# An Introduction to Indonesian Linguistics/Essay 1

translated by Charles Otto Blagden (1916)
ESSAY I
ROOT AND WORD
IN THE INDONESIAN LANGUAGES
(The original was published in 1910.)
SUMMARY
1-5. The Theme.
6-15. Preliminary Questions of Method.
16-37. Section I : The Search for the Root. 16-24. Seeking the Root in an Individual Language. 25-37. Seeking the Root by means of the Comparison of Languages.
38-62. Section II : The Characteristics of the Foot. 38. Preliminary Observations, 39-43. The Three Sounds of a Root. 44-51. Variation. 52-4. Determination. 55. Metathesis. 56-60. Homophony. 61-2. The Meaning of the Root.
63-97. Section III : The Formation of the Word-base from the Root. 63. Preliminary Observations. 64-72. The Root as Word-base. 73-9. The Reduplicated Root as Word-base. 80-4. Combination of Roots to form the Word-base. 85-96. Coalescence of Formatives with the Root to form the Word-base. 97. Prefixing the Pĕpĕt.
THE THEME.
1. When we open the dictionary of an Indonesian language we are at once struck by the fact that a very large proportion of the key-words in it are disyllabic. Thus in the Mal. vocabulary we find successively: ikal, “ curl ”, ikan, “ fish ”, ikat, “ tie”.
But it is not only in the dictionary that we find such disyllabic formations, they also occur in actual speech, as witnessed by the following passage from the Old Jav. Ādiparwa, edited by Juynboll, p. 49: hana sira wiku kapaṅguh iṅ tĕgal, ri těpi niṅ āśrama = (It) happened (that) a hermit was met with in the field, at the edge of the hermitage ” = “ Then (the king) met in the field a hermit standing near his hermitage ”.
Now these disyllabic words, hana, tĕpi, etc., may also live in the language in more extended forms, hana for example having a derivative kahanan, “ existence ”; but they do not, in the actual spoken language, exist in any shorter forms; therefore it is appropriate to call formations like hana “ word-bases ”.
2. Now in the Old Jav. dictionary we find the following word-bases: siṅgul, “ to push ”, aṅgul, “ to push away, to fend off ”, taṅgul, “ to defend against ", and finally agul, which is rendered by the Sanskrit pragalbha and accordingly signifies “ determined, bold ”. Here we have a monosyllabic combination of sounds, viz., gul, which, to use Wundt's words, ​can be pursued unchanged through a series of words with similar meanings. Now such a combination of sounds as this we style a root.
3. These roots and these word-bases are the theme of the present dissertation. Our first task will be to extract the root from the word-base; then we must describe the root; thirdly, we have to show how word-bases are formed from roots; our fourth and last duty will be to delineate the characteristics of the word-base.
4. IN linguistic formations are less compressed and more transparent than Indo-European ones; some living IN languages are archaic to a degree far surpassing that of any modern IE language, even the Lithuanian. The IN languages which are geographically furthest apart from each other, the IN dialects of Formosa and the Batan Islands on the one hand and the dialects of Madagascar on the other, stand in a much closer relation to one another than Hindustani and Irish. From all this it follows that we can recognize the root and its characteristics more clearly and certainly in IN than in IE research. Here follows a short comparative table showing how closely Formosan and Batanese —according to Otto Scheerer's researches—are related in certain particulars to Mlg.
| | | | | Formosan. | Batanese. | Malagasy. |
| Fire | . . | . . | . . | apuy | apuy | afu |
| Sinew, artery | . . | . . | . . | ugat | uyat | uzatra |
| Child | . . | . . | . . | alak | anak | Anaka |
| Finger-nail | . . | . . | . . | kuku | kuku | huhu |
| Five | . . | . . | . . | rima | dima | dimi |
| Seven | . . | . . | . . | pito | pito | fitu |
PRELIMINARY QUESTIONS OF METHOD.
6. The first indispensable requirement for the success of a work like the present is that it should be built up entirely on the basis of phonetic law. In former monographs the present writer, instead of appealing to phonetic laws, often had recourse to parallel instances, and that alternative may have sufficed for those cases. But here he will expressly formulate all the phonetic laws that may come into question.
This is perhaps a convenient place for stating summarily the two chief phonetic laws affecting IN vowels and consonants respectively. They are to be found in fuller form in the present writer's previous monographs, and the second one in particular detail in Brandes' "Bijdrage".
I. The pĕpĕt-law. Original IN ě remains ě in some languages, as in Old Jav. and Karo; in others it becomes a, as in Mak. and Mkb.; in others again e, as in Day.; in others i, as in Tag.; and finally in others o, as in Toba and Bis.
II. The R-law. Original IN had two shades of the r sound. In several IN languages, for instance in Karo, these have been unified again into a single kind of r. In others the differentiation has developed further. Thereby the one kind of r has become g in certain languages, as in Bis.; in others it has become h, as in Day.; in others again this h has disappeared, as in Old Jav. The other kind of r sometimes persists as r, sometimes it appears as l or as d.
7. The second indispensable condition consists in this, that the material should be surveyed in its entirety. That is the case here, for the present writer has in the course of years ​compiled for himself complete root dictionaries in MS. of the principal IN languages.
8. A third requirement for a work like the present is that the material should not be merely raked together out of dictionaries and grammars by the wooden processes of the amateur, but be vivified by the study of texts. This will be particularly necessary in Section IV, where we deal with the functions of the word-base.
9. Fourthly, it will mean a decided saving of labour if we determine from the very start which of the numerous IN languages can render us the best services in our task. Speaking generally, the guiding principle here is that a language will be the more welcome to us the more archaic it is in its phonetic system, in the characteristic type of its words (particularly as regards final sounds), and in its word-store. Therefore we shall often cite Old Jav., but seldom Modern Jav., oftener Karo than Achinese, often the written forms of Toba and Mkb., but never the spoken forms of these two languages. However, in certain cases we shall be able to get help even from languages that have suffered very serious changes in their character, as for instance Kissarese.
10. The following are the languages we shall make use of in general.
In the Phihppines, Tagalog, Bisaya, and Iloko; in Sangir, Sangirese; in Northern Celebes, Tontemboan and Bulu; in Middle Celebes, Bareqe; in Southern Celebes, Bugis and Makassar; in Bali, Balinese; in Madura, Madurese; in Java, Javanese and Sundanese; in Borneo, Dayak; in Sumatra, Minangkabau, Karo, Toba (these two being also commonly called Batak), Gayo, and Achinese; Mentaway in the island of that name; in the Malay Peninsula and neighbouring islands, Malay; in Madagascar, Malagasy, especially the Hova dialect, ​the literary language.—In a few cases some other languages besides these will also be used.
11. Fifthly, though not an absolute necessity, it will be a great convenience for our enquiry if we introduce the idea of the Original Indonesian mother-tongue as an auxiliary factor. Of this Original IN two features are of especial importance to our enquiry, viz., the phonetic system and the general type of words.
I. The phonetic system of Original IN :
| i | e | a | o |
| q | | | |
| k | g | ṅ | |
| c§ | j | ñ | |
| t | d | n | |
| p | b | m | |
| y | r | l | w |
| s | | | |
| h | | | |
The ě is the rapidly pronounced, indeterminate vowel, styled after the Jav. manner "pěpět"; q represents the hamzah, the glottal stop; many scholars, e.g. the two Adriani's, denote it by a symbol like the apostrophe, as also does Sievers ("Phonetik", § 353). I It has already been observed in § 6 that there were two shades of r in Original IN.
Some of the living languages have evolved sounds which were unknown to Original IN: thus Mlg. possesses the sonant sibilant z ; in Gayo there is an ö, which according to Hazeu sounds pretty much like the German ö in "hören"; in several Philippine languages and also in Bimanese we find f, as appears from the dissertations of Conant and Jonker.
​II. The word-type of Original IN: In Original IN any sound could be the initial of a word, but there could not be more than one consonant there. Any sound could serve as a final, except the series c j ñ; but here too only one consonant was allowed. In the interior of words, between the two vowels of disyllabic word-bases, there might be one consonant or two, the latter in very various combinations (see § 74).
A great part of the living IN languages has undergone changes in these respects. Some languages tolerate no consonants, or a very limited number of them, as finals; others admit very few combinations of consonants, for instance only nasal + cognate explosive, between the two vowels.
The reader will ask: How does the writer know this phonetic system and word-type of Original IN ? The writer answers: This knowledge is based on detailed comparative studies which will be submitted to the reader on some future occasion. Besides, the whole of the present dissertation will show that these assertions are correct.
12. When in the modern IN languages a derivative is formed from a word-base, the formatives used for that purpose are usually put before the word-base, they are prefixes; thus Sang, possesses nearly a hundred prefixes but only six infixes and five suffixes, and Day. has only one suffix as against a great number of prefixes. Now it is to be presumed that in Original IN, at the time when the monosyllabic roots were used as nuclei for the formation of disyllabic or polysyllabic word-bases, the same principle prevailed. That may, sixthly, serve us as an indication as to which part of the word-base should receive our particular attention during our search for the root, viz. the last part.
This view, put forward here as a presumptive probability, will be shown by the whole course of our investigation to be, the true one.
13. Seventhly, if our investigation were concerned with the IE languages, accent and quantity would be important
​factors in the enquiry. But here in IN they are of secondary significance. That is because they exhibit so much uniformity: e.g., the penultimate syllable is the accentuated one in an extraordinarily large percentage of cases. — The influence of accent will be referred to in § 32, II, that of quantity in § 32, I.
14. Eightly, we will bear in mind what Delbriick (“Grund-fragen”, pp. 115, 116) teaches us about the investigation of roots, and accordingly we shall turn our attention not merely to words of action but also to words denoting things and mental states.
15. Finally, let it be observed that only genuine IN words, and never loan-words, can be used for the purposes of the enquiry. Of course when we quote Old Jav. sentences as evidence, loan-words cannot be avoided, for the Old Jav. literature is strongly impregnated wuth Sanskrit words; but such sentences are used on account of their genuinely IN contents, not on account of the loan-words they may happen to include.
