017 DECLENSION OF NOUNS

57. There are five declensions of nouns, distinguished by the ending of the nominative case.
1st. Case, corresponds to the Nominative, as, ദൈവം.
2nd. .. .. .. .. Accusative .. ദൈവത്തെ.
3rd. .. .. .. Ablative by, with, ദൈവത്താൽ.
4th. .. .. .. .. Dative to ദൈവത്തിന്ന.
5th. .. .. .. Ablative from ദൈവത്തിൽനിന്ന.
6th. .. .. .. .. Genitive of ദൈവത്തിന്റെ.
7th. .. .. .. Ablative in ദൈവത്തിൽ.
8th. .. .. .. .. Vocative ദൈവമെ.
The first has its nominative case ending in ം
— Second, ൻ.
—Third, ൽ, ൾ,
and nouns followed by the half sound Though the vowel sound, of അ, is inherent in every consonant, but the finals; yet it is only half sounded in the last consonant of many words. This deviation from the general rule arises from three causes; first, in consequence of some letters having been mistaken for others; as in the case of the Initial and Final consonants: secondly, by attempting to retain the sound of words, derived from the Sancrit, Tamil, and Teloogoo; as pronounced in those languages: and thirdly, from the loose manner in which the Malaylim is pronounced by the majority of the Natives. By long usage however the sounds of the words have become fixed, and according to the different pronunciations of the last letter of the nominative case, oblique cases are obliged to be varied. This places a real obstacle in the way of the beginner; because he has not only to acquire the nice distinction between the half and full sound of അ; but to learn also what oblique case is required for each word: thus, with the words തൊക്ക, a gun; and കാക്ക a crow; the orthography of the last letter is the same in both; but custom has given half a vowel sound only to the last letter of the first word, and a full vowel sound to the last letter of the second: on this account the oblique cases must vary; as,
Nom. തൊക്ക. Nom. കാക്ക.
Gen. തൊക്കിന്റെ. Gen. കാക്കയുടെ.
Until a Dictionary be formed pointing out the genitive case of each noun, this difficulty cannor be overcome without considerable labor; to lighten which, I recommend that the Student, with the help of his Moonshee, write down the nominative and genitive cases of all the nouns in the language that terminate with the vowel sound of അ: then let him copy them all over carefully for five, or six times, and he will find the difficulty greatly diminished. The most ready way to fix words in the memory is to write them often upon paper. of അ.
— Fourth has its nominative case ending in ആ, ഇ, ൟ.
and nouns followed by the full sound of അ.
— Fifth has its nominative case ending in ഉ.