On the non-Aryan languages of India

4
ON THE NON-ARYAN LANGUAGES OF INDIA.
This distinction of gender, though it exists in most of the
languages, is not always carried out to the extent that it is in
Tamil. In Telugu, Gond, and Khond it is preserved in the
plural, but in the singular the feminine rational is merged in
the irrational gender. In Grond the gender is further marked
by the noun in the genitive relation taking a different suffix,
according to the number and gender of the noun on which
it depends. In Oraon the feminine rational is entirely
merged in the irrational gender, with the exception of the
pronoun, which preserves the distinction between rationals
and irrationals in the plural ; as, as ' he,' referring to a god
or a man ; del ' she,' or ' it,' referring to a woman or an
irrational object ; but dr * they,' applies to both men and
women ; abrd ' they,' to irrationals only. The rational
gender, besides human beings, includes the celestial and in-
fernal deities ; and it is further subdivided, in some of the
languages, but in the singular onlj', into masculine and
feminine. An instance of this subdivision in the Tamil verb
was given above.
The grammatical relations in the Dravidian, as in most,
but by no means in all, the non-Aryan languages, are
generally expressed by suffixes. Many nouns have an
oblique form, which is a remarkable characteristic of the
Dravidian group; still, with the majority of nouns the
postpositions are added directly to the nominative form.
Other features of this group are the frequent use of forma-
tives to specialize the meaning of the root ; the absence of
relative pronouns and the use instead of a relative participle,
which is usually formed from the ordinary participle by the
same suffix as that which Dr. Caldwell considers as the
oldest sign of the genitive relation ; the adjective preceding
the substantive ; of two substantives the determining preceding
the determined ; and the verb being the last member
of the sentence. There is no true dual in the Dravidian
languages, and the instance quoted by Caldwell of nam in
Oraon as meaning * we two,' does not seem correct, as, accord-
ing to Flex's grammar, it is the inclusive plural of the
pronoun. In the Dravidian languages there are two forms