basniw-basmeh bad. basmat-basting active. donbor-donsor powerful. don burom-don surom noble. bakhraw-batri pertaining to a noble family. baduk-basuk poor, needy. babok-basot righteous. bariwbha-riwmiat. wealthy.
Adverbs.
hur-hur delicately. hain-hain brilliantly (red). prum-prum, prem-prem prominently. rymbiaw-rymboin shrikingly. nior-nior, iar-iar weakly. parum-pareh many. sip-sip, sap-sap having no taste.
The Mikirs appear to have borrowed a small portion of their vocabulary from the Khasis. The following are quoted as examples of possible common roots:—
Mikir. Khasi. belly pòk kpoh. strike (v.) chòk shoh. father po kpa. come (v.) vàng wán. rice beer hor hiar. maternal uncle ni-lur kni.
The Lynngam dialect differs so much from the standard Khasi that some remarks regarding the former will not be out of place. Dr. Grierson, on pages 17 to 19 of his Volume II. of the "Linguistic Survey of India," has indicated some of these differences, which may be recapitulated here as follows. Some of the commonest verbs vary considerably from those used in the standard dialect. There are also many minor differences of pronunciation. A man is u breo, not u briew, a son is a u khon, not u khun. Standard ng is often represented by nj. Thus doinj for ding, fire. A final h often appears as k, and an initial b as p. Thus, baroh (Standard), all, becomes in Lynngam prok. Standard ei becomes aw. Thus wei = waw, one; dei = daw, necessary. The articles are frequently omitted. The pronoun u is used for the plural as well as the singular, instead of the Standard plural ki. The diminutive i is used with inanimate nouns. This is also sometimes the case in the Standard form.
Nouns.—The prefix of the Accusative-dative is se or sa, often contracted to s' instead of ia (Standard). The prefix of the Dative is hanam, hnam, or tnam. The Standard Dative-locative prefix ha is also used, and may be spelt he or hy. Ta or te are also found. For the genitive, besides the Standard jong, are found ha, am-ba, am, and am-nam. Am-nam and am also mean "from."
The plural sometimes takes the suffix met.
Adjectives.—The usual word for male is korang, and for "female" konthaw, in place of the Standard shynrang and kynthei respectively. The following are examples of comparisons:—Re-myrriang, good; Mai-myrriang, better; U re-myrriang, best. The Standard tam is also used for the superlative.
Pronouns.—The Personal Pronouns are:—