Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/23

OF JAVA, 9 structure of almost every sentence, is, in short, a stranger to the Javanese. It is fitted for the lan«  guage of pure description, of the passions, or of fa- miliar life, but wholly defective when any degree of subtlety or abstraction is implied, as may well be expected in the language of a simple and semi-bar- barous people. It is, of course, on familiar occasions, that the minute and painful redundance of the language is most commonly displayed. The various postures or modifications of position in which the human body can be placed, not only for ease and conve- nience, but from whim or caprice, are described in a language so copious, that the anatomist, the painter, or the statuary, might derive assistance from it. There are with the Javanese ten ways of standing, and twenty of sitting, and each has its distinct and specific appellation. To express the different modifications of sound, there are not less than fifty words. In such cases the ramifica- tions of meaning are expressed by distinct words, and the nicer shades by changing the broader vowels for the slenderer ones, the greater intensity being expressed by the first, and the lesser by the second. Thus, gumrot means the noise of a door on its hinges, while gumret and gunmt mean the same thing, each in a less intense degree. The great source of copiousness in the language.