​16. In addressing ourselves now to the task of detecting the root in IN word-bases, we will begin by undertaking this research in connexion with a single language and see what results we can obtain without comparing it with others. The language shall be Old Jav. Now we can draw up the follow- ing series of Old Jav. words showing in each case the root:
unkab, " to open ", sinhab, " to uncover " : root kab.
fekul, " to clasp ", rańkul, " to embrace " : root kul.
ikel, " curly ", rińkĕl, " twisted " : root kĕl.
tankep, " to seize ", sikĕp, " to seize " : root kĕp.
sanguh, "to consider as.....", suñguh, "truly": root guh.
íńís, " to grin ", tańís, " to weep " : root ńís.
tutuk, " mouth ", patuk, " beak " : root tuk.
gantuń, " to hang ", těluń, " to hang down " : root tuń.
itěk, " mud ", latěk, " mud " : root těk.
atěr, " to accompany ", hantěr, " to follow " : root těr.
inděl, " curdled ", kanděl, " thick ": root děl.
uněn, " desire ", sěněn, " loved ": root něn.
tapis," small ", pipis, " to pound small ": root pis.
liput, " to cover ", saput, " to cover " : root put.
umbak, " wave ", limbak, " wave ": root bak.
bubuk, " insect that burrows in wood ", hrěbuk, "dry rot " : root buk,
bayań, " to rock to and fro ", huyań, " restless " : root yań.
rěrěp, " to fall asleep ", sirěp, " to lull to sleep " : root rěp.
pulań, " dirt ", wělań, " spotted " : root lań.
alih, " to return ", pulih, " to turn back " : root lih.
kělěm, " to sink in ", silěm, " to plunge in " : root lěm.
These roots are Old Jav. ; whether they are also Original IN does not appear from our demonstration; in order to answer that question a comparative study would be necessary.
18. Kern's dissertations on the Old Jav. grammar are excellent, but Van der Tuuk's Old Jav. dictionary is in several respects an imperfect work. Therefore it is impossible to obtain such a complete survey of the Old Jav. root material as is necessary for our purpose, and accordingly we must look around for another source of information. — In fact the present writer, in preparing this dissertation, has used that dictionary very little; most of his material is derived from Juynboll's glossary to the Old Jav. Rāmāyana or from his own reading.
Though it is to be regretted that we cannot make as much use of Old Jav. as we could have wished, yet we must not overlook the fact that it has suffered in a marked degree from the operation of two phonetic laws, which have impaired its archaic character: The r of the EGH series (§ 6) has disappeared; accordingly Original IN těras, “hard”, which has been preserved in several languages, e.g. in Mal., has become tĕas and finally twas in Old Jav. ; and when in Original IN two vowels came together, they often suffered contraction in Old Jav. ; thus Mai., Sund., etc., daim, " leaf ", appears in Old Jav. as ron.
19. So we see that we must look for a substitute for Old Jav. in cases where it is necessary to have a general survey. Now there are other IN languages which have preserved an archaic impress in phonetic system and word-type, though it is true we cannot seize them in their earlier historical phases. Amongst these Karo is in the first rank. It has undergone few such changes as would alienate it from the Original IN.
This appears clearly when we compare it with the better known and closely related Toba :
| Original | IN | ě | persists | in | Karo, | in | Toba | it | becomes | o |
| ’’ | ’’ | k | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | h |
| ’’ | ’’ | h | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | ’’ | nil |
All these laws are neatly illustrated by the following example : Original IN, and also Mal., Gayo, etc., kěsah, " to breathe, to pant ", remains kěsah in Karo, but appears in Toba as hosa.
20. There are two laws which affect Karo and estrange it from Original IN, but both these laws comprise only a few individual cases :
I. Original IN final diphthongs become simple vowels in Karo: e.g., uy becomes i; thus Original IN, and Old Jav., Formosan, etc., apuy becomes Karo api. We need only mention this one case, the change of uy into i, for the rest do not happen to occur in our monograph.
II. Original IN final media becomes tenuis in Karo. Original IN lawĕd, " sea ", Bis. lawod, is sounded lawĕt in Karo.
21. Now follow some series of Karo words, from which in each case the root can be deduced :
tiṅkah, " step ", laṅkah, " step " : root kah.
teguh, " firm ", paṅguh, " hard wood " : root guh.
liṅgĕm, " shadow ", agĕm, " cloudy sky " : root gĕm.
riṅut, " wrinkled ", pĕrṅut, " curled " : root ṅut.
antar, " to set up ", batar, " a stand " : root tar.
tutuṅ, " to burn ", gĕstuṅ, " to blaze up " : root tuṅ.
dodas, " unlucky in gambling ", radas, " ruined ": root das.
tulpak, " disappointed ", lepak, " to err ": root pak.
tembal, " crossed ", gambal, " scissors ": root bal.
lĕmbut, " soft ", umbut, " soft pith " : root but.
pusiṅ, " to turn round ", gasiṅ, " spinning top " : root siṅ.
​22. Here the writer ends this list, for it occurs to him that the method therein followed might be objected to. A very severe critic might observe, that the several series of the preceding paragraph, and also those of § 16, consist of two terms only; that these coincidences might in some cases at any rate be determined by mere chance; and that a higher degree of certainty would be attained if the series comprised a greater number of terms. — Though the writer does not believe that these objections are well founded, he will nevertheless take them into account and will produce series of Karo words containing a larger number of terms :
igar, sěgar, tońgar, " to splinter ": root gar.
měgah, agah, juńgah, " proud " : root gah.
anjuń, " to raise up ", ujuń, " summit ", tanjuń, " hill " : root juń.
lintań, " weal (on the body) ", rintań, " row ", listań, tintań,
" rectilinear " : root tań.
idah, " to see ", dědah, " to look on at ", cidah, " to show ",
pědah, " to teach " : root dah.
ělah, " finished ", alah, " conquered ", tělah, " to end a strife
(by intervening) " : root lah.
sulit, salit, " to peel ", kulit, " skin " : root lit.
23. The writer could extend this table further, but he desires that his monographs should not exceed a certain compass. As he is not aiming at the production of a vocabulary of roots, he cannot reasonably be required to enumerate every individual case ; he need only produce as many examples as may be necessary on each occasion to give the reader a true insight into the matter in hand. Accordingly all the lists in this- monograph will merely represent a selection of specially characteristic cases.
24. The writer himself must, of course, take a general survey of the whole of the material, he must at this very point be in a position to answer the question whether it is possible to determine all the Karo roots by the process hitherto followed. The answer is : A great many, but by no means all, of the Karo roots can be detected in this way. For many of ​the Karo word-bases stand entirely isolated, e.g., lecek, “to ask for”. There is no other Karo word of similar meaning and analogous sound; none at all, in fact, that ends in cek. After what has been said we may, no doubt, presume that lecek can be analyzed into the formative le and the root cek, but owing to the isolated position of the word we gain nothing thereby.
It is certainly interesting and quite legitimate to ascertain what results we can arrive at if we confine ourselves to the study of a single language ; but for the solution of our further problems that method does not suflS.ce, and we must proceed to the comparison of several languages.
Seeking the Root by means of the Comparison of Languages.
25. Turning now to the method of comparing several languages for the purpose of our theme, we will first make the experiment of comparing two only and will select Karo and Bis. to work with. The choice is thoroughly justified: The relationship between Karo and Bis. is one of intermediate degree, neither very close nor yet quite remote; moreover Karo in Sumatra, occupying a region which nowhere reaches the sea, and Bis. in the Philij)pines are absolutely separated from one another geographically, so that we need have no fear of any influence of the one language on the other which might disturb our conclusions.
Before proceeding to this comparison we must mention the phonetic laws affecting Bis. which come into question, — For the Karo laws see § 20. In Bis. the r of the RGH series (§ 6) appears as g ; the r of the RLD series appears under certain conditions as dl ; Original IN ě and u as o ; final h is not tolerated.
Now follow lists of roots common to Karo and Bis.
I. The roots are absolutely identical in both languages :
Karo kilkil, “to gnaw” , Bis. baṅkil, “to bite” : root kil.
Karo deṅgal, “unchaste”, Bis. bogal, “adulterous”: root gal.
Karo bětat, “slow” , Bis. kotat, “slothfulness” : root tat.
Karo ěrdan, “stairs” , Bis. hagdan, “stairs” : root dan.
Karo kanam, “joyful” , Bis. hinam, “joyful” : root nam.
Karo hebas, “accustomed” , Bis. basbas, “to accustom” : root bas.
II. The roots exhibit phonetic discrepancies, which however resolve themselves without difficulty in accordance with the above-mentioned phonetic laws of Karo and Bis. :
Karo sělkut, Bis. dagkot, " to kindle (a fire) " : root kut: kot.
Karo api, “fire” , Bis. apuy, “erysipelas” : root pi: puy.
Karo gêbuk, “smoky”, Bis. dabok, “to burn straw” : root buk : bok.
Karo lěměs, “to dissolve in water” , Bis. damos, “to wet” : root mĕs : mos.
Karo ilar, “to shine”, Bis. dilag, “bright” : root lar : lag.
Karo běsur, Bis. bosog, “satiated” : root sur : sog.
Karo lawět, Bis. lawod: see § 20.
26. From these Karo-Bis. root-lists two conclusions follow :
I. It was remarked in § 24 that from Karo alone, without the assistance of a comparison with other languages, only a part of the Karo roots could be detected. This poirtion is at once considerably augmented when Karo is compared even with only one other IN language, as here with Bis. Thus the word bětat, “slow”, stands quite alone in Karo, but Bis. provides a pendant, kotat, “slothfulness”, and from the comparison of these two word-bases we get the root tat.
