Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/118

106 104. The preposition ha is also used as a conjunction meaning "in order to, until"; Mkb. example: "Rice to be eaten " = nasi ka dimakan. In some other languages a verb maka has been formed from it, after the fashion of mai in § 99, with the meaning "to have an object, or a task". Mak. example: " Has he the task of reading it ? " = Has task he, to read it ? = maka iya lambaca i. Thereby ka is shown to exist in Celebes also; and see § 80 for additional evidence.

105. From the facts set out in §§ 103 and 104 we acquire the right to pronounce ka to be a Common IN preposition. 106. As is shown by the examples in §§ 97-104, the preposition i as a rule indicates the place where, the preposition n the place whence, the genitive, and the preposition ka the place whither. This usage may be regarded as Common IN.

107. The a dubitativum, a word of form used conjunctitively, dubitatively, interrogatively, to weaken the force of a proposition, comparatively, and disjunctively. The a dubitativum, Philippines, Bis.: "What manner of snake is this ? " = Which snake what this ? = onsań halas a kana — Celebes, Bug. : " Is this a slave or a freedman ? " = Slave + interrogative particle g for ga + this or freedman = ata-g-iro a maradeka — Java, Old Jav. : " Like a tongue " = Tongue as = ilat a — Sumatra, Mkb.: " Whatever it may be " = Something, whatever = barań a — Eastern Border, Kamberese: " Only a little " = hakudu a.

108. Besides the dubitative there is also an imperative a: Northern Border, Form.: madis-a, " Hasten ! ", from the word-base madis, " quick " — Madagascar, Hova: mi-waluza, discussed in § 30. We may assume that the imperative use has grown out of the dubitative one delineated in the preceding paragraph. We are justified in doing so when we note the fact that whereas in Old Jav. a, besides indicating comparison, also forms the conjunctive, in Modern Jav. it forms the conjunctive and the imperative, and in Hova the imperative alone. — If we now add the imperative a of the Northern