Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/270

258 II. In Modern Javanese the IN law of brevity is restricted by the fact that before a nasal + a cognate explosive the vowels are mostly long, e.g. in dīntěn, "day".

III. Seidenadel, in his Bontok grammar, gives no theory of quantity, but an examination of his texts leads to the following results: The law of brevity exhibits hardly any exceptions; in Lumawig 69 we find the word ākyu, "sun", which is contrary to that law. The law of length exhibits more exceptions, esjjecially the one whereby a short vowel is frequently found before a nasal, as in Lumawig 1 ǎnak, "child", 13 tǎnub, "reed, hollow stalk", Kolling 10 wǎnis, "trousers". Before f all the texts exhibit no exceptions; thus we find only forms like tukfīfi, "star", etc.

70. There are however also IN languages that display a law differing entirely from the IN law of quantity, e.g. Dairi. In Dairi the vowel of every accentuated syllable is long; thus for example in pōstěp, "to begin".

71. When the accent is shifted from the penultimate syllable to the final one, as happens in the case of contractions and in many languages in the vocative, two separate tendencies assert themselves:

I. The vowel is long. So in Old Javanese in contractions, where the fact is indicated by the symbol of length in the manuscripts; e.g., Ramayana, VII, 40, 2: "In order to enter into the interior" = tumamā riṅ abhyantara. Here tumamā = the aorist tumama + the sign of the conjunctive a, the WB being tama. — Or in Gorontalese in the vocative, of which Breukink says: "Suku akhir itu boleh měnjadi panjaṅ, jikalaw kata itu ditilik sapěrti kata sěruhan ataw suruhan" = "The vowel of the final syllable becomes long when the word is used as a vocative or a command".

II. The vowel is short. So in Hova in contractions, according to Ferrand. Thus it appears that the Hova imperative milazá, "tell!" < indicative milazá + imperative sign a, has a short final vowel.