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as much in special applications of the same words, and in tone, accent, and phrasing—matters as yet wholly beyond our reach. But there can be no doubt that to a cultivated Siamese the northern flavor of this speech is quite pronounced; while to a cultivated Lao who should hear it read aloud by one of his countrymen, it would probably seem very good Lao, only perhaps a trifle old-fashioned. That is, the standard Siamese speech of that day had not yet diverged very far from the ancestral type.
FORM AND STYLE.
As is wont to be the case with nearly all primitive attempts, the composition in its aim and intention is distinctly oral—is speech rather than writing. One striking outcome The recurrent pattern. of this fact is the dominance everywhere of what may be termed the recurrent type or pattern of phrase. The type has been found to be effective; it is easier to remember and reproduce it, or to vary it if necessary, than it is to invent a new form specially adapted to the occasion[1]. In its lowest form this dominance is seen in the wearisome repetition Exact repetition. of identical details in various parts of the description of the city and its surroundings:—"groves of areca and betel, groves of cocoanut and lang," "images that are great, images that are beautiful; temples that are great, temples that are beautiful," and so on to the end of the chapter. More distinctly rhetorical is the constant grouping of items in pairs, Balanced and rhythmic phrasing. especially where the balance is regularly emphasized, and sonorous effect is secured, by repetition of the introductory word or words:—"pa mak pa phlu" l. 36; "luk chau luk khŭn" l. 25; baw mi ngön baw mi thawng" ll. 29—30. "mi wĭhan ăn yăi, mi wĭhan ăn ram" l. 61. In all these cases the sequence is carefully attended to, so that each of the paired words stands last in its own phrase, and the phrase containing the more sonorous word shall stand last[2]. From this it is
- ↑ This tendency is strikingly exemplified in the recurrent forms of ballad literature everywhere.
- ↑ Least sonorous of all is the word that ends with a stopped consonant k, t, or p. Of words otherwise equal the one with the long vowel, or the one whose vowel is followed by a sonorous nasal—n, m, or ng,—is given the final position.