II. In § 25 it was shown that direct influence as between Karo and Bis. is inconceivable. How comes it then that they have roots in common? Surely, it can only come from the fact that those roots belonged to Original IN. The Karo-Bis. lists in § 25 are, therefore, also lists of Original IN roots.
27. The severe critic of § 22 might raise against the final sentence of the last paragraph the same objection that he ​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 ​languages have been affected by the operation of so many phonetic laws that the root can only be detected in them with difficulty. The omission shall now be made good and a special paragraph devoted to each of these two languages.
The Bug. phonetic laws chiefly affect the final of the wordbase ; hence in the Bug. root it is particularly the third sound that is modified, while the first and second are less liable to be affected.
Bug. giliṅ, " to roll " : root liṅ. — Mal. giliṅ, Old Jav. puliṅ " to roll ". Here no phonetic law has been at work in Bug.
Bug. pipiq, " to pinch": root pit. — Mal. apit, Gayo spit, "to pinch". — Law: Every IN final explosive appears in Bug. as hamzah.
Bug. pědděṅ, "to close the eyes": root děm. — Old Jav. iděm, Karo pěděm. — Laws: Every IN final nasal appears in Bug as ṅ. — After the pěpět in the penultimate, that is the accentuated, syllable the consonant is doubled; see also sěssěq below.
Bug. wukaq, " to open, to unfold " (intrans.): root kar. — Old Jav. wěkar, " to open", Bal. sěkar, "flower". — Law: IN final r appears in Bug. as hamzah, but remains unaltered when a suffix is added, hence Bug. pataqbukarěṅ " to open " ( trans.).
Bug. nipiq, " thin " : root pis. — Tag. nipis, Tontb. impis, " thin ". — Law: IN final s appears in Bug. as hamzah, but remains unaltered when a suffix is added, hence Bug. nipisi, " to make thin ".
Bug. sëssěq, "repentance": root sel. — Bis. basol, Mal. sěsal.' — Law: IN final l appears in Bug. as hamzah, but before a suffix takes the form of rr, hence Bug. pasěssěrrěṅ, " reproof ".
30. In Mlg. even more phonetic laws have been at work than in Bug. ; just as in Bug., they particularly affect the finals but they also affect consonants in every position, the vowels less; therefore the Mlg. root shows modification chiefly in the ​first and third sound, less often in the middle one. — The Mlg. phonetic laws have been determined by the present writer in former works, and also more especially by Ferrand .
Mlg. ambi, “surplus”: root bih. — Mal. lĕbih, “more”, Karo ambih, “to build an annexe” . — Law: IN h disappears in Mlg. in all positions without leaving a trace.
Mlg. haruna, “basket”: root ruṅ. — Old Jav. kuruṅ, “to enclose”, Karo baruṅ, buffalo pen. — Law: Every IN final nasal appears in Mlg. as na.
Mlg. idina, “to pour out” : root liṅ. — Karo iliṅ, “to pour into”, Bug. paliṅ, “to pour into another vessel” . — Law: Before a primitive i (not an i derived from some other sound) in Mlg., Original IN l appears as d ; this is a special case of the great RLD-law.
Mlg. ampatra, “stretched out” : root pat. — Karo lapat, “stretched out”, Mal. pĕpat, “smoothed out”. — Law: Every Original IN final t becomes tra in Mlg.
Mlg. hindzaka, “to stamp” : root jak. — Old Jav. taṅjak, “to jump”, Karo anjak, “to trot” . — Law: Original IN j after a nasal appears in Mlg. as d+ z. Every Original IN final k appears in Mlg. as ka.
Mlg. lefa, “away, done” : root pas. — Mal. lĕpas, “loose, free, finished”. Tag. lipas, “past”. — Laws: Original IN p becomes f in Mlg., save after a nasal (see ampatra, above) and save when final. Original IN final s disappears in Mlg. but persists before a suffix, hence the imperative passive: alejasu.
31. To conclude this Section we must now undertake another investigation which, as shown amongst others by Siitterlin (“Das Wesen der sprachhchen Gebilde” , pp. 56 seqq.), is of great Hnguistic interest. If we know, for example, that a word iluh, aluh, luha, etc., runs through nearly all the IN languages with the meanings “to flow, to weep, tear”, ​and if we are compelled to deduce from it a monosyllabic formation luh, is it not then conceivable that this luh might exist in some language or other as a living word, by itself, uncombined with other elements? In general terms: Do the roots exist only as parts of word-bases or are they capable of existing by themselves ?
32. When we search for monosyllabic words in the IN lan-guages and succeed in finding some, we must first enquire whether their monosyllabism might not have arisen out of a former disyllabism. For that has really happened in many cases in IN.
I. In several IN languages consonants between the two vowels of the word-base may disappear in conformity with phonetic law, e.g., in Old Jav. the r of the RGH series, in Bug. h, in Mlg. s. Accordingly Old Jav. wā, “glowing fire”, Bug. pōn, “trunk”, Mlg. fu, “heart”, are not roots that have preserved their monosyllabic character; they are derived from the forms wara, pohon, pusu, which have a wide distribution in the IN languages and are to be regarded as Original IN. The length of the vowel still serves as evidence of the contraction.
II. Achinese accentuates the final syllable, and hence it has in many cases dropped the first, unaccented, syllable of the originally disyllabic word-base, as Snouck Hurgronje has shown. Thus in Achinese “leaf” is un, as compared with the daun of many other IN languages. This un, however, is not a primitive thing but the final product of a process of evolution.
III. In Sund., disyllabic words when employed as the first members of compound expressions are often reduced to monosyllables. “Tree” is kai (disyllabic), but the “Měraq tree” is ki měraq. —
Other phenomena of this sort are to be found in the IN languages; and the conclusion to be derived from these considerations is : Monosyllabic forms originating in such ways as these must be avoided in our investigation. ​33. We will now select from IN vocabularies some monosyllabic words with regard to the original monosyllabism of which there is no doubt: Old Jav. luh, “tear”, sih, “pity”, lin, “to speak” ; Karo pĕt, “to desire”; Gayo tul, “unable to get through (a narrow space)”. — Other cases will follow later.
It will now be shown by the quotation of texts that such words exist not only in the dictionary but in actual speech. For this purpose we shall select extracts from a dead language, Old Jav., and a living one, Karo:
I. Old Jav. examples. Mahābhārata, edited by Juynboll, 9: maňkana lih saň Bhĩma = “Thus spake Bhĩma”. — Mahābhārata, a, 54: deniň sih n ikaň śvāna = “Out of pity for this dog”. — Rāmāyana, edited by Kern, VIII, 40, 4: humilĩ ta luh = “Then {=ta) flowed tears”.
II. Karo examples. Si Laga Man, edited by Joustra, p. 7: maka sěkali lit sada bapa ; tubuh anak-na, tapi mate rusur; jadi anak-na sada igĕlari-na si Laga Man , maka pět man, nina = “There + was { = lit) once a father; (there) were + born children of + him, but (they) died one + after + another ; (so it) came + to + pass + that of + (the) + children of + him one was + called by + him (= na) the greedy (in) eating that (it) might + desire to + eat, said + he” = “There was once a father who had children that all died one after another ; so he gave one the name of ' Glutton ', in order that, as he imagined, it might eat heartily ”,
34. The number of roots used as actual words is nowhere large. Many languages have, apart from words of form,
§ 80, and Essay III,"§§ 34-5.] ​not a single case; Karo has some five dozen. In the entire Prāsthanikaparwa of the Old Jav. Mahābhārata there are, not counting words of form, four certain cases: sih, “pity”, duk, “moment of time”, göń, “big” , and liń, “to speak” .
Roots used as words of form occur in every language, some having them in greater numbers than others, e.g., Mai. only a few, Tontb. a fairly large number. A Tontb. sentence with such monosyllabic words of form : Story of Kĕrisĕn, edited by Schwarz, end: taniqtuo si sisil an doroq i Cĕrisĕn “Thus (runs) the story about Kĕrisĕn”.
35. It can be shown that the Original IN possessed a greater number of independently existing roots than any livihg IN language does. This is indicated by the fact that in Modern Jav. several words exist only in disyllabic form which in Old Jav. still lived in monosyllabic shape; accordingly as we go back in time the number of monosyllables increases. One of these cases is the Modern Jav. duduh, Old Jav. duh, “liquid”. But § 91 forbids us to assume that Original IN spoke entirely in monosyllabic words.
36. The existence of mere roots, not made up into word-bases, can serve us as a touchstone to test the correctness of the principles which we have developed above for the analysis of the word-bases. There is a widespread IN word-base kasih, “pity” ; according to our principles we have to analyze it into ka + sih ; and the sih cited in § 33 confirms the correctness of the analysis.
It happens particularly frequently that a monosyllabic root survives in Toba while the closely related Karo only has a disyllabic word-base formed from it. Here, therefore, Toba offers us the desired guarantee. Examples :
Toba gas, “to break”, shows that Karo tegas, “to tear” = te + gas.
Toba gas, “to stand on end” , shows that Karo těgan, “erection” = tĕ + gan
​Toba das, “announced (of a message)”, shows that Karo landas, “evident” = lan + das.
Toba ṅal, “too tight, short of breath”, shows that Karo doṅal, “disheartened” = do + ṅal.
37. It has been shown, particularly by the researches of W. Schmidt, that the Austroasiatic languages on the mainland of Asia are in some way related to the IN languages. And as the former possess many monosyllabic word-bases, the view has been expressed that light could be thrown from that quarter on the nature of the IN roots. That may be, but the IN material has become so extremely abundant, particularly through the classifying work of Dutch scholars, that IN research needs no such assistance. Further, the present writer knows that students of the Austroasiatic languages, such as Cabaton, Aymonier, Blagden, and Skeat, favour caution in proceeding along this line of comparative enquiry.
Such caution, however, will above all else imply that we must first study each of the two groups, the Austroasiatic and the IN, exhaustively by itself before we proceed to a comparison of the two. Further, Austroasiatic and Austronesian parted from one another, in some remote prehistoric age. In each of these two fields of research we must, therefore, first endeavour with the help of phonetic laws to work back to the primitive forms and then compare these with each other.
