04-01-637

637

SEMI-DRAVIDIAN DIALECTS.

　Attention has already been drawn to the fact that several Dravidian tribes in the North have abandoned their original speech for some Aryan dialect. A good instance is the so-called Halb which will, in this Survey, be dealt with in connexion with Marh. It is a mixed form of speech which has been strongly influenced by Marh and Chhattsgah.

　 In this place we shall give specimens of two similar dialects, as an appendix to the Dravidian family, in order to enable the student to recognize how thorough the influence of Aryan speech has been in such cases. The dialects in question are the so-called Ladh or Randh of Amraoti and the Bhari dialect spoken in Narsinghpur and Chhindwara. According to information collected for the purposes of this Survey the number of speakers is as follows:-

Ladh...	2,122
Bhari...	330
TOTAL.	2,452

　Both dialects have formerly been classed as G. At the present day, however, they have become quite Aryanized.

　The dialect of the Ladhis or Randhs of Amraoti is a dialect of the same kind as Halb. Conjunctive participles often add a suffix kan which can be compared with kun in G; thus, i-kan, having come; ji-kan, having gone. On the whole, however, the dialect has no more anything to do with G or with any other Dravidian form of speech, as will be seen from the specimen which follows:-