Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 2.djvu/55

LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE, &C. 41 increasing the number of the diacritical points; and thus the modern Malay alphabet -amounts to thirty-two consonants. Ihe genius of Malay pro- nunciation, however, being remarkably soft, and vocalic, many of the harsher Arabian sounds are either modified, or omitted in speaking ; and, in writing, seldom serve any other purpose than to mark the etymology of a word. The Malay language is remarkably simple in its grammatical form. Words are not modified by in- flection, or other change to express gender, num- ber, or case. Gender is ascribed to no object without sex. Number is denoted by distinct words, expressing plurality or singularity. Cases are always expressed by prepositions. The verb is hai-dly less simple than the noun. Of modes it may perhaps be said to have two, the indi- cative and imperative ; of tenses it cannot be said to have more than three, a present, expressed in the simple form of the verb, and a past and future, each expressed by an auxiliary. The most important changes which the verb undergoes, are the changes from a neuter to an active form, which are effected either by affixing or prefixing certain inseparable particles, or both. The written Malay language is known to well informed Malays by the singular appellation of Jam, a term the origin of which, as it maybe con- nected with the history of the people and their Ian-