Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/223



SECTION IX : THE VERB IN THE SENTENCE.

139. Among the linguistic means employed by IN for linking the several parts of a sentence together the following are of articular importance: prepositions, the copula, the status constructus, and the syntactical order of the words.

140.Prepositions.

I. In Common IN the genitive relation has the preposition n or ni. This reposition links substantive with substantive. There are no active or causative verbs that " govern " the genitive. But, as we have heard, the agent is often linked with the passive predicate like a genitive. — We have also learnt that the genitive can be expressed by the mere order of the words, without any preposition at all.

II. In some languages the dative relation has a special preposition, e.g. in Karo: man; in other languages the dative is expressed by the same prepositions as the adverbial.

III. The accusative relation is very rarely indicated by a preposition; as a general rule, the syntactical order suffices.

IV. In Common IN the adverbial is introduced by prepositions. Of these the two prepositions i and ri have a particularly wide distribution.

141.The copula.

I. The Indo-European copula, the verb " to be ", has nothing exactly corresponding to it in IN. Hence the sentence, " What is the reason that it is so ?" is expressed in the Kuñjarakarṇa by: " What reason of it, so?" = apa dumeh ña maṅkana. In Achinese, in the Story of the Pehcan, we find the sentence, " Then exclaimed all the fish: ' It is good so ' " rendered by: " Then exclaimed all fish: ' Thus good ' "

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