Bible Encyclopedias
Sindhi

Phonetics. 1

The phonetic system of both languages in most respects resembles that of other Indo-Aryan vernaculars. Space will not allow us to do more than draw attention to the main points of difference. In other Indo-Aryan languages a final short vowel is generally elided. This rule is also followed in Lahnda, but the genius of Sindhi requires every word to end in a vowel, and hence these short vowels are still retained. Thus, k Skr. naras, a man, Pr. naro, Ap. naru, L. nar, but S. nar u . In Sindhi these final short vowels are, as in Kashmiri, very lightly pronounced, so that they are hardly audible to a person unacquainted with the language. They are therefore printed in these pages as small letters above the line. In the cognate Kashmiri a short i or u affects by epenthesis the pronunciation of a preceding vowel, just as in English the silent vowel e added to " mar " changes its pronunciation to " mare." So, in Kashmiri, mar' is pronounced mor. Lahnda, especially when dropping the final short vowel, has similar epenthetic changes. Thus chohar(u), a boy, becomes chohur; shahar(u), a city, becomes first shdhur and then, further, shdhur (a like the a in " all "); while chohar(i), a girl, becomes chohir. The oblique singular (see below) of chohur is chohar, for chohar(a) with a final a instead of a final u, and hence the vowel of the second syllable is unchanged. Similarly, the oblique form of shdhur is shahar, while the oblique form of chohir is still chohir, because it also originally ended in i. Similar epenthetic changes have not been noted in Sindhi. In that language and in Lahnda the short vowel i, when preceded or followed by h, or at the end of a word, is pronounced as a short e. Thus S. kiharo, of what kind, and S. mihit i , a mosque, are respectively pronounced keharo and mehet e . When i is so pronounced, it will be written as or e in the following pages.

In Prakrit almost the only consonants which had survived were double letters, and in most of the Indo-Aryan vernaculars these have been simplified, the preceding vowel being lengthened in compensation. Thus, Ap. kammu, a work, Hindostani, kam. In Panjabi and Lahnda the double consonant is generally retained, as in kamm, but in Sindhi, while the double consonant is simplified, the vowel, as in the Pisaca languages, remains short; thus, kam u . This nonlengthening of the vowel in such cases is typical of Sindhi, words like S. de, fire, from Ap. aggi, being quite exceptional. It even happens that an original long vowel coming before a conjunct consonant is shortened when the conjunct is simplified. Thus, Skr. turyam, S. tun, a trumpet.

In Sindhi, as in Pisaca, a sibilant is liable to be changed into h. Thus, Skr. mamsarii, S. mas' or mah', flesh; Skr. desas, S. des" or dell', a country. In L. the s is generally, but not always, preserved. As in most Indo-Aryan languages a medial d becomes the hard r; thus, S. juran u , to join; L. ghora, a horse. As in the Pisaca languages, there is great confusion between cerebrals and dentals. There was the same tendency in Vracaela Apabhramsa, and it is more common in Sindhi than in Lahnda. Thus, Skr. tamrakas, S. tamo, copper; Skr. dandas, S. eland', a staff. Moreover, in Sindhi, t and d become regularly cerebralized before r, as in Ap. putru, S. putr u , a son; Ap. drakha, S. drakh', a vine. The cerebral 1 does not appear in Sindhi, but it has survived from Prakrit in Lahnda, being subject to the same rules as in Marathi. When 1 represents a Prakrit single 1, it becomes 1, but if it represents a Prakrit 11, it remains a simple dental 1. It may be remarked that the same rule seems to have applied in the Prakrit spoken by the Pisacas.

Sindhi has a series of strengthened consonants - g, J, d, and b. They are pronounced " with a certain stress in prolonging and somewhat strengthening the contact of the closed organ, as if one tried to double the sound at the beginning of a word." They often, but not always, represent an original double letter. Thus, Ap. Zaggau, S. lap, applied; Ap. garuau, S. garo, heavy, but S. garo, mangy; Ap. vijja S. vija, science; L. jat , S. jar, a Jat; Ap. vaddau, S. vadd, great; Ap. dolia, S. doli, a sedan-chair; Ap. dubbalu, S. (Jabal', weak; S. babo, a father, but bet-Lo, a father's brother.

