Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/172

Nevertheless a number of compromises have been made, consisting substantially in this, that the phenomena applicable to the case of the formative as initial have imposed themselves on the cases where it is medial. Thus in Day., ṅ + talusoṅ, “torch” > nalusoṅ, “to make torches”; ma + ṅ + talusoṅ, should, in conformity with III., become manalusoṅ, but in fact it is manalusoṅ. — Compromises of this kind are to be found in so many IN languages that we are compelled to style them Common IN.
V. As these compromises occur even in the interior of words, we can understand how it happens that there are sometimes alternative forms, an indication that the compromise is not yet a perfect one. Thus from the WB baläh, “to requite”, Day. forms both mambaläh and mamaläh.
31. In the last few paragraphs we have been discussing such phonetic phenomena affecting the formatives as we can grasp and comprehend from the point of view of phonetic law. But we also meet with a minority of phonetic phenomena which do not admit of that possibility at present. Beside the Common IN formative ta-, which forms a passive, the Sund. displays a ti-. Now a Common IN a is represented in Sund., without exception, by a; so the Sund. ti- is not a regular phonetic equivalent of the Common IN ta-. How then shall we explain the relation of ti- to ta- ? Shall we simply declare that they have nothing to do with each other ? That will hardly do, for after all the consonant is the same, and the meaning is identical. So we cherish the hope that the progress of research will throw light on this point, and we call phenomena like this ta : ti by the provisional name of “variation”.
32. There are, however, cases of variation that can be tackled more effectually; we will mention a few of them here.
I. Day. has a formative me-, which fashions verbs from onomatopœic words. Thus from the interjections kap!, bus!, rok!, are formed the verbs mekap, mebus, merok; but riṅ, “tinkle”!, produces miriṅ, “to tinkle”; so here appar-