Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/71

 Rh

100. Homophony is as rare in the complete word -base as it is common in the root. That is due to the fact that the formatives which create word-bases from roots are very numerous.

Example of homophony in Old Jav. : ulih = (1) to get, (2) to deliberate, (3) to return.

Example of homophony running through many languages:.

101. The word-base can be employed, just as it stands, in living speech. From the root kit ,'“to rise”, which appears e.g. in Gayo baṅkit, “to rise”, there is also derived a widely distributed word-base bukit, “rising ground, hill, hill town”. Now the following sentences show that this word-base, without any further additions, is really capable of being used in speech :

Mal.: bukit jadi paya, “Hills become lowland swamps”. (A proverb.) Day. : äka-m hoṅ bukit galeget, “Thy ( = -m) dwelhng (is) in the distant highlands”. Mlg. : zana-buhitra, “suburb”. The Old Jav. sentence given in § 1 contains four word-bases used in living speech. 102. Although it has been stated that word-bases can be used in speech just as they are, yet we must add that there are certain rules, or limitations, affecting their use.