SECTION II: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROOT.
Preliminary Observations.
38. The IN root has six characteristic points requiring to be discussed: (1) The fact that it consists of three sounds, (2) variation, (3) determination, (4) metathesis, (5) homophony, and (6) its meaning. It is not to be inferred that all these phenomena need necessarily occur in connexion with every root.
The Three Sounds of a Root.
39. The most striking characteristic of the root, obvious at once even on a cursory inspection, is the fact that it consists of three sounds, arranged thus: consonant + vowel + consonant. All the roots which we have thus far become acquainted with have three sounds.
40. We must, however, raise the question whether there are not in IN other roots of a type different from the norm set up in the preceding paragraph.
Let us first enquire after roots of two sounds. This investigation demands special care. For if in some language or other we happen to come across a root that apparently has two sounds, we must reckon with the possibility that it may have lost one of its component parts through the operation of phonetic laws. If we find in Tontb. a word rěqmba, "to fall", we must not at once set up a root with two sounds, viz. ba ; to be sure, Tontb. only drops one final consonant, namely h, but might not that just be the case here ? In actual fact it is the case, for other IN languages, which have no objection to final h, here have the form bah: Old Jav. and Mal. rĕbah, ​“to fall” ", Karo tabah, “to fell” . If therefore, in what follows, series of words are set out from which roots of two sounds are to be inferred in each case, the languages comprised in such series must include some that do not drop any sound whatsoever.
41. Here follow the series in question:
Old Jav. ipi, Bug. nipi, Mal. mimpi, Day. nupi, Tontb. impi, “to dream” : root pi.
Old Jav. wĕli, Bug. ĕlli, Mak. balli, Mal. beli, Sund. böli, “to buy” : root li.
Old Jav. tuju, “to hit, to aim” ", Mal. tuju, “to pursue a certain course” , Sund. tuju, “course” , Karo tinju, “to cuff?” : root ju.
Old Jav., Mlg. isi, Mak. assi , Sund. ösi, “contents” : root si.
42. Here then we have four roots of two sounds arranged in the order; consonant + vowel. All four roots run in perfect phonetic concordance through many languages, and can therefore be assigned to Original IN.
43. Roots formed otherwise than of three sounds or two, like those in the preceding paragraph, are quite exceptional and occur only in individual languages. Thus in the Philippine languages we meet with a sort of extension and subdivision of the vowel resulting in the production of roots of four sounds, with two interior vowels. The IN languages have a root gĕm, “to shut, to clench the fist, to seize” "; in Jav. it exists as a monosyllabic word-base gĕm, Karo has siṅgĕm,. “to fit closely” , but Bis. has goom, “to shut the mouth” . — In Sund. and Gayo there are interjections beginning with a mute and a liquid, e.g. Sund. drel, an interjection used of the ratthng of musketry fire. At a pinch one might regard the -r- as the infix discussed in § 86, in which case the root ​would only have three sounds, but the r seems to us so essential to the symbolical representation of the sound of rattling that we must decline on this occasion to take it for an infix. Here then we have another root of four sounds. Interjections of this type may conceivably have been Original IN, and in that case the remark in § 11 about the Original IN initial would require modification accordingly.
Variation.
44. The concept of root-variation. In Day. the word tuli means “to land” and talian is “a landing place” ; in Karo the expression " to roll " can be rendered by guluṅ and gulaṅ. Viewing the matter quite superficially, we find in both languages the same process, an interchange between a and u. But if we look closer we notice great differences. In Day. the change of u to a occurs frequently, it is bound up with a certain condition — namely that a suffix containing an a is annexed to the word — and it occurs with the strictest regularity and necessity every time that condition is fulfilled. Besides which it is to be observed that in Day. this phenomenon affects the first vowel of the word-base, and the meaning suffers no change. — In Karo we find this kind of vowel change in some other cases besides that of guluṅ and gulaṅ, to be sure, but yet only in a limited number, forming no sort of groups or series. Nor can we detect any condition determining the occurrence of the vowel change. Moreover, the phenomenon takes place in the second part of the word-base, that is to say in the root, and is often accompanied by a modification in meaning ; thus in this very case, guluṅ signifies “to roll up”, gulaṅ "to roll down". — This phenomenon, which we observe in the two Karo words guluṅ, gulaṅ, we call root- variation. It affects the consonants of the root as well as the vowel and it occurs in all the IN languages without exception.
​45. Examples of root- variation in several IN languages: I. In Karo:
II. In other languages: Old Jav. gantuṅ, “ to hang ”, tatiṅ, “ to hang down ”; indĕr, intĕr, “ to turn ”. — Achinese ulak, balik, “ to turn back ”. — Tontb. kompeṅ, kumpeq, “ low ”.
Variation of both vowel and consonant:
Old Jav. sasak, pasuk, susup, “ to enter, to penetrate ”.
46. There are also cases of variation which affect more than one language and run through several. We cite two such cases, the one with change of vowel and the other with change of consonant:
| | laṅ | luṅ |
| Old Jav. | kalaṅ, “ ring ” | guluṅ, “ to roll ” |
| Sund. | kalaṅ, “ ring ” | guluṅ, “ roll ” |
| Karo | gulaṅ, “ to roll ” | guluṅ, “ roll ” |
| Achinese | ilaṅ, “ reel ” | guluṅ, “ to roll up ” |
| Mlg. | halana, “ to rool ” | huruna, “ to roll ”. |
| | rit | ris |
| Old Jav. | arit | hiris |
| Toba | arit | iris |
| Tontb. | gorit | riris |
| Bis. | kodlit | kodlis. |
In this way it is possible to show the existence of a certain number of cases of variation which run through a number of languages and can therefore be attributed to Original IN.
47. Although variation does not occur in series or groups we do notice that certain kinds of it are of greater frequency than others. Thus we find:
I. Initially: frequent interchanges of tenuis and media; tenuis and cognate nasal; s and n.
II. In the interior vowel: u and ĕ.
III. In the final: tenuis and cognate nasal; s and t; s and h; s and r; l and r; m, n, and ṅ.
48. Now whence comes this phenomenon of variation ? As it is probably based for the most part on Original IN processes, the question is a difficult one to answer. Nevertheless a good deal can be done to throw light upon it, and on this occasion the present writer will contribute the following"
I. When in the modern IN languages derivatives are formed by means of prefixes from word-bases, the initial surds k, c, t, f, s, very frequently, and often even the sonants g, j, d, b, change into the most closely related nasals. From the Old Jav. word-base pupuh, “ to beat ”, comes a passive kapupuh, but the active is amupuh; the active of the word-base pet, “ to seek ”, is met. Now in accordance with what has been said in § 47 we find in roots variations of the initial consonant exhibiting a similar change: e.g., Karo has the variation puk : muk, in the word-bases ripuk, “ to crumble ”, and mumuk, “ worm-eaten ”. These variations of the initial of the root are therefore fossilized products of that same phonetic process, derived from a past epoch when IN em​ployed a larger number of roots as word-bases than is the case nowadays. — Other examples :
II. In onomatopoeic roots the variation of the interior vowel may be symbolical: Mai. ris stands for a higher, rus for a deeper, “rustling” sound. This phenomenon is extremely common.
III. Some IN languages have sentence-sandhi. Thus in Mentaway a final nasal interchanges regularly with the corresponding tenuis, according to the initial of the following word, e.g., uran with urat, “rain”. The same change is found in Masaretese, but there it does duty in the formation of words: sefen, “angry”, epsefet, “anger”.
Now according to § 47 there are variations in the final of the root which exhibit the hke change, so here again we have fossilized relics of a former Hnguistic vitahty. Examples :
Karo: gěbuk, “cloud of dust”, ahun, “ash”.
Old Jav. : pěpět, “to cover”, simpěn, “to conceal”.
Tontb.: ronkap, “to feel (an object)”, roṅkam, “to touch (an object)”.
49. Besides the ordinary style of speech several languages also possess a higher one, specially appropriated to politeness, sacred things, etc. In these gradations of style root-variation is also employed. Thus in Modern Jav. těpuṅ is the usual, těpaṅ the pohte, word for “to unite”. In the Day. dirge Augh Olo Bahan Hapa Tiwah, p. 215, we find: hasambalut tatekan = “mixed with that which is cut off”; this tatekan is explained by tapekan, so the variant tek denotes the religious,pek the common, form of speech.
50. Root- variation is a complex subject in IN research and will yet afford matter for many an academic thesis. But. at the same time there is no other field of study that holds out such alluring temptations to the constructive fancy as this ​one does, and the utmost caution is therefore to be observed in approaching it. An identification has been suggested between the roots of the Old Jav. words kělěm, “to sink”, and surup, “to become submerged”, so that rup and lěm would be variants of one another. The present writer formerly agreed with this view, but has since had doubts on the subject. For there is also a Karo word kěneṅ, “to sink”; and why should we not be allowed to identify this nĕṅ also with lěm ? That, however, inevitably leads to the identification of něṅ and rwp ;and then there would be an end to all serious research.
51. In raising the question of the universal validity of phonetic law in IN, one must not use the phenomena of root-variation as evidence against such validity. There is a phonetic law of interchange of vowels as between Karo and Toba (§ 19), whereby every Karo ě is represented in Toba by o, and thus Karo ěněm, “six”, is onom in Toba. Now the pendant to the Karo ikěl, “to laugh” , is not eṅkol in Toba but eṅkel. But we have no right whatever to assert that this is an exception to the law; on the contrary, the matter stands thus: there was originally a root for to laugh with two variants, kel and kd, whereof the first has been preserved in Karo, the other in Toba.
Determination.
