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NAIK DIALECT.

　Naik is the dialect of the Darwe Gs in Chanda. The number of speakers has been returned for the purposes of this Survey as 195. At the last Census of 1901 no separate returns were made, and the number of speakers cannot be great.

　The Rev. Stephen Hislop, in his Papers relating to the Aboriginal Tribes of the Central Provinces, Nagpur, 1866, Part i, pp. 24 and ff., deseribes the Naikade tribe as being most influenced by Hinduism of all G tribes, and gives a vocabulary of the dialect in Part ii, pp. 1 and ff.

　Naik is also known from other districts. In the Central Provinces and Berar it is usually stated to be a synonym of Banjr, and in the Bombay Presidency it connotes a Bhl dialect.

　The Naik of Chanda is now practically extinct. Two specimens, a version of the Parable of the Prodigal Son and a translation of a popular tale, have been received from the district. They show that the dialect in many important points agrees with Klm and differs from ordinary G.

　Nouns.-Two plural suffixes are used in the specimens, kr and l. The former seems to be added to nouns denoting rational beings; thus, prkr, children. The suffix l occurs in turrl, swine; sirl, buffaloes, etc. The dative and accusative do not appear to be distinguished; thus, nun, me, to me. The usual suffixes are n, un, kun. Thus, prn, to the daughter; bnun, to the father; vvart-un, to the field; chkarkun, to the servants. Other forms are pl, to the belly; bnkil, towards the father.

　The suffix of the genitive is n, and the locative is formed by adding lpul; thus, aks-n, of heaven; dsam-lpul, in the country.

　Numerals.-The following occur,-oko, one; iror, neuter yeari, two; nli, four. We have no materials for distinguishing the long and short e and o, and it is, therefore, possible that we must read k, one; irr, two. It will be seen that oko corresponds to Telugu oka, one, while yeari, two, should be compared with Tamil irau.

　Pronouns.-The regular forms of the personal pronouns are as follows:-

n, I.	n, thou.	aun, he.
nun, me.	inun, thee.	aunun, him.
ann, my.	inn, thy.	aun, his.
m, we.	m, you.

　Compare Kui nu, I; mu, we; nu, thou, etc. The same forms are usual in Klm.

　 'She,' 'it,' is d, genitive aun. Add, they, occurs in one place. Ivun, this, is inflected as aun. Aun seems to be used as a relative pronoun. Thus, aun hiss nun varln d s, which share me-to comes that give.

　 'Who?' is n, and t is 'what?' By adding , n, indefinite pronouns are formed; thus, yn, anyone; tn, anything.

　Verbs.-So far as we can judge from the specimens, verbs do not change for person; thus, anln, I am, thou art, it is. There are, however, some traces of the principle pre- vailing in G and most other Dravidian languages. Thus, kaknm, we shall do; ar, they were; paul and paun, it fell.