30. Particular attention should be paid to the phonetic processes which take place in the various IN languages in connexion with the prefixing of the formative ṅ:
I. There is a Common IN formative ṅ-, about which we shall have a good deal more to say. Thus from the WB atta Bugis forms the verb ṅatta, “ to be ready ”, from the WB golek Modern Javanese makes the verb ṅgolek, “to seek”.
II. Now IN very rarely tolerates two consonants together at the beginning of a word. Consequently the addition of the formative ṅ- to WB's beginning with a consonant has led to a variety of compromises. The most important are the following, which may be styled Common IN:
ṅ + k > ṅ
ṅ + t > n
ṅ + p > m.
Examples from Modern Javanese:
ṅ + WB kirim > ṅirim, “to send”
ṅ + WB tumbas > numbas, “to buy”
ṅ + WB pakah > makah, “to ramify”.
III. Now it often happens, as we shall explain in detail later on, that several verbal formatives together become attached to the verbal WB. Thus it is a Common IN phenomenon for the formative ṅ to combine with the formative ma-, as ma + ṅ; somewhat rarer are the combinations a- + ṅ, ar- + ṅ, and mar- + ṅ. The agglutination of these additional formatives entails no change in the function or meaning of the ṅ-. Alongside of the above-mentioned ṅgolek Modern Jav. also says aṅgolek, and both mean the same thing.—Here, in subsection III, the ṅ occurs under other conditions than in II.; it is in the interior of the word. Accordingly the phonetic phenomena that manifest themselves here are of a different nature, they are mostly simple assimilations; thus in Dayak ma + ṅ + tarik > mantarik, “to throw”.
IV. So we find, quite naturally, a different treatment of the case when the formative occurs in the middle of a word irom that which it receives when the formative is initial.