52. In § 41 we were introduced to roots of two sounds, such as ju, “to aim, to have a certain direction”, li, “to buy”. Now alongside of these roots of two sounds there always run roots of three, which have therefore another consonant after the vowel. Beside the above-mentioned root li Karo has a root lih, “to appropriate to oneself” ; beside ju Sund. has jul in tujul, “to point, to direct a letter to someone” ; beside jd in Old Jav. ipi, “to sleep”, there is pit in ipit, “to talk in one's sleep”. Through many languages there runs a root kas alongside of ka, “to open, to release” , and the like:
| ka | ka | kas | kas |
| Tag. | ouka | Tag. | bukas |
| Bis. | boka | Bis. | bokas |
| Old Jav. | buka | Ponosakan | wukas |
| Sund. | buka | Tontb. | ĕṅkas |
| Karo | pulka | Karo | tĕlkas. |
53. Some of the phenomena that are usually regarded as variations could perhaps with equal justification be classed under the concept of determination. It is customary to say that suk in Old Jav. asuk, “to bring into”, and sup in susup, “to force one's way into”, stand in the relation of variation to one another. But it is also a tenable view that suk and sup are cases of the determination of a root of two sounds, su. But this would remain a mere figment of the imagination until it had been shown that such a root su had a real existence.
54. The explanation of the determining elements is more difficult in IN than in IE. In the latter the formatives are affixed as suffixes, in the same place, that is, where the determinatives also appear, and thereby we are enabled to gain from the formatives some indications as to the nature of the determinatives (see Brugmann, “Kurze vergleicheiule Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen”, § 367). In IN the determinatives, it is true, are suffixed, but the formatives mostly appear as prefixes. There is only one universally distributed IN suffix, viz. -an, -ĕn or -n, which is used both in nominal and verbal derivation. By means of this suffix we are enabled, it is true, to explain one of the phenomena of determination. In § 41 we became acquainted with a root si, “contents”; in Tettum it has the form sin, occurring in isin, “contents”. In the determining n we may recognize the above-mentioned formative -n. This phenomenon is found chiefly in Masaretese and Tettum, which has twenty quite certain cases, but we also meet with it in other languages. Other examples:
| Common IN | ina | Tettum | inan, | “ mother ” |
| Day. | ara | Jav. | aran, | “ name ” |
| Day. | olo | Mlg. | uluna, | “ man ” |
| Jav. | isi | Masaretese | isin, | “ contents ”. |
Metathesis.
55. Metathesis of the root occurs in IN in three forms:
I. The two consonants of the root of three sounds change places . Examples:
| Tontb. | kewoy | and | keyow, | “ to dirty ” |
| Tontb. | leqlew, | “ to peel ” | kawel, | “ to detach ” |
| Sund. | aduy | and | ayud, | “ soft ” |
| Tonsea | telew | Bulu | tewel, | “ to fly ” |
| Old Jav. | atus | Iloko | gasut, | “ hundred ”. |
This kind of metathesis is found in all the IN languages, in some more frequently than in others, but always in isolated cases, never in series or groups.
II. The vowel and the final consonant of the root of three sounds change places. This phenomenon occurs in Kissarese. But before we can examine it we must state the phonetic laws of Kissarese, as formulated by Rinnoy:
First Law: Original IN k is dropped. Example: iur, “ tail ”, beside Mal., etc., ekur.
Second Law: Original IN t becomes k. Example: waku, “ stone ”, beside Old Jav., etc., watu
Third Law: Original IN s becomes h. Example: ahu, “ dog ”, beside Old Jav., etc., asu.
Thus, in Kissarese, Original IN kulit, “ skin ”, first becomes ulik and finally by metathesis ulki; walas, “ to repay ”, walah ​and finally walha; ulas, “forest”, alah and finally alha, etc. The number of instances recognized by the present writer does not suffice to decide whether these cases of metathesis in Kis- sarese are isolated phenomena, Hke those under I. above, or whether they form a group subject to a phonetic law.
III. The two sounds in roots of two sounds change places. This phenomenon occurs quite regularly in Kupangese, in a consecutive context, apparently when certain conditions are fulfilled. Thus “to go” is, according to these circumstances, sometimes lako and sometimes laok; “to be able”, bole and boel, etc. The etymological forms are lako and bole, as is shown by Old Jav. laku and Mal. boleh. — This kind of metathesis is found in quite isolated instances in various IN languages, e.g. Tontb. pair as compared with Common IN pari, “ray” (a species of fish).
Homophony.
56. The concept of homophony:
In Old Jav. there is a word atĕr, “to accompany”, and another, hantěr, “to follow” ; from these we infer a root těr. Further. Old Jav. has a word kĕtěr, “to tremble”, and also gěntĕr, “to quake”; whence also follows a root těr. Both roots have absolutely the same sound, but their meanings do not admit of any identification whatever. This phenomenon we style homophony of the root.
57. Examples from Karo:
First root liṅ, “ to turn ”: Old Jav. puliṅ, “ to roll ”, Karo baliṅ, “ to turn ”, Mal., Gayo (giliṅ, “ to roll ”, Bis. galiṅ, “ to spin ”.
Second root liṅ, “ to look ”: Old Jav. dĕliṅ, “ to look ”, Bis. hiliṅ, “ to look carefully at ”, Mal. kěrliṅ, “ to give a side-long glance ”.
Third root liṅ, “ word, sound ” : Old Jav. liṅ, wěliṅ, “ to speak ”, Gayo liṅ, “ word, sound ”, Karo aliliṅ, “ echo ”.
Homophonies that run through so many languages may be ascribed to Original IN.
59. An homophony deserving of particular notice is to be found among the words of form, to wit that one and the same word is at once a demonstrative pronoun (or, if weakened, an article) and a locative preposition. Examples:
i: demonstrative or article in many languages.
i: preposition in many languages.
a: demonstrative or article in several languages.
a: preposition in Mlg.: nusi, “ island ”, a-nusi, “ on the island ”.
cu: demonstrative in Bug. and as part of itu (in accordance with the phenomenon discussed in § 80) in several languages.
tu: preposition in Toba.
ka: demonstrative, as part of ika (§ 80) in Old Jav.
ka: preposition in many languages.
Very probably, however, these are cases of something more than a merely superficial homophony.
60. This homophony of the root, a phenomenon of very frequent occurrence in all IN languages, has repeatedly been used as evidence to prove the inferiority of the Indonesian race as compared with the white one. It has been urged that it argues “ a confused and clouded mental apparatus ”. Such an assertion, however, merely proves the scientific inferiority and the inhumanity of its authors. This homophony by no ​means leads to “confused and clouded” thinking: IN possesses sufficient linguistic means to avoid any such defect. It is true, for example, that the root i in Toba is both a preposition and also a demonstrative, but as preposition it pre-cedes the word with which it is in relation, and is prochtic with a weak stress, e.g., na i daṅka = “those on the boughs”, while as a demonstrative it folloivs the word with which it is in relation, and has more stress than it, e.g., pidoṅi = “this bird” .
The Meaning of the Root.
61. In connexion with this theme we have to put two questions : What shades of meaning can a root have, and which is the primary one among such shades of meaning ? On this occasion we will deal with the matter by considering two instructive cases.
The root lut occurs in many IN languages. In Gayo we find as derivatives of it the words balut, to wind, to twist, bĕlut, “eel”, and kalut, “mental confusion”. One and the same root, therefore, yields a word-base denoting an action, another word -base denoting a concrete thing, and a third one denoting a psychical event. — Should anyone throw doubt on the relationship of these three words, we would draw his attention to the fact that precisely the same phenomenon is repeated in connexion with the Tontb. root sey: Tontb. kĕsey means “to wind” (intrans.), kosey, “eel”, and pĕsey, “doubt”.
62. Now which of the three shades of meaning of the root lut is the original one ?
This root has in many languages the meaning of “to twist, to entangle”, e.g. Karo ulut, “to twist”, Mal. bulut, “to wrap up hastily”, written Mkb. bilut, “irregularly shaped”, Bĕsĕmah balot, “to wrap round”, etc.; but only in quite a few languages does it mean “eel” or “mental confusion”; hence the first-named shade of meaning will probably be the original one.
​To explain the o of Běsěmah balot a phonetic law must be mentioned, which affects the distribution of u and o in the final syllable of the word-base: In the final syllable of Běsěmah words u occurs as an absolute final and o before a final consonant, no matter how these vowels may be distributed in Original IN or in other languages; thus beside the Mal. pasu, “ pot ”, there is also a Běsěmah word pasu, but pasuṅ, “ stocks ”, is represented in Běsěmah by pasoṅ.
The second case referred to in § 61 is given in § 90.
____________________
SECTION III: THE FORMATION OF THE WORD- BASE FROM THE ROOT.
Preliminary Observations.
63. The word-base may be formed from the root in five different ways: first, the root itself may be a word-base; or, secondly, the reduplicated root; or, thirdly, two or more roots are combined; or, fourthly, formatives are added to the root; or, fifthly, a meaningless pĕpĕt is prefixed to the root.
The Root as Word-base.
64. Among the roots that can serve as word-bases we will proceed from the obscure formations of the emotional impulses to the clearer ones of the reason, thus mentioning first the interjections and ending with the words of form.*
65. The IN languages possess, to begin with, such interjections as are evoked by internal psychological processes, e.g., ah used as an expression of mental anguish, etc., etc.
66. In the second place, there are the interjections that are elicited by some external event:
I. The interjection directly imitates by its sound the external event. Of such cases, which are numerous in most of the IN languages, let two be adduced as specimens:
The following examples illustrate the use of these interjections in the sentence:
II. The external event has the characteristic of being sudden or momentary, but it can scarcely be maintained that the form of the interjection is an imitation of the event. These cases are particularly numerous in Jav. and Sund. Examples from Sund.: bĕs, interjection used of diving; bral, at departing; bray, when it grows light; jlog, at a sudden arrival.
III. The external event lacks the characteristic of suddenness. Sund. examples: rĕd, interjection when binding; tret, when writing.—
Obviously these groups are not sharply differentiated from one another. Gayo sur and Sund. ser, which owing to their sound have been included under I., might equally well have been put under II.
