CHAPTER III.

THE NOUN,

15. In the formation of the cases there is much that is still doubtful and unsettled. In so vast a country as Balochistán, so sparsely populated, and among tribes uneducated, this is not strange. Differences and discrepancies are, however, rapidly disappearing; so much so that formations heard in the north only, a few years ago, are to-day understood and in general use in the south also. Intercourse between the tribes is increasing, and will continue to increase in the future. As a result there is a perceptible if slow levelling up of forms which will ultimately lead to a uniform and common speech.

16. There is only one declension in Balochí, and all nouns may be said to be declined alike. The few exceptions are for the most part euphonic. There are eight cases, the nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, locative, agentive, ablative, and vocative. The agentive case is here placed next to the ablative, that being its logical position in declension in those languages that have this case. It is distinct from the nominative, but does, in a way, connote the ablative. The ablative generally denotes the instrument with which, and the agentive always the agent by whom an act has taken place.

17. The formation of the various cases will be more easily followed and understood from an example than from any lengthy discussion, however lucid the latter may be. The case endings, the suffixes, have been placed in order of their prevalence, or what has been considered such. For, after all, this will be a matter of opinion, and also a matter of locality.

18. The nominative singular, as will have been seen, is the simple form of the noun; it has no case endings, no suffixes. The nominative plural is formed by adding the syllable án to the singular, just as is done in Persian. This is the rule, but it is one very often neglected, the singular form being frequently used when more than one is meant to be understood. The Baloch will tell you that when a noun is preceded by one of the numerals, or by chikhtar, how many, chikar, how much, how many, or by any word denoting number, the plural ending án is not required, that the plural is already indicated e.g., chikhtar zál ant, how many women are there? instead of chikhtar zál-án ant. In this Balochí closely follows the analogy of Urdú, Hindí, and other Indian languages. The Baloch seems to think that one word

in a sentence should suffice to indicate number, be it noun,

adjective, or verb.

Obs. The plural termination án has been satisfactorily proved to be the remote demonstrative pronoun án, that.

19. The genitive singular is very often left uninflected, in other words used without any suffix, as shown in the examples given below. Its case endings are, however, when used a, e, egh, egha, ígh, and í. The case ending of the genitive plural is nearly always ání, that is the plural suffix án with í added. The nasal sound of n naturally ceases when the vowel í is added. 6, Obs. 3. The sign of the genitive plural is seldom omitted.

Obs. 1. In Sindhí, also, the case-sign of the genitive is frequently dropped, both in prose and poetry.

Obs. 2. In the case of nouns in apposition, proper nouns especially, the genitival affix is not required.

20. In the case of the dative singular the suffix in most general use is, perhaps, ra. Other suffixes are ár, ar, ára. The dative case should always have one of these suffixes. The signs of the dative plural are áñra, ánar, and ar. They are frequently attached to the singular form of the noun when the plural is intended. In other words, the suffix án is omitted.

Obs. 1. The particle rá is one of the signs of the dative case in Persian and the only sign of the accusative case.

Obs. 2. A further key to the origin of the Balochí signs of the dative and accusative cases is found in the present-day tendency in Persian to use short a, short i, and even short u, to denote these cases: mard-a, mard-i, mard-u, for mard-rá. The presence of short a is particularly noticeable. The construction, however, is considered a vulgarism.

21. The accusative singular is often the same as the simple form of the nominative, the short a being discarded. In the plural also this often happens. The form ra is sometimes heard pronounced rá. On the whole, the dative and accusative cases are much alike; but, whereas the accusative case can, and often does, dispense with case endings, the dative cannot. In the case of verbs denoting " to give ", " to bestow ", etc., there are two objects, a direct and an indirect, the object given and the person to whom given. The direct object may be, and generally is,

the accusative in its simple or nominative form; the indirect object always is the dative with one of its case endings: e.g., ma wath-í logh tha-ra shon-dár-án, I will show you my house (I me-of the house thee-to will show). Here logh, house, is in the accusative, the simple or nominative form, and tha-ra, to thee, in the dative.

22. The suffix of the locative case singular is short a, one of the endings of the genitive singular. It is in wide use, and is often difficult to distinguish from the ablative singular. In the plural the locative has no suffix. The various prefixes or prepositions governing this case will be found fully discussed. later in this work. 187.

23. The sign of the agentive case singular is long á, and it must always have this sign: it can never be left to be understood. The agentive case plural is the same as the nominative plural.

24. The ablative both of the singular and plural is the same as the locative: it is often very difficult to say with certainty which case is intended.

Examples of the noun :

Guda ma-i pith na rav-í, then my father will not go (then me-of the father not will go). Pith, father, is in the nominative case singular, and is the subject of rav-í, will go. Hál ham-esh en ki má gwashta, the matter is as I have said (the matter even this is as me by it has been said). Hál, circumstances, news, is in the nominative, and is the subject of en, is.

Alim bachh chi gush-í, what will Álim's son say (Álim-of the-son what will say)? Alim is in the genitive case singular governed by bachh, son.

Diwo ohi ziyada burz en, the flame of the lamp is too high (the-lamp-of the-flame too high is). Diwo, lamp, is in the genitive governed by ohí, flame.

Af-e áf en, it is pure water (it is nothing but water, water-of water it is). The same construction obtains in Persian, Urdú, etc.

Án mar khas-e-ar jawáb na dá sidháígha, that man will not give a straightforward reply to anyone (that man anyone-to reply not will give straightforwardly). The form khas-e-ar is made up of khas, any, anyone, the e of unity (8, 90), and ar, one of the signs of the dative case. It is the indirect object after dá, will give. The direct object or accusative is jawáb, reply.

Má án-híára jawab dátho thí ambráh er-khutha, I dismissed him, and appointed another servant (me by-him-to reply having-given another servant was placed). The form ánhíára, to him (78), is the dative or indirect object after dátho, having given, the accusative case or direct object is jawáb, reply.

Ikhtar gantri ma khan, do not be so anxious (so much anxiety not make). The direct object, the accusative, is gantrí, thought, governed by khan, make:

Ni ma-i nirwár-a khai khat, who will do me justice now (now

me-of justice who will make)? In this example nirwár, justice, the accusative case after khat, will make, has its suffix a.

Guda duz thartho ákhta wath-í logh-a, the thief then returned home (then the-thief having-returned came himself-of the-house-to). The locative logh-a can be translated, to, towards, or in the direction of his house. Wath-i, own, himself of. 92.

Má wath-i dil-a gantrí khutha ki ma-na ravaghi bí, I thought to myself that I should have to go (me by my-self-of theheart in reflection was made that me-to to go will be). The locative is dil-a, in my heart. Ma-na, to me, me-to. 58. Mard-e-á wath-i nariyán go má shwakta, a certain man sold me his horse (a-certain-man-by himself-of the-horse to me was sold). In mard-e-á we have first the e of unity and secondly á the sign of the agentive case. Go má, to me. 58. Májitret-á kází-a diroghvand sebit khutha, the magistrate proved the native judge to be lying (the-magistrate-by the-native-judge lying proved was made). Májiṭret-á, by the magistrate (6). It is only in such constructions as