  I propose, in this chapter, to deal only with Lushai, and to treat of the connection between the different dialects spoken in these Hills at the end of Part II. Lushai or Dulien, which is the dialect of the Lushei clan, modified, doubtless, by contact with those of other clans, is now the lingua franca of the whole Lushai Hills, and is understood in many parts of the adjoining districts. A very complete grammar and vocabulary has been published by Messrs. Savage and Lorrain, now of the London Baptist Mission, and therefore I only propose to give a bare outline of the language here, which is largely borrowed from the above work. Articles.—The indefinite article can generally be rendered by the numeral one. The definite article is sometimes represented by demonstrative pronouns or relative particles. Gender.—Inanimate objects have no gender. In nouns gender may be shown by use of different words, as “tlangval,” a young man; “nula,” a maiden. This system is only employed when speaking of human beings, by adding suffixes—“pa” and “chal” for males, “nu” and “pui” for females; thus “fa pa,” son; “fa nu,” daughter; “she chal,” bull metna; “she pui,” cow metna. “Chal” and “pui” are restricted to full-grown animals. All men’s names end in “a,” all women’s in “i.” Some words are the same in both genders—“u,” elder brother or sister; “nao shen,” a baby; “naupang,” child. “I” is the feminine termination in Manipuri also. Number.—The plural terminations are “te,” “ho,” and “zong”; sometimes these are combined or duplicated.
These terminations are omitted when the number can be otherwise inferred.
When a suffix is added to a noun to denote case, the plural suffix follows the case suffix. Zawng-a-te Monkey into s an they lo became changa. changed. Kan in-a-te Our house into s an they lo-lut-a. entered. Case.—Nouns are not inflected. The agent is denoted by the suffix “in.”
The same suffix is used to distinguish the instrument.
“In” is therefore exactly equivalent to “na” used in Manipuri to distinguish the agent or instrument. The other cases can only be inferred from the position of the words. The object immediately precedes the transitive verb governing it.
The indirect object precedes the direct.
Hnena (to) is sometimes used to give greater clearness.
The thing possessed immediately follows the possessor.
The following construction is sometimes used:—
The other cases are rendered by suffixes. Ka My in house a in daraw. put. Ka My in a house tang from in laraw. bring. Aizawl Aijal a to kalraw. go. Adjectives follow the words they qualify, but are not inflected in any way.
When a noun is used as an adjective it precedes the noun it qualifies, as, “Lung in,” stone house. Adjectives are compared thus Suaka Suaka Nela Nela ai- than in a he chha k zawk. stronger. When demonstrative adjectives are compared, “ai-in” is combined with them, thus:— He This sakor horse he here saw that ai than sawn there ashang zawk. is taller. When no object of comparison is mentioned “ai-in” is omitted. Nangma Your lo jhum azao extensive zawk. more. The superlative is formed thus:— Lalzong Chiefs zinga among Khuma Khuma a he vin bad tempered ber. most. Khuma Khuma lalzong chiefs ai-in than a he vin ill-tempered ber. more. Khuma Khuma lalzong chiefs a of a he vin ill-tempered ber. most. Khuma Khuma a he vin ill-tempered ber. most. The numerals are very simple:—
11 = “shom leh pa khat,” 12 = “shom leh pa hnih,” and so on to 20 = “shom hnih”; then “shom hnih leh pa khat” &c., to “shom thum” = 30, “shom li” = 40, “shom nga” = 50, and so on to “za” = 100, “za leh pa khat” = 101, and so on to “shang” = 1000. “Shing” = 10,000 and “nuai” for 1,000,000 are hardly ever used; 8,975 = “shang riat, leh za kua leh shom sari leh pa nga.” It will be seen that the real numerals are “khat,” “hnih,” “thum,” &c., pa being equivalent to unit. It is usually omitted when animals or things are mentioned, but retained when speaking of human beings.
With numbers above ten the name of the thing enumerated if a monosyllable, is often repeated. Thus:— Ni Days shom hnih twenty leh and ni days nga. five. Ordinals are formed by adding “na” to the cardinals, thus:— In Enter shom the na tenth lutrawh. house. But— Ni Day thum three ni day a on lo-kalraw. come.
Numeral adjectives are formed thus:— Voi Times nga, five, voi times shom ten leh and voi times khat. one, Demonstrative adjectives are:—
They are generally repeated, thus:— Khu That sava bird khu down there kadu I e. want. Khi That zawng monkey khi up there a he liane. big is. When a noun qualified by one of these adjectives is an agent, the agent suffix “in” is combined with the second part of the adjective thus:—
The personal pronouns have several forms, which are the same for both genders.