67. Thirdly, the interjection expresses a complete judgment. Examples: Gayo cup, “ that is against the rules!”, but the same cup in Jav.: “ Yes, that is so !”
68. The second category is that of the words for calling, frightening away, and urging on. Examples: Mad. yuh incites dogs; Jav. cik calls dogs; Karo ciṅ calls cats, etc.
Through many languages there runs the call kur, which is used for calling fowls and summoning back the departing vital spirit of persons in a faint, etc. In Mal., Gayo, Jav., and written Mkb. it has the form kur; Bĕsĕmah, in accordance with the law stated in § 62, has kor.
69. The third category is that of the “ suckling ” words of children's speech, or, as Paul in his “ Prinzipien der Sprach-
72. Sixth category: words of form. There is a considerable number of monosyllabic words of form in the IN languages. Some of them run in unchanged shape through so many IN languages that we must ascribe them to Original IN. These include:
a: particle of uncertain judgment, hence in Bug. meaning “ or ”, in Old Jav. “ to be compared with ”, in Bis. “ what sort of ? ”.
The following examples exhibit the distribution of some of these monosyllabic words of form, and at the same time illustrate their application:
The Reduplicated Root as Word-base.
Third law: between the two vowels of the word-base only a few of the Original IN combinations of consonants are now tolerated, in most cases the first consonant has to become q. The following examples particularly illustrate this third law:
This mode of forming the word-base by doubling the root, and likewise the actual cases cited under γ, may be ascribed to Original IN.
75. Second type: the root is doubled and between the two roots the root vowel is inserted. This type occurs very frequently in Iloko:
In other languages this formation is rarer. Examples from Bis.: bisibis beside bisbis, “ to pour out ”; hisihis, “ to trail along the ground ”, beside Old Jav. his, “ to stream ”.
76. Third type: only the first two sounds of the root are reduplicated, as in Mal. kikis, “ to scratch ”.
β. There are, however, means of determining whether it is a case of reduplication or of a formative. As an Original IN laklak has been established in § 74, it is surely simplest to regard Day. lalak as a product of this laklak ; and further, since a word kiskis occurs in many IN languages, we shall assert that this reduplication also accounts for the first syllable of Mal. kikis.
γ. Mad. possesses many striking cases of forms transitional between full and partial reduplication, as the following table shows:
| Mad. | Mad. second form | Modern Jav. |
| sĕpsĕp | sĕssĕp | sĕsĕp, “ to suck out ”. |
| tĕptĕp | tĕttĕp | tĕtĕp, “ firm ”. |
| sĕksĕk | sĕssĕk | sĕsĕk, “ narrow ” |
δ. The writer has, however, no means at hand of deciding the question whether every case of partial reduplication of the root in IN languages has proceeded from an Original IN complete reduplication or whether partial reduplication existed in Original IN side by side with the complete form.
77. The question now presents itself, whether reduplication of the root entails a definite modification of meaning. Now we actually do observe that an intensification of the idea of the root can be expressed by reduplication, as is shown by the following table of Karo words:
| kĕskĕs, “ to bind tightly ” | biṅkĕs “ to pack ”. |
| parpar, “ to fling down ” | ampar, “ to lie on the floor ”. |
| gakgak, “ to keep one's gaze fixed upwards” | jurgak, “to look upwards ”. |
| kĕlkĕl, “ to overcome all obstacles ” | doṅkĕl, “ obstacle ”. |
| larlar, “ very extended ” | wĕlar, “ broad, wide ”. |
We find similar phenomena in other languages as well. Thus, in Tontb., the precise meaning of lĕqlĕt, from lĕtlĕt, is “ to force oneself into ”, whereas sĕlĕt merely means “ between ”. Further peqpet, from petpet, means “ to flatten ”, while kumpet signifies “ to cover ”. There are similar cases in Mad. and elsewhere.
78. The further question arises, whether this intensification of meaning is a regular concomitant of reduplication. Since the present writer, as stated in § 7, has taken a general survey of the whole store of simple and reduplicated roots in many languages, he is in a position to answer this question also. And the answer is: no. In the majority of the cases reduplication does not, after all, import any specific shade of meaning; that is shown by the following comparisons, here given as samples:
Karo
| taptap, “ to wash clothes ” | litap “ wet clothes ”. |
| datdat, “ slow ” | kĕdat, “ lazy ”. |
Madurese
| raṅraṅ, “ seldom ” | jaraṅ “ seldom ”. |
| jhĕkjhĕk, “ firm ” | ajhĕk, “ to stamp firm ”. |
| terter or: | eter, “ to sow in a row ”. |
79. In the cases of complete reduplication hitherto mentioned the root was set down twice, sound for sound. But we also find cases of reduplication with variation of the vowel. This phenomenon occurs in many languages, but the variation is nowhere found in manifold diversity, and the number of individual cases is nowhere great.
I. Toba has hardly any other type than the variation u : a, and the instances denote a noise or a discordance: ṅumṅam, “ not harmonious ”, suṅsaṅ, “ inverted ”, lumlam, “ confused ”, juljal, “ to contradict oneself ”.
II. Mad. shows no preference for any particular kind of variation; the meaning is again discordance: cekcok, “ non-sensical ”, cokcak, “ strife ”, salsul , “ mistaken for something else ”.
III. Day. does not employ complete reduplication at all, except in onomatopœic words. The reduplication with the same vowel often denotes a mere repetition of the event, the one with a varying vowel a happening in many different places:
| jakjak, “ to hiss often ” | jikjak, “ to hiss everywhere ”. |
| geṅgeṅ, “ to resound often ” | goṅgeṅ, “ to resound everywhere”. |
The most frequently occurring variation is i : a, irrespective of whether the simple root has i or a:
| lap, “ to sip noisly ” | reduplicated: liplap, |
| kis, “ to sneeze ” | „ kiskas. |
We can observe such phenomena in several other languages besides, but, as Toba, Mad., and Day. have sufficed to show, the various languages diverge to a very marked extent, so that there is no possibility here of drawing any conclusions as to Original IN conditions.
Combination of Roots to form the Word-base.
saṅ into sa + ṅ, and ri into r + i and all these roots of one sound exist by themselves in Old Jav. or in other languages. Old Jav., for instance, welds the two locative roots i and r into ri, and even then it can prefix another i, thus producing iri. Examples:
Similarly Old Jav. ika, “ this ”, consist of the two demonstrative elements i and ka. Mlg. tsia, “ no ”, as compared with tsi, “ not ”, contains an intensifying particle a, which in the form of ah also follows negatives in Day. : dia, “ no ”, dia ah, “ not at all ! ” The Bug. kuwaetopa, “ just so ”, is composed of five parts, all of which also occur separately in Bug., viz. ku + a + e + to + pa.
We find in many languages the combination of the genitive preposition n (which we have repeatedly mentioned) with an i, which is a locative preposition, but may also perhaps be regarded as an article in certain cases. The resulting form ni is used as a genitive preposition. Examples:
​Vazimba in Julien's grammar: ani andrefana misi fuku witsi-witsi, izay milaza, azi hu taranak’ i ni * Wazimba = “ In the West there are several clans ( = fuku) which say that they are descendants of the Wazimba ”.
82. The combination of the genitive particle with the article in Old Jav. and Tag. deserves particular notice:
| Old Jav. | “ the foe ” | ṅ musuh. |
| Old Jav. | “ of the foe ” | niṅ musuh. |
| Tag. | “ the man ” | aṅ tawo. |
| Tag. | “ of the man ” | naṅ tawo. |
The formula for Old Jav., therefore, is (n + i) + ṅ, since ni consists of n + i; the Tag. formula is n + (a + ṅ), since aṅ is composed of two articles, the a mentioned in § 59 and the ṅ which occurs in the Old Jav. The view that Tag. naṅ consists of ni + aṅ raises phonetic difficulties, nor is it necessary seeing that in § 72 we showed the existence of a preposition n without a vowel.
83. Second type : combination of two roots of substance. Examples:
Sund. bĕksĕk, “ to cut down ”.
Sund. ruksak, “ to destroy ”.
Mentaway rokdaṅ, “ in a straight line ”.
84. Third type : combination of a root of substance with a root of form. The latter in these cases is the article a.
Coalescence of Formatives with the Root to form the Word-base.
85. The most important linguistic means whereby word-bases are fashioned from roots consists in the indissoluble union of a formative with the root, so that they solidify into a new entity. These formatives are put before, into, or after the root; they are prefixes, infixes, or suffixes.
86. As already observed, the number and importance of the infixes and suffixes are much less considerable than those of the prefixes. So far as infixes and sufiixes are concerned the following remarks will suffice for our purposes:
I. Formatives serving as suffixes are: -an, otherwise -ĕn or -n, and -i. Examples: Old Jav. gahan, “ renowned ”, beside Gayo gah, “ renown ”; Karo buni, “ to hide ”, beside Karo bunbun, “ to cover ”.
II. As infixes we find: -ĕr-, -ĕl-, -um-, -in-. Examples: Mal. kĕriṅ, “ dry ”, beside Old Jav. kiṅ, “ dry ”; Old Jav. tĕluṅ, “ to hang ”, beside Old Jav. gantuṅ, “ to hang ”; Day. kuman, “ to eat ”, beside Magindanao kan, “ food ”; Tontb. tinĕp, “ to dive ”, beside Tontb. tĕgtĕp, “ to sink in ”.
III. Examples of infixes that run through several languages: kuman, “ to eat ”, is not only Day. but also Sampit, Tonsea, and Bulu; Mal. kĕras, “ hard ” — beside Old Jav. kas, “ hard ” — is also Old Jav. and Gayo, and in conformity with the laws stated in § 19 the Toba horas is identical with it.
IV. All the six formatives mentioned under I. and II. have other functions as well. They occur, the one in one language, another in another, as means for forming out of word-bases actual living derivatives, mostly in great numbers, e.g., -um- in Old Jav. serves to form the aorist. — Compare herewith the quite different conditions mentioned in § 95 in relation to the prefixes.
