BOOK FIFTH.
ON SYNTAX.
Optimi ad vulgus hi sunt concionatores, qui pueriliter, trivialiter, populariter et simplicissiine docent.
Luxheb. Nobis prima sit virtus perspicuitas. Qcikctilian. VIII. 2.
The Syntax uses an arrangement of words which is common to the Peninsular languages (as Tamil and Canarese) but entirely different from that of Sanscrit and that of Hindustani.
The Telugus are a people quite as highly civilized as any in Europe: occasionally their modes of speech resemble those of Italy. Thus instead of * Sir you told me to do so' the phrase is &,& ^cx£»&p (s^otvoo **>& txuO^oo (this do saying lordships order gave) My lords (plural) gave me directions to do this.
When the Telugus or Tamils speak 'English, the syntax they use is strange, because they think in their own language : and in like manner in speaking their language we cannot without taking much pains use the correct syntax. The Hindus, even those who are uneducated, are generally quite correct in speaking their own language; and certainly never err in number and gender, as the English often do in talking English. The dialect used in Telugu towns is somewhat corrupted: that used in the town of Madras is objectionable: for Madras is a Tamil town: but in retired hamlets the language isspoken very purely: and the style used in Vemana, the Lila, the'Tales of Nala, Hariscbandra, and Abhimanya ought to furnish a complete key to those niceties of Syntax which daily occur in speaking and writing.
Sentences or paragraphs run into one another as is the custom in English Acts of Parliament: being linked by past