Declension

Both languages have lost the neuter gender, all nouns being either masculine or feminine. The rules for distinguishing gender are much as in Hindostani. As in other Indo-Aryan languages, nouns may be either strong or weak, the strong forms being derived from nouns with the pleonastic Sanskrit suffix ka (see Hindostani and Marathi). In Sindhi a masculine weak form 1 Abbreviations: Skr. = Sanskrit; Pr. = Prakrit; Ap. = Apai bhram§a; L. = Lahnda; S. = Sindhi.

in u corresponds to the strong one in o, and feminine weak forms in a and e to a strong one in i. In Lahnda weak forms have dropped the final short vowel, and the strong forms end in a (masc.) and i (fem.). As explained in the articles above referred to, almost' the only old case that has survived throughout the declension of both languages is the general oblique. This is used for any oblique case, the particular case required being as a rule further defined by the help of a postposition. The general oblique case, without any defining postposition, is specially employed for the case of the agent. There are also examples of the survival of the old locative and of the old ablative. Thus S. math", top, loc. math', on the top; L. Ambi, at Amb; L. veld, time, roti-de vele, at the time of food; L. jangil, for jangali, in the forest. This locative is of regular occurrence in the case of Sindhi weak masculine nouns in u. For the old ablative, we have S. ghar u , L. ghar, a house, abl. S. gharo, L. ghara, and so others. The locative termination can be referred to the Ap. locative termination -hi or -hi, and the ablative a or o to the Ap. -ha or hiti. The nominative plural, and the general oblique case of both numbers are formed as in the following examples: - In Lahnda the final short vowel of the weak forms has been dropped, but in some cases the final u of the masculine and the final i of the feminine have been preserved by epenthesis, as explained under the head of phonetics. The origin of the nominative plural and of the various oblique forms is explained in the article Hindostani. In the same article is discussed the derivation of most of the postpositions employed to define the various oblique forms and to make real cases. There are as follows: S. khe, L. nic, to or for; S. kha, L. tõ, from; S. jo, sando, L. da, of; S. me, L. vic, in. It will be observed that the Lahnda forms are identical with those found in Panjabi. In both languages the accusative case is the same as the nominative, unless special definiteness is required, when, as usual in Indo-Aryan vernaculars, the dative is employed in its place. The agent case is the oblique form without any postposition. The S. khe is a corruption of Ap. kaahi, Skr. krte; and similarly kha from Ap. kaahu, Skr. krtat. S. sando, like the Rajasthani hando and the Kashmiri sand" or hand", is by origin the present participle of the verb substantive, ghar a -sando, meaning literally " existing (in connexion) with the house," hence " of the house." We may compare the Bengali use of haite, on being, to mean " from." All these postpositions are added to the oblique form. We thus get the declension of the strong masculine noun S. ghoro, L. ghora, a Comparison is effected as in Hindostani by putting the noun with which comparison is made in the ablative case. Sometimes special postpositions are employed for this form of the ablative.

The usual pronouns are as follows. In the Lahnda forms a is pronounced as in German :-- I - S. aft, a, ma or mu; L. ma; tuhada.

This, he, she, it - S. hi; L. eh; obl. S. hin a, in"; L. is. These, they - S. ha; L. eh, in; obl. S. hiv e, L. inhh. That, he, she, it - S. hu; L. oh; obl. S. hun g, un a; Those, they - S. ho; L. oh, un; obl. S. hurt', un e; L.

L. us. unhb. That, he, she, it - S. so; obl. tah'. Those, they - S. se; obl. tan'. We should expect corresponding forms for Lahnda, but they are not given in the grammars.

Sel

S. pana; L. ape. Own - S. pah a jo; L. apna. Cf. Panjabi ap, Kashmiri pan".

Wh

S. L. jo; obl. S. jah e; L. jd; plur. nom. S. je; L. jo; obl. S. jan e; L. jinha. Who ? - S. leer"; L. kaun; obl. S. kah e; L. ka; plur. nom. S. leer'; L. kaun; obl. S. kale L. kinha. What? - S. cha; L. ca; obl. S. cha; L. kitt. Any one - S. L. koi; obl. S. kahi; L. kahe. The derivation of most of these forms can be gathered from the article Hindostani. Others, such as assi, tussi, pan', are borrowed from Pisaca.

