Cham has a very large number of loan-words from neighbouring languages having monosyllabic WB's, and these loan-words have had their influence on a part of the disyllabic WB's of IN stock.
276. Abbreviation in certain categories or functions of words.
I. In exclamations. In various languages a disyllabic WB will lose a -syllable when it is used as an exclamation, thus imitating the interjections, which are very often monosyllabic. — In Tontemboan they say deq, “oh, horror !”, from indeq, “horror”. Thus we find in “The Burning of Kinilow”, Schwarz-Texts, p. 156, 1. 2 from the bottom: “Horror, oh horror for me !” = deq e deq aku.
II. In vocatives. In many languages abbreviations are used in the vocative. Vocatives, like exclamations, imitate interjections, and besides that, many languages accentuate the last syllable of a word when used in the vocative.[1] Such vocative abbreviations are found, in the first place, in words of relationship and friendship, as in the Madurese coṅ, “lad !” < kacoṅ, “the lad”. Thus in the Story of Kandhulok in Kiliaan's Texts, II, p. 153, 1. 9 from the bottom, we find: “Well, lad !” = kĕmma coṅ! Longer formations are reduced to disyllables or trisyllables, as in the Toba vocative maén from parumaen, “daughter-in-law” . — In the second place, they occur in personal names, as in the Modern Rĕmbang- Javanese vocative “Wir !” < Wiryadimejo. — In some languages such abbreviations are also used when the word is not employed vocatively, e.g. Tontemboan itow, “the little boy” < maṅalitow. — The Rottinese feo < feto, “sister”, is primarily a vocative but is also used in other ways.
III. In the imperative, which is very similar in its nature to the vocative, e.g. Toba botson, “give (it) here !” < boan tuson.
IV. In proper names, especially those of persons. In some languages, as for example in Dayak, personal names are formed from descriptive words by omitting the initial consonant.
- ↑ [See Essay II, § 79.]
