Page:On the Non-Aryan Languages of India.djvu/26

20 traces of a grammar unlike that of any of the languages before mentioned in that it suffixes a possessive pronominal to the noun. In this respect, therefore, the Kuswar resembles the Altaic languages; for instance, baba-im 'my father,' baba-ir 'thy father,' baba-ik 'his father.' The same pronominal forms are also incorporated with the verb to express both subject and object, as thatha-im-ik-an 'I strike him or it.' The detached forms of the pronouns, on the other hand, are almost pure Hindi. This language, however, can hardly be classed as non-Aryan without further particulars.

The languages so far mentioned, with the exception of Class I., have been all along our northern frontier. South of the valley of Asam we meet with a number of tribes called Naga; but as this is a foreign name, it does not necessarily mean that they are allied either in race or languages; indeed, it is impossible to include them all in the same class. The Angámi, for instance, is very far removed from most of the other Naga languages. I propose to divide them into three classes. Class XI., the Namsang, etc. The Namsang is remarkable for having person endings of the verb, but no number endings, person endings being the same both for the sing. and the plural. The sign for the past tense t is affixed for the future i prefixed; for instance, for the past tense of the verb thien 'to put,' 1. thien-t-ak 'I or we did put,' 2. thien-t-o, 3. thien-t-á; for the future, 1. i-thien-ang, 2. i-thien-o, 3. i-thien-á. The Namsang, again, has possessive pronouns which differ both from the full personal pronouns and the verbal suffixes. In this class may also be included the Banpará and the Tablung; at least, they all three resemble each other in their vocabularies more than they do any of the other Nagas, but we have no grammars by which to judge them any further. All three, however, distinguish the sex of animals by modifications of the same affixes, the names for male and female being pong and nyong, pang and hunu, apang and anyuk, for the three languages respectively. Again, sikau and sikah are the words for 'woman' in Banpará and Tablung, and are further applied to distinguish sex, as Banpará síkau hosa 'daughter,' Tablung sikah nahah 'daughter.' Again, in Namsang and Banpará,