Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/262

 250 Original IN puluh, "ten", but h has again been evolved from k, hence Hova hazu < Original IN kayu, "tree".

IV. The sounds found in living IN languages, which cannot however be ascribed to Original IN, are :

The modified ("Umlaut") vowels ä ö ü.

The nasalized vowels.

The cerebrals.

The spirants y, χ; š, z; f.

42. Some of the IN languages possess some sound or other in two distinct shades; thus Nias has two o’s (see § 5), Talautese two l’s (see § 5); Original IN had two r’s (see § 129). 43. Sounds with unusual articulation, i.e., such as rarely occurs in human speech in general, are scarce in IN. Busang has a labio-dental b, formed by the contact of the lower lip with the upper teeth. But has an h formed by expelling the breath through the nose.

Fixed and Varying Pronunciation.

44. Some of the IN languages have a constant pronunciation of their sounds, others exhibit variations in some sound or other. In the Philippine languages "i is often not to be distinguished from e" (Scheerer). In Dayak "the sound of o varies between o and u, indeed the same person in uttering the same word will pronounce the sound sometimes more like an o, and at other times more like a u" (Hardeland). Probably Bontok exhibits the extreme of arbitrariness in this respect; thus (inter alia) in the short story entitled Rolling in Seidenadel-Texts, pp. 555 seqq., one and the same narrator pronounces the word for "then" sometimes isaed and sometimes išaed (see Rolling 1 and Rolling 10).

45. Such varying pronunciation may be a preparatory step towards certain phonetic changes. Dayak is somewhat