Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/200

 92. The Irrealis. On account of the interesting character of this mood from the point of view of general comparative philology, we must consider it in some detail. It has several different modes of formation, but none of them are Common IN.

I. Formation of the irrealis by reduplication of the first syllable of the verbal WB. This is found in Mentaway; but an analysis of all the Mentaway texts — 80 pages of print — has only yielded three instances of it. Illustration, from the Love Dialogues: “Then there would be naught good in me” = Not would + be good in + me = ta babara uktuk ku.

II. The irrealis is expressed with the same means as the conjunctive, future, or passive imperative. — Illustrations. Mkb., from the Manjau Ari: “Who should have taught me ?” = W. s. + h. + t. me = siya ka-maajari den. Karo, from the Story of the Glutton: “One would have thought he was dead” = mate ninĕn. — ka- is the sign of the future, -ĕn the sign of the passive imperative.

III. Mas has a special auxiUary word of form for the irrealis, viz., enao, which is put after the verb. Illustration, from the Story of Kawofo: “Fain would Kawofo have eaten” = F. K. eat “enao” = omasi Gawofo ia enao.

Note. — The initial of Gawofo follows from the laws of the “status constructus”, which will be dealt with in Section IX.