Page:A Concise Grammar of the Malagasy Language.djvu/12

 The s and the z are never confounded in Malagasy as in the English word surprise.

Double Consonants.—The following are commonly used:—

Hence the : when n or m in the body of a word (not a compound) is followed by another consonant, the n or m is the closing letter of the preceding syllable. With this one exception all syllables end in a vowel.

As n will combine only with d, g, h, and t, and m only with b or p, the only combinations of consonants allowable in the Malagasy language are the following:—

dr, dz (or j).

tr, ts.

mb, mp.

nd, ndr, ndz (or nj) ng, nk, nt, ntr, nts.

Hence the following euphonic changes among consonants become necessary: