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ESSAY I
59
Homophony.
100. Homophony is as rare in the complete word -base as it is common in the root. That is due to the fact that the formatives which create word-bases from roots are very numerous.
Example of homophony in Old Jav. : ulih = (1) to get, (2) to deliberate, (3) to return.
Example of homophony running through many languages:.
| I. karaṅ: | I. karaṅ: | |
| Old. Jav. | crag, rock | to cut designs. |
| Mal. | reef | to make garlands, to compose. |
| Gayo | rock | to compose. |
| Day | gravel, crag | to compose. |
| Mak. | coral reef | to compose. |
Function.
101. The word-base can be employed, just as it stands, in
living speech. From the root kit[1],'“to rise”, which appears e.g. in Gayo baṅkit, “to rise” , there is also derived a widely distributed word-base bukit, “rising ground, hill, hill town”. Now the following sentences show that this word-base, without any further additions, is really capable of being used in speech :
Mal.: bukit jadi paya, “Hills become lowland swamps”. (A proverb.)
Day. : äka-m hoṅ bukit galeget, “Thy ( = -m) dwelhng (is) in the distant highlands”.
Mlg. : zana-buhitra,[2] “suburb” .
The Old Jav. sentence given in § 1 contains four word-bases used in living speech.
102. Although it has been stated that word-bases can be used in speech just as they are, yet we must add that there are certain rules, or limitations, affecting their use.
