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INDONESIAN LINGUISTICS
pronounced in Gayo, has disappeared altogether in certain other languages, e.g. in Rottinese; hence Rot. tana, "mark" < Original IN tanda.
50. Reduced pronunciation of certain sounds is also found in IE. In Latin n was weakly pronounced before s, e.g. in mensa (see Sommer, "Handbuch der lateinischen Laut- und Formenlehre", § 136). Here too reduced pronunciation is a preparatory step towards complete disappearance, hence the Romansch form mesa.
Preciser Description of the Several Indonesian Sounds.
51. In the following I give a somewhat more precise description of the several IN sounds, so far as seems to me necessary and sufficient for the purposes and aims of the present monograph.
52. Vowels. These will be described in greater detail in the following Section, with reference both to their quantity and quality. Only the pěpět will be discussed here.
53. I. The pure pěpět. "The Javanese pěpět is the indeterminate vowel, the sound of the voice when the mouth is not put into any particular position so as to form a definite vowel like a, i, etc." (Roorda). The shape of the mouth-cavity in pronouncing the Madurese pěpět is "the same as in ordinary breathing" (Kiliaan).
II. The modified pěpět. In this the articulation inclines somewhat towards the position of a, or i, or u. "The pronunciation of the Bugis ě partakes somewhat of the sound of a" (Matthes). In Old Javanese the articulation of the pěpět must have approximated somewhat towards the position of u, for it changes into u when, after the loss of a consonant, it happens to stand before a vowel; hence Old Jav. bwat for běat < Original IN běr2at.
This shade of a, i, or u is the transitional stage to the perfect a, i, or u. In Bugis the pěpět has the shade of a, while in Makassar, which is very closely related to Bugis, it appears as a perfect a.
