1900.] 
153 
F. Hahn — J Primer of the Asur duhma. 
Chapter I. Transliteration. 
1. Vowels. 
Short a and long a like the final a in the word America and the a 
in father, respectively : — 
« short like the e in the English word glen ; 
e long, as the a in rate ; 
i and i as i, in bit and ee, in tree respectively ; 
0 short like the o in short ; 
d long as in both ; 
. 0 a sound similar to the oa in broad ; 
u short and long ii as in full and flute respectively ; 
au dipthong like ou in house ; 
ai resembling the i in light. 
2. Hiatus and Consonants. 
The check which often occurs after a vowel and especially when 
two vowels stand together, is represented by an apostrophe (’). The 
semivowels y and v are frequently employed in connection with short 
vowels for the sake of euphony. 
Little is to be said with regard to consonants, since they are the 
same as in the Hindi alphabet, with which the reader is supposed to be 
familiar; the guttural nasal n is represented by a ruled ^^ = ». The 
nasal n in connection with the guttural g is represented by rj. The 
palatial d and t are written d and t and the cerebral r = ?*, c is pro- 
nounced like ch in church ch is its aspirated form. 
Chapter IT. Nouns. 
3. Gender and Number. 
The Asur duhma does not distinguish between gender. Whenever 
it is desired to distinguish sex, the Asur adds with regard to children, 
kordt and kuri to hopon, respectively, thus kora hopon, means a male child, 
and hurt hopon, a female child. For irrational beings he makes use of 
the word sandi and epd ; e.g., kul = tiger, kul sawrf^ = male tiger; kul erjd 
= tigress. 
Asur has three numbers, the Singular, the Dual, and the Plural. 
The formation of the latter two is quite easy; for the Dual simply adds 
kip and the Plural ku ; thus : — 
hor, a man ; 
hor kip-, two men ; 
hor ku, men ; 
ipil, a star ; 
ipil kip, two stars ; 
ipil ku, stars ; 
haddd, an ox ; 
haddd kip, two oxen ; 
hadda ku, oxen ; 
dirt, a stone ; 
dirt kip, two stones ; 
diri ku, stones ; 
