Page:A Grammar of the Punjabi Language - William Carey.pdf/7



PREFACE.

THE extensive territorial possessions, the political influence, and the extended commerce of the British nation in the East, are constantly giving rise to a variety of circumstances which render a knowledge of the languages spoken in every part of India, and the countries contiguous thereto, highly important. Hence the necessity of Elementary Works in these languages.

The language which this grammar is intended to teach is spoken by the Shikhs, that singular people, who inhabit the Punjab, or the country lying between the Sutledge and the Indus.

The following sheets are intended to furnish short and appropriate rules for the acquisition of this language, without attempting any remarks upon the nature of grammar in general. Conscious that long disquisitions respecting minute circumstances only serve to deter a student from the study of a language, the writer of this work has endeavoured to give a sufficient number of rules in as simple a manner and as few words as possible.