Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/38

 SECTION II: THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ROOT.

Preliminary Observations.

38. The IN root has six characteristic points requiring to be discussed: (1) The fact that it consists of three sounds, (2) variation, (3) determination, (4) metathesis, (5) homophony, and (6) its meaning. It is not to be inferred that all these phenomena need necessarily occur in connexion with every root.

The Three Sounds of a Root.

39. The most striking characteristic of the root, obvious at once even on a cursory inspection, is the fact that it consists of three sounds, arranged thus: consonant + vowel + consonant. All the roots which we have thus far become acquainted with have three sounds.

40. We must, however, raise the question whether there are not in IN other roots of a type different from the norm set up in the preceding paragraph.

Let us first enquire after roots of two sounds. This investigation demands special care. For if in some language or other we happen to come across a root that apparently has two sounds, we must reckon with the possibility that it may have lost one of its component parts through the operation of phonetic laws. If we find in Tontb. a word rěqmba, "to fall", we must not at once set up a root with two sounds, viz. ba ; to be sure, Tontb. only drops one final consonant, namely h, but might not that just be the case here ? In actual fact it is the case, for other IN languages, which have no objection to final h, here have the form bah: Old Jav. and Mal. rĕbah, Rh