Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/316

304 appári, "to display", where the r is in conformity with phonetic law, for Malay and other languages have the form hampar.

211. Behaviour of the supporting vowel in derivatives and with enclitics:

I. On the addition of a suffix the supporting vowel is dispensed with. From Makassar sássalaq < sělsěl comes the derived verb sassáli, "to refuse".

II. Before enclitics we find both persistence and disappearance of the supporting vowel. In the Makassar romance Jayalangkara, p. 72, 1. 9, is the expression: "The people of Egypt" = P. E. the = tu-Máserek-a, < Meṣir has the supporting syllable -eq, and this persists before the enclitic article, the hamzah turning into a k. In the Hova Fables of Rahidy, V, 1. 3, we find: "Killed by him" = nuwunúini, for nuwunúina + ni. Here the supporting vowel has disappeared, and the two n ' s coming together have coalesced into one.

The Final in Rottinese. 212. Rottinese displays peculiar phenomena in the final, which require special consideration.

213. In Rot. three of the consonants are capable of serving as finals, viz. k, n, and s, Original IN awak, "body" > Rot. aok; Original IN ur1an, "rain" > Rot. udan; Original IN nipis, "thin" > Rot. niis. But Original IN běr2at, "heavy" > Rot. belak; Malay, etc., ruaṅ > Rot. loak, "room".

214. One might endeavour to explain these facts by the principle of unification (§ 204).

215. But we are faced by a circumstance which excludes any explanation based on the principle of unification; the circumstance is this, that in an extraordinary number of cases the final is different from what one would expect on general linguistic principles or from IN usage. Examples: Original