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SECTION III: THE FORMATIVES OF THE VERB.
26. We have already learnt that the verbal WB may do duty as a predicate either with or without the addition of other linguistic elements. In the Nias proverb: “You need not close your hand when you have no tobacco in it” = Not shut h. hen not t. = boi goxoi daṅa, na lo bago , the word goxo is an unmodified WB and acts as a predicate. In the passage from the Masaretese oath formula: “He will die in eight days' time” " = In days eight die he = la beto etruwa damata di, the WB mata has taken on another linguistic element, the formative da-, in order to play the part of a predicate.
27. Now of such linguistic elements there are two kinds. Either they are syllables which unite with the WB to make a new formation, which is a unit and is governed by a single accent. Or they are independent words, which, though they attach themselves to the WB, do not coalesce with it. The first are called formatives, the latter auxiliary words of form. In the phrase from a Bug, love-song : “Indifference changes into passion” I. the becomes p. = lěbba e mañcaji seṅěrrěṅ, the syllable mañ- in mañcaji is a formative. But in another Bug. love-song: "He has deceived " = Has he d. = pura na bělle, the word pura, which really means " done " but here indicates the past, is an auxiliary word of form. — In the course of the present Section we shall only concern ourselves with the formatives; the auxihary words of form will be discussed hereafter.
28. As phonetic law constitutes the basis of comparative philology, we must now, after the introductory observations of the two preceding paragraphs, concern ourselves with the phonetic conditions of the IN verbal formatives. But not
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