EASTERN BRANCH QF THE
i f
IS
sicler the reduplicated roots, to the. formation which .sopae
dialects are particularly prone, äs real words. Änd auch they
truly are. Roots of more than two t syllables are still tpore
rare if we avoid mistaking for such roots words lengthened
by affixes or by composition. The majority of simple Malayan
words are dissyllables, and consist either of a reduplicated
root or of a root originally monosyllabic with a final
syllable added* The nature of these added syllables has
already been explained.
4. In sentences the words remain unchanged^ being^^iVer
altered either by inflexion or coalition,. Differences in gender
and varieties in the verbs, such as are usually represented in
other languages by causal, frequentative, and other forms, of
again, by the active and passive vdJ|5^s» and ^alterations in
sense which elsewhere are managed by the uSe of prepositions
in composition, are here all .represented by affixes, before, or
at the end, or inserted into the middle dt trptdi. The^upctipn
of these particles cause's 'changes in the accent and pronunciation
of primitive roots, indicating'an effort to maintain the
unity of words.
5. The relations of time, expressed by US in conjugations
of verbs, are in these languages expressed also iff connection
with nouns.
6. No pronominal endings are used to denote the persons
of verbs. Hence verbs can never, with them, form, as they
do in other languages, the turning pöjnt or spring pf me^n-
ing in a sentence. Nay, it is often dubious whether a wP|d
is a verb or a noun. This is the greatest deficiency in these
languages, and that wherein they are most directly contrasted
with the Sanskrit. And hence perhaps it is, that though
some of the dialects of this speech have incorporated many
Sanskrit words, they have never incorporated the verbs of
that language,
Paragraph 2.—On the Polynesian or Eastern Branch.
In the opinion of M. de Humboldt* the Eastern Polynesian,
comprising the dialects of the insular nations farthest re-
L:
moved from the Continent of Asia, particularly the Tahitian,
of Tahiti and,tl^e §>ocjg|y Isles, the Hawaiian
or that of the Sandwich Islands, and the Maorian or the
sppjpoh of New Zealand, all threpi(,of whicht,are so nearly
allied that they may be considered as probably dialects of one
language, may be regarded as the most ancient or archaic
form of the Malayo^Polybesian tongue. He adduces several
facts which tend to confirm this opinion, which,circumstances
obviously render very probable* th e simple and primitive
form of the Polynesian grammar is one indication of its
greater antiquity. It has besides the greatest number of
monQ^yllabio jvords, such words being in reality very scanty
in the Malayamf A wild tribe in t;hê Malayan country bears
the name of Orang JBenüa. These people are supposed .to be
the tribe from which all the Malayan nations are descended.
The word Menüa in the modern Malay bears . no. sense that
can afford a significant interpretation qf this epithet. But
in the Polynesian wenua-^dS. Z.,fenua—Tah., fonnua-^Tong*
means desert land, wilderness* Another tribe of similar
native people is termed Orang üdéi, These, according to
S. Raffles, are the same as the Semang or woolly*
haired Negroes of the Malayan Peninsula, This name
seehas to be derived from a Polynesian word uta, land.
Orang uta means thus “ People of the land-” a name
likely to be given by colonists from abroad who* came to
settle on the coast of the peninsula. ;£
The principal idioms of the Polynesian branch compared
by Humboldt are, as we have said, the Tongan, which is
somewhat nearer to the Malayan, and the three proximate
languages of New Zealand,. Tahiti, and Hawaï. From the
comparison of the grammatical forms of these languages he
draws the following conclusions.
1. Every word in a sentence stands by itself as a sig*
uifieant expression, as an integer subject to no modification.
2. This remark is to be extended to words which are in-
* Kawi-Sprache, $ .r p. 2S|f *i, t,
, f. Marsden’s Malay Grammar, p. 122-123.
{ Kawi-Spracke, B. ii., 293.
c 2