the pupil with a very copious and useful vocabulary and dialogue.

There will be found some words either of Hindí or Sanskrit origin, which may not be current in that part of India where pure Urdú is spoken, but the knowledge of which may, notwithstanding, prove useful to the learner.

OBSERVATIONS ON THE ACCENT.

As the introduction into this work of rules for accentuation may be considered by natives generally as an innovation on the part of the Author,—no such thing as accent having ever yet been mentioned or treated of in either the Hindústání or Persian languages; it will be necessary to explain-first, what is meant by the term accent; and, secondly, to produce the authorities. for its insertion.

لہجے

In English, the word accent has two significationsthe one being that inflection of the voice peculiar to each individual language; this is called lahja; while the other means the stress laid upon a particular syllable; but this latter signification having no gram

matical equivalent in Hindústání, will, in this work, be distinguished by the word dabáu, pressure,' from the circumstance of the syllable upon which it is placed being pronounced with greater emphasis than the others, as hu-nar; for the accent being on the second syllable, it is heard more fully pronounced than the first one. So in páni, although both vowels are long, yet the accent falling on the first syllable, it is heard more distinctly than the other. The nature of the accent being thus explained, the authority for its introduction may be stated to be derived from the rules which have been laid down for versification and scanning; for although such rules are not observed either in the reading of prose compositions or in common conversation, yet the accent founded upon them is distinctly heard whenever the Indian or the Persian speaks in an impassioned manner.

I must not conclude these observations without expressing how much I am indebted to Maulaví Masíhuddín Khán Bahádur, late Mír Munshí to the Governor-General of India, and Mír Aulád 'Allí Sáḥib, a native of Lucknow, for their assistance in the Hindústání part of the book; and to Mr. Allison and Mr. Davenport, for the valuable aid they have afforded me

in the English part. My friend, Sergeant Atkinson, who has acquired a critical knowledge of Hindústání, also deserves my best thanks for having contributed a close and literal English translation of the dialogue.

For the correction of a few errors which have unavoidably crept into the work, a list of errata has been placed at the end.

AN

EASY METHOD

OF ACQUIRING

HINDÚ STÁNÍ

IN THE ORIGINAL CHARACTERS.

THE ALPHABET.

THE letters of the Hindústání or Urdú language (which is a mixture of Arabic, Persian, and Hindí), are forty-six in number, as given in the following Table.

Of these letters, eight are of purely Arabic origin, one of Persian, twelve of Hindí, two of Urdú, five of both Arabic and Persian, three of Persian and Hindí, and fifteen of Arabic, Persian, and Hindí.

The characters used in writing the Hindústání language are either Arabic or Persian-those employed in the present little work are Arabic.

TABLE I.

CHARACTERS OF THE HINDUSTANI ALPHABET AND THEIR COMBINATIONS, TOGETHER WITH THE EQUIVALENT ENGLISH LETTERS.

Column No. 1 contains the letters in their individual or uncombined forms, their origin being indicated by ▲, P, H, and u respectively, within parenthesis; 'A' standing for Arabic, p' for Persian, 'H' for Hindí, and 'u' for Urdú, and the corresponding English equivalents.

U

Column No. 2 contains the combining initial form of the letters, No. 3 that of the medial, and No. 4 that of the final.

* See page 8 for the pronunciation of letters.