PREFACE.
There was a time, when the Assamese tongue was breathing its dying breath. The Missionaries came, impelled by noble and philanthropic motives, and gave new life to the language. We ought to remain always grateful to them for this their in- estimable service. A very concise history of the Missionaries in Assam, has been given at the close of the book,
It is found expedient to invent a certain mark to represent the proper sounds of sh and s. The sound of s may be represented by either চ or ছ, as is recognized by the etymology of the word. But this rule cannot be applied with advantage to those cases, where, by such doing, the word is likely to be materially affected, and the etymology seriously confounded. Considerations like the above have persuaded me to attach the mark (`) to শ, ষ (sh) and স (s), to show that they should be pronounced as in Sanskrit. This mark may likewise be adopted in connexion with the letters চ and ছ to represent their Sanskrit sounds. Again, the sound of o is generally represented by the mark (ʼ); but this should be used, as in English, to imply, that a certain letter in the word is under-
