Page:A grammar of the Teloogoo language.djvu/89



ossessing the refined and inexhaustible Sanscrit, as the established medium for the communication of knowledge, to the few among whom it's dissemination is thought to be lawful; Teloogoo writers have had little inducement to give much attention to the cultivation of their own language. Their literature consists almost entirely of poetry; and their Poets, desirous only to please the ear, or, to flatter the vanity of the reigning Prince, seem to have deemed the improvement of their style a secondary consideration. The cadence of their verses, and the tones of the words composing them, have occupied almost their exclusive attention. The consequence has been a neglect of the more important qualities of composition, and a studied conciseness of expression, which, though not inelegant in itself, has frequently the effect of rendering their sentences obscure. At the same time, by a judicious union of the sweetness of the original Teloogoo, with the majestic sounds of the sonorous Sanscrit, they have succeeded in giving to the language a pleasing variety of modulation, which distinguishes it from all others current in the Peninsula.

Another principal cause of this euphony is the extraordinary care that has been taken to prevent any incongruity of sound arising from the conjunction of dissimilar letters. The numerous rules, for this purpose, are scattered, in a confused manner, through the works of many Grammarians ; and, as the following is the first attempt to reduce them to methodical order, it may hereafter, perhaps, be found susceptible of great improvement.