Page:On the Non-Aryan Languages of India.djvu/16

10 and so on. It can hardly be doubted that such additions as these to monosyllabic roots are principally determinative syllables for the purpose of distinguishing between what would otherwise have been monosyllabic words having the same sound. These determinatives are generally affixed in the languages of Nepal and in the Dhimal language; prefixed in the Lepcha language, and in the languages of Asam, of Manipur, and of the Chittagong and Arakan hills. Words are also distinguished by difference of tone. The tones are generally of two kinds, described as the abrupt or short, and the pausing or heavy; and it has been remarked that those languages which are most given to adding other syllables to the root make the least use of the tones; and vice versa, where the tones most prevail, the least recourse is had to determinative syllables.

It is not, however, in words only, but to some extent in grammar also, so far as we have any materials to judge from, that even the most remotely apart languages of the group resemble each other. One of the most prominent points in which such resemblance is found is the use of the formatives pa and ma, or modifications of them, as po mo, etc., to distinguish sex, and also to form nouns of agency and gentile and other nouns, with distinction of sex; na, nu or ne, is, however, a common substitute for the feminine ma. Thus we have in Tibetan 'mi-bo 'man,' mi-mo 'woman'; rta-pho 'horse,' rta-mo 'mare'; Bod-pa 'a man of Tibet,' Bod-mo 'a woman of Tibet'; tshong-pa 'a trader (male),' tshong-ma 'a trader (female),' from tshong 'trade'; smraba-pa 'speaker (male),' smraba-mo 'speaker (female)'; bazang-po 'a good man,' bazang-mo 'a good woman,' from bazang 'good.' In Bahing ta-wa 'a son,' ta-mi 'a daughter'; apo khlicha 'dog,' amo-khlicha 'bitch'; ryamni-po 'adulterer,' ryamni-mo 'adultress'; gna-wa 'old man,' gna-mi 'old woman.' In Burmese krak-pha 'cock,' krak-ma 'hen'; nwā-la 'bull,' mwā-ma 'cow'; mutsho-pho 'widower,' mutsho-ma 'widow'; ashing 'master,' ashing-man 'mistress'; Mramma 'a Burmese man,' Mramma-ma 'a Burmese woman.' In Lepcha, hik-bu 'cock,' hik-mot 'hen.' Again, in Garo áchák-bipha 'a dog,' áchák-bima 'a bitch.