The north - western group of Indo - Aryan vernaculars, Sindhi, Lahnda, and Kashmiri, are distinguished by the free use which they make of pronominal suffixes. In Kashmiri these are added only to verbs, but in the other two languages they are also added to nouns. These suffixes take the place of personal pronouns in various cases and are as follows: - horse, as shown in the next column. When there are optional methods of making the oblique form only one is given. The others can be employed in the same way.

As in most other Indo-Aryan vernaculars, the genitive is really a possessive adjective, and agrees with the person or thing possessed in gender, number and case, exactly as in Panjabi.

An adjective agrees with its qualified noun in gender, number and case. In Lahnda, as in Hindostani, the only adjectives which change in these respects are strong adjectives in a. In Sindhi weak forms in " also change the u to e or a in the feminine. Thus, S. carjo, L. canga, good, fem. S. cavi, L. cane; S. nidhar u , helpless, fem. nidhar e or nidhar a . The plural and oblique forms are made as in the case of nouns. If a postposition is used with the noun it is not also used with the adjective. Thus, L. cangia ghoria-da, of good mares.

All these suffixes are remnants of the full pronominal forms. In all cases they can be at once explained by a reference to the originals in Pisaca, rather than to those of other Indo-Aryan languages.' It will here be convenient to consider them only in connexion with nouns. In such cases they are usually in the genitive case. Thus, S. piu, a father; pium', my father; piu', thy father; piuva, your father; piuse, his father; piun e or piuna, their father. There being in Sindhi no suffix of the genitive plural of the first personal pronoun, there is no compound for " our father." For that, as in the beginning of the Lord's Prayer, we must employ the full expression, ash-jõ piu. In Lahnda we have piu, a father; pium, my ' See G. A. Grierson, The Pisaca Languages of North-Western India (London, 1906), pp. 44 ff.

obl. S. a, ma, mis; L. ma. We - S. asi; L. assi; obl.

S. ash; L. assa. Of me, my - S. muh u jo; L. mera. Of us, our - S. asa jo; L. asada. Thou - S. L. tis; obl. S. tõ L. tu, td, tudh. You - S. tavhi, avhi; L. tussi; obl.

S. tavha, avha; L. tussa. Of thee, thy - S. tich u jo; L. tera. Of you, your - S. tavha jo, avha jo; L. tusada, father; pius-e, our father; piua, thy father; piuve, your father; pius, his father; piune, their father. A junction vowel is often inserted between these suffixes and the main word to assist the pronunciation. Further examples will be found under the head of verbs.

Conjugation

As in Marathi (q.v.) there are, in both languages, two conjugations, of which one (intransitive) has -aand the other (transitive) -e- or -ifor its characteristic letter. The differences appear in the present participle and, in Sindhi, also in the conjunctive participle, the present subjunctive and imperative. The two latter are the only original synthetic tenses which have survived in Sindhi, but in Lahnda the old synthetic future is also in common use. Both languages have a passive voice formed by adding ij or ij to the root. This form is not employed for the past participle or for tenses derived from it. The following are the principal parts of the regular verb in each conjugation: - It will be observed that, as in most other Indo-Aryan vernaculars, the past participle of the transitive verb is passive in signification. There is therefore no need of a past participle for the passive voice. The Sindhi present participle of the passive voice follows a different rule of formation, and, in Lahnda, it omits the letter j, thus S. maribo (Pr. mariavvao), L. marinda, being killed. In other respects the passive, S. marijan u , L. marijan, to be killed, is conjugated like a regular verb of the first conjugation. The passive is directly derived from the Outer Prakrit passive in -ijja-. The origin of the other forms is dealt with under Hindostani and Marathi.

The present subjunctive is the direct descendant of the old Prakrit (q.v.) present indicative. It is conjugated as follows: - The imperative is formed very similarly. In Lahnda the future is maresa (Pr. marissarii), I shall kill, conjugated like mara. The Sindhi future is formed by adding the nominative pronominal suffixes to the present participle. It will be remembered that there are no nominative suffixes of the third person. For that person, therefore, the simple participle is employed. There are slight euphonic changes of the termination of the participle in the other persons. Thus, halando, he will go; halandus e , I shall go; and so on.

