Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/152

140 Illustration: in the story of "Samagowaulu in the South " is the sentence: " Do let me go, Father ! " = Let-go me only yet, father = faqamoi do mano sa, ama. Here we have the causative faqamoi, " to let go ", derived from the WB moi, "to go ".

3. The literatures of the IN nations are rich, particularly in popular productions which are most welcome material, not only for the folklorist, but also for the student of comparative philology. And fortunately such texts have been published in plenty, thanks to the zeal of Dutch scholars especially, who, in this department, headed by Kern, have done admirable work. In a good many cases we have got texts of languages for w^hich there are at present no manuals, and that happens just to apply to some languages which are particularly important to the comparative student, as for instance Kupangese. — It is only in the special department of Phihppine studies that the texts published up to now are deficient in number. It would, therefore, be a fruitful task for such scholars as Scheerer, Conant and Seidenadel to remedy this defect.

4. There is one scientific operation that is practicable only on the basis of a study of texts, viz. enumeration. I do not by any means regard enumeration as a species of child's play : it is, amongst other things, a matter of scientific importance to know how often a linguistic phenomenon occurs. — Specimen enumeration: as Section IX shows, IN, like other languages, have reflexive verbs; Malay has an expression parallel to the German "sich begeben " ("to betake oneself"), Bugis a parallel to the French " se repentir ". Now an analysis of the Malay popular historical romance Hang Tuah yields a dozen reflexive verbs in 112 printed pages. A German or French text of the like compass would exhibit more of them. The result of the enumeration, therefore, is: Malay has reflexive verbs as German and French have, but they are less numerous in Malay than in these two languages. Moreover, we shall find on more than one occasion that an enumeration actually decides a doubtful question.