87. The use of prefixes in fashioning the word-base out of the root is far commoner than that of infixes and suffixes. The number of prefixes is very large and the investigation of ​them could supply material for many a dissertation. In conformity with § 23 we shall here confine our enquiry to the main features of the subject.
Our first duty will simply be to recognize the existence of such prefixes, beginning our enquiry with the examination of a single language. Now here Sund. can be of very good service to us. It possesses a considerable number of monosyllabic roots which actually live in the language, nearly all being interjections, and it also possesses many word-bases derived from those roots. Karo, which we have often cited on other occasions, would be less useful to us here ; it also has a good many living monosyllabic roots, but in most cases no derivatives from them. We need only subtract the roots from the respective Sund. word-bases, and the formatives will appear. This is shown by the following list:
| dĕk, interjection of touching | adĕk, “ to touch ”: formative a. |
| bat, interjection of stretching | ĕmbat, “ facings ”: formative ĕm. |
| sĕd, interjection of pushing | isĕd, “ to push to ”: formative i. |
| rĕd, interjection of binding | urĕd, “ to bind fast ”: formative u. |
| bur, interjection of jerking away | kabur, “ to flee ”: formative ka. |
| gĕn, interjection of setting down | tagĕn, “ to put upon something ”: formative ta. |
| cok, interjection of picking | pacok, “ to pick ”: formative pa. |
| gĕs, interjection of breaking | rĕgas,* “ brittle ”: formative rĕ. |
| bar, interjection of spreading out | sĕbar, “ to sow ”: formative sĕ. |
Here then we have ascertained that the prefixes a-, ĕm- or ĕn- or ĕṅ-, i-, u-, ka-, ta-, pa-, rĕ-, and sĕ- are employed in Sund. for forming word-bases.
Now when we look through the various IN dictionaries, e.g. those of Old Jav., Karo, Mal., etc., we are at once struck by ​the number of words we meet with that begin with these nine syllables. Likewise we have also come across them very often in the analyses we have previously undertaken. Therefore these nine prefixes are amongst the most widely distributed and commonly employed formatives used for the formation of word-bases.
88. Up to now we have usually spoken of the IN word-base as being disyllabic, consisting of the root and one formative. That is really the case of most frequent occurrence, but a root may also be combined with more than one formative at a time. In Tontb. the root paṅ forms pom + paṅ, “ hole in the ground ”, but also pa + im + paṅ, “ hole in a tree ”. The number of such combinations of formatives is exceedingly large. Some of them run through many languages, e.g., kĕ + rĕ
| Old Jav. | kĕrĕkĕt, | “ to creak ”. |
| Mal. | kĕrĕpaq, | “ to crack ”. |
| Sund. | kĕrĕpuk, | “ to beat ”. |
| Achinese | kĕrĕluṅ, | “ to scratch ”. |
| Tonsea | kĕrĕsot, | “ to squirt ”. |
89. We will now proceed to explain in greater detail a word-base containing two formatives which has been chosen at random as an example. In Tontb. there is a word-base lincayoq, “ to swarm ”, The root is yoq, which also occurs in woyoq, “ to shake ”. From this root there has been formed, to begin with, a word-base kayoq, which also exists and signifies “ to stir about ”. The formative ka- here used is also found, e.g. in kaloy, “ to hang down loosely ”, from the root loy, whence also is derived the synonymous word loyloy. In front of kayoq another formative, the prefix lin-, is then attached, and as this contains an i the k has to be changed to c- in conformity with § 74, and hence the ultimate resultant is lincayoq. The formative lin- also occurs e.g. in lintoy, “ to swing up and down ”, from the root toy, whence also comes kontoy, “ to settle down ”.
90. We will now illustrate by a single case how a number of different formatives may combine with one and the same root in various IN languages. The root selected for the purpose is suk, which means “ to enter, to bring into ”.
91. A considerable number of word-bases recur in very many IN languages with absolute phonetic concordance, that is to say with the same root and the same formative'. — At this juncture we must interpolate a phonetic law of Iloko: Original IN ĕ appears in Iloko as e, and when this e is in the penultimate syllable, the next following consonant is doubled. Accordingly Original IN, and also Karo, etc., ĕnĕm, “ six ”, appears in Iloko as ennem. — Now follow the examples:
Meaning: “ to enclose, cage ”. — Type: Old Jav., Mal., Karo, Gayo, Mak. kuruṅ; Tag. koloṅ, by the RLD-law. — Root ruṅ, whence also comes Karo karuṅ, “ sack ”.
Meaning: “ past, away ”. — Type: Old Jav., Mal, Sund. lĕpas; Toba lopas, by the law given in § 19; Mlg. lefa, in con​formity with the laws of § 30; Iloko leppas, by the law stated above. — Root pas, from which also is formed Karo ripas, “ away ! ”
Meaning: “ black ”. — Type: Original IN itĕm; Tag. itim; Bis. itom; Magindanao item; Mkb. itam; Mlg. dialect itina, — Root tĕm, whence also Bis. agtom, “ blacking ”. — The vowels correspond with the utmost accuracy to the requirements of the pĕpĕt-law.
Meaning: “ wave ”. — Type: Old Jav., Mal., Achinese, Mkb. alun; Bis. alon; Mlg. aluna, by the law given in § 30. — Root lun, whence also Old Jav. wĕlun, “ to whirl ”.
Meaning: “ skin ”. — Type: Old Jav., Mal., Sund., Gayo, written Mkb., Ponosakan, Sampit kulit; Mlg. huditra, by the laws of § 30. — Root lit, whence also Karo salit, “ to peel ”.
Such word-bases as these we may ascribe in their disyllabic form to Original IN.
92. When a formative is prefixed to the root we often observe that the two syllables of the resulting word-base have similar vowels. There is an IN root with the meaning “ to turn ”, which occurs in three variants: laṅ, liṅ, luṅ, and we find in many IN languages word-bases such as galaṅ, giliṅ, guluṅ, that is to say, with vowel harmony; but alongside of these there are also such forms as gilaṅ, galuṅ, etc., that is, with dissonance of the vowels. So the harmony in the above cases is merely fortuitous. Still, there are also certain cases where we can clearly perceive a law. The following phenomenon appears in Tontb.: when to any root there is prefixed the formative i + nasal and to this again some other formative (no matter which) is prefixed, then the last-named formative always has the same vowel as the root. This law includes thirty-three individual cases, and is hardly subject to a single exception. Examples: wuimbuṅ, “ to knock all of a heap ”, from the root buṅ, which also appears, e.g., in Karo ambuṅ, “ to throw ”; waimbaṅ, “ to throw away ”, from a variant of the root buṅ; lĕindĕṅ, “ mist ”; see also § 88.
93. The question now suggests itself, what is the meaning, what the function, of each of these formatives that fashion word-bases out of roots ? This subject is enormously complex and will also furnish material for many a dissertation. As in some other cases, the present writer wishes merely to throw some light on this matter by the mention of a particular instance: in many IN dictionaries there is a not inconsiderable number of word-bases beginning with dĕ-. When we survey all the cases, the conclusion follows that this dĕ- forms verbal word-bases from interjections:
| Mal.: ciṅ, “ jingle ” | dĕciṅ, “ to jingle ”. |
| Karo: kuṅ, “ cry of a quail ” | dĕkuṅ, “ to cry like a quail ”. |
| Gayo: buk, “ bump ! ” | dĕbuk, “ to fall with a thud ”. |
| Sund.: ṅek, “ shrill tone ” | dĕṅek, “ to yell ”. |
| Bulu: | dĕtup, “ to bang (like a shot) ”. |
| Iloko: | dessoor, “ to rustle ”. |
We may ascribe this formative dĕ, with the meaning assigned to it, to Original IN.
94. The further question arises, whether the formatives were not originally independent words. In actual fact this can, with considerable probability, be argued of many of them. Toba has word-bases like tuliṅ, “ to fall over, to be knocked over ”, tulak, “ to be turned back ”, tulus, “ to be realized, to come to pass ”; these have passive or intransitive meanings. Now in Toba we also find that by means of the preposition tu, “ to ”, and word-bases, phrases are formed which are precisely equivalent to passive verbs : thus gadis is the word-base for “ sale ” and tu gadis means “ to be sold ”. Now it is quite credible that this preposition is also inherent in the above-named tulak, etc. In that case, however, we have here what are really combinations of two roots after the fashion mentioned in § 84.
Prefixing the Pĕpĕt.
SECTION IV: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE WORD-BASE.
Preliminary Observations.
98. This Section deals in [the first place with the structure of the word-base ; but as that follows from the account already given above of the manner in which the word-base is formed from the root, there will be no scope here for more than a brief recapitulation. The second point is the homophony of the word-base; the third, the function in a continuous context of the simple word-base, uncompounded with any further formatives; the fourth subsection deals with the reduplication of the word-base; the fifth, with the extension of the word-base for the formation of derivative words and for inflexion.
Structure.
99. It has been shown in Section III that the IN word-base is either identical with the root; or with the reduplicated root; or that it consists of two or more roots welded together; or that in it the root is indissolubly combined with one or more formatives, which are mostly prefixed, more rarely infixed or sufiixed; or, lastly, that a pĕpĕt is prefixed to the bare root. The commonest of these several modes of formation is the fourth, and within this mode the commonest case is that of the root combining with one prefix, so that the word-base appears as a disyllabic
Several IN languages have an objection to final consonants, and therefore either discard them or else add on a vowel to them. The latter occurs in Mlg. and Mak. Thus Original IN and Old Jav., etc., anak, Mai. anaq “child”, appears in Mlg. as anaka. Accordingly, the dictionaries of such languages contain many trisyllabic word-bases.
Homophony.
100. Homophony is as rare in the complete word -base as it is common in the root. That is due to the fact that the formatives which create word-bases from roots are very numerous.
