Northern Celebes, Tontb.: | nimaali, Pres. maali, “ to bring ”. |
Islands at the back of Sumatra, Nias: | nomofano, Pres. mofano, “ to start ”. |
Madagascar, Hova: | nutunena, Pres. tunena, “ to be calmed ”. |
Note I.—The Form, vocabulary only gives the forms, without telling us what tenses they represent; thus we simply find: lummis, linummis. But as the better known Magindanao conjugates precisely like this particular Form, dialect, we may conclude from it that linummis is a past tense:
Word-base | Present | Past |
Mangindanao | ||
lutad, “ to lower ” | lumutad | linumutad |
Formosan dialect | ||
lis, “ to glow ” | lummis | linummis |
Note II.—Hova nu- and Nias no- are identical; in accordance with phonetic law Hova represents the o of other languages by u.
Note III.—In Talautese the form with an m is not a present but a future.
Note IV. —The past formative nu- is also found in Toba (in Sumatra) in the extended form nuṅ or nuṅa. This consists of nu and the emphatic particle ṅa or ṅĕ, which recurs in several IN languages; in Karo, which is closely related to Toba, ṅĕ after vowels also appears as ṅ, e.g. in the Story of the Glutton, l. 28.
97. Illustrations of the past formations of the preceding paragraph. Tontb., from the Story of the Founding of the Village of Kapoya: "But Asaq set forth from Sondĕr" = sapaka si Asaq (ya) nicumĕsot (ai) an Sondĕr. Nias, from the Story of Buruti: "My mother has gone away" = G. + a. mother my = nomofano nina gu. Toba, from the Sangmaima : "The spear is lost, (dragged away by wild pigs)" = "nuṅa" lose spear = nuṅa mago hujur.