Page:A Concise Grammar of the Malagasy Language.djvu/17

 (or lalào), 'play;' sàlasàla, 'doubtful.' With regard to roots which end in syllables other than -ka, -na, -tra, no contraction occurs, but the root is simply reduplicated, with sometimes an n inserted, especially when the root begins with a vowel.

Dissyllabic roots ending in -ka, -na, or -tra, may be either simply repeated or contracted; thus, in mitànatàna, 'to be open' (as the mouth), the root is repeated, while in mitàntàna, 'to hold,' the root is contracted.

Trisyllabie roots ending in -ka, -na, or -tra, accented on the antepenult, are contracted according to the rules for forming euphonic changes.

N.B.—As trisyllabic roots seem all to end in -ka, -na, or -tra, it is probable that these terminations are only affixes to primary roots of one or two syllables, as the following facts seem to show:—

(1) They are sometimes disused, especially in dialects other than the Hova; as, irày and iraìka, and ìsa and ìsaka, for 'one.'

(2) They are interchangeable in certain words; as, pòtsika and pòtsitra.

(3) Dissyllabic roots, used in a sense allied to that of the longer forms, are not rare. Thus, dissyllabic root rìa; trisyllabic words, marìa, rìaka, rìana; tetrasyllabic words, tsorìaka, korìana.