Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/31

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ESSAY I
19

formerly expressed. Here too the writer will make a concession to him and will produce more comprehensive series of words. At this point it will be convenient to mention two Mal. and two Mak. phonetic laws:

I.   Original IN ĕ persists in Mal., save in the final syllable of a word, where it becomes a. Original IN, and also Old Jav., tĕkĕn, " staff ", becomes tĕkan.

Every final media of any other language is represented in Mal. by the corresponding tenuis. Bis. olob, " cavity ", appears in Mal. as ulup, " hawse-hole ".

II.   Original IN pěpět becomes a in Mak., and if this a is in the penultimate syllable the next following consonant is doubled.

When in Original IN a word ends in l, r, or s, then in Mak. the vowel preceding the liquid or s is repeated after it, and finally a hamzah is added. — Both these law^s are illustrated by the example sassalaq from sĕsĕl.

28.   Now follow as specimens five rather more comprehensive series; we shall meet with others later on.

Tag., Bis., Gayo nipis, "thin"; Tontb. apis, "small", tompis, "sunken (of cheeks)"; Old Jav. tapis, "small", Mak. nipisiq, " thin " : root pis.

Tag., Bis. hasaṅ; Bulu, Tontb. asaṅ ; Gayo isaṅ ; Mal. insaṅ, " gills " : root saṅ.

Old Jav. wěṅis ; Mal., Gayo běṅis ; written Mkb., Bis. baṅis, " angry " : root ṅis.

Old Jav. sělaṅ, " to take turns "; Mal. sělaṅ, " interval "; Gayo kěkělaṅ, "between"; Karo alaṅ, "middling"; Bis. alaṅ-alaṅ, " undecided " : root laṅ.

Bal. sělsěl ; Old Jav. sěsěl ; Tonsea maněsěl ; Bis. basoi , Mal. sěsal ; Mak. sassalaq, " repentance ": root sěl.

As in each of these cases the same root appears in strict phonetic equivalence in so many different languages, we are entitled to assign these roots to Original IN.

29.   In the course of our enquiry hitherto we have taken little notice of two important members of the IN family of speech, namely Bug. and Mlg. The reason was this: these