Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/321

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ESSAY IV
309

229. Besides this prothetic ĕ, i, or u, we meet in various languages with yet other vowels affixed before words that originally had a consonantal initial. Original IN, and likewise Old Javanese, Malay, etc., lintah, "leech", appears in several languages as alintah; Original IN tĕlur2, "egg", is represented in Tagalog by itlóg, etc. I am not in a position to decide whether these are cases of a purely phonetic process or whether we are here dealing with creations of a formative import. Parallel phenomena offering similar difficulties of explanation are also found in IE : see (inter alia) Hirt, "Handbuch der griechischen Laut- und Formenlehre", §§ 193 seqq.

230. Anaptyxis is found in Pabian-Lampong, where an ĕ appears between r and the immediately following consonant. To Malay, Karo, etc., sĕrdaṅ, corresponds a Lamp, form sarĕedaṅ, " a species of palm". This sort of anaptyxis may be compared in the IE sphere with phenomena hke the Oscan aragetud = Latin argento. Of another kind is the appearance of vowels between consonants in loan-words, where facilitation of pronunciation is the cause of the phenomenon (see § 284).

231. Repetition of sounds may affect vowels or consonants, may be progressive or regressive, and may occur merely in isolated cases or in series of cases.

232. When in Hova an i is put before a velar, it is without exception repeated after the velar, in consonantal form and at the same time very softly pronounced. " Surprised " in Hova is gaga, and "to be surprised " is not migaga but migyaga.

233. Bajo "fractures"* an a of the second syllable of a WB into ea, when the word ends in ; Original IN bĕnaṅ, "thread", therefore appears in Bajo as heneaii. In the one case of geantéaṅ < Original IN gantan, "a particular measure of capacity", the e has been repeated in the first syllable.

234. In very many cases in IN languages there appears before a consonant a nasal, which is wanting in other IN

*[See §260.]