The difference between the Peshawar and Candhar dialect is, that in the former the Persian ¿ is used, when in the latter the Sanscrit ū occurs.

The Candharee is reckoned the purest dialect ; and when correctly spoken, resembles in the plaintiveness of its tones the peculiar dialect of Ireland.

The Alphabet is as follows.

Afghánee.

Devna.
gary.

English.

Pronunciation,

as the second a in parable, as the English, Ditto, ditto, as the Continental t, as th in things, as the English t, as the English j as the English, as the aspirated h, as ch in the Scotch loch, the Afghan z used for coupling, the Continental d, as th in those the harsh English d, the English r, the peculiar Maratha d, the English z, the French j in jour, the English 8, the English sh, unknown in English, the Arabic dwad, the Arabic dzwad, the Arabic t,

...

र ड़

مم يم. N :من

स श घ

S sh jh S dz t

6. m.

...

fkk

a hoi

... گی

60

...

21

gh

the Persian guttural, फ

f the English f,

the harsh English k, क

... the English k, TT

... the English g, J ल 1 the English l, म m the English m,

the English n, व

W the English w, or v, ह

h the English h, य

у

the English y, ন kgh the Sanscrit. The same story is told of the Afghán language, that the Mahrattas tell of the Canarese, viz., That a certain king sent his vizier to collect all the vocabularies and dialects of the earth; on the vizier's return he proceeded to quote specimens before his royal Master: when he came to speak of the Afghánee dialect, he stopped, and producing a tin pot containing a stone, began to rattle it. The king in surprise asked the meaning of this proceeding. The vizier said that he had failed to get a knowledge of the Afghánee language, and could only describe it by rattling a stone in a tin pot.

n

...

...

It is also said, that Mahammad, the Arabian prophet, gave it as his opinion that the Afghánee was to be the language of the infernal regions, as Arabic was to be that of heaven.

In the comparison of languages, in which Arabic is called science, (im); Turkish accomplishment, (hunar); Persian sugar; Hindustanee salt ; the Afghán is complimented with the appellation of the " braying of an ass."

An Afghán is immediately discovered by another by the correctness with which he distinguishes between a masculine and feminine noun.

Nominative
Genitive

Declension of a Noun Masculine.
Singular.

Plural.
ás, a horse

asán, horses
da ás, of a horse da asáno, of horses
ás ta, a horse

asanoo ta, horses
la ás, from a horse la asánoo, from horses

Dacivative }

Dative
Ablative

Declension of a Noun Feminine, ending in a l'orel.
Singular.

Plural.
Nominative aspá, a mare

aspe, mares Genitive dá aspá, of a mare da aspo, of mares Accusative & 1 Dative aspeta, a mare

aspota, mares Ablative la aspe, from a mare la aspo, from mares

Examples of forming the Feminine from the Masculine Noun. Masculine.

Feminine. spe, dog

spai, a bitch khar, a donkey

khara, a she-ass buz, a he-goat

buza, a she-goat gid, a fat-tailed ram

gida, a female sheep
orárá, nephew

orerá, niece
tara,
uncle

tarala, aunt

Declension of a Compound Noun.
Singular.

Plural.
Nominative gha sadai, a good man gha sadee, good men
Genitive da gha sade, of a good man da gha sadee, of good men
Acc. & Dat. gha sade ta, a good man gha sadota, good men
Ablative la ghasade, from a good man la gha sadee, from good men

we

Nom.
Gen.
Acc. & Dat.
Abl.

Declension of the 1st Personal Pronoun.
za,
I

muj,
zma, mine.

zmuj, ours málá, me.

mujla, us la má, from me.

la muj, from us

Declension of the 3d Personal Pronoun--proximate. Nom. daghá, this

dagho, these Gen.

da de,
these

da deev, of these Acc. & Dat. dela, this

deevla, these Abl.

la de,
from this

la deev, from these

Declension of the 3rd Personal Pronoun-remote. Nom. haghá, that

hagho, those Gen.

da haghá,
of that

da hagho, of those Acc. & Dat. haghá ta, that

hagho ta, those Abl. la haghá, from that

la hagho, from those