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ESSAY IV.
285
supporting vowels + hamzah, thus Makassar, hence Original IN nipis, "thin" > Mak. nipisiq.
152. Hamzah arises in sentence-sandhi from the abbreviation of words that are weak in stress. Thus the Sangirese preposition su can be pronounced q. We find in the "Children's Games", Bijdr. 1894, p. 520, 1. 2: "Yonder in the inland country" = dala q ulune for dala su ulune.
153. Initial and final hamzah may be lost in sentence-sandhi, either regularly or arbitrarily. Tontemboan aṅe, "hither", is pronounced qaṅe in conformity with § 142, but in the text Weweletěn (Sacrificial Prayers), Schwarz-Texts, p. 309, 1. 7, we find: "Come eat here!" = mai cuman aṅe, the q being lost. In Busang the word for "house" is umaq. But in the poem Boq Uyah Batang, p. 285, 1. 2, we find: "The house (named) Lang Děhaq" = umaq Laṅ Děhaq, and on p. 284, 1. 2, uma Laṅ Děhaq
The Law of the Mediae.
154. We meet with the law of the mediæ especially in Celebes and the neighbouring smaller islands, thus in Sangirese, Talautese, and Tontemboan, three languages that are closely related to one another, in Cenrana, and in Bugis; also apart from Celebes in Ibanag, Nias, Mentaway, and Hova.
155. I. The Sangirese law. In Sang. the media comes after a consonant; after vowels, the media g turns into the spirant ɣ, the media d into the liquid r, the media h into the semi-vowel w; thus the instantaneous mediae become continuants; and this holds good both of a single word and of words in a sentence. As initial of a single word pronounced by itself or at the beginning of the sentence, the media persists. Hence bera, "to speak", měqbera, the future active of the same, but iwera, the future passive. In the story in Bijdr. 1893, p. 354, 1. 1, we find: "I will tell of the ape" = iaq měqbio n baha, but 1. 4: "Said the ape" = aṅkún i waha.
II. The Talautese law agrees with the Sangirese, Thus the word for "house" is bale, as in Sang., and the word for
