IT is proposed here to offer some considerations on the representation of certain Malayalam sounds. It is not the purpose of these note s to present a detailed laboratory account of the acoustic and physiological phenomena to be symbolized, but while characterizing these phenomena sufficiently for the reader to appreciate their general nature, rather to consider certain specific phonetic circumstances of their occurrence and the significance of these in the elaboration of a notational system.

STEIN MS. Ch. 00269 is a report by haḍa (”), who call themselves ñaśa bīsa (“ humble servants”), on behalf of seven rispura (“ princes ”). It consists of 120 lines, but of that a considerable part cannot yet be translated. The report is concerned with the cities of Ṣacū and Kaṃmicū. Danger from robbers is reported and an investment of the city of Kaṃmicū, so that food and cattle are lacking.

It has seemed desirable to make known at once certain information of interest to Central Asian studies contained in Khotan texts of the British Museum and India Office. This information may here be conveniently grouped under the heads (1) the animal cycle of twelve years, (2) the names of the months and seasons in Khotan, (3) dates androyal names.

In the course of studies connected with the social order of Iranian antiquity, I have broached, without expounding it in context, a problem contained in the expressions vispatiš, visō puθra, and vāspuhr. The matter has been taken up by H. H. Schaeder in his contribution to the volume dedicated to Sir George Grierson “ Ein parthischer Titel im Soghdischen,” where, while adopting the main results which I had abstracted from my epigraphical material, he argues against opinions imputed to, but never put forth by me. I may, therefore, be allowed to explain the view I really hold.

The life of Zoroaster has been the subject of both comprehensive and exhaustive study since Hyde and Anquetil. The amount written on this difficult question and the discussions which have takenp lace among scholars are disproportionate to the insufficient and fragmentary materials which we possess. Even the available data are lacking in precision and are not very reliable. However, every old document available relating to Zoroaster has been carefully examined and most of them collected by students of Iranian history. The outstanding collection of these scattered fragments, so far, is the famous work of Professor A. V. W. Jackson, Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Iran, to which some subsequent additions have been made by the author himself, his pupils, and others.

The plate in question has been the subject of great controversy. The facsimiles of the plate have appeared in Epigraphica Indica, vol. iv, and in Indian Antiquary, vol. liii. Translations of the plate with comments have been published by Dr. Gundert (Madras Journal of Literature and Science, vol. xiii, part i, pp. 115–125), Kookel Kelu Nair (ibid., vol. xxi, pp. 35–8), Venkayya (Epigraphica Indica, vol. iv, pp. 290–7), and Mr. K. N. Daniel (Indian Antiquary, vol. liii, pp. 185–196, 219–229, 244–251, and 257–261).

Le problème de cette espèce de gánitif a átá traitá a fond par F. de Saussure (De l'emploi du gánitif absolu en Sanscrit, 1881, ráimprimá dans le Recueil des publications scientifiques de F. de S., Heidelberg 1922). Au dábut du mámoire on lit: “Un premier fait, constatá depuis longtemps, c'est l'absence du gánitif absolu dans les monuments de la páriode vádique.”

The story of Dholā and Mārū is told in a stirring RājputānĪ ballad published in the Bālābakhsh Rājpāt Cāran Pustakmālā, series. It is reviewed on another page of this Bulletin.

The story of the poem is briefly this. Pingal, the king of Pūgal, had a daughter called MāravanĪ Nal, the king of Narvar, had a son named Dholā. During a famine Pingal sought temporary refuge in Narvar, where the two rajas betrothed their children to each other. Some years after this Nal, reflecting that Pingal lived far away, and that the journey to his country was perilous, married his son to Mālavani, daughter of the Raja of Mālvā.

In January of 1936 Dr. Ernest Mackay, director of the excavation of the American School of Indic and Iranian Studies at Chanhudaro, courteously arranged that I should have the use of a Brāhūī speaker and an interpreter for a number of sessions. The Brāhuāī, Dad Muhammad by name, belongs to the Nīchārī tribe of the Jhalawān division of the Brāhūīs. Some confirmatory note s were made as well with the aid of another of the Brāhūī speakers working at the excavation, of the same tribe and village as Dad Muhammad. The note s made were chiefly phonetic.

