Page:An introduction to Indonesian linguistics, being four essays.djvu/129

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ESSAY II
117

therefore avoid the term “stem” and speak of the word-base on the one hand and its extensions on the other.

146. As was observed in § 80, a considerable number of the formatives used in these extensions are identical with words of form. And it often happens that one and the same formative serves in the formation of both verb and substantive, and so on. Here are two problems which we cannot pursue further in the present monograph.*

The Verb.

147. Among the verbal formatives that we find in the various individual IN languages, we can show the following to be Common IN: four active formatives: ma-, maṅ-, ba-, -um-; three passive formatives : ka-, ta-, -in-; one transitive formative: -i; and one causative formative: pa-.

148. The active formative ma-. Philippines, Magindanao: maulug, “to fall”, word-base ulug — Celebes, Tontb.: ma- sowat, “to answer” — Borneo, Day.: marabit, “to tear” — Java, Old Jav.: matukar, “to contend, to light” — Sumatra, Toba: madabu, “to fall” — Malay Peninsula, Mal.: makan, “to eat”, word-base kan, “food” — Madagascar, Hova: mahita, “to see” — Northern Border, Form.: makairi, “to work left-handed” — Eastern Border, Bim.: malampa, “to go” — South-Western Border, Nias: maliwa, “to move (one- self)”.

149. The active formative maṅ-. In most of the IN languages the final of the formative is assimilated to the initial of the word-base, so that persists only before velars and before vowels; and when the initial consonant of the word-base is a surd, that initial disappears. Accordingly in Old Jav. maṅgĕtĕm, “to pinch”, < maṅ + gĕtĕm, the final of the prefix and the initial of the word-base have remained unaffected; whereas in Tag. mamokot, “to fish”, < maṅ + pokot, an m has

  • [See Essay III, §§ 35, 138.]

Ṫ [On this subject see Essay III, particularly §§ 43-117.]