Example of homophony in Old Jav. : ulih = (1) to get, (2) to deliberate, (3) to return.
Example of homophony running through many languages:.
| | I. karaṅ: | I. karaṅ: |
| Old. Jav. | crag, rock | to cut designs. |
| Mal. | reef | to make garlands, to compose. |
| Gayo | rock | to compose. |
| Day | gravel, crag | to compose. |
| Mak. | coral reef | to compose. |
Function.
living speech. From the root kit,'“to rise”, which appears e.g. in Gayo baṅkit, “to rise” , there is also derived a widely distributed word-base bukit, “rising ground, hill, hill town”. Now the following sentences show that this word-base, without any further additions, is really capable of being used in speech :
| Old Jav. | laku | word-base for “going” |
| | lumaku | indicative. |
| | laku ! | imperative. |
| Day. | tiroh | word-base for “sleeping”. |
| | batiroh | indicative. |
| | tiroh ! | imperative. |
As these word-bases are substantives, they of course require the substantival construction. As mentioned in § 72, w is a genitive preposition, and thus in Mlg. “mildness of temper” is lemi m fanahi, which by reason of the sandhi-Iaws has to be pronounced: lemi m panahi.
In this respect the IN conditions are mostly the opposite of the IE, Thus in the French rouge : rouyeur it is the substative that carries the formative, in Day. handaṅ : bahandaṅ, the adjective; and the same relation obtains between Mlg. lemi : malemi and the Latin lenitudo : lenis.
109. Word-bases in the IN languages often have more than one function:
I. A definite, but not large, number of Old Jav. word-bases, including tĕka, are used in threefold fashion: as substan- tives, tĕka mu, “thy coming”, as indicatives, tĕka ko, “thou comest”, and as imperatives, tĕka, “come !”
II. In Day. a definite, very large, number of word-bases, including tiroh, have a double function: as substantives, maṅat tiroh ku, “sound (was) my sleep” , and as imperatives, tiroh, “sleep !” ; the indicative is batiroh.
III. In Mlg. such words have only one function, viz. as substantives: turi, sleep. The indicative is maturi and the imperative maturia.
110. The IN word-base resembles the IE stem. The structure of Karo abat, “obstacle”, from the root bat, from ​which also comes rĕbat, “barred, blocked”, is quite similar to that of the Latin fuga from the root fug; the fact that in the one case the formative a precedes while in the other it follows, affects the matter but little.
Reduplication.
Jav., Mahābhārata, a, 41 : mawĕla-wĕlas ta manah nira = “His ( = nira) heart then felt deep pity”, from wĕlas, “pity”. — In Sanskrit loan-words often more than one sound is omitted :
Extension.
hira, word-base for “singing”.
mihira, “to sing”.
mpihira, “singer” .
fihirana, “song” .
​β. Declension, plurals with formatives containing an r:
Tiruray: Antonio, “Anthony” , re-Antonio, “Anthonyland his people”.
Sund.: budak, “child”, barudak, “children”.
Masaretese: huma, “house”, humaro, “houses”.
y. Conjugation, formation of the past tense with n:
| | Magindanao | Sangirese | Malagasy |
| Pres. | mageda | mĕbĕbera | matahutra. |
| Past. | nageda | nĕbera | natahutra. |
| Fut. | mageda-bu | mĕbera | halahutra. |
* ↑ For the abbreviations see note on § 10, for the transcription § 11.
* ↑ wiku, being a loan-word, has no bearing on the present question.
* ↑ [The original has “ Grundwörter,” a term for which there is no thoroughly satisfactory English equivalent. For explanations of the meaning of the term, and the author's reasons for selecting it, see § 110 and Essay II, §§ 143 seqq.)
* ↑ [See also Essay II, §§ 25-6, Essay III, §§ 28-9, and Essay IV, §§ 5, 121-8.]
* ↑ [See also Essay II, § 190, and Essay IV, §§ 99, 129-39.]
* ↑ [Cf. Essay III, §§ 1-7.]
* ↑ Of course it frequentl}- happens that in these two languages the written and spoken forms agree. — Similarly Old and Modern Jav. are often identical.
* ↑ [I.e., Hardeland's Olo-Ngaju Dayak.]
* ↑ The meaning of the various abbreviations used is self-evident, e.g., IN = Indonesian; IE = Indo-European; Mal. = Malay; Mkb. = Minangkabau; Mlg. = Malagasy, etc. [See also Essay II, § 15.]
* ↑ [See also Essav II, especially §§ 17-49, and Essay IV, especially §§ 39 seqq.]
* ↑ [In Romanized Malay commonly written k or ķ.]
* ↑ [In Romanized Malay commonly written ng,ch, and ny, respectively.]
* ↑ [See also Essay II, § 48, and Essay IV, §§ 40, 140 seqq., 181 seqq.]
* ↑ [See also Essay II, § 48, and Essay IV, §§ 41-3.]
* ↑ [But y and w only in so far as they form part of diphthongs.]
* ↑ [See Essay II, especially §§ 54-74.]
* ↑ [See also Essay II, §§ 75 seqq., and Essay IV, §§ 67 seqq., 307 seqq.
* ↑ [See also Essay III, § 12, II.]
* ↑ The first rule holds good both for written and spoken Toba; the second one for written Toba only, as the h may undergo a further change in actual pronunciation.
* ↑ Only in certain positions, not, for example, as a final.
* ↑ The o is in conformity with the law stated m § 25.
* ↑ On this point Bis. and other Philippine dictionaries are inconsistent: we find both o and u.
* ↑ The h is due to the influence of the hamzah.
* ↑ [See also Essay IV, § 210.]
* ↑ As to the vowels o and a, see §§ 25 and 27.
* ↑ Where we find an h in Mlg. it has a different origin, it arises from Original IN k — (save that as a final or after a nasal k persists unchanged).
* ↑ [See also Essay IV, § 206.]
* ↑ [See also Essay IV, § 210.]
* ↑ The construction is a genitive one, as in Latin, n being a genitive preposition.
* ↑ man is a doubtful case, it may be primitive or it may be a contraction of maan, which is found, e.g., in Gayo.
* ↑ maka has very various functions; it can introduce both principal and subordinate clauses, as in this extract.
* ↑ [See § 71 and Essay II, §§ 51-2.]
* ↑ [In the original, " Formwörter ", the meaning of which term is illustrated by the examples given here and in § 72. See also Essay II, §§ 81, 84-114. " Words of form " must not be confounded with " formatives" (which are not separate words, but mere affixes, though they were often originally independent " words of form "): see Essay II,
* ↑ c for k in conformity vnth the law stated in § 74. [i is the article; as to the use of articles before proper names, see Essay II, §§ 85, 91 (and footnote).]
* ↑ The doubling of the I in Bug. and Mak. is in conformity with the laws stated in §§ 27 and 29.
* ↑ The doubling of the s follows the same laws, as the a is not a primitive a.
* ↑ The o is in conformity with the law stated in § 25.
* ↑ See however § 48.
* ↑ The r is in conformity with the RLD-law; the final -na in accordance with the law stated in § 30.
* ↑ The dl is in accordance with the law stated in § 25. — All these words mean “ to cut ”.
* ↑ [See also Essay IV, § 348.]
* ↑ [See also Essay IV, § 348 ]
* ↑ $^{Mlg.hasnoo;thefinal-nafollowsthelawstatedin§30.}$
* ↑ $^{[In“DerArtikeldesIndonesischenverglichenmitdemdesIndo-germanischen”,§67,theauthorinclinestotheviewthatinTettum,atanyrate,thisfinalnmayrepresentanaffixedarticle.ThestudyofINlinguisticsisstillinprogress,andverypossiblynewevidencemayturnupsomedaywhichwillassistindeterminingsuchdoubtfulpoints.]}$
* ↑ There is no Kupangese grammar, but Jonker has issued a Kupang- ese text in Bijdragen 1904, p. 252.
* ↑ [See also Essay IV, §§ 23(3-41.]
* ↑ [See also Essay II, §§ 84 seqq., especially § 96.]
* ↑ To be pronounced dakka.
* ↑ [But see Essay IV, § 276.]
* ↑ With root- variation.
* ↑ [See also Essay II, §§ 51-2, 115.]
* ↑ [See also Essay II, §§ 96 seqq.]
* ↑ [See also Essay II, §§ 57-9, and Essay IV, §§ 195-6, 198.]
* ↑ Not Karo, but found in several other languages.
* ↑ [See also Essay II, §§ 118-9.]
* ↑ The Bulu and Iloko dictionaries do not give the corresponding interjections, but tup occurs in Gayo and Mal. has sur, which by the law of § 43 corresponds with an Iloko soor.—Iloko e has been dealt with in §91.
* ↑ [See Essay III, § 65.]
* ↑ [See Essay IV, § 150, L]
* ↑ [A still more primitive form of this root was kid (see Essay II, § 65), but that point is not material in this connexion.]
* ↑ The -ra is not a formative suffix but merely the product of a phonetic process (see § 30).
* ↑ [See also Essay II, § 162.]
* ↑ The order is: “High (is) tree this”.
* ↑ The order is: “So-called omens good”.
* ↑ [See also Essay II, §§ 168 seqq., 185.]
* ↑ [See also Essay II, § 159, and Essay III, §§ 75 seqq.]
* ↑ karazan' , by elision for karazana. The meaning is : “The Hovas are a race, etc.”
* ↑ [See also Essay III, especially §§ 17 seqq.]
* ↑ [The order is: “Rest bones weary, brace-up sinews slack.”]
* ↑ ni is the article for both singular and plural.
* ↑ dia is an untranslatable particle.
* ↑ The order is: “cloths red several”.
* ↑ [See also Essay II, §§ 174 seqq.]
* ↑ The three word-bases signify: “to go on board”, “to speak”, and “to fear” ", respectively.
* ↑ [See also Essay II, especially §§ 143-76, and Essay III, especially §§ 26 seqq. and 93 seqq.]