Unter den osttūrkischen Mss. in der Martin-Hartmann-Sammlung der Berliner Staatsbibliothek gibt es ein in Versen (mutaqarib) verfasstes Werk namens Ǧihān-Nāme (Ms. Oz. Oct. 1704), das in dem Verzeichnis Hartmanns (MSOS, vii, 1904, Bd. ii, S. 10, N. 83) nur als “Erzählung über Firuz-Šah” bezeichnet ist. Als ich 1924 diese Sammlung nach dem Vorschlag von Prof. Weil katalogisiert habe, stellte ich fest, dass es sich hier um ein unbekanntes Werk von Haydar-Mirza Dughlat handelt. Die Hs. besteht aus 125 Seiten im 16° und die Abschrift ist von einem gewissen Molla ‘Umar ibn Molla Hāǧi am 16. Ǧumamacr;di, 1229h. (5. Juni, 1814) vollendet worden.

Translations and Adaptations.—As has been stated in the preceding article, most of the plays produced in Egypt from 1875 to 1914 were translations or adaptations of European originals. Shakespeare was amongst the first to be utilized, and a version of Othello, with the title was played by al Qurdāhī. It is difficult to form a clear idea of what these early performances were like; but it is obvious that the very amateurish production, the frequent oriental songs and the changes to suit local taste must have resulted in something very different from the productions of Shakespeare that are current in England to-day.

Chinese scholars have lately devoted considerable attention to the history of Logic in their country, more especially to the history of its Buddhist branch.

Hsüen-tsang's school, which was translating and commenting on the Buddhist Canon, drew its attention to the logical literature, issuing a whole series of valuable translations and commentaries. It is to that school, so far as we know, that belongs the first attempt of the Chinese to understand the history of Indian logic. Chinese tradition considersDignāga's system, partly completed by his disciple Śankaraswāmi, to be the final stage in the development of Indian logic. Chinese authors knew nothing of its further development. Logic before Dignaga, according to the Chinese conception of it, was divided into two periods: the first—non-Buddhist period—connected with the name of Akṣapāda, and the second—Buddhist one-connected with that of Vasubandhu.

It is now a matter of common experience that it is often found impossible to describe and classify linguistic material within the framework of the classical categories of morphology. The most reasonable alternative and one which has the merit of being objective and practical is the strictly formal and positional technique which has for many years been advocated by J. R. Firth, Senior Lecturer in Phonetics and Linguistics, University College, London. He states that in grammatical studies “ mental structures must be abandoned and research directed towards finding purely formal and positional characteristics of the facts themselves which, being differentiæ, will serve as a means of description, and as criteria for a congruent classification ”. “ And secondly,” he continues, “ beyond this technique of formal description, function or meaning can then be studied in context on sociological lines, unobscured by categories serving any other purpose.”

The only kind of speech behaviour with which the present study is directly connected is the oral naming of Chinese characters. Chinese characters have been prominent cultural objects for thousands of years. Even the sketchiest description of what they have been called by countless millions over a vast area of Asia would be a colossal task. All that is here attempted is a systematic analysis of what a certain number of selected characters were called by Mr. K. H. Hu, of Changsha.

Florida is a convenient name for the largest island in the Nggela group, British Solomon Islands. This group consists of three inhabited islands. The smaller western island bears the native name of Olevuga, and is separated from the other two islands in the group by a fairly wide strait known as the “Sandfly Passage”. The centre and eastern islands are separated from one another by a narrow strait called the “Ututha” by the natives, but known to white people to-day as the “Boli Pass”, though its older name was the “Scudamore Passage”. These two islands bear the one native name of Nggela.

The purpose of this article is to bring to notice an aspect of a Bantu language, which is not often touched upon in the conventional grammars, and the hope is expressed that its perusal may stimulate thought. Even if it but blazes a trail from which others may depart, the writing of it will not have been in vain. This article is both introductory and complementary to an article entitled “The ‘Idea’ Approach to Swahili”, which appeared in the Bulletin, Vol. VII, Part 4, 1935.

It would seem that originally there were two particles in Bantu to indicate pronominal relationship of reference, but that in process of time some languages (among them Swahili) dropped the e and allowed o to usurp some of its functions. The e has been retained in LuGanda and plays its own particular part, o, too, occurs in LuGanda, partly coinciding with its use in Swahili. It also occurs in LuGanda in places which in Swahili would require a different construction.