions. The existence of a causal verb is a re- 

 semblance. I had written, on a first inspection, the efficient quite 

 differs ; but on further thought, and closer attention, I recal that 

 conclusion, and the revised thought is connected with the glimpse of 

 a pleasing discovery. In Gondi the causal efficient is an aspirate ; 

 the language of nature when we exert force, or when we wish to 

 operate manually on a supposed inert object. The aspirate is an 

 expression of force found in all strong and northern languages, but 

 usually faint, or deficient in southern ones. Now the present partici- 

 ple hearing is in Gondi kenchi, and the causal imperative kencheha 

 cause to hear ; even as when speaking to partially deaf persons we 

 use stronger aspirates, and more explosive power of voice. We have 

 here then nature's causal, formed by aha, eha, iha, oha, or uha, ac- 

 cording to the vowel going before. Now as words progress south- 

 erly, or into warmer climates, they abandon aspirates. The English 

 has only a few non-aspirated h's ; the French (from the same stock 

 I think as the Celtic Irish) has a few that are aspirated. The Italian 

 dispenses even with the sign of the aspirate. The Latin homo (first 

 formed on mountain tops) is the French homme, silent h, and Italian 

 uomo, a vowel being substituted for the sign of aspiration. This pro- 

 cess I find to be initiated in the Telugu, and the Tamil ; implying that 

 the Gondi is an antecedent language. The native Telugu (as distin- 

 guished from its Sanscrit adoptives) is more dental, or labial, softer 

 and sweeter than the Tamil ; but neither one of them have any native* 

 aspirate. The Telugu softens the Gondi aha, eha, Sec. into inchu or 

 in exceptions to ippu, ndu, and change of a consonant. The Tamil 

 effects a causal meaning by inserting jpi, ppi, or vi y and the two last 

 forms are preceded, in different verbs, by a, e, i, o, .u. In both lan- 

 guages, but in Tamil especially, and I think also in the Canarese, causal 

 inu, we have the Gondi causal efficient softened down to suit the or- 

 gans of speech of less masculine people. And, I think, it may be 

 found a principle in universal grammar, that the putting forth an 



* The aspirated consonants in Telugu, and the letter h are only used, I believe in 

 Sanscrit derivatives. 



