Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/288



SECTION V: THE MOST IMPORTANT

INDONESIAN PHONETIC LAWS, SET FORTH

IN DETAIL.

Preliminary Observations.

119.The most important IN phonetic laws are four in number: the pepet-law, the RGH-law, the hamzah-law, and the law of the mediæ.

120. Now the course of our enquiry is as follows:

I. In the case of the pepet-law we have to ascertain what are the representatives of the Original IN pepet in the living IN languages.

II. In the case of the RGH-law our enquiry has to pursue the same course as with the pepet-law, we have to find out by what sounds the Original IN uvular r (r2) is represented in the living IN tongues. This law is also called, after its discoverer, by the name of "Van der Tuuk's first law". I have preferred to designate it by the more convenient and significative name of "RGH-law", a name based on the fact that Original IN r2 is represented in many of the living languages by g, in some by h; and I observe that this designation is gradually gaining ground.

III. In the case of the hamzah-law our business is to set forth from what Original IN sounds or by what linguistic processes the sound hamzah has originated in the living IN languages. Here, therefore, the procedure differs from that which is to be followed in the case of the pěpět-law and RGH-law; we start from an Original IN multiplicity and arrive at one uniform result in the living languages, viz., the hamzah. For the hamzah is a secondary sound in IN ; we cannot there- Rh