Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/246

 teken. In Hova, which, betrays a somewhat near relationship with Day., the pĕpĕt only becomes e when it bears the accent; hence Original IN tĕkĕn produces Hova tĕhina. Accentuation, therefore, is the condition for the change of ĕ into e in Hova.

11. The condition under which a phonetic change takes place is one thing, and the cause which calls it into existence is another. The conditions are very often recognizable in IN, but as regards the causes the same observation applies to IN as Hirt, in his “Handbuch der griechischen Laut- und Formenlehre” ", § 71, made about Greek: “We are often unable to detect the causes of phonetic change”. Nevertheless IN linguistic students have set up many a theory on this subject, and I here repeat some of them, without commenting thereon: “A peculiarity of certain of the Toraja languages is the change of s into h. It appears to us that the custom of filing the teeth quite short or partially knocking them out, may be the cause of this phonetic change” (Adriani). — In Karo, Original IN a remains a, but alongside of jah, “yonder”, a form joh has appeared, “in consequence of a movement of the lips, with which one indicates the direction ‘yonder’ ” (Joustra). — “The custom of chewing betel explains why the Javanese often pronounce a velar instead of a labial, e.g., kĕstul for pĕstul, ‘pistol’ ” (Roorda).

12. In the evolution of IN sounds a number of other forces bear sway, which operate in the way of influencing,furthering, hindering, crossing, etc., though they cannot be called “causes” or “conditions” in the strict sense. These are analogy, popular etymology,* the tendency towards differentiation, phonetic symbolism, onomatopoeia, euphem- ism, and the tendency towards disyllabism.

13. Analogy plays as great a part in the phonetic evolution of the IN languages as it does in the IE family. Thus- among the IN, as among the IE languages, there is hardly one in which the numerals have not been affected by its influence;


 * [The tendency which produces forms like “Hobson-Jobson”, “sparrow-grass”, etc.]