The second person is “nangma” and “nangmani”; the third “ama,” “anmani.” The possessive of the second person, when used as nominative of verbs, has a curious irregular form “i” in the singular and “in” in the plural. The pronominal particles “ka” (I), “i” (thou), “a” (he), “kan” (we), “in” (you), “an” (they) must be used with verbs in addition to the pronouns, thus:—
The particle can never be omitted, whereas the true pronoun is generally left out except when required for emphasis. Reflexive action is denoted in several ways. The particle “in” is prefixed to the verb in all cases. The following are a few examples:—
Relative Pronouns are:—
Lekha Letter i you ziak wrote kha that a it tha good e. is. The pronouns are sometimes omitted, the idea being conveyed by the use of relative participles or verbal nouns. I Your lekha letter ziak written a it tha good e is. Interrogative Pronouns are:—
They are used thus:—
Tu-in-a nge (house inWhose =) i you riak? = stay Tu ar nge (fowlWhose) = i you lei? buy? Tu-in-nge Who vel hit che? you? Tu-nge Whom did i you vel? = hit? Tu and Tu-maw are only used thus:— A He lo has kal come Tu-Maw? or Tu? = Who? Eng-nge What i you duh? want? Khoi-i lekha buh nge (bookwhich) i you duh? = want? Which book do you want? Eng tui nge (waterWhat) = i you choi? draw? The particle “a” preceding an interrogative pronoun has a partitive force.
Verbs. The same form is used for all persons and in singular and plural, the pronominal particles marking person and number.
Conditional Mood.
The future terminations are often used in a conditional sense. Subjunctive Mood.
The following forms are peculiar and appear to me of foreign
The pluperfect tense is formed by inserting “ta.”
By inserting “ma” the meaning “although” or “even if” is given.
Imperative Mood. The imperative has several forms:—
The second person plural is formed by adding “u” to the singular form. Infinitive Mood. The infinitive or verbal noun is the same as the root shoi = to say. Ka I shoi say lai time in at } When I was saying. A verbal noun can also be formed by the suffix “na.” Ka My riak staying na in house. The suffixes “tur,” “tur-in,” “na-tur,” “nan,” “an,” “in,” denotes infinitive of purposes. Tui Water in tur to drink ka I duh. want. Chaw Rice lei tur to buy ka I nei lo have not. } I have nothing wherewith to buy rice. The suffix “tu” changes the verb into noun of agency.
Participles: Shoia, shoi-ing = saying. Negative. There are two negative particles:—lo and shu. The first is used except in the conditional and the imperative, when the latter is used. The particles are placed after the root except in the past tense, when they follow the tense termination.
“Nem” and “nang” are used as negative particles and intensify the meaning.
Interrogative Particles. These are as a rule placed at the end of a sentence. They are “em” and “em ni.”
“Em ni” sometimes implies that the answer is expected in the same form as the question.
“Maw”—This particle is used when the person asked, instead of replying at once, repeats part of the question—a pernicious and vexatious habit much indulged in by the Lushais.
The Passive Voice. The verb when used in the passive voice is pronounced slightly differently. The construction is as follows:—
Verbal Prefixes. These are a very noticeable peculiarity. They are:—
Adverbs. There is a peculiar series of adverbs in Lushei, which, besides denoting the manner in which a thing is done, also convey some idea of the appearance of the agent, thus:—
“Buk buk” shows that the chief is a big, heavy man and is walking slowly. “Bak bak” similarly used would mean that the chief was medium-sized and walking slowly, whereas “bik bek” could only be used of a small person proceeding slowly. There are over a hundred such adverbs in Lushei. Interjections. The most common are “Ie” = I say! “Khai” = Come! “Ku” = Ho! “Chei chei” denoting disapproval and surprise. There are certain interjections, such as “Karei, Karei!” = Alas! Alas! which are only used by women. The Lushais are very fond of piling up adverbs to intensify the meaning:— Ava How mak wonderful em very em very mai! very! Ava How mak wonderful em very veleh! indeed! Literal Translation of an Account of the Thimzing. Hman Former lai hian time in thim darkness a it lo-zing-a; collected; chutichuan then mi mankind zawn all zawn all an they in-khawm themselves collected mur mur (untranslatable adverb) chutichuan then zawng monkey hmul hair a it lo began lenga to grow an their hgum spine ends a they thak itched an they hiat scratched thin-a always zawng monkeys a into te (plural suffix) an they changa changed tin their lal te chiefs chu indeed va-pual horn-bill a into an they lo became changa changed mi people chhia poor e-raw on the other chu hand zawng monkey a te ngau-va into grey te monkeys an they lo became changa. changed. Tin Then sa flesh lu head ro dry nei had chuan those who an they tuah put on a fire thing wood ai-in than a it tha good zawh more a was chu-te-chuan therefore an they dam lived rei long thei could zawk more an they ti. say. Tin Then mei-ling embers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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