The past tense is formed from the past participle, with pronominal suffixes added in both languages. As in the transitive verb the past participle is passive in signification, the subject (see article Hindostani) must be put in the agent case, and the participle agrees in gender and number with the direct object, or, if the object is put in the dative case instead of the accusative, is treated impersonally in the masculine. Examples of this tense are: Intransitive verb - S. halio, L. haled, he went; S. L. hail, she went; S. haliu-s e , L. haleu-m, I (masc.) went; S. halia-s e , L. haliu-m, I (fem.) went, and so on.

Transitive verb - S. mario, L. marea, he was killed; S. L. marl, she was killed; S. mariu-m e, L. mareu-m, he was killed by me, I killed him; S. maria-m e , L. mariu-m, she was killed by me, I killed her; S. patishah a saji galh e budhai, the-whole matter (fern.) wasrelated (fern.) by-the-king (agent), the king related the whole matter; S. tah e -khe sath a chadio, with-reference-to-her, by-the-caravan, it-was-abandoned (impersonal), i.e. the caravan abandoned her.

There are numerous compound tenses formed by conjugating the verb substantive with one or other of the participles. The usual forms of the present and past of this verb are as follows: - The past has slightly different forms with a feminine subject. Sindhi examples of the compound tenses are halando ahiyd, I am going; halando has', I was going; halio ahiyd, I have gone; and so on. The Lahnda tenses are made on the same principles.

We have seen the important part that pronominal suffixes play in the conjugation of the verb. But their use is not confined to the examples given above. Additional suffixes may be added to indicate the object, direct or remote. Thus, S. mari e , thou mayest kill; marie-m e , thou mayest kill me; mario (he) was killed; maria - i (for mario-i), (he) was killed by-him, he killed him; maria-I-me, it (impersonal)-was killed by-him with-reference-to-me, i.e. he killed me; dina-i-s e, was-given by-him to-him, he gave to him.

Numerous verbs have irregular past participles, derived directly from the Prakrit past participles, instead of being made by adding -id to the root. These must be learnt from the grammars. We may mention a few very common ones: S. karan u , L. karan, to do, to make, past participle S. kid, kito, L. kita; S. dian u , L. clean, to give, past participle S. dino, L. ditta; S. labhan u , L. labbhan, to be obtained, past participle S. ladho, L. laddha. The many compound verbs are formed much as in Hindostani, and must be learnt from the grammars.

Literature. - Sindhi and Lahnda possess no literature worthy of the name. Such as they have consists of translations from Arabic and Persian. There is, however, as usual in uncultivated dialects, in both languages a large stock of folk-songs - rude poems dealing with the popular traditions of the country. Some of these have been published in Colonel Sir Richard Temple's Legends of the Panjab (3 vols., Bombay, 1884-1900). The late Professor Trumpp published one text of some importance under the title of Sindhi Literature, the Divan of Abd-ul-Latif, known by the name of Shaha jo Risalo (Leipzig, 1866).

Authorities. - G. A. Grierson, " Vracada and Sindhi," in Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1902), P. 47; G. Stack, Grammar and Dictionary (both Bombay, 1849); E. Trumpp, Grammar (London and Leipzig, 1872). This last is still the standard work on the language, although much of the philological portion is now out of date. It was the pioneer of the comparative study of the modern Indo-Aryan vernaculars. G. Shirt, Udharam Thavurdas and S. F. Mirza, Sindhi-English Dictionary (Karachi, 1879).

W. St Clair Tisdall's Simplified Panjabi Grammar (London, 1889) also deals, in an appendix, with Lahnda. .E. O'Brien, Glossary of the Multani Language (1st ed., Lahore, 1881; 2nd ed., revised by J. Wilson and Hari Kishen Kaul, Lahore, 1903); T. Bomford, " Rough Notes on the Grammar of the Language spoken in the Western Panjab," in Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. lxiv. (1895), pt. i. pp. 290 ff.; the same, " Pronominal Adjuncts in the Language spoken in the Western and Southern Parts of the Panjab," ib. vol. lxvi. (1897), pt. i. pp. 146 ff.; A. Jukes, Dictionary of the Jatki or Western Panjabi Language (Lahore and London, 1900); J. Wilson, Grammar and Dictionary of Western Panjabi as spoken in the Shahpur District (Lahore, 1899).

For both languages the authorities quoted under the articles INDOARYAN LANGUAGES and PRAKRIT may be consulted with advantage. Vol. viii. of the Linguistic Survey of India contains full particulars of both in great detail. (G. A. GR.)