Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/63

 them could supply material for many a dissertation. In conformity with § 23 we shall here confine our enquiry to the main features of the subject.

Our first duty will simply be to recognize the existence of such prefixes, beginning our enquiry with the examination of a single language. Now here Sund. can be of very good service to us. It possesses a considerable number of monosyllabic roots which actually live in the language, nearly all being interjections, and it also possesses many word-bases derived from those roots. Karo, which we have often cited on other occasions, would be less useful to us here ; it also has a good many living monosyllabic roots, but in most cases no derivatives from them. We need only subtract the roots from the respective Sund. word-bases, and the formatives will appear. This is shown by the following list: Here then we have ascertained that the prefixes a-, ĕm- or ĕn- or ĕṅ-, i-, u-, ka-, ta-, pa-, rĕ-, and sĕ- are employed in Sund. for forming word-bases.

Now when we look through the various IN dictionaries, e.g. those of Old Jav., Karo, Mal., etc., we are at once struck by
 * With variation of the root.