118 
JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
arbitrary sounds in question are uniform and re¬ 
duced to a system. 
The structure of the Burmese language, like 
that of all others of the same class, is strikingly 
simple. All the words not derived from the Pali 
are monosyllables, and even the polysyllabic words 
derived from this last source are pronounced as if 
each syllable of them were a distinct word. This 
character of the language, with the frequency of 
guttural, sibilant and nasal sounds, makes it ap¬ 
pear, to a stranger at least, monotonous and un¬ 
musical. There is no inflexion of any part of 
speech. Relation, number, mode, and time, are 
all formed by prefixing or affixing certain parti¬ 
cles. There exist, in this language, roots which 
may be converted into nouns, into verbs, or into 
adjectives, by a similar simple contrivance. As to 
Borman syntax, the words follow each other in 
their natural order, an arrangement indispensably 
necessary to a dialect so inartificial. The oral lan¬ 
guage is of course still more simple than the writ¬ 
ten, the affixed particles being often omitted, so 
that the mere skeleton of a sentence only is pre¬ 
sented to the hearer—the speaker, as it may be 
conjectured, rather hinting at his meaning, than 
expressing it fully and distinctly, as in more per¬ 
fect languages. 
The Pali alphabet, as it is written by the Bur- 
mans, is essentially the same as that of other Bud- 
d’hist nations; but in form differs considerably, 
