Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/242

230 the same procedure as Brugmann in his “Kurze vergleichende Grammatik der indogermanischen Sprachen”. Just as IE comparative research has inferred from the Sanskrit dhūmás, Latin fumus, etc., an Original IE dhūmós, “smoke”, and as Brugmann (KvG, § 85), in deahng with the vowel ū, proceeds from this dhumos and other such Original IE words as by the same method have been shown to contain the vowel u ; so from Hova telu, Toba tolu, etc., there follows an Original IN tĕlu, “three”. This tĕlu, together with the other words in which an Original IN ĕ has been inferred, serves us as a point of departure for the discussion of the sound ě and its derivatives.

Note. — By far the greater part of the IN words occurring in this monograph have the accent on the penultimate syllable. In that case I do not mark it, and accordingly write telu, tolu; on the other hand, in § 5 I write talǒ, because this Pangasinan word is accentuated on the final syllable. For the reasons given in § 330 I cannot indicate the accent in the reconstructed Original IN words. — As regards quantity, see §§ 67 seqq. 5. I will now demonstrate by an individual example the nature of the method by which I reconstruct the Original IN forms.

Thesis.

“Original IN possessed a neutral, colourless vowel, styled in Javanese, and accordingly also in IN comparative linguistics, the pĕpĕt, which is represented (not very aptly) by the symbol ě, and occurs for example in the Original IN word tĕlu, ' three”.

Evidence.

I. As “three” in Pangasinan is taló, in Hova telu, in Sundanese tilu, in Toba tolu, in Tinggian tulu, the variegated character of the vowel of the first syllable can be most satisfactorily explained as a case of differentiation from a neutral original, just such as the pĕpĕt. II. The pĕpĕt still actually exists, even though in a minority of the IN languages, yet in